Leading Her Introvert Way: Conversations about executive leadership, career growth, business and mindset for mid-life Black women.

79: The Quiet Climb: How Three Black Introverted Women Reached Executive Roles

• Nicole Bryan • Episode 79

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In this episode, Dr. Nicole Bryan shares transformative stories of three Black introverted women who successfully navigated their careers to secure executive roles. Through strategic visibility, sponsorship, and self-discovery, these women overcame barriers and self-doubt, demonstrating that introversion can be an asset in leadership. The episode emphasizes the importance of leveraging one's strengths and changing the narrative around career advancement for Black women.


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* Ready to implement these strategies? Join my free webinar on April 12th, From Invisible to Incredible: Strategies For Black Introverted Women To Get An Executive Promotion In 5 Months Or Less Path  where I’ll share my complete executive sponsorship blueprint with specific implementation tools. Register here: https://services.thechangedoc.com/execpromotion


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Speaker 1:

Hi, lady Leader, and welcome back to another episode of the Leading Her Introvert Way podcast. I'm Dr Nicole Bryan and I help Black introverted women land their next senior leader role, become elite executive leaders and build career wealth. Today, we're going to do something a little different. Today, I'm going to share something that is incredibly powerful. I'm going to talk about the real stories of Black introverted women who went from attending my webinar to securing executive roles in five months or less. Now listen, these are not hypothetical situations. They are not theoretical possibilities. These are actual transformations of women who became my clients and who were exactly where you are right now. They were brilliant, they were qualified, yet for some reason, they were stuck below the executive level, despite their capabilities, just like I know. You are brilliant, you are qualified, but despite all the things that you've tried and all the ways that you believe that you should be in higher level roles, you're not able to get there. After our webinar a few weeks ago, I received so many direct messages from women expressing both excitement about the possibilities and skepticism about whether the strategies that they learned would actually work for them specifically, and today I want to address that skepticism head on by sharing the journeys of three clients who started exactly where you might be right now. These women are not unicorns with perfect circumstances. They face the same barriers, the same doubts and the same systemic challenges that you're navigating today. The difference is that they made the decision to proactively stop waiting and start implementing a revolutionary approach to executive advancement.

Speaker 1:

Okay, let's start with my girl, brianna. Let me tell you about her. She was a senior director at a global technology company who had been stuck at that level for almost four years Now. As a deeply introverted Black woman, she'd been repeatedly told that she needed to be more visible, she needed to speak up more and she needed to network more extensively in order to reach the executive level. She tried to force herself to be more extroverted. She was trying to attend every networking event. She was forcing herself to speak in every meeting several times. She was even working with a communication coach to be more dynamic. But guess what happened? That's right.

Speaker 1:

Other than being completely exhausted, nothing else came out of all of that work and all of that pushing herself that she tried to do. She definitely did not get the promotion that she was looking for when, definitely did not get the promotion that she was looking for when Brianna came to my webinar in 2024, she was very, very skeptical. She'd invested in other programs and other coaches before, but none had addressed the specific challenges she faced as both being Black and being introverted. So when we started working together, we immediately shifted her approach. So instead of trying to become more extroverted, we developed what I called her strategic visibility matrix, and if you've been listening to this series in the past five or six weeks all of our podcast episodes we've talked about the strategic visibility matrix here before. It's a system that showcases her brilliant strategic thinking without requiring constant verbal self-promotion. If you were at the webinar a few weeks ago, from invisible to invincible, you learned about the strategic visibility matrix because we did a deep dive in there. That's the matrix. That's the tool that Brianna was using. Rather than trying to speak more in meetings, she created powerful documentation of her thinking that circulated to decision makers. So instead of exhausting herself with broad networking, she focused on building deep, authentic relationships with three specific executives who could influence her advancement Three sponsors inside her same company. Within three months, she was invited to lead a high visibility strategic initiative that had previously only been assigned to vice president level leaders. By month five. She was promoted to that vice president level, with a $72,000 increase in total compensation.

