Career Success Coach | Driving Career Growth for 6-Figure Professionals | Higher Pay | Better Opportunities | Greater Job Fulfillment | sWorks! Signature Series |

A Global Technology SVP walks into a wealth management firm as their new CIO. 

A Director of Analytics moves from MarTech into a VP role in Higher Education.   

A Director of Sales in Financial Services lands Senior Director at a $200M SaaS company.   

A Corporate Controller launches a Fractional CFO practice serving Series B startups.      

Same experience. Different leverage.      

That's The YES Factor™.      

Senior leaders don't lose opportunities because they lack experience.     

They lose them because the people making the decision can't see where that experience takes the business next. 

The narrative is historical. The decision is about the future. That gap is where strong candidacies stall and where external moves quietly fall apart.      

We build what closes that gap.   

The leverage that makes the decision easy for the people who need to say yes.      

I work with Senior Managers, Directors, VPs, and CxOs to build the narrative that hands the decision-maker exactly what they need to say yes and sell it internally.     

Corp-to-corp. Corporate-to-advisory. Expanded scope, new industry, or building a fractional practice from the ground up. 

The path doesn't matter. The leverage you walk in with does.      

I bring something most coaches don't. 

I've sat on the side of both sides of the table where risk is weighed, scope is defined, and one direction is chosen over another. 

I know what decision-makers need to see. 

I know what makes it take to move forward and what makes them hesitate.     

That perspective shapes every piece of work I do.      

I've recruited across Fortune 100 boardrooms and early-stage startups. 

I've built enterprise sales practices from the ground up. I've been the one in the room deciding who moves forward and why.  

That's not background. That's the lens I bring to every leader I work with.      

400+ corporate leaders supported.   
15+ years on the decision side of hiring.   $50M+ in enterprise B2B sales.      

What this looks like in practice:    

One focused Advisory Session. 

90 minutes plus a written strategic deliverable you can use immediately.      

An ongoing Retainer for leaders who are actively in motion and need a strategist in their corner as the moves get bigger.      

When decision-makers can see what changes because of you, the yes follows.      

The next move starts with a conversation. 

DM me or book a call directly from my profile.      

📍 The YES Factor™ 📧 melissa@sworkable.com

Melissa Hodgins

People don’t actually choose the best option.

They choose the one that feels easiest to back.

The human brain is remarkably capable.

It built civilisations.  
It invented aeroplanes.

It also quietly avoids anything that feels mentally expensive.

Because uncertainty creates tension.

Certainty creates relief.

Have you ever watched a room look at two strong candidates and move toward the one that simply felt easier to place?

Not better.

Easier.

That is how many senior decisions actually get made.

Not through spreadsheets.

Through emotional relief.

A large part of my work is making sure that when someone’s experience is evaluated, it doesn’t create friction the room has to work to resolve.

Because when something is effortless to understand, trust builds quickly.

And when trust builds quickly…

Momentum usually follows.

📍 The YES Factor

The Corporate Leader’s Career Transition Coach | The YES Factor™ | When Decision-Makers See What Changes Because of You, The Yes Follows

She didn’t know why.

That’s what she told me when she reached out.

Over 20 years of experience.
Real results.
The right roles.
The right industries.

Doing everything right.
Still not getting chosen.

And that’s the part nobody talks about.

It’s not the leaders who are coasting that struggle.

It’s the ones doing everything right who quietly start wondering what
the market is seeing that they’re not.

Here’s what I saw the moment I opened her resume.

She was telling decision-makers everything she’d done.

Not one word about what their business gets next.

She didn’t have a visibility problem.

Her value was invisible.

There’s a difference.

We fixed that inside The YES Factor.

She walked into a CFO’s office talking about his problem.

She got the VP role.

📍 If everything looks right on paper but the decision keeps going
another way, it’s rarely about experience. It’s about what the room can
immediately see.

📍 The YES Factor

Most senior leaders don’t aim too high.

They aim at what they can see.

