Leading Women in Tech Podcast

Do you communicate with clarity when the stakes are high — or does your voice go quiet at exactly the moment it matters most?
In this episode of Leading Women in Tech, I break down one of the most underrated leadership skills for women in tech: communicating with clarity under pressure. Not when things are calm and you've had time to prepare — but when someone challenges you in front of the leadership team, when an executive asks a question you weren't expecting, or when you can feel the room watching to see how you respond.
This is not about confidence. It's not about personality. It's about a conditioned nervous system response — and a set of practical, trainable tools to work with it.
In this episode:
⏹  Why communication breaks down under pressure — the real physiology behind the freeze, the ramble, the hedge spiral, and the shutdown
⏹  Why this shows up differently for women in tech — and why "just be more confident" is both wrong and unhelpful
⏹  The reframe that changes everything: clarity under pressure is a trained skill, not a personality trait
⏹  Five practical tools you can start building this week, including the one-sentence anchor, the strategic pause, the pressure-proof redirect, and the high-stakes pre-mortem
⏹  Where to start — a sequenced action plan so you build the skill without overwhelming yourself
If you've ever walked out of a meeting thinking "why didn't I just say X?", this episode will tell you exactly why — and exactly what to do about it.
Learn more about communication: Episode 243 — Struggling to Be Heard? Master Leadership Communication Strategies and Coach Upwards
Ready to work on this in the context of your specific leadership challenges? Book a strategy call: tonicollis.com/lets-chat/

If your organization is running AI pilots that aren't moving the needle, waiting for the right moment to commit, or treating AI as a technology problem for IT to solve — this episode is the reset you need.
Charlene Li, NYT bestselling author and one of the world's leading voices on disruptive leadership, joins Toni for her second appearance on Leading Women in Tech. When she was last on the show in Episode 225 (Run To Disruption), the AI conversation was just beginning to accelerate. Now, with her new book Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success freshly published, Charlene brings a framework that is both more urgent and more practical than anything most organisations are currently working with.
This is a conversation about AI leadership strategy — not as a technology decision, but as a leadership and strategic imperative. And it has particular resonance for women in tech, who face a specific version of this challenge: the deeply conditioned pressure to be certain before acting, and what that costs us when the window for leadership is open right now.
What we cover in this episode:
⏹ Why you don't need an AI strategy — you need an AI roadmap that serves your existing business strategy
⏹ The 95% pilot failure rate, and what to do instead of running pilots
⏹ The 18-month rolling AI roadmap: how to write strategy in ink and your roadmap in pencil
⏹ Speed as the new competitive moat — and what that means for leaders who wait for certainty before acting
⏹ The specific challenge women face: perfectionism, scrutiny, and the risk of sitting out the AI transition
⏹ What AI fluency actually looks like — and why becoming fluent publicly is a leadership act, not a vulnerability
⏹ The "how did you use AI to prepare for this meeting?" technique — and why it changes team culture fast
⏹ The superhuman thesis: what happens when uniquely human skills (empathy, judgment, wisdom, intuition) meet AI capability
⏹ Why the good people have to show up — and why women's voices are non-negotiable in shaping how AI is used
 
Connect with Charlene — today's guest and sponsor:
⏹ Website: charleneli.com
⏹ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/charleneli
⏹ Book: winningwithaibook.com
 
Mentioned in this episode:
⏹ Episode 225 — Run To Disruption with Charlene Li: tonicollis.com/leading-women-tech/225-run-to-disruption-charlene-li 
 
Connect with Toni:
⏹ tonicollis.com
⏹ tonicollis.com/lets-chat
This episode was sponsored by our guest, Charlene Li. Thank you Charlene for helping to bring Leading Women in Tech to this community!

Office politics. Just reading those words probably made you want to click away — and that reaction is exactly why this episode exists.
 
If you're a high-achieving woman in tech who has built your career on results, integrity, and doing excellent work, the idea of navigating office politics probably feels like a compromise. Like you'd be becoming someone you don't recognise.
 
But here's what nobody says out loud: not engaging with office politics is itself a political choice. And for most high-performing women in tech leadership, it's one that is quietly costing them promotions, visibility, and influence — regardless of how good their work is.
 
In this episode, Executive Coach Dr Toni Collis breaks down the critical distinction between the toxic version of office politics (which you should absolutely avoid) and the strategic, integrity-consistent leadership work of building influence, visibility, and advocates — which most high-achieving women have been avoiding along with it.
 
This is not about becoming a different person. It's about leading fully in the organisation you're actually in.
 
What you'll learn in this episode:
⏹ Why we as high-achieving women often resist office politics — and the specific career cost of that resistance
⏹ The two completely different things most women are calling "office politics" — and why separating them changes everything
⏹ Five practical moves for building influence and strategic visibility without compromising your values
⏹ How to build advocates (not just allies) who speak up for you in the rooms you're not in
⏹ The integrity check that tells you whether you're building genuine influence or drifting into game-playing
 
Links and resources mentioned:
⏹ Take the Office Politics Quiz for Women in Tech: tonicollis.com/resources/office-politics-quiz 
⏹ Book a strategy call: tonicollis.com/lets-chat/ 
⏹ Learn more about building your advocates: Episode 292 — From Tactical to Strategic: The Unspoken Rules for Women in Tech Stepping Into Executive Leadership
⏹ Learn more about communication: Episode 243 — Struggling to Be Heard? Master Leadership Communication Strategies and Coach Upwards
If this episode resonated, please leave a review and share it with a woman in tech who needs to hear this conversation.
 
