Linda Fisk is a multi-award-winning CEO, keynote speaker, 3x international best-selling author, TEDx speaker and university professor dedicated to amplifying and extending the success of other high-calibre business leaders. She is the CEO of LeadHERship Global, a community of unstoppable women enhancing their leadership blueprint and embracing their power to be the best version of themselves- in work and life.
In LeadHERship Global, Linda supports and guides ambitious, creative women to move in the direction of their purpose, their mission and their dreams with powerful connections, critical support, practical tools and valuable resources to show up, speak up and step up in their careers and personal lives.
Linda, welcome to The Leaders Show. It is a great honour to have you here with use today. I am really inspired by your career and all the wonderful things you are doing globally. You are a multi-award-winning leader, a keynote and TED speaker, a Forbes writer, an author, dedicated to amplifying and extending the success of other high-calibre business leaders and many more. But who is Linda in your own words and what are you most passionate about? Can you tell us a little more about yourself?
My career has been a series of lessons learned and opportunities to grow and develop as a person and as a professional. Because hiring managers took a chance on me and my supervisors were able to show an abundance of grace, I was able to forge a career as an entrepreneurial and forward-thinking marketing executive on the cutting edge of brand marketing. I received impactful advice and guidance along the way from supervisors and mentors that helped to shape and mould me, allowing me to accelerate my self-awareness as well as my growth. And of course, some of my most spectacular mistakes and failures were also some of my most important lessons learned when my supervisor’s peers and mentors offered me a stunning level of grace and forgiveness.
Along the way, I learned about the transformative power of bringing inspiring leaders together to create an opportunity to discover possibilities and solve problems. It is my belief that no one grows as a leader alone. You need a supportive, confidential, and uplifting community of people that are dedicated to helping you along the way. In LeadHership Global, I now have the privilege and the honour of supporting and guiding ambitious creative women to move in the direction of their purpose and their dreams.
With powerful connections, critical support, practical tools, and valuable resources, I help women all over the world show up, speak up, and step up in their careers and personal lives. And along the way, I get to share my lessons of grit and grace. I have the honour of enhancing the leadership blueprints of unstoppable women all around the world and assisting them in embracing their power to be the best versions of themselves in work and in life. I have the distinct privilege of serving women in this world-class, confidential, and supportive community to accelerate their own definition of success by integrating self-directed learning, impactful group experiences, peer advisory services, and expert-led coaching and mentoring.
I am a lifelong learner, as are all the women of LeadHERship Global, and I am committed to assisting inspiring leaders all over the world in creating long-term impact. I also hold a PhD and an MA in Clinical Psychology. You also hold a PhD and M.A. in Clinical Psychology and you have written extensively about social comparison, depression, and anxiety. According to you, what role does social comparison play in depression and anxiety? Is there a link between the three? I think it’s normal to wonder how we measure up to other people. According to social comparison theory, this drive to understand how we compare to others is part of our basic desire to understand ourselves as well as our place in the social world. Let’s take a step back and talk about your outstanding career. You are also the CEO and Founder of LeadHERship Global, a community of extraordinary women in the world, connecting in a confidential, supportive, and private community. Tell me a little more about your role in this wonderful.
My role in LeadHERship Global is to help members accelerate their success by defining their vision, growing their leadership, expanding their influence, and leaving a truly lasting legacy. We do that by harnessing the knowledge, influence, and trust of extraordinarily high-performing women all over the world to help stimulate the exchange, support creativity, provide resources and tools, and accelerate personal and professional growth. In LeadHERship Global, I help women come together, meet inspirational leaders, make lifelong friends, and be surrounded by those who are truly invested in their success. I have found that members of LeadHERship Global are inspired and motivated by other women leaders, who cheer them on, counsel them, and encourage them to reach new levels of success and impact. Do you think women's leadership is the future? How significant is the part that we play as women in the world? In my estimation, empathy wins in crises. Women leaders outperform men in most leadership skills, but especially empathy. That is most often referred to as “emotional intelligence.” Women have been proven to hold a key advantage in soft skills. A study by the Global Consulting firm found that women outperform men in 11 of the 12 key emotional intelligence competencies. But the difference in leadership styles between the genders begins to grow larger during any sort of crisis. Female leaders express more awareness of their fears. They have a greater level of concern for the world or the well-being of other team members. They also have greater confidence in their plans.
These essential leadership capabilities shared by most women include the ability to network, collaborate effectively, communicate both orally and in writing, and think critically. Women have unique leadership capabilities that position them to thrive in a rapidly evolving global workplace, but empathy, humility, and self-knowledge are absolutely key to excelling in leadership, whether you are a man or a woman. Women outperform men in a crisis because of these three traits: empathy, humility, and self-knowledge. What are the secrets to creating a safe, secure, smart tomorrow? I think self-knowledge is critical. Our world of tomorrow absolutely depends on whether the leaders of today and all who stand with them recognise the urgency and the peril of inaction. Leaders and decision-makers, whether they are in South Sudan or the south side of Chicago, need to ensure physical and psychological safety and equal access to basic human rights; nutrition, the ability to control their bodies, access to healthcare, an education, jobs, and housing for all girls and all women everywhere. It is up to all of us who stand on the shoulders of so many to push forward and hold open the doors of opportunity for every girl and every woman. What advice would you give to an 18-year-old? I would say that you, and only you, can only make new things happen in your life. If you wait for your serendipity to provide you with good fortune or to provide you with confidence, you would be waiting for a very long time. If you are waiting for a sense of self-confidence, a sense of self-worth, or a sense of direction, realise that the path to confidence is not one that you can travel with someone else. It is a path that you have to travel alone. No one else can do it for you. But I can tell you that it is a worthwhile path. This is because self-confidence is linked to almost every element involved in a happy, fulfilling life. It gives you skills and a coping method to handle setbacks and failures. Self-confidence does not mean you will never fail, but it does mean you will know how to handle challenges.
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