And what they can see is usually what they’ve done.

Not what it’s actually worth to the business.  
Not what changes when they walk in the door.  
Not what the organization gets next.

Just the history of it.

So they pursue roles that match that history.

Roles they’re credible for.  
Roles they can defend.  
Roles that make sense on paper.

And they get them.

Which is exactly the problem.

Because capable and correctly placed are not the same thing.

I had a client who was convinced her title was holding her back.

We didn’t change the title.

We changed what she could clearly see about what moved in the business because she was there.

She stopped aiming at roles the market thought she deserved.

She started moving at the level she had already reached.

The shift was significant.

📍 When the business value is easy to see, the level conversation changes quickly.

📍 The YES Factor

Every board conversation mentions AI.
Every investor deck includes it.
Every strategic hiring discussion is looking for leaders who actually get it.

And when decision-makers look at your background
resume, LinkedIn, pitch, narrative
the AI piece is completely missing.

Not because you're not using it.

You're using AI. You're driving results with it.

But you're not making it visible as part of the business outcome.

The M&A integration you led that closed 40% faster
AI powered the due diligence.

The retention spike
AI identified the churn pattern no one was seeing.

The operational efficiency gain
AI removed the bottleneck that had been there for years.

You know this.

Decision-makers don't.

Because it's not in your narrative.

And right now, that gap is costing you opportunities.

The corp-to-corp role that goes to someone who made AI capability obvious in the room.
The strategic seat where they are looking for AI fluency and you did not show it.
The advisory client who needs someone forward-thinking and your narrative still reads like 2019.

From inside your own story, this gap is almost impossible to see.

But it is exactly what decision-makers are reacting to.

And it is costing strong leaders conversations they should already be in.

If you know your track record is stronger than what the market is giving back right now, we should talk.

📍 The YES Factor™

You left corporate to build something of your own.

No more approvals. No more getting your calendar hijacked. No more
brilliant ideas that die in committee.

Finally, your expertise. Your terms. Your future.

Except now you are three months in and the calls are not coming the way
you thought they would.

You are available for strategic advisory work.
You are open to fractional leadership opportunities.
You are leveraging years of experience.

And it sounds impressive. Credible. Senior.

It is also completely forgettable.

Because when someone has a problem that is keeping them up at night,
they do not search for strategic advisor.

They think: Who do I know who has solved this exact thing before?

That is the gap.

You left corporate with a title, a network, and a belief that the
expertise would speak for itself.

And now there is a realization no one knows what to call you for.

Not because the expertise is not strong.

Because the market does not know the one thing you solve decisively.

You are known for being capable of many things.

And general does not get the call.

Here is what shifts it.

Stop describing what you can do. Start owning what you are known for.

Not scope. Not capabilities. Not range.

The problem people called you for when you were still in the seat.

You are the one who makes acquisitions close without imploding.
You are the person pulled in when retention is bleeding and nobody knows
why.
You are who gets called when compliance is about to kill the deal.

That sentence, the exact thing you were known for, is the business.

And the moment that becomes clear, the calls change.

Because people do not buy fractional VPs.

They buy the person who solves the problem that is costing them right
now.

Here is where most leaders get stuck.

From inside a long corporate career, the title is loud.

The reason people pulled you in is quieter.

And that is what the market buys.

That is the work inside The YES Factor™.

📍 The YES Factor | Become the Expert They Hire | Become the Expert They
Buy |

Rooms make decisions before anyone speaks.

That’s not cynicism.

That’s just how evaluation actually works.

By the time someone is sitting across the table, the conclusion is
already forming quietly in the background.

And if something feels uncertain, unclear, or hard to place —

the brain doesn’t work harder to understand it.

It looks for an easier option.

Charlotte (not her real name) wanted VP. Then C-suite.

When we looked at her next move, tech was the right path.

Not because it was obvious.

Because when I looked at what she’d actually built — her results, her
markets, her growth story — it was exactly what a serious tech firm
needs.

But there was a risk.