Speaker 1:

The most powerful part of Breonna's story is not just the promotion or even the compensation. It's that she achieved this advancement by leveraging her introvert strengths rather than suppressing them. She didn't have to become someone else to reach the executive level. She simply needed a strategy that worked with her natural abilities rather than against them. Now, when you hear that story, I want you to think about all the similarities there that you are currently experiencing and I want you to think about whether you can see yourself accomplishing the same things that Brianna did. One of the things that I would say as an executive leader is you get to a certain level in your leadership journey when you're kind of making that transition from middle manager to senior leader to executive, where your learning has to come from your experiences. Right as a leader who is advancing her career, you want to learn from the things that you are doing, the things that you are being exposed to, as well as from other women's journey. You want to pull the see. The mistakes that someone else has made helps you to become a stronger leader, and I'm hoping that you got that out of listening and got some components of that out of listening to Brianna's story, I got another story for you, and it's about Renee.

Speaker 1:

Now, renee was a senior manager in a financial services firm, and Renee had been told for years that she was a high potential leader. Right, that might be you. You may have been told and are being told right now, how strong of a performer you are, how much leadership potential you have, yet you are not moving up in your career. That's what happened to Renee. She was told time and time again that she was a high potential, that she was on the succession plans within her organization, yet somehow that potential and being on the succession plan never actually translated to actual executive advancement. She watched as less qualified colleagues, particularly white men, were promoted ahead of her. The feedback that she got was vague and it was inconsistent. Sometimes she was not strategic enough, other times she was too direct and occasionally she simply wasn't ready. Yet Renee had nearly given up on reaching the executive level, believing that the barriers of bias were simply too freaking high for her to overcome.

Speaker 1:

She attended my webinar with limited expectations, mostly hoping for validation of her experience, rather than actually believing that there was a solution when she and I started working together, we implemented what I call the executive sponsorship blueprint. Now again, if you are listening to this episode and you attended my April 12th webinar, we talked about the executive sponsorship blueprint as well. It's a strategic approach to securing advocates who would speak for her advancement even when she wasn't in the room. So, instead of trying to network broadly, renee identified three specific executives whose sponsorship could significantly impact her advancement. She had to think really carefully and be very selective about who she identified to be her sponsors. So, rather than approaching them with generic requests for mentorship, she demonstrated her value by creating strategic solutions to their specific pain points. One of the questions that I get all the time when I encourage people to secure sponsors is well, why would they want to sponsor me? Thinking that, and assuming that sponsorship is a one-way street and it's not no matter how junior you are in relation to the person that you've identified who you want to be your sponsor, there's always something that you can give in return for what you receive.

Speaker 1:

Within two months, renee was doing her thing. One of the executives was actually creating opportunities for her to demonstrate her capabilities in meetings, on projects and in other contexts that mattered. By month four. She had built such a compelling case for her executive readiness that, when a VP position opened, two different executives advocated for her candidacy. Renee got the role. Guys, she got the role, and she got the role with a $94,000 increase in total compensation. Now what's remarkable is that the same organization that had overlooked her for years suddenly saw her executive potential. The environment hadn't changed. It's the same organization, but Renee's strategic approach shifted. This was not about playing politics or being authentic. It was about understanding how executive decisions actually happen and it was about Renee positioning herself strategically within that reality.

Speaker 1:

Okay, here's the third story. Now this is about Alicia, alicia, alicia. She struggled a lot with self-doubt, so I want to share Alicia's story because it addresses what might be the most common barrier that I see with so many Black introverted women that I have the opportunity to talk to and I have the opportunity to work with, and that barrier is the internal one. So, despite her impressive credentials and consistent high performance, alicia didn't see herself as executive material. Not only did she not see herself as executive material, she struggled with even being self-aware enough to realize that she didn't see herself as executive material, and what she did was probably like I've done in the past, you might be doing it right now is that she focused so much on the external barriers and trying to point out where these external barriers were and blaming the external barriers for her lack of career progression, that she didn't even see that 70% of the problem was inside of her.

Speaker 1:

As a senior director who consistently delivered exceptional results, alicia was respected by her team and her peers, but when we first connected, after she attended my webinar last year, she confessed that she didn't feel ready. She did not feel ready for executive leadership. She worried about being exposed as inadequate, she worried about facing increased scrutiny as a Black woman, and she worried about whether or not she could handle the pressure. Literally, she thought, if she ever got into an executive role, that she was going to crack under the weight of it. What we discovered, though, was that this wasn't actually about capability. It was about her identity. Alicia had never seen herself as an executive because she didn't match the traditional executive prototype, particularly not within her company. As a thoughtful, introverted Black woman, she did not see herself reflected in the predominantly white, predominantly male, predominantly extroverted executive team. Our work together focused heavily on what I call the executive identity development. That was all about reconciling her authentic self with executive leadership rather than seeing them as mutually exclusive. So, rather than trying to become someone different, we positioned her authentic strengths as executive qualifications.

