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A book in making. A map carving itself to assist you on your own journey of leading. This episode is a glimpse into the love hate relationship I’ve had with the process of writing this book. A book that marks the journey of 24 women from all over the world, who set out on an Expedition to find an approach to Leadership - and found instead a new verb - Leading. What will this book be about? Listen to know more. ‘If That’s Leading, I’m In’ - Book up for Pre-Order. Drop us an email at info@womenemerging.org saying ‘If that’s Leading, I’m In,’ and you’ll be the first one to know when it’s out.

Has your womanhood made you feel like an outsider? How do you claim your power in a room full of dominating energies? In conversation with Uma Chatterjee, redefining power in its purest form.

How do you ground yourself, when the whole room is showering you with energy and looking up to you googly eyed, as their leader? In conversation with Sarah Henry, uncovering all the mistakes one can make when in the position of power over others energies, and how to avoid those terrible traps, for your own health, before anybody else’s.

How do you start seeing your team members, not as colleagues, but as energy? How to best uplift their energy? How to create a momentum such that even when you’re not around as a leader, the energy of the team keeps expanding? What to do when this spiral of energy goes in the exact opposite direction than desired? How to let go of those pulling down the energy, and toughest of all, how do you hold onto your own energy when stepping into toxic or unknown territories? #teammanagement Alia Whitney Johnson uncovers all these answers in this week's #podcast Episode.

Liz makes the case for leading being about energy. Good and bad. Frustrating or empowering. Draining or generating.

Our last seven podcast episodes have focused on essence. What those of us on the expedition found when our exploring went internal before it went external. We came up with seven pieces of our essence, each one uncovered in the last seven episodes. Here Mona Sinha and I pull the episodes together and highlight the bits that will stick with each of us for ever.

Once you have tasted leadership at school “you can never weave that power out of me”. When 12 years old Isata achieved the impossible and lead a change to her school’s uniform life changed for her. Isata challenges leaders to think long and hard about their own education. Whether they been encouraged to question and whether they have got used to being questioned themselves, because if the answer to either is ‘no’ it will have had a huge influence on how they lead. This is the final in the series of episodes about what is in women’s essence that deeply influences how they lead. Isata talks about formal education. And Julia talks about informal education and the impact on young girls of years of being told to be quiet. And the habits that as women leaders they have to dig out of themselves to be heard.

You have ancestors and you will be an ancestors. Hinemoa Elder encourages us to think through how your ancesters stories affect how you lead, after all “the you are living representation of your ancestors all the time” . She also suggests it’s a good idea to think through what you want your descendants will be saying about you as their ancestor one day.

Food plays a crucial role in motherness according to Melissa. Whose food, leadership and motherness was a big feature of the women emerging expedition for the 24 women who explored for over a year to find ‘an approach to leadership that resonates with women’ Here Melissa, also known as the ‘hugging CEO’ speaks about what women translate from motherness to leadership.

Trauma impacts your sense of self, your emotional regulation, your cognition, your behaviours, your body and your relationships. As Ayesha Mian says every single one of these will have a direct impact on your leadership. It can be your own trauma and no one escapes trauma, after all the greatest trauma as a child is the result of neglect. And it can be inherited trauma or secondary trauma.

The infinite game. Once you realise that it’s not about winning or loosing but about keeping on playing, then your leadership changes. Because collaboration becomes the only option. I spoke to Ana Luz Porzecanski about how nature has formed her essence as a leader for over twenty years. And as we spoke the expression infinite game became more and more compelling.

Here Katrina Webb puts Sarah Henry and I right , the expression she always goes back to is “your body is your barometer” . Katrina tells us that we need to listen to it. Because it is so often right! She says she meets too many leaders who are intellectual and spend too much time in their heads. Our bodies might just tell us to lie down quietly or run up a hill NOW - just at the right moment - before we blow the next meeting or process or thinking. And Katrina adds that a strong relationship with our bodies is a starting point for having a strong relationship with others, it helps us to judge as leaders  “when to come in and out”.

The spiritual - or rather the sacred as Aparna Uppaluri says - has always been a deeply powerful resource to women. After all in a world where there is little else to rely on it is not a surprise. In this episode Aparna tells us why the sacred is part of her essence as a leader and how this shapes how she leads in her daily life

‘An accidental leader’ this is how Folawe Omikunle describes herself. Avoiding leadership right through her education, jumping into jobs because she fell in love with their cause and blind to their leadership challenges, leadership was never on her agenda. But Folawe does now accept that even if she still doesn’t think of herself as a leader, the people around her do, so “I have to accept it”. Looking back this ‘accidental leader’ reflects on how much easier it would have been, how more confident she would have been, how she could have channelled her energies better, if there had been an ‘approach to leadership that resonated for her’ available. Then she could have “taken the blindfolds off”

Music was everywhere in Bellagio. Sung by all, composed by Anna Kuk , played by Katya Guryeva, shared by Hinemoa Elder and Ana Luz Porzecanski and Dr Ayesha Mian, danced to by Aparna Uppaluri. Why? Surely we were there for the serious business of capturing - as our #expedition drew to a close - an ‘approach to leadership that resonates with women’. We did. And it called for music to bring us together, lift our eyes, reveal our inferences, land our thoughts, dance to new tunes, combine our ideas and create our poetry. This hastily put together episode as we leave will give you more of a sense things.

women leaders need female friendships if they are to survive and thrive.

Mothering teenagers is generally considered to be a nightmare. Samia and Saba make it look easier. And show us how it makes us better leaders. Saba even admits to reading many leadership books that persuaded her that she had to change but that it was only when her teenage sons said the same thing to her that she actually did. Of mothering she says “I thought I was there to teach my sons but rapidly realised how much they were teaching me and this translated directly and forcefully to my leadership. “ There is so much learning in this episode for leaders. I also pull out Samia’s words about communication skills and making sure that you are constantly upskilling them as a leader. Things change, generations are different, how we communicate has to evolve. And if we don't, Samia says we develop “cataracts” and don't see things.

If you have to conceal how much mothering has changed you when you return to work after your first baby, all the extraordinary learning and growing could get squandered.

If you are the conductor of a famous orchestra who must accept leading from the front, even if it’s hard to be so visible. And then you throw your whole body into your leadership. As it suggests and invites your team to give not just with their hands but their heads and hearts too. I hope i express the glorious nature of Martyna Pastuszka interview this week. She was complemented by Anna Kuk who leads from the middle and has found that it’s possible to lead from the middle and be visible.

These two women in Brazil are amazing. I just had to divert the podcast and speak to expedition member Camila Pontual who knows and loves them both about what they did last week. 24 hours after the building had been trashed, when many leaders were hiding in their bunkers, Anielle Franco and Sonia Guajajara joined forces and became ministers in the new government. I wanted to both celebrate them and learn leadership from them. Leaders have to spot the moment and do something spectacular in it.