The room was likely to see: not SaaS.

And once that conclusion forms, strong leaders rarely get the chance to
correct it.

So before she ever walked in, we made that conclusion impossible to
reach.

We didn’t change her experience.

We changed what the business could quickly understand about it.

Her language. Her framing. Her focus.

All of it translated into the vocabulary of their world.

By the time she sat down, the room wasn’t working against her.

It was already moving toward her.

Five rounds. A full case study built around their sales challenges.

She won every one.

📍 The room isn’t waiting for someone to explain their background. The
YES Factor ensures the right conclusion forms early.

I once sat across from the CIO of one of Canada’s largest companies.

He was my client.

I didn’t spend that conversation establishing credentials.
I didn’t walk him through my background.
I didn’t try to convince him I was worth listening to.

We talked about the business.

About the customer.
About what was possible next.

And that conversation reinforced something I see over and over again.

Authority isn’t built by explaining yourself.

It’s built when the room can quickly see what changes because you are
there.

Here is what many senior leaders do when they are preparing for a move.

They explain themselves.

Their background.
Their experience.
Their track record.

All of it logical.
All of it quietly working against them.
And in senior rooms, that is usually where the evaluation quietly
changes.

Because authority isn’t what gets declared in the room.

It is what decision-makers conclude when they can clearly see the impact
of choosing you.

And the moment the conversation turns into proving, the evaluation has
already shifted.

The leaders who get trusted quickly aren’t the ones with the most
impressive answer.

They are the ones who can hold the business problem in front of the room
and move it forward.

That is the shift behind The YES Factor.

📍 The YES Factor

You have been rehearsing the same answer for three days and it still sounds wrong.

"I know I have not worked in this industry, but let me show you how my experience translates."

Every time you say it out loud, you hear it. You are asking them to overlook something.

And the interview is next Thursday.

Here is what is happening in that room that you are not saying out loud.

They are not deciding if you are close enough. They are deciding what their business looks like if they choose you. And if you make them do the work of connecting your background to their problem, they will not do it.

Most people walk into that room explaining their past and hoping someone sees the fit.

You do not have that kind of time.

I had a client in round 3 this week. Director role. SaaS company. 15 years of exactly what they needed. Zero SaaS experience.

She was carrying the same sentence you are carrying right now.

We eliminated it. We did not manage the gap. We made it the reason.

She walked in Tuesday showing them what becomes possible because she is a builder and they have never had one. Not her history. Their future.

Two hours of focused work.  
We changed how she would be evaluated in that room.

She is not hoping they overlook something anymore.

If you have a conversation next week that decides your next year and you are still rehearsing the wrong answer, you are out of time to figure this out alone.

DM me.

📍 The YES Factor™ | Become the Expert They Hire | Become the Expert They Buy |

You already know what the next level looks like.

You’ve been in those rooms.  
You’ve led those conversations.  
You’ve solved the problems that were keeping the business up at night.

And somewhere in the last few months, something started to feel off.

Not doubt. You’re past doubt.

Something quieter than that.

A growing impatience with a process that keeps measuring the wrong thing.  
That keeps asking you to prove what you’ve already proven.  
That keeps putting you in rooms where you have to over-explain what experienced leaders recognise quickly.

That gap — between who you are in the room and how the market is reading you — is one of the most frustrating places to sit.

Because you’re not starting over.  
You’re not figuring it out.  
You’re already operating at the level you’re aiming for.

But the market isn’t reading you that way yet.

And you’re no longer waiting for the market to catch up.

That’s the work inside The YES Factor™.

Making what already moves because of you unmistakable the moment the room starts forming a view.

📍 The YES Factor

Helping execs in new roles accelerate impact, build credibility fast and avoid costly transition mistakes | xIBM Consulting | xPwC | Certified Executive Coach

You’ve just landed your next big executive role - congratulations!

Now comes the part no one prepares you for: making it successful.

The hard truth is, 40% of executive transitions fail within 18 months.

