12 | The Strategy Gap Holding Working Moms Back from Leadership featuring Liz Weber

🎧 Podcast Show Notes (Apple & Spotify – SEO Optimized)

Do you ever feel like you're checking all the boxes at work—but still not seen as a strategic leader? You’re not alone.

In this episode, I’m joined by Liz Weber, renowned leadership strategist and consultant who has helped leaders in over 20 countries step into clarity and influence.

Liz shares:

• Why so many women get stuck in the execution trap
• The real reason strategy feels “out of reach” for many leaders
• How to shift from doer to visionary
• Simple frameworks to lead smarter—not harder

If you're a high-performing mom in leadership or management, and you're tired of being overlooked—don’t miss this.

🔑 Key Takeaways: ✔️ Strategy isn’t just for CEOs—it’s a skill working moms can master

✔️ If you’re not seen as strategic, promotions will pass you by

✔️ Leading with clarity starts with vision and communication

✔️ You don’t need more tasks—you need more impact

🎁 Free Gift from Liz Weber:

Leadership Stage Assessment: Discover your current stage and what you need to grow

Connect with her on LinkedIn

📌 Free Resource for Working Moms in Leadership:

🎯 Take the Leadership Style Quiz to uncover your unique strengths and lead with confidence:

👉 https://theshannonfox.com/leadership-style

Kat and Tanner by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Transcript

Intro:

Welcome to the Shannon Fox Show, the podcast where we empower career moms to thrive. I'm your host, Shannon Fox, a career advancement coach dedicated to helping moms like you leverage your strengths to land your dream job, secure that well-deserved raise, or finally get that promotion—all without sacrificing time with your family. Each week, I’ll bring you actionable strategies, inspiring stories, and strength-based tools to help you align your career with your natural gifts and step into your full potential. So, if you’re ready to stop feeling stuck and start building the career and life you deserve, you’re in the right place. Let’s get started.

Shannon Fox:

Hello and welcome. I am honored to have Liz Weber with me today. Liz has been named one of 2025 Top 30 Global Gurus for Leadership along with John Maxwell. So when Liz Weber talks, her clients listen. Liz is an advisor to board owners and C-suite teams. She’s a strategic and succession planning consultant, author, and speaker. Liz helps her clients focus on the right things at the right time to get the right impact. As a result, they enhance their performance, profits, and their workplace culture. Welcome, Liz. I’m so excited to have you today.

Liz Weber:

Thank you, Shannon. I’m happy to be here.

Shannon Fox:

So you’ve worked with a lot of high-level leaders and executive teams. What’s one of the number one leadership challenges you’re seeing right now?

Liz Weber:

Well, I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody, but it’s figuring out what to focus on because things are changing so rapidly. We’ve been hearing that for decades, but it really is fast right now. So it’s a matter of identifying what to focus on with the resources—basically the people, the teams that they have, the money they have, the capital they have—to really get the most positive impact for the resources that they have.

Shannon Fox:

Yes, yes. So we have a lot of career moms that are listening to us right now. So I would assume that they struggle with having a team and maybe pushing them hard, or maybe they’re in a position where they have a manager that’s trying to push them hard, where they don’t want to quit, but they also are getting burned out. So do you have any suggestions for them?

Liz Weber:

This comes into their level of confidence in themselves and their understanding of what the organization they work for does. And that sounds pretty basic, but here’s my suggestion, Shannon. I encourage working moms, professionals, to be comfortable asking, when they’re dumped something else to do: “Is this the new priority?” or “What do you want me to focus on first?” Because everything can’t be a priority—we know that.

And here’s the thing: You need to use acting skills. You can’t say, “What’s the new priority?” And the attitude can’t come out, which we all want it to come out, because we’re like, “Come on, give me a break.” Exactly. But this is where acting skills come into play to say, “Okay, is this a new priority, or what do you want me to put aside to get this done?”

And when that question comes out, a strong manager will say either yes or no. A less strong manager will get a little bit nervous by it and they’ll say, “Well, make it happen.” And then that’s where I recommend career moms, working moms say, “Well, I tell you what—then if they’re both a priority, I’m going to finish what I was working on, and then I’ll tackle this one next until you tell me otherwise.” And so you clarify again, in a non-confrontational way, where you’re going to put your focus so that you don’t stress yourself out thinking that somehow you have to magically do both things—or 15 things—at the same time.

You start identifying the priorities and then you tell that to the manager or whomever, and it’s up to them then to redirect or correct if it needs to be corrected.

