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The podcast focuses on fiercely empowering women in business, as entrepreneurs and women in male-dominated industries, featuring guests who embody strength, resilience, competence, and a touch of sass as they navigate business and life.
Looking for guests who are willing to bring a wealth of experience and knowledge but also possess the strength, resilience, and sass that align with the tone of my podcast.
I want their stories and insights to provide immense value to my audience, helping me to establish a powerful podcast as a must-listen for women looking to empower themselves in business. The goal is to build competence and discover how brave women can be in business.
Welcome to Superheroes in Heels, the podcast where powerful women rise, lead, and own the room. I'm Kimberley Borgans, your host, fellow trailblazer, and unapologetic advocate for women in the world of business. With over thirty years of experience building success in a male dominant industry, I'm here to empower you to do the same. Each week, you'll hear bold conversations with inspiring guests who embody strength, resilience, a little dash of sass, and a little bit of grace. Together, we'll challenge the status quo, break through barriers, unlock your confidence, and unleash your inner superhero.
Kimberley Borgens:You ready? Let's go. Welcome back to Superheroes in Heels, the podcast where women in business step into their
Kimberley Borgens:power and create the lives and the careers that they truly want. I'm your host, Kimberley Borgans, and I fiercely empower women to believe that they're more capable and more valuable than they give themselves credit for. Today, we're gonna talk about feminine leadership. Right? Feminine leadership and reclaiming power with command presence in the modern work environment for women.
Kimberley Borgens:Think about that for just a quick minute. Oh, man. Let's be honest. For decades, leadership has worn a suit, tailored button up tie cut from the cloth of a male dominant paradigm. Think about that.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? We've all seen it. You know, top down hierarchies, and control styles, unspoken pressures for women to fit in. As women, we have had to try to emulate those models. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:We wore the see suits. I remember when I first started out in business thirty three plus years ago, I was wearing the suits. Okay? I had the black. I had the blue.
Kimberley Borgens:I had the olive green. Right? The olive green made my eyes pop, so I could, you know, have a little bit of femininity to it. Right? But the truth is the world has changed throughout the years of doing business, and it's still changing.
Kimberley Borgens:And that also means that the rules are changing too. And I am loving this opportunity for women to have a feminine leadership style and know that it's not about replacing men. We're not here to replace men. It's never been the the purpose. It's never been the drive to ignore the contributions that traditional leadership has has made throughout the thing.
Kimberley Borgens:We're not trying to erase men. We're trying to join alongside of men without compromising who we are as women and our feminine styles and our feminine leadership. You know, think about expanding that definition of what it takes to be a great leader in a business. How about embracing the qualities like empathy, collaboration, and intuition? You know, these are the traits that often have been sidelined for men.
Kimberley Borgens:They've been considered soft. Right? And and women, these are their strengths. These are, in fact, the pillars of the sustainable success that we have. And what we wanna do is just make sure that we're able to fit into the space without being pushed out, without being put down, without being, you know, made to feel like we're not valuable or we're not worthy of that space.
Kimberley Borgens:I don't know about you, but whether I'm worthy or not in somebody else's mind is irrelevant. But quite often in this in the male hierarchy space, it often had that context that women just aren't worthy to be here when in in fact, we bring such different perspective, a different way of viewing things that when both sides come together can create magic. That's what I love about feminine leadership. I'm not in a male dominated space because I wanted to stick it to the man. I I'm in a male dominated space because I wanted to create a safe community within my community.
Kimberley Borgens:I wanted to create a safe space where I could help people step into safety, keep some of the bad guys and the evil out in the world. Right? Keep it out of the way. That's the reason I did it. And you know what?
Kimberley Borgens:As a nurturing mother of four, I can fiercely, fiercely be protective. Alright, moms. You know this. Right? We know we we could be fiercely protective.