And the cost is staggering:

2.5x to 30x the executive’s salary in lost productivity, turnover, and disruption.

Career damage for the executive that can take years to recover from.

Maybe it's your first time at the senior leadership table. 
Maybe you've done this before, but this time, the stakes feel higher. 
Different company, industry, department or role.

Either way, you know this first year will define your reputation and your results.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You've inherited a team that doesn't fully trust you yet. 
You're navigating company politics, shifting priorities, and sky-high expectations. 
Everyone's watching, but no one's guiding. 
You're smart, experienced, and capable. 
But the pressure to prove yourself is relentless.

This is exactly where I come in.

I help new executives thrive where 40% fail by guiding them through the high-stakes first year.

My coaching is confidential, personalized, and focused on helping you:

✔ Earn trust quickly and secure early credibility
✔ Navigate politics and hidden organizational dynamics
✔ Build and align your leadership team for quick wins
✔ Make high-impact decisions without costly missteps
✔ Lay the foundation for long-term success and legacy

 Why Trust Me?
• 25+ years in Fortune 500 consulting, partnering with senior executives 
• Led $30M+ transformation portfolios and 250+ person practices at IBM 
• Led risk strategy for $100M+ proposals and complex transformations 
• Built and delivered IBM's top global executive coaching programs 
• Certified executive coach with 300+ leaders coached

If you’re ready to accelerate your impact and avoid costly missteps,

let’s make your first year your strongest. 

📩 DM me “Executive Transition” and let’s talk.

Dora Vanourek

The most painful part of growth:

The people closest to you will try to stop it.

And the faster you grow, the more uncomfortable others become.

It's not personal - it's human nature:

-  The edge in "wow, you've changed"
-  The unsolicited advice to "be careful"
-  The subtle comments that diminish what you've built

People prefer the version of you they're used to.

Some feel threatened by your progress.

Others try to keep you "safe" in your comfort zone.

5 ways to protect your growth:

1. Audit Your Circle 👥
↳ Who celebrates your wins vs. who diminishes them?
↳ Distance isn't betrayal, it's boundaries

2. Stop Explaining Yourself 🤐
↳ You don't owe anyone a justification for growth
↳ Let your results do the talking

3. Track Your Progress 📈
↳ Screenshot encouraging feedback and messages
↳ Celebrate small victories, they compound into big changes

4. Find Your Growth Squad 🔗
↳ Seek people 2-3 steps ahead of you
↳ Invest in mentors who've walked your path

5. Trust Yourself 💪
↳ Your intuition knows before your mind does
↳ Bet on yourself when no one else will

The people who truly support you will celebrate your growth.

Don't shrink yourself to make others comfortable.

♻️ Repost to remind someone they don’t need permission to grow
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

Hard work doesn't burn people out.

Poor leadership does.

We used to have chair yoga sessions and 
stress management workshops at work.

The people who needed them most couldn't attend.
 
They were triple-booked in meetings.

That's not a wellness problem. 
That's a leadership problem.

A boss tells you to manage your stress.

A leader removes what's causing it.

Stop offering meditation apps while scheduling back-to-back meetings.

Stop promoting "work-life balance" while rewarding those who never log off.

Stop blaming people for burning out in systems designed to break them.

If your team is struggling, look for the real causes:

→ Unrealistic deadlines with no room to breathe
→ Back-to-back meetings with no time to think
→ Unclear priorities that change every week
→ Rewarding "always on" while preaching balance

If you're exhausted, you're not weak. 

You're stuck in a broken system.

And you deserve leaders who fix it - not blame you for it.

♻️ Repost to help someone who needs to hear this
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

Executive Advisor for Senior Leaders Navigating a New Role | ex-IBM | ex-PwC | CPCC

20+ years of experience means nothing
if people dread working with you.

We've all met them:

The senior leader who humiliates in meetings.

The expert who makes everyone feel small.

The exec who treats people like obstacles.

Experience teaches you process.
It doesn't teach you humanity.