Speaker 1:

Alicia began creating what she called executive perspective documents, and those were one page strategic viewpoints on organizational challenges that showcased her thinking. They're like thought papers, basically right, it was her opportunity, because she was not a strong public speaker, but she was a phenomenal writer. What we decided to do was to allow her to get her thoughts out in a way that she was able to leverage her strength, which was writing. She was able to leverage her strength, which was writing, and use those papers, her written thoughts, and get those in front of other executives and other decision makers. These documents circulated to senior leadership and it created visibility for her strategic thinking capability, without requiring her to be the loudest voice in the room, without requiring her to do a lot of public speaking, but leveraging her paper and pen, because that was where she was strong. She also implemented the opportunity creation framework. Now, if you know, you know we talked about this every workshop that I have, every webinar that I have. I talk about the opportunity creation framework. So, if you were here with me in the webinar on April 12th. You heard about this as well. She implemented the opportunity creation framework, developing a proposal for a new strategic initiative that aligned organizational needs with her specific strengths. So, rather than continuing to wait for someone to tap her on the shoulder and give her an executive position, or continuing to wait for a position to come open, what she did was she effectively created one by identifying business needs that were there and unaddressed and unmet, but that needed and required executive level leadership. So ultimately, she pitched for the job that she wanted inside her company. Within five months, alicia was appointed to a newly created vice president role, leading the strategic initiative, and she got a $68,000 increase in compensation.

Speaker 1:

Beyond the title, beyond the compensation, the most significant part of her transformation was how Alicia saw herself. The woman who once questioned whether she was even good enough to be an executive was now confidently leading strategic initiatives that transformed her company. This was not about becoming someone different. It was about recognizing that her authentic self was actually perfectly suited for executive leadership, just not in the traditional mold. Listen, these three women, these three journeys Brianna's, renee's, alicia's they're just a small sample of the transformations I've witnessed and that I've had the pleasure to support. What makes them significant isn't just the promotions or the compensation increases, though those are damn good right. They're definitely important. What's truly powerful is that each of these women achieved executive advancement without compromising their values and without exhausting themselves through constant performance or shucking and driving. They didn't succeed by playing by the old rules. They succeeded by changing the rules entirely. Now, if any of their stories resonate with you, if you see aspects of your own experiences in their journeys, I want you to know that this transformation is available for you too.

Speaker 1:

Your introversion is not a barrier to overcome. It is potentially your greatest executive asset if you learn how to leverage it strategically. The biases you face are not insurmountable. They're real, but they're not insurmountable. They can be navigated with the right approach, and the self-doubt that you might feel isn't a reflection of your capability. It's simply the result of not yet having the right strategy. I have a few spots remaining in my elite executive experience.

Speaker 1:

Private coaching program for black introverted women. This program is specifically designed to help you navigate the unique barriers you face while leveraging your introvert strengths as assets rather than liabilities. If you are ready to explore whether this approach might be right for you, then use the link in my bio to set up some time for you and I to have a very real, a very low pressure, a very down to earth conversation where we get to talk about your specific situation, your career goals and the barriers that you're facing and how I might be able to help you overcome them. Remember your executive transformation isn't just possible. With the right approach, with the right strategies and with me as your coach, it could be just months away. Until next time, lady leader, keep leading her introvert way.

Speaker 1:

That's a wrap for this episode of Leading Her Way. Thanks for tuning in. If you have thoughts, questions or ideas for future topics, connect and send me a message on LinkedIn and if you enjoyed today's episode, subscribe. And please take a minute to write a quick review on Apple Podcasts. Your review will help spread the word to other ambitious females so they know they're not alone and that this podcast is a community of support for all of us. Leading her way to the top. Remember your leadership is needed. Your leadership is powerful, so lead boldly. Until next time.