Kimberley Borgens:And and that's why I got into the industry that I did. Not because I was trying to outdo some man, but because I have a lot of value in my fierce protection, in my my willingness to be empathetic also, to understand and to have command presence and say no when no is meant to be said. So ask yourself for a second. Have you ever felt the need to put on a mask at work? Lower your voice down, hide your emotions, second guess your intuition?
Kimberley Borgens:I know too many women have. Look. I've been asked to second guess my intuition even with my own business partner, k, who just happens to also be my husband. But I recall a time when, for example, we were interviewing, and there was somebody this has happened many times, by the way. We were interviewing, and I'm like, I just I can't hire this person right now.
Kimberley Borgens:This person doesn't feel right. And my intuition got in the way or as he thought. He would say, like, well, why why? Give me a real reason. Tell me give me definite.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? And I was like, I can't. I just know intuitively this doesn't feel right. And it turned out that my intuition was accurate. And within twenty four hours, that person was, not be hired for us.
Kimberley Borgens:They were actually got put in jail. Another time when I was asked by an employee who, look, I can respect. I can I can treat people with compassion and and just love on people? I can be personable without being personal with my employees and my staff. And I had one employee who just really respected me and, asked me to be, one of her bridesmaids for her wedding.
Kimberley Borgens:And I felt completely honored, And I told her, I said, I didn't think that that would be a good idea, but thank you so much for the honor because my intuition said something wasn't right here. And, again, that goes from being personable versus personal in business, and that we'll do another podcast around that. But, you know, I I respectfully declined. I did, however, attend the wedding. I respected them enough to attend the wedding at that time.
Kimberley Borgens:Well, it turned out that this employee actually, it was two employees who met through the company and then decided to get married. And this is a perfect example. I'm gonna tell you, it's a perfect example of why couples shouldn't be working together in business. One should not be over the other in the level of employees. I'm not talking about partners in business.
Kimberley Borgens:I just wanna get that clear. Because, I don't know, about six or eight months after they were married, we found that they were embezzling from the company. One was the manager. The other one was the the staff out in the field, and the manager was taking hours from another employee and giving it to, their spouse. And it was a very short period that this happened.
Kimberley Borgens:I was able to catch it rather quickly, and I'm grateful for that. But could you imagine how you would feel if you had gone ahead and, you know, didn't trust your intuition and and went ahead and was one of the bridesmaids? I know for me, I was grateful that I listened to my intuition and I paid attention to it. So those those are just a couple examples throughout the thirty five years in of business that I've been working in that, you know, can just show where your intuition really does matter. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:So if you've ever felt that need to put on a mask or lower your voice or hide your emotions or second guess your intuition, I'm telling you the tide is shifting. Okay? Women leaders in every industry is we're breaking through those ceilings by leading with our authentic selves. Who's all for leading with our authentic self? I know that I am.
Kimberley Borgens:And imagine how freeing this feels. Right? Like, I don't have to pretend I'm a man, a woman you know, a woman in a man's world. I don't have to pretend anything. I just get to be me in the world that I'm in.
Kimberley Borgens:I don't know. To me, that's pretty freeing. And feminine leadership, if you're willing to step into it and look. I'm not a feminist. Okay?
Kimberley Borgens:I mean, I am, but I'm not. What I mean by that is I'm not gonna drive down your face that you have to have femininity and easy has to look a certain way. I'm both masculine and I'm both feminine. Right? Both of those, if they're both me, I'm gonna put both of them out there.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm not there to tell you that, you know, a woman should or shouldn't do x y z and a man should or shouldn't do x y z other than treat people with respect and with care and with compassion. Okay? That's it. But I wanna say is I wanna help us reframe leadership from a competitive struggle to a collaborative journey. Instead of viewing our colleagues as rivals, the men or the women, right, I want can we see them as allies?
Kimberley Borgens:Can we see them? Can we see ourselves building bridges with them? You know, versus the walls that we've been putting up for all these years. I don't want to live in a world that only women are the leaders. I want to live in a world where there's a collaboration of both.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? When we start meetings with a round of genuine check ins with each other. Right? Creating a space for every voice. Encourage brainstorming rather than top down directives.
