In this episode of Lead to Soar, Susan Colantuono interviews Michelle Redfern about mentoring, sponsorship, and the career advice women are still not being given.
Susan Colantuono is the founder and former CEO of Leading Women and a globally recognised authority on women’s leadership. She is best known for her TED Talk The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get and for her books No Ceiling, No Walls and Make the Most of Mentoring, which challenge the conventional wisdom that keeps women stalled in middle management.
Michelle Redfern is the co-founder of Lead to Soar and the founder of Advancing Women, a research and advisory practice focused on fixing leadership systems rather than remediating women. Her work centres on business acumen, judgement, and the conditions required for women to progress into senior leadership.
Together, Susan and Michelle examine:
Why most mentoring programs focus on comfort rather than career impact
The difference between CAKE mentoring and PIE mentoring, and why it matters
How advice without commercial and strategic context limits progression
What women actually need from mentors at different stages of their careers
This episode is relevant for women navigating career progression, and for leaders, sponsors, and organisations designing mentoring programs who want outcomes, not good intentions.
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