She’s senior, she’s capable, she delivers, and yet something’s not quite landing the way you know it could. Maybe she holds back in rooms she’s earned the right to own. Maybe she’s technically brilliant but somehow invisible at the table where the real decisions are made. Maybe she takes on everything, delegates nothing, and you can see her running out of road.
You’ve probably tried to address it, a development programme, a mentoring conversation, a line manager nudge. It’s helped to a point. But the gap is still there.
Here’s what twenty years of working with women in leadership has taught me. That gap is almost never a skills problem. It’s a permission problem, and it’s not something you can give her from the outside. She already has everything she needs: the power, the clarity, the capability. It’s in there.
It just needs activating.
That’s what I do.
What I do is help them see what they’ve been sitting on. The authority they’ve been waiting for someone else to confirm. The voice they’ve been turning down to make other people comfortable. The leader they already are, underneath all the conditioning, the overdelivering, and the years of putting everyone else first.
I’m not a miracle worker, and I won’t pretend to be. What I am is twenty years deep in this work, with women at organisations including Google, Levi Strauss & Co and Sky, and I know what it looks like when a woman finally stops waiting and starts activating.
I don’t just hand them tools and walk away, either. I come back. We check what landed, what shifted, what needs more work. The follow-up is part of the work, because implementation is where most programmes fall apart, and I’m not interested in running sessions that don’t stick.



At a major global advertising agency, I worked with 125 women in leadership over the course of a programme. By the end, 30 were still actively in the room, and those 30 were unrecognisable from the women who walked in.
They got promotions. They challenged people more senior than themselves and held their ground. They held better boundaries, led their teams differently, and started investing in their own development in ways they never had before.
Several started therapy and coaching they would never have sought before the programme began. The women who stayed were the ones who did the work. This isn’t for everyone. It’s for the women who are done waiting.
“Once again, I can’t thank you enough for being part of Bloomfest. Many people have referenced your session as being the one that they will be most likely to act upon in order to improve and reset – which is wonderful feedback.”
“Madeline was recommended to the O2 Women’s Network as an inspirational, motivating speaker with a passion for personal development and she definitely exceeded her introduction. Madeline delivered a fantastic session on personal development, ensuring our 150+ attendees were equipped with enthusiasm and tools to be the best version of themselves – all over a WebEx platform, no easy task. Madeline is definitely magnificent and I look forward to working with her again in the future.”
“Madeline’s sessions are utterly unique. She brings clarity, focus and a wealth of experience in a way that produces numerous immediate ‘aha’ moments with a net positive impact on your goals and your life. I’d had coaching before, but nothing like this. I can’t recommend her highly enough.”
“We really wanted to thank you for such a wonderful session with our leadership team this week. We’ve had fantastic feedback. The leaders left with practical tools they felt they could take back and use with their teams right away. Even more importantly, you and Lola did a brilliant job of inspiring them to feel empowered and step more firmly into their leadership roles.”
“Madeline has a rare ability to challenge perspectives in a way that is both compassionate and constructive, pushing me beyond my comfort zone while ensuring I felt heard, valued, and empowered.”
“The session was a hit! Everyone left the room with tools and techniques which can be used in day-to-day life, work and personal. Madeline was engaging and inspiring, and the two-hour workshop flew by. Some of the feedback from the session was ‘One of the best training sessions I’ve been to.'”
You can start with one session, or build something bigger over time. Either way, it starts with a real conversation.
If you’re reading this, you already suspect your senior women are capable of more than they’re currently showing. You’re right.
The question isn’t whether the potential is there; it is. The question is whether anyone will help them activate it.
Book a conversation with me, a real conversation about what is happening in your organisation and whether working with me and my team is the right fit.