Kimberley Borgens:You have to do it this way because I said so. You know? I understand that in a militaristic mindset, when you're in the military, they're doing that. They're training that as a way of safety because you're gonna go into battle. You're gonna go to war at some point, whether that's an internal war or an external war, whatever that is, is they're training you that way to prevent the war.
Kimberley Borgens:But guess what, ladies and gentlemen? We are we don't have to be at war in business. I mean, we can be competitive, but we do not have to be at war. So we wanna brainstorm. We wanna we we wanna create that space where we have those check ins, that we have space for every voice, that we're encouraging everyone along the way.
Kimberley Borgens:But when you do that, you can also notice how energy transforms when we focus on when we focus on, you know, how we can work together instead of how you know, the me space of how I want to accomplish this. Right? I know that my business partner and I have struggled every now and again around he comes in and he's like, you know, boom boom boom. And, yes, he's got military background. He was a marine.
Kimberley Borgens:He's a marine. Sorry, guys. He he's a he's a marine veteran. Right? So if you don't know the thing on this is marines.
Kimberley Borgens:Once a marine, always a marine. They were never were marines. They are marines till their death. So you gotta be careful how you say that if you're married to one. But let's, you know, let's think about how can we work together.
Kimberley Borgens:He he would say, no. It has to be done this way, and he would knife hand me. And I'm like, no. Hold on. Take a deep breath.
Kimberley Borgens:Can we do it in a way that serves everybody versus just your way? Is there a possibility of something else we can add into it? And we would have these discussions. I say argument. It wasn't really argument.
Kimberley Borgens:It was just discussions. How can we solve this? How can we create this environment? How can we do these things when you have strong willed people on both sides? And yet here we are over thirty three years together in business, so it's worked along the way.
Kimberley Borgens:But can you advocate for, you know, for yourself? Can you advocate without compromising your values? Absolutely. And I really wanna talk about today negotiations. Often, negotiations are painted as the battlefields because we've seen it out there in the military.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? It's a negotiation. It's, you know, countries versus country, and it's all this battlefield. But what if it were just a conversation? Right?
Kimberley Borgens:One of the most powerful things that you can do is advocate for yourself. You can advocate for your team without sacrificing your core values. When you're advocating with a prospect, with a vendor, with a employee, with a client, can you can you negotiate in such a way that you don't compromise your values? And the answer to that is yes. You can.
Kimberley Borgens:Think about with your femininity. How can you ask questions without getting emotions in the way? Because I think that's where women and their femininity is they put their emotions up front. When your emotions can be there, that's the driving force for making shifts and creating change. So keep that in mind.
Kimberley Borgens:And I wanted to share with you today a few negotiation tactics. How's that sound? So get your paper out, get your pen or pencil, use the notes in your phone or whatever that is. But I really wanted to share with you some negotiation tactics so that you can still be a feminine leader and have a conversation without it being, well, you need to do it my way or my you know, his way or her way or the way you know, find the way in between. So you ready for that?
Kimberley Borgens:So the first thing that I would say with negotiation tactics is prepare with clarity. Know exactly what it is that you stand for and exactly what it is that you need in the negotiations. It doesn't mean that you're not gonna compromise. No. I don't wanna use the word compromise.
Kimberley Borgens:It doesn't mean that you're not willing to adjust the strictness of maybe your your needs because you're willing to create a compromise between both sides. So I just wanna put that in clarity is, like, just prepare for clarity. Know what it is that you stand for. Know what it is that you need, and know that is your need solid as a rock, or can there be some flexibility in that need when you go into negotiation? Alright?
Kimberley Borgens:The second thing that on that would be is lead with empathy. Look. Understanding the other person's goals, what their what their end in mind is, ask them questions, listen deeply. Right? Really truly hear what it is that they have to say.