Shannon Fox:

I love that. And I would assume that that would have a lot to do with the workplace culture as well—having that good communication with your manager or your boss. Are there ways that they can strengthen that bond or that culture to ensure that those talks and those hard conversations are a little bit easier?

Liz Weber:

Yeah, I think it’s a really good question. And it ties into what I was just saying. Acting skills come into play. Patience is a virtue. I would hold on to that little saying as well.

But everybody is struggling right now. And managers—my clients—are struggling right now. For any of your working moms that are managers, you’re really struggling because you’ve got to get your own work done. You’ve got to clear roadblocks for your team. You’ve got to listen to them and all their complaints. You have to fix their problems.

So it becomes this typhoon of issues. So any time a team member can make life a little bit easier for their boss in a subtle way, it’s a huge relief. And what I mean by that is there’s a way to say to your managers, “Hey, you know, I was kind of thinking about this. Would it make sense if we would do X next instead of Z?”

And the reason I’m suggesting that—it will save us time and money over here. And it’s going to save you a lot of work over on that area. And you’re not overtly sucking up or anything like that. You’re serving as somewhat of a breath of fresh air to say, “Hey, have you considered this versus that?”

And here’s the key thing, Shannon. This is why I say acting skills are important. It’s the tone of your voice, or the tone of your text, or the tone of your Slack message, or whatever—that can change everything.

There’s a very big difference in, “Hey Shannon, could you consider that we do X instead of Z? And let me explain what I’m thinking,” versus, “Shannon, have you considered...?”

You know, it sounds petty and it sounds basic and we can laugh at it in this conversation, but how many times have you and I interacted with somebody that just the tone of their voice, just the way they phrased something—you want to tell them, “Well, go take a hike,” versus, “Well, no, I hadn’t thought about that. Let’s talk about that more.”

And so to ease frustrations and to actually have a potential to influence decisions and influence outcomes, tone of voice and the way things are said carry a whole lot of weight.

The idea is, if you can make life easier for them—and by that, I mean easier for them to make a decision, easier for them to clear a roadblock for you or others, easier for them to say, “Okay, let’s go with option B”—anything like that, that makes their life a little bit easier to move something forward, honestly makes it easier for you too.

Shannon Fox:

Yes. And I think with that too, your boss will see you as a leader. So as you want to maybe get a promotion from manager to director, director to VP—that will also come into play because you're speaking in a way that says, "I'm giving you A and B, this is making it easier," you're coming to them with concrete information. So when it's time for you to get that raise or promotion, you're already setting the stage for that.

Liz Weber:

Absolutely. And you're already changing the tenor of your relationship with your manager, because now you're not another, "Oh God, here she comes." You're now, "Oh, hey, Shannon. What do you want? What can I help you with?"

And that ability to have access, that ability to have influence, that ability to be looked at not as a headache but as an ally and as a partner is huge. It is huge. And it will serve you well, as you said, in whatever level of hierarchy you're in—that’s the kind of person we all want to work with.

Shannon Fox:

Right, right. We want somebody that’s going to come positive and not just drag it down. You don’t want those negative Nancys out there.

Liz Weber:

Well, you don’t want the negative Nancys and you don’t want the ones who feel like they’re just, you know, like you’re sinking in the ocean and you’re holding on to a buoy and they’re climbing on top of you, you know? That every time they interact with you, they’re sucking something from you or they want something from you. You’re looking for someone who can work with you and move forward with you.

Shannon Fox:

Yeah. So now that we've talked a little bit about that, what are some other mistakes that you think managers or these career moms could possibly be making that weaken their leadership impact?

Liz Weber:

Actually, it's a great question because I just finished up a program today that I'm going to be speaking at a conference this weekend to a group of women in leadership. And one of the tips I'm going to share with them is: maintain ownership of your ideas.

And what I mean by that is—we’ve all experienced, whether you're a woman or a man, we’ve all experienced it sometime. But I will tell you from my experience, women allow this to happen more than men do. If we are in a group setting, whether it's virtual or in person, whatever, and we say something and it doesn't seem to land—it doesn't seem to resonate—and then, you know, 10–15 minutes later, somebody else says it and it's like, "Oh, that's a great idea." And we're like, "Well, that was my idea."

And quite often, we can get irritated and either get angry or pouty or mad, but we shut down. And then we can be like, "Shannon, did you see that again? They took my idea." And I'll tell my friends about it at work, but I won’t maintain ownership of the idea.