Chapters:
00:00 — The coaching conversation that changed everything 
01:15 — What this episode is and isn't about 
03:08 — Why high-achieving women avoid office politics — and what it's costing them 
09:44 — What navigating office politics with integrity actually looks like: three core reframes 
18:49 — Five moves that build influence and strategic visibility without selling out 
19:12 — Move 1: Map the landscape before you need it 
21:25 — Move 2: Invest in relationships before you need them 
24:33 — Move 3: Make your impact visible — strategically, not constantly 
27:31 — Move 4: Learn to read the room and the organisation 
30:15 — Move 5: Build advocates, not just allies 
34:22 — The integrity check: how to know you're building influence, not playing games 
37:39 — The Office Politics Playbook for Women in Tech
Related episodes:
⏹ Episode 112 — If You Don't Openly Celebrate Your Achievements, Who Will?
⏹ Episode 228 — Mastering Your Value: Strategies to Stop Underselling Yourself
⏹ Episode 243 — Struggling to Be Heard? Master Leadership Communication Strategies and Coach Upwards
⏹ Episode 256 — No More Crickets: The Networking Strategy That Lands Jobs in 2025
⏹ Episode 276 — Busy Does Not Equal Valuable: How to Prioritise Work That Gets You Promoted

What does it actually take to become a transformational leader in the age of AI? Catherine Wong, Chief Product Officer at Entrata, joins Toni to share the career philosophy, leadership mindset, and honest hard-won lessons that took her from software engineer to CPO — via architecture, M&A, product, and operations.
Catherine built her career on range, not a straight line. She calls it the jungle gym — and she believes it's more relevant now than ever. In this episode she gets real about diversity as a product quality issue (not just a values issue), why AI adoption is the biggest change management challenge of our careers, and what authentic leadership actually means when the pressure is on.
If you're navigating a non-linear career, trying to lead your team through AI change, or wondering whether you need a perfect plan to reach the C-suite — this one is for you.
What we cover:
◾ Why range matters more than specialisation at the executive level
◾How empathy becomes your most powerful leadership tool across functions
◾Why diversity is a product quality issue — and what's at stake as that conversation disappears
◾AI adoption as a change management challenge at unprecedented speed
◾The "hit song" principle: why consistent messaging is the job
◾How to stop minimising yourself — and what to do if you don't have the right mentors
◾Authentic leadership: what it really means to bring the right energy to your team
About Catherine Wong
Catherine Wong is Chief Product Officer at Entrata, where she leads product and operations. She has held VP of Engineering and product leadership roles across multiple organisations and has spent her career building range across software engineering, architecture, M&A, and product management. She is a passionate advocate for diversity in tech and for leading teams through AI transformation with humanity and clarity.
Connect with Catherine Wong 
◾LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/catherinewong 
◾X: @catherinewong 
◾Entrata: entrata.com
This episode was sponsored by our guest, Catherine Wong. Thank you Catherine for helping to bring Leading Women in Tech to this community!

When someone asks you how you're doing, what do you say?
 
If you answered "I'm fine" before you'd even finished reading that question — this episode is for you.
 
Burnout in high-performing women in tech leadership rarely looks like collapse. It looks like going through the motions. Like numbness. Like resentment that arrives out of nowhere and exhaustion that's become so normal you've stopped registering it as a warning sign.
 
In this episode, Toni breaks down why burnout hits women in tech leadership differently, the three patterns she sees most in her coaching work, and what burnout-proof leadership actually means — strategically, not just in a "take more baths" sense.
 
This isn't about slowing down. It's about building leadership that doesn't require you to run on empty to function.
 
What you'll hear in this episode:
◾ Why high-performing women are often the last to identify as burned out — and the specific compounding factors that make burnout in tech leadership different
◾ The three burnout patterns Toni sees most in coaching: the silent spiral, the conflict-avoidant overgiver, and the high-performer in denial
◾ What burnout-proof leadership actually requires — structural protection, a perceptual shift, and leadership identity recalibration
◾ The mistake that keeps women stuck in burnout cycles even when they're actively trying to recover
◾ Four practical first steps you can take this week, even if you're already running on empty
 
For a limited time, the Burnout to Balance Toolkit is completely free — self-paced audio training, workbook, and an optional four-week reset plan, designed for women in tech leadership who need something concrete right now. Available free for two weeks from release, or until the first 200 downloads. Get it at tonicollis.com/burnout-to-balance.
 
Links mentioned in this episode:
◾ Burnout to Balance Toolkit (free for limited time): tonicollis.com/burnout-to-balance/ 
◾ Episode 216 — Understanding and Overcoming Burnout with Lindsay, Jen, and Allison: https://tonicollis.com/leading-women-tech/216-understanding-and-overcoming-burnout-insights-from-leading-women-in-tech-with-lindsay-jen-and-allison/