Welcome to episode 106 with Helen Appleby . Helen is a British, New York based executive coach and women’s leadership trainer. She is also a speaker, and author. Prior to becoming a full-time coach, Helen was a VP and Global Business Leader for GlaxoSmithKline.

Working with senior leaders and high performing women, Helen admits she “likes growing people more than she likes growing brands or businesses!”

You can find out more about how Helen helps women achieve their vision and version of success.  Visit her website www.helenapplebycoaching.com and read her book, “The Unwritten Rules of Women’s Leadership” available on Amazon.

So, what does this episode cover?

We discuss the story behind Helen’s book.  Helen explains as a young girl her dad told her that girls can do anything boys can.  However, in practise developing her career was harder than he made out and indeed she anticipated!  On her journey to success, Helen learnt a lot and wished she’d been taught earlier what she later learnt throughout her career.  Helen didn’t feel she had been well equipped to navigate the corporate world initially. She meant as a woman and that she had to learn it ‘on the job’.

It was this that led her to write her book, to teach the distinctions that women need to succeed differently from men.  Helen’s book is really rules, tips, tools, and processes that you need to know about to enhance your chances of success as a woman.  Helen highlights ‘Good girl syndrome’ where we are all programmed to be ‘good girls’ from an early age.  For example, if you work hard at school and get good grades you’ll be noticed.  However, in the business world playing by those rules doesn’t necessarily lead to success!

What makes us more successful?

We all carry out visible and invisible work, but we are all only really judged on our visible work.  Learning how to make your work more visible helps you to get the recognition you deserve. And that helps you get paid more and get promoted!  The ‘Unwritten Rules of Women’s Leadership’ is about providing women with the self-awareness, confidence, and tools to lead yourself. It also teaches how to lead your teams, and your organization effectively. Based on Helen’s years of experience, research and best-practice thinking, it distils what she knows in to what women need to succeed in business but aren’t taught at work.

This is really such a great episode, very enlightening and not to be missed.