The most skilled person in the room
can also be the most damaging.

Signs someone has experience but lacks humanity:

→ They interrupt constantly
→ They take credit but never give it
→ They dismiss ideas without listening
→ They remember every mistake you made
→ They make you feel stupid for asking questions

Meanwhile, leaders who treat people well:

→ Ask questions before judging
→ Celebrate wins that aren't theirs
→ Make space for others to speak
→ Create safety for honest conversations
→ Leave people feeling capable, not small

Your years of experience don't define your value.

How people feel after working with you does.

Be the leader people want to work with.

Not the one they have to survive.

♻️ Repost to remind someone that people first leadership matters
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

We've built hiring systems that strip away humanity.

Then we wonder why trust is broken from day one.

It’s because we have normalized 
the unacceptable:

❌ Posting ghost jobs to signal growth
→ while real people wait for an email that never comes

❌ Automated rejections
→ after someone spent hours filling out a complicated application form

❌ Six rounds of interviews
→ because no one trusts anyone else's judgement

❌ Ghosting people after the final rounds
→ because giving feedback is not a priority

❌ "Not enough experience"
→ when they could learn the job in a month

The hiring managers feel this too.

They're drowning in reqs.
Pressured by systems they didn't design.
Told to move fast while also de-risking every hire.

People are not numbers.

Every resume represents someone's hopes.
Their rent. Their kids' futures.
Their career turning point.

To the hiring managers doing their best within broken systems:

Thank you. It matters more than you know.

♻️ Repost if you believe hiring should be more human
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

Leadership isn’t earned with a title.

It’s built when people feel safe.

Safe to speak up.
Safe to fail.
Safe to rest.

Build a culture where taking time off doesn’t come with guilt.

What to do as a leader:

✅ Be a role model for taking time off:
↳ Take time off - and talk about it. Normalize rest

✅ Recognize efforts: 
↳ Acknowledge achievements that promote well-being rather than appreciating health sacrifices

✅ Encourage flexibility: 
↳ Trust your team to deliver in ways that work for them

✅ Prevent post-vacation overload: 
↳ Plan ahead to make returning from time off manageable

✅ Conduct meaningful check-ins: 
↳ Make 1:1s safe spaces to talk about well-being and workload

What to avoid as a leader:

❌ Praising work while sick:
↳ "Thank you for working even though you don't feel well" 
↳ This sends the wrong message about your company's values

❌ Neglecting feedback: 
↳ Ignoring employee feedback about workload and stress

❌ Discouraging time off:
↳ Making employees feel guilty for taking breaks

❌ Setting unrealistic goals: 
↳ Targets that require overwork are unsustainable

❌ Promoting an "Always On" culture: 
↳ Expecting 24/7 availability, even on weekends or vacations

Be the leader you wish you had.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

dora.coach

Image credit: Adam Grant

Betting on myself scared me more than staying stuck.

So I finally chose fear instead.

You might be there right now:

❌ Waiting to feel confident before starting
❌ Seeking perfection before launching
❌ Taking "one more certification" before applying

A year ago, I left my 25+ year corporate career.

And what made leaving possible  
was writing on LinkedIn.

Before that, I was stuck.

Overthinking. Doubting myself. 

Who am I to give career advice when my career isn't perfect?

One day, I just hit ‘post’.

Writing here opened doors I didn't know existed:

New people. New projects. New possibilities.

If you're stuck like I was - start anyway.

The hardest part was taking that first step.

If I'd had a tool like Stanley back then, I would've started sooner.

Stanley isn’t another AI.

It works as a true AI LinkedIn coach:

- shows you what your audience actually wants
- finds patterns you'd never notice yourself
- tells you which posts flopped and why
- gives feedback that stings a little (in a good way)

My posts created with Stanley outperform my others by 35-40%.

Try a free trial of Stanley today: https://lnkd.in/g9nvAJzJ

#stanleypartner

By 30, you should have it figured out.
By 40, you definitely should.
By 50, you shouldn't still be searching.

