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Sharing stories from amazing leaders just like you and me. Breaking down myths of leadership, imposter syndrome & helping us all be braver. Step by step.
Episodes
Friday Jun 26, 2026
Friday Jun 26, 2026
Most of us are holding two completely incongruent feelings about AI right now. The excitement about what it could make possible. And a deeper, quieter discomfort about what it might already be taking from us.
Penny Locaso put both of those feelings on the table in this conversation - and then backed them up with research.
Penny is a behavioural scientist and provisional psychologist, completing her master's at 50. She draws on two decades of commercial leadership experience and original research to help leaders strengthen discernment under high pressure conditions. For the last 12 months she has been going deep on something that is only just beginning to be understood: the psychology of AI - how it is impacting our thinking, our feeling, and our behaviour. Her specific focus is leaders. Because if we're going to steer in the direction of human flourishing, leaders are the people we're most reliant on to do that. And right now, they're the ones most at risk.
What Penny shared in this conversation is specific, evidenced, and something every senior leader needs to pay attention to.
What's inside:
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AI brain rot is real — what six months of daily AI use is already doing to problem solving ability and short term memory, and why the leaders who need their cognitive edge most are the ones most at risk of losing it
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We gave AI the painting and the writing — why the promise of AI freeing us up for meaningful work hasn't materialised, and what's actually happening instead
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The sycophancy problem — why AI's frictionless validation is more psychologically seductive than we want to admit, and what that means for decision quality
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What's happening to teams — why teams are talking to each other less, what 63% of workers are lying about, and the hidden cost of humanising AI in the workplace
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Intentional AI — Penny's definition, her Intentional AI Rubric, and what it actually looks like to remain the author of your own thinking
Book time to connect with Melissa - 15 mins: https://calendly.com/brave-feminine-leadership/curious-for-feedbackb
WORK WITH MELISSA:
The Executive Shift — 8-week intensive for senior women ready to lead at full power: https://bravefeminineleadership.com/the-executive-shift
INFLUENCE Mastermind — 6-month peer advisory for sitting CEOs (max 6, invitation only): https://bravefeminineleadership.com/programs/ceo_mastermind
1:1 Executive Coaching — https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/executive-coaching
Penny's Intentional AI Rubric: https://app.hackinghappy.co/AIRubric
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Jun 12, 2026
Friday Jun 12, 2026
There's a question sitting underneath a lot of leadership conversations right now, one that most people aren't saying out loud: am I actually adding value to what matters — or am I just busy?
Felecia Pryor received a piece of feedback early in her career that stung: don't play in the garden when the house is on fire. More than any other conversation in the CPO series, this line has resonated and I think it might be the most important question any executive can ask of themselves right now. Not in a performance review. Not in a strategy session. Right now, today, looking honestly at where your time and thinking actually goes.
This episode is my reflection on the Shaping the Future CPO series — six conversations with some of the most senior people leaders. I let the insights settle for several months before coming back to them. What rose to the surface wasn't about HR frameworks or people strategy in the traditional sense. It was about what it actually takes to be at the centre of strategic decisions rather than downstream of them. And it applies far beyond the CPO role.
What's inside:
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Don't play in the garden — Felecia Pryor's confronting early-career feedback and the question every executive should be sitting with right now
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Step towards the tension — Why Amy Walker's deliberate practice of moving into discomfort is what earns you a place at the strategic table — and why so many senior leaders are conditioned to do the opposite
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The influence you can't see — What Amy Stanley and Shomaice Zowghi revealed about the influence that has no audience — and why it's often more powerful than anything visible on your CV
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Curiosity is not optional — Why Anu Villarosa designs for curiosity deliberately, what Damian Zahra's feedback work taught me, and what happens to leaders who stay too long in their own lane
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Are you in the house? — What being at the strategic table actually requires, and why getting invited to the meeting isn't the same thing
If this lands, come and find me on LinkedIn. I'd love to know which of these insights hits closest to home.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Book time to connect with Melissa - 15 mins: https://calendly.com/brave-feminine-leadership/curious-for-feedbackb
WORK WITH MELISSA:
The Executive Shift — 8-week intensive for senior women ready to lead at full power: https://bravefeminineleadership.com/the-executive-shift
INFLUENCE Mastermind — 6-month peer advisory for sitting CEOs (max 6, invitation only): https://bravefeminineleadership.com/programs/ceo_mastermind
1:1 Executive Coaching — https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/executive-coaching
-----------------------
Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday May 29, 2026
Friday May 29, 2026
Shomaice Zowghi walked into one of Australia's most closed, male-dominated industrial environments as the first female Director of Industrial Relations in a 107-year-old passenger railway system. Deals had always been done at the pub. Networks were tight and the door was shut. She didn't look like the role. She didn't sound like it. She carved out a place anyway - on both sides of the table.
She came to this work through law, through lived experience, and through a deep belief - shaped by parents who raised her to care about fairness, dignity and social justice - that the conditions people work in either build them up or quietly break them down.
In this conversation, Shomaice talks about what it really means to be a workforce architect - thinking about capability before the problem arrives, not after. About the lawyer behaviours she had to deliberately unlearn before she could truly lead. And about why loud, visible confidence is one of the most dangerous things we mistake for leadership potential.