Kimberley Borgens:Don't allow yourself to get triggered by a word that they used. Get clarity on the word. So lead with that empathy. Understand the other person's goals. Ask them questions.
Kimberley Borgens:Listen deeply and really hear them and ask for clarifying words so that you can truly hear what they have to say. And then the third tactic is to state your value. Own your achievements. Right? Own all the accomplishments that you've made in in your world, in your business.
Kimberley Borgens:Own your contributions, and articulate how your ideas serve the bigger picture based on what they said with step two. So let me restate that. State your value. Own your achievement and your contributions. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:And articulate how your ideas serve the bigger picture based on what they said. And the last tactic is stand your ground gracefully. No can be a complete sentence. I've said that previously in podcast. Okay?
Kimberley Borgens:But remember, compassionate does not mean to be self erasure. K? Compromise is there. It it's not there to self erase yourself. It's not there to self erase the other person, make them self erase.
Kimberley Borgens:What you wanna do is stand your ground gracefully, but because you know your values, you know what you need from this, you know what you stand for, you've listened to them, You've heard what they've had to say. You you've stated your own value so that they it helps to build trust and rapport and authority with them. And then you stand your ground for what you need, not so rigidly that you're not willing to compromise something, but enough so that you're not compromising your values and who you are. Not because you're being bullied, but because compromise does not mean self erasure. We're not here to erase you.
Kimberley Borgens:Negotiations is a give and take, So just keep that in mind. And I'm not saying give up and let them do whatever they want. It's a give and take process. It's here's what I'm offering. Here's what I'm offering.
Kimberley Borgens:What of yours can fit in with mine so that we can have one path that we're both on? If you can think about negotiation like that, if we're both on the same, you know, path, then we're walking together in it, and much more success comes from that. I wanna share with you a few real what I call real world superheroes. Right? Some women who have led authentically, who have given us examples and authentic styles, and have created meaningful change for us as women in business.
Kimberley Borgens:And let me see. Indra Nguyen, who is the former CEO of PepsiCo. She was known for collaboration, her collaborative leadership style, and relentless focus on empathy. I just wanna point that out. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:Which not only improved the corporate culture that she was in because she completely shifted that in PepsiCo. She listened to the people. She listened to the the customers and consumers, but she drove business growth and innovation so far as the CEO of PepsiCo that she will be remembered forever. I can almost guarantee that. Let's see.
Kimberley Borgens:Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors. Look. She transformed crisis management by bringing in compassion and transparency. She brought it to the forefront. She created psychological safety for her teams.
Kimberley Borgens:Like, she really put a lot of femininity into the business, especially a male dominated business like General Motors and car buying and selling. Right? And she was an she's amazing amazing CEO. And then Whitney Wolfherd. She's the founder of Bumble.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Built a billion dollar business by empowering women to make the first move. Right? Not just in our products, but in our company culture as well. These women didn't just play by the rules.
Kimberley Borgens:They rewrote them. And their success is the proof that authentic feminine leadership is so very effective, and it's essential. Like, I took time and watched and studied their master classes. All of these women are amazing game changers. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:They were amazing in the corporate world, some still are, and they helped to shape, right, us women to be able to utilize our feminine skills in the male dominant space and beyond. And if you have the chance to go and listen to their master classes, their interviews, study them, I highly recommend it. I remember a conversation. I read an article in which really got me kind of interested in in Indra Nuit. And it was a article about how when she came home, her mother lived with her, and she came home from working long days, and she was tired.
Kimberley Borgens:And and I'm just paraphrasing this article from from my memory is that she she was tired and she these some things weren't done and and all of that. And she made a comment, and her mom said, hey. When you walk in these doors, you're the mom. You're the wife. You are not the business person.
Kimberley Borgens:You need to turn that off. You need to settle yourself down. And mom pretty much put her in check and reminded her that there's a different space. And, you know, she stepped into it, and she said that was a great awakening for her. And I really thought that that was very authentic for her to share that space