Society sells us a lie about what "on track" means.

That life should be a clean upward line.

That restarting means you failed.

That feeling lost means something is wrong with you.

When you believe those lies, you end up thinking:

This isn't where I thought I'd be.
I should have done more by now.
I should be further along.

I've felt that since walking away from 25 years in corporate.

The exhausting performance of "I'm fine."

The promise that tomorrow will be different 
- and then another day passes and nothing changes.

The shame of feeling behind, 
based on someone else's timeline.

You're not broken.

You're in process.

The most successful people I know restarted more times than they'll ever admit:

- New careers at 35
- New cities at 42
- New identities at 53

The only regret would be staying stuck 
because someone told you it's too late.

You are the greatest project you'll ever work on.

Don't give up on yourself.

♻️ Repost for someone who needs a restart
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

A year ago, I left my 25+ years tech consulting career.

To build something of my own.

My friends couldn't understand why I'd leave stability.

Others questioned if it was "too late" to start over.

A few called it a midlife crisis.

But then I found my new people.

Entrepreneurs who'd walked away from golden handcuffs.

Creators building empires from their expertise.

Leaders who measured success differently.

Their ambition didn't make me feel behind.

It showed me what was possible.

When you change your path, you need people who've already taken the leap.

5 ways to upgrade your circle:

1. Audit your conversations - are you talking about problems or possibilities?

2. Join spaces where your future self would hang out, not where you currently are.

3. Share your bold goals openly - ambitious people are drawn to other dreamers.

4. Ask "What are you building?" instead of "How's work?"

5. Give yourself permission to outgrow relationships that hold you to your old life.

Your old circle will keep you comfortable.

Your new circle will keep you growing.

Evolve your circle.
Choose growth.

♻️ Repost to remind someone to find their circle
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

You watched them get promoted.

The ones who laughed at the offensive joke.

The ones who stayed quiet when they should've spoken up.

The ones who took credit for your work.

And you wondered if YOU were the problem:

- Maybe I'm too naive
- Maybe I need to "play the game"
- Maybe integrity is just a fancy word for staying stuck

Those promotions came at a cost you can’t see at first.

The person who got ahead by compromising?
They have to keep compromising to stay there.

The person who sold out their values for a title?
They wake up every day performing a version of themselves they won’t recognize.

Adam Grant said it perfectly:

“The highest form of accomplishment is standing by your principles when they're tested.”

You didn't lose.

You refused to pay for a "win" that would have cost you everything.

Your integrity isn't holding you back.

It's the only thing that will matter when the titles fade.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

dora.coach

♻️ Repost to remind someone integrity wins in the end

Image credit: Adam Grant

You know it's time to leave when you
can't recognize yourself anymore.

It's not the tasks that make you miserable.

It's not even the long hours.

It's having to wear a mask every single day:

- Apologizing for having boundaries
- Staying quiet when ethics get violated
- Laughing at your boss's offensive jokes
- Saying "great idea" when you know it'll fail

You tell yourself this is just how work is.

Everyone deals with it.

This is what being professional means.

But when you look in the mirror,
you don't recognize yourself.

People don't quit jobs.
They quit the person they had to become to survive there.

Start small:

- Stop apologizing for leaving on time
- Update your resume tonight
- Connect with one person in your field
- Remember: this isn't forever

There are workplaces where you can disagree without fear.

Where boundaries are respected, not mocked.

Where you don't have to pretend.

You deserve to feel whole again.

♻️ Repost to remind someone this isn't forever
➕ Follow Dora Vanourek for more

75% of people fear public speaking more than death.

Yet it's the No. 1 skill that accelerates careers.

Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, held me back for years.

I avoided roles where I'd need to speak a lot. 

Declined podcast invitations.

Fear was costing me too much.

Then I found Ultraspeaking.

Here are the 8 techniques that transformed how I speak:

📌 Save these for later.