Shomaice Zowghi is Head of People at Pacific National, Australia's largest private rail freight operator, and a former employment lawyer whose background in industrial relations, social justice and lived experience shapes everything about how she leads.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday May 22, 2026
Friday May 22, 2026
Felecia Pryor wanted to be an FBI agent. A psychological test, a shuttle bus, and a conversation with a stranger at a conference changed everything. What followed was nearly two decades building people strategy inside some of the world's most complex industrial organisations - Ford Motor Company, BorgWarner, and now John Deere, where she leads HR, labour relations, enterprise security, aviation and brand across a 189-year-old company.
In this conversation, Felecia talks about what it means to be a truly strategic partner, not just good with people, but commercially minded enough to shape the agenda. About the peer who once told her HR was playing in the garden while the house was on fire. And about why she believes courage is the defining leadership capability of our time.
Felecia Pryor is Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Deere and Company, known globally as John Deere, where she leads people strategy across one of the world's most iconic industrial organisations.
-----------------------
Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday May 15, 2026
Friday May 15, 2026
Anu Villarosa began her career as a lawyer in London, moved to Australia on a whim during the 2008 financial crash, and somehow ended up as Chief People Officer at a leading law firm - via recruitment, mindset coaching, competitive hockey, and a 50% pay cut she took to back herself into HR. The journey makes no sense on paper. In practice, it's the perfect preparation.
In this conversation, Anu talks about why feedback is a gift most organisations don't know how to give, why self-awareness is the capability that will separate effective executives by 2040, and what it actually means to be strategically vulnerable in a profession that tends to reward certainty.
Anu Villarosa is Chief People Officer at a leading Australian law firm, an accredited coach grounded in neuroscience and psychometric profiling, and a former competitive hockey player who applies the principles of high-performance sport to executive leadership every day.
-----------------------
Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday May 08, 2026
Friday May 08, 2026
Damian Zahra started work early, grew up around family businesses, and came into HR with one obsession: what happens when you bring the discipline of high performance sport into the world of business? Nearly seven years into his role as Chief People Officer at Bunnings, one of Australia's most iconic and complex organisations, he's still asking the same question.
In this conversation, Damian talks about what it really means to be an interpreter of strategy, why equal portions of support and challenge create the healthy tension where growth actually lives, and why the one thing most organisations could learn from elite sport is the gift of feedback.
Damian Zahra is Chief People Officer at Bunnings Group, leading people and safety strategy across nearly 60,000 team members in Australia and New Zealand. He is also a board member of the Corporate Mental Health Alliance Australia.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday May 01, 2026
Friday May 01, 2026
Amy Stanley didn't set out to be a Chief People Officer - she wanted to be a fashion buyer like Rachel Green from Friends. What she found instead was a deep love for the work of motivating people, and a 25-year career that took her from the shop floor to the strategic centre of some of Australia's most significant organisations.
In this conversation, Amy talks about what it actually means to lead through influence rather than authority - so quietly and so consistently that her board chair told her she could hear Amy's words coming out of other people's mouths. And why, if a CPO role doesn't report directly to the CEO, she's simply not interested.
Amy Stanley is Chief People Officer at HBF, where she leads culture, leadership and organisational strategy across people and corporate affairs - and holds joint accountability with the CTO on HBF's AI strategy.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Apr 24, 2026
Friday Apr 24, 2026
Amy Walker didn't plan a career in HR- she wandered into a lecture to keep a friend company and never looked back. What followed was 20+ years building people strategy inside some of Australia's most complex, traditionally male-dominated industries, and learning that the CPO role has never really been about authority. It's about influence, deliberate, patient, and built on genuinely understanding the business you're in.
In this conversation, Amy shares what a truly great CEO partnership looks like, why she went and studied supply chain mid-career, and what she means when she says the best leaders learn to move towards the tension rather than away from it.
Amy Walker is CEO of Artemis People and former CHRO at Visy, a $4B+ global operation where she led people strategy across 10,000 employees.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Apr 10, 2026
Friday Apr 10, 2026
You can want that seat at the table. But when you get there - what are you actually bringing?
In this candid conversation, Brave Feminine Leadership co-founders Melissa Hamilton and Kelli Hayes reflect on The Impact Formula masterclass, what they're hearing from senior leaders right now, and the thing nobody teaches you about impact, reputation and turning up with a real point of view.
They get into the difference between brand and reputation - and why one lives in your mind and the other lives in everyone else's. They talk about what Melissa said when she was asked on a panel at Melbourne Business School what it feels like to hold power. And they share what they see every day from both sides of the table - the CEOs asking why their teams aren't thinking, and the executives wondering why they're not being seen.
Two former CEOs. 27 years of friendship. No filter.
https://bravefeminineleadership.com/the-executive-shift
https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/free-leadership-impact-strategy-call
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Mar 27, 2026
Friday Mar 27, 2026
Most of us have a story about who we are as a leader. The harder question is whether that story is true, or just the version we've rehearsed. In this conversation I sit down with Merle Singer, researcher, leadership developer, and creator of Epitome Leadership, to explore what three years of research across Australia and the US revealed about how women really lead. We get into the anxiety that showed up uninvited in her data, the gap between your brand and your reputation, and her four feminine archetypes: Sovereign, Consort, Empress, Seductress, that each carry their own relationship to power, their own gifts, and their own underbelly. This isn't a framework that boxes you in. It's a language for leading with more range, more agency, and a lot more honesty about what's actually driving you.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership