Episode #23: No More 'Only and Lonely' - Turn Your Uniqueness into Your Advantage with Michele Ashby

Now more than ever, boards are looking for qualified women candidates, but it can still be lonely at the top, especially with so few women in positions of corporate leadership. How can you turn your uniqueness into your advantage, and lead with your intellect and experience? In today’s conversation with Board Director, Michele Ashby, we came to the conclusion that we should no longer use the term “only and lonely” to refer to underrepresented groups and women in male-dominated work environments. Michele is an independent corporate director, named one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business in Colorado for 2019. She is an expert on board governance and helping you find your path to the boardroom. In this episode, we discuss visibility and having the strength to hold your ground, and Michele shares the personal transformation she had to undergo in oder to become a champion for women in the boardroom. She also has some poignant advice for women looking to climb the corporate ladder, proposing that they prioritize themselves and never settle for less. Listeners also find out more about Michele’s programs and courses, and she shares her goal to train 1,000 women from diverse backgrounds. Learn from Michele about how she leads with curiosity, is always willing to learn, and how she mustered the initiative and confidence to grow her network, build something out of nothing, and turn her uniqueness into her advantage. Tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• How Michele became a board expert with a background in mining and finance.
• How Michele gained the support and visibility she needed to become a board member.
• Being invisible isn’t something Michele accepts – she demands the attention she deserves.
• Developing the necessary skills to hold her ground in a male-dominated environment.
• The role Michele’s family played in helping her develop the confidence she needed.
• Working with men versus working with women: Michele had to learn to trust women.
• Becoming a champion for women in the boardroom and the internal transformation that meant for Michele.
• Retooling or shifting her own thinking by talking to 200 women over 18 months.
• Bringing women to the board as qualified candidates and teaching them executive vernacular.
• Standing out as a young, motivated women in a male-dominated industry.
• Michele believes that curiosity, openness, and being willing to learn are crucial traits.
• Flip your thinking! Believe that you deserve to be paid for what you bring to the table.
• Michele advises women to prioritize themselves, to cut out what is sucking energy from them.
• No more only and lonely – if you’re standing on your own, you have the floor, so use it!
• What Michele teaches the women in her programs, particularly her board certification course.
• Overcoming the barriers the patriarchy has set up for women without creating new barriers.
• Translating the patriarchal model into words that women understand.
• How we can change the way we dance with adversity by appreciating what it’s teaching us.
• Michele talks about her goal to train 1,000 women from diverse backgrounds to sit on boards.
• The ongoing engagement Michele has with those who have completed one of her programs.