INTRODUCTION

Welcome to The Pocket MBA! I'm so happy to have you on this journey with me. I hope that after reading this book, you'll feel the following:

1. a sense of comfort that you aren't alone in some of the issues you may have faced in your career
2. more assured in your direction and leadership ability
3. confident you finally have the tools to put in place all the stuff that enables you to kick back a little bit?-?without compromising your income.

Ultimately, these three things are the reasons I wrote this book! The Pocket MBA is all about empowering and helping you, as a woman leader, to create happier, high-performing and sustainable workplaces, freeing you up to do more of the things you love.

An express MBA?.

This book isn't a fluffy story about how I became a multimillionaire at age 40 by being a high-powered executive or a start-up genius?-?I am neither of those.

After working in sales roles for ten years, I moved into corporate leadership positions, building successful and high-performing teams over the next 15 years and achieving significant advancements in my career.

I have now invested in my own business as a franchisee, and my current staff turnover is less than 10 per cent?-?in an industry with an average turnover of 50 per cent. My business consistently sits in the top 10 nationally for its net promoter score (a customer experience metric), out of more than 200 franchises. Of all the businesses within the network of a similar age to mine, my business has over 500 per cent more five-star Google reviews.

Throughout my career, I have developed and followed certain methodologies and mindsets that helped achieve sustainable high performance?-?both in myself and in my teams. I provide an overview of these methods and frameworks throughout this book. Keep in mind, however, that I'm providing an express guide. This book is all about giving you a quick-start reference to succeeding in business as a woman leader. I provide the basics on the best methods and tools to focus on, along with some key tips and real-world anecdotes to help with your understanding. I don't provide a deep-dive into any of the particular areas?-?once you have a good idea about how each method can help you, your career and your business, you can research further as needed.

.?For women in business

Along my journey, however, I came up against certain challenges, and many of the kinds of challenges I faced are unique to women in business. These challenges include 'mansplaining', 'hepeating', sexual harassment, discrimination and the gender pay gap.

No doubt you know all about the mansplaining phenomenon, and have likely experienced it. An interesting US study by OnePoll surveyed 2000 women in the modern workplace and found that women experience being mansplained to six times per week at work?-?six times! That's 312 times a year for a full-time employee! Now I know from personal experience how frustrating this can be but, to add insult to injury, perhaps you've also had your voice go unheard until a man repeated your words. We now also have a term for this, thanks to astronomer and physics professor Nicole Gugliucci (and her friends)?-?'hepeated', which Gugliucci defines as 'when a woman suggests an idea and it's ignored, but then a man says the same thing, and everyone loves it'. Thankfully, hepeating is becoming less and less accepted as more women move into leadership roles and balance up the table, but it does still exist.

Even worse for women to endure than mansplaining and hepeating is sexual harassment in the workplace?-?which still effects a staggering one in three women according to Safe Work Australia. What is even more alarming than that statistic is that only 17 per cent of those who experience sexual harassment make a formal complaint, with many women instead shoving it as far under the rug as it will go in an effort to forget it ever happened due to the rancid 'ick factor' it generates.

Unfortunately, many women put up with these challenges and threats day after day, feeling like they have no other choice. Well, we do have a choice and, over time, our choices can help change the unconscious societal biases that are entrenched in our workplaces and beyond. These biases can sometimes be the crux of a woman's limiting beliefs; however, they can, and should, be overcome?-?and it starts with awareness, and having the right tools and methods in place.

For this reason, the first part of this book focuses on you as a female leader. I don't delve any further into how or why women face different challenges in the workplace?-?I'm sure you already have a pretty good awareness of the extra hurdles you've had to jump. Instead, I help you concentrate on mindset and maintaining your focus by considering your personal values, combating imposter syndrome, and controlling your environment. I also look at some brain science behind productivity and moods and how this enables you to stay in the right head space, or at least have some awareness of why you might be feeling the way you are?-?rather than going off on negative thought tangents.

The challenges I have faced?-?and the outcomes from these challenges?-?ultimately defined the type of leader I wanted to become. They also made me passionate about raising further awareness through my own stories, and helping provide women with the business and leadership tools they need to overcome their own challenges?-?whatever they may be.

My story

My early corporate career challenges of dealing with mansplaining, hepeating and, unfortunately, instances of sexual harassment often resulted in me feeling like my usual positive outlook and mindset were being repressed. Ultimately, however, these challenges made me determined to be heard.

By living through my own tale of mistreatment and coming out the other side, with the help of my next boss, I was able to identify key leadership styles that were critical to my eventual success. Later in my career, facing challenges such as the gender pay gap and being made to justify how I would balance motherhood and a career, ignited a passion to right this type of wrongdoing. So, I continued to develop my skills, which ultimately helped me build a rock-solid foundation for my business.

My experience of sexual harassment occurred early in my career, after a male boss enticed me to work for him using a big whopping salary as a carrot, as well as the autonomy and excitement of the role itself in a revolutionary start-up company. Believing it was an amazing opportunity, I accepted. However, it did not take long for the cracks to show. For example, my pay wouldn't go through, and he would use all the excuses under the sun as to why. I also started to receive weird, overly friendly texts after 5 pm that left me confused and feeling extremely uncomfortable. These included compliments on what I had been wearing that day or how I had done my hair or how sexy he found me?-?pass me the bucket. I found it uncomfortable to be in the same room with him towards the end and would make polite and reasonable excuses to avoid it.

I didn't let the no-pay situation go on for too long, but believing in the role and being slightly naive did mean I stayed longer than I should have. However, when enough was enough, and the pay never amounted to what I was promised, I sued him. A few months later, I won. Unfortunately, the win felt pretty hollow?-?even though I was awarded what he owed me, the proceeds of the lawsuit did not cover the costs to fight it, so I was out of pocket. This landed me, at 25 years old, in considerable debt. But the principle of not letting him beat me kept me fighting till the end?-?debt or no debt.

Fortunately, I was plucked out of this situation by a man who was the complete opposite of my previous boss. I honestly felt at the time that he was my guardian angel, and he pretty much saved me from becoming quite anti-men in terms of bosses. I had previously worked with him in a different capacity and, when he found out about my plight, he approached me directly with a potential role. When we met up to discuss the role, my guardian angel said that he would clear my debt, justifying that he would have had to pay a similar amount as a recruitment fee if he had gone through a recruitment agent.

He further justified the payment by saying that he wanted my mind clear and not bogged down with worrying about this unfortunate financial situation. He argued he had a big job on the table, and he expected big things. He simply wanted to remove any hurdles so I could concentrate on the job. His kindness and compassion showed me what a true leader was.

Now, do you think that I worked my arse off for that man? You bet I did. And was I successful in the role, indirectly making him successful? Absolutely. To him, paying off my debt was probably just a smart business decision, but I will never forget what he did for me both materialistically and psychologically. And that was my first true experience of a 'servant leader'. Indeed, this experience started me on the journey of identifying the five leadership styles you need in order to create...