So here's my tip: when that type of thing happens, instead of getting mad and shutting down or getting angry, say, "Absolutely. Roger, thanks for bringing it up—that's what I was trying to communicate or express before, and I obviously didn't say it right. So let me explain a little bit more." And you get yourself back in the conversation, you maintain ownership of that idea, and you can either take it further or contradict what the other person just said and spin the idea.

The main point is, if someone else has taken your idea—or a facsimile thereof—and is now moving it forward, engage in that conversation and stay attached to that idea. Because you obviously had that idea. You obviously have some thought behind it. You may have some data behind it. Speak up and continue to participate in that conversation.

That’s also something that I see women that are in more senior roles do very well. It's not about who said the idea. It's about the idea. And until we get comfortable moving ideas forward, it's easy for us to get stuck in whose idea it was.

Shannon Fox:

Right. And I think some of that must come from their confidence in themselves as well.

Liz Weber:

It could be coming from the confidence in themselves and the ability to be comfortable that—honestly, in a work situation, sometimes, Shannon, you and I might get in a conversation, we might be talking like this—it doesn’t mean we’re arguing. It means we’re getting excited about ideas and we both have firm convictions about our side. And that’s okay. It’s not personal.

We’re just convinced that our side and our data might be strong at this point. We want to make sure we get it across. And that’s a confidence level as well—being able to comfortably defend your idea.

Shannon Fox:

I love that. That’s amazing. So many organizations avoid succession planning until it’s too late. Do you help leaders? How do you help leaders embrace it as a necessary strategy rather than a painful process?

Liz Weber:

I try to make it as simple as possible and as realistic as possible. And succession planning, like strategic planning, when people have experienced it in the past and they have these nightmares remembering it—it’s typically because it was a very cumbersome process.

So with succession planning, when I work with my clients, it’s simply identifying: If you are not available, who else can do the work that you’re responsible for to keep it moving forward?

And going forward, given the type of work that needs to be done—whether it's in your position or your team or your company—what types of talent and skills do you need to have and either develop internally or acquire externally to make these things happen?

So succession planning is identifying, with a line of sight—whether it's with the current people or additional people that you plan on bringing to the organization—what is the development of skill sets and exposure to different opportunities and different scenarios that we need to put in front of people to make sure that they are ready to do what’s needed?

I look at succession more as talent development and proactive talent planning versus figuring out, “Oh, when do we think Shannon’s going to retire?” and then we better look for somebody. That’s plugging a hole.

I want to look at a process of making sure that if Shannon wins the lottery—good for her, jealous of her—but she might leave tomorrow, and we want to make sure that the other two team members that have interacted with her and worked with her can slide in fairly seamlessly and cover until we can find a long-term replacement for her.

So it becomes a situation of really looking at succession planning more as an opportunity to create a really agile, interchangeable team that is very flexible and that enables seamless transitions.

Shannon Fox:

Does it matter or change depending on if it is like a family business that’s been, you know, not handed down, but gone from like grandpa to dad to son—or in this case, we would say women—but does it matter if it’s a family business? How would you do it differently with a family business, or does it not change really?

Liz Weber:

The theory doesn’t change. The challenge that is a little bit different with family business is where I spend a great deal more time talking with the family members—particularly the founder—whether it’s dad or mom or mom and dad, whatever it usually is.

And then if it goes to gen one, gen two—if it’s son or daughter—it’s a matter of looking at: What is the position you are asking your daughter to fulfill? And does she have the skill sets and the attributes to be able to be successful in that position? Because that position is responsible for 327 employees.

Now, I know you love your daughter, but do you want to put her in a situation where she’s going to fail and these 300-and-something employees might lose their jobs? Or do we want to look at a situation where maybe we give your daughter a little bit longer runway and we train her, give her different opportunities to work in different positions throughout the company, while either you stay on as CEO or we bring in an interim CEO that can also work with her and give her time to get her legs under her to then really do the job?

So that’s a long answer to say—we focus more heavily and very objectively on: I understand you love your daughter and I understand you love your child, but this is a business. You want them to succeed. And you have an obligation for the employees that currently depend upon this business—and you and the leadership you’ve had—to ensure that there is a good transition. So let’s make it a good transition.

Shannon Fox:

I love that because just because—let’s say mom has a business and she’s very outgoing and very business savvy and very strategic—doesn’t mean daughter is. Daughter could be more the creative one and maybe be better at doing like marketing stuff versus head CEO. And that’s okay. We play to our strengths.