1. The Accordion Method 
→ Compress your talk to 60s, then 30s, then 15s 
→ Expand back, keeping only what matters 
→ Forces you to find your actual point

2. The Bow & Arrow 
→ Your Arrow = the ONE thing to remember 
→ Your Bow = supporting evidence

3. The Power Pause 
→ Stop for 3-5 seconds after key points 
→ Gives your audience time to absorb 
→ Silence is powerful, not awkward

4. The 2-3 Word Bookmark 
→ Create 2-3 word triggers, don't memorize scripts 
→ "Customer save" → your problem-solving story

5. Never Break Character 
→ Don't apologize for nervousness or mistakes
→ Your anxiety is invisible until you reveal it 

6. The Pushback Pivot 
→ Pause and acknowledge: "That's an important point" 
→ Reframe: "Here's how I see it..." 
→ Use challenges to strengthen your message

7. Use Clarity Prompts when Stuck
→ "The most important thing is..."
→ "If you remember one thing..."

8. The Opening Rule 
→ Rehearse your opening 3x more than the rest 
→ Early confidence will carry you through

These 8 techniques are just the beginning.

Ultraspeaking is different: 

It’s live practice, speaking games, and real-time feedback from other leaders and world-class coaches.

If communication is holding you back, I recommend joining their flagship course:

https://lnkd.in/gH9yVFE8

#ultraspeaking

26% of your promotion depends on executive presence.

But no one explains what those words really mean.

"She lacks executive presence" might be 
the most frustrating feedback ever.

Because it's rarely followed by what to actually do about it.

I've helped leaders work through this exact challenge.

Here are 8 ways to build executive presence:

1. Practise Strategic Silence
→ Leaders who listen first command more respect
→ Ask: "What are your thoughts?" - then pause

2. Name the Elephant
→ The person who calmly names the tension earns instant credibility
→ Say: "Can we talk about what's really going on?"

3. Make Others Look Brilliant
→ The most respected leaders give credit, not take it
→ Say: "That was Sarah's idea" before adding your own take

4. Simplify Complex Ideas
→ True expertise is ensuring others understand
→ Replace jargon with everyday language

5. Own Your Authority
→ Undermining phrases erase years of hard work
→ Drop "just," "kind of," "I think maybe." Say "I recommend."

6. Calibrate Your Reactions
→ Overreacting undermines credibility
→ Ask yourself: "Will this matter in 6 months?"

7. Bring Solutions, Not Problems
→ Great leaders are valued when they solve issues
→ Never raise an issue empty-handed

8. Learn to Disagree Without Drama
→ Executive presence lives in the middle: calm, direct, unafraid
→ Use: "I see it differently. Here's why."

Executive presence isn't about changing who you are.

It’s about showing up as your real, confident self.

📌 Navigating your first year in a new role?
Get weekly insights in The First Year newsletter:

Dora.coach 

♻️ Repost to help your network
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It starts with one small compromise.

"It's just this once."
"Everyone does it."
"This is how the game is played."

The system doesn't force you to compromise.

It just rewards the people who do with promotions, access, favour.

And makes you wonder what's 
wrong with you for hesitating.

But here's what nobody tells you:

The lies we tell ourselves are the most dangerous ones.

"I'll go back to my values when I make it."
→ You won't. The higher you climb this way, the more you have to protect.

"No one will notice."
→ You will. Every time you look in the mirror.

"I'm doing this for my family."
→ Your family needs your integrity intact - not a sacrifice they never asked you to make.

"I don't have a choice."
→ You do. It's just not the easy one.

The corporate world doesn't break people with one big ask.

It breaks them with a thousand small ones.

You're not naive for wanting to do the right thing.

You're not stuck because you have standards.

You'll sleep better than the ones who traded theirs for a title.

♻️ Repost to remind someone they're not the problem
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The Battle

Melissa Hodgins

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The Battle

Melissa Hodgins

Dora Vanourek

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Melissa Hodgins's LinkedIn Performance

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Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMelissa Hodgins's LinkedIn Performance