Liz Weber:

Right. But you know there are other situations—and I’ve worked with them—where you’ve got daughter, and she’s got the business brain, but dad for some reason thinks it should go to the oldest son, who’s a great sales rep, he’s great at business development, he loves playing golf—but he doesn’t understand finances and is really dangerous when you put him around money.

So it’s a conversation again around—let’s break the mindset of whatever your family traditional hierarchy and mindset has been, and really focus on what each position in the company needs as far as who the incumbent will be to be the most successful in that role.

And then let’s tee the people up and coach them up to really have the right skills to do a great job so they’re successful, and the company’s successful, and it can stay around for another couple of generations.

Shannon Fox:

Definitely, definitely. I love that. So given today’s tight labor market, how can organizations attract and retain top talent?

Liz Weber:

Be an organization that attracts and retains top talent. And by doing that, it’s a lot of the things we’ve just talked about. It’s creating an environment where:

Number one, you are clear where you want to take the organization. So anybody that you bring in during the interview process—you make it clear to them upon the first interview where this organization is going and how they, given the position that they’re interviewing for, would fit in.

You talk right away—I have all my clients talk on day one, the very first interview—talk about the culture, talk about values. And how a person responds to that—whether they kind of roll their eyes going, “Oh yeah, this touchy-feely crap,” or if they actually care and ask questions—it gives an indication of: Does this person understand the impact of a strong culture versus a weak culture, a positive culture versus a non-positive culture, and what that can do to productivity and to profits?

The third thing—it goes back to where we started our conversation—is really working with their leadership team to ensure that they are, every day, working on amplifying a culture that is conducive to employees wanting to show up every day—whether it’s in person or virtual—and feel comfortable raising issues, sharing ideas, speaking up regardless of position, feeling comfortable being able to push back and challenge and try something different without fear of, you know, getting their head ripped off because they tried something or they said something out of turn during a meeting.

So it’s a lot of those, on the surface, seemingly basic things. But to the very first question that we started with—given how high pressure everything is right now and how fast-paced it is—companies really need to be intentional about saying, “We want to be a good place to be.” We want employees and potential employees to want to work here, because when they think about work on Sunday night, they don’t go, “Oh God,” they’re like, “Tomorrow! Great weekend, but I got to get back to work tomorrow. I wonder what Shannon was doing over the weekend. I can’t wait to talk to her tomorrow.” You want that kind of a mindset and that kind of a feel.

Shannon Fox:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you. Where can our listeners connect with you?

Liz Weber:

The easiest place to connect with me is I’m most active on LinkedIn, and my call sign on LinkedIn is Liz Weber CMC—and Weber has one B. But they’re also free to go to my website. I have a monthly blog; they can sign up for that. My website is W as in whiskey, B as in bravo, S as in Sierra, L as in Lima, C as in Charlie—wbsllc.com.

Shannon Fox:

And we’ll have that in the show notes.

Liz Weber:

Yes.

Shannon Fox:

And you have some free resources for our listeners too, right?

Liz Weber:

Sure. If anybody would like to take a free leadership assessment to identify which of my five stages of leadership they currently are operating in, again, they’re welcome to go to my website wbsllc.com and click in the top corner—there’s an orange triangle—they can click there. They can again scroll to the footer and they’ll find the assessment.

Also, they can go to the blog—I’ve got over 400 articles in my blog, lots of leadership topics, things about succession planning, strategic planning—and they’re welcome to dive in there and use anything there they can.

Shannon Fox:

Awesome. Make sure you go take advantage of that.

So as we end, I love to leave my listeners with an action step. So what is something that—a small but powerful change—leaders could make today to improve their impact?

Liz Weber:

That’s a good question. I would suggest that leaders take a step back and assess: What is frustrating me with my team and how they’re performing, how they’re behaving, where the morale level is—and what can I do differently to turn it around?

Shannon Fox:

I love that. That’s great advice. Well, thank you so much, Liz, for being here with us today. I appreciate it.

Liz Weber:

Thank you, Shannon. This was fun.

Outro:

Thanks so much for tuning into the Shannon Fox Show! If you found value in today’s episode, I’d love for you to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another career mom who’s ready to thrive.

Don’t forget to grab your free Mastery Zone Discovery Quiz where you’ll uncover your strengths and take the first step toward aligning your career with your superpowers. You can also connect with me on Instagram at @the.shannon.fox for more tips and inspiration.

Until next time, remember: You’re not just building a career—you’re creating a life you love. Let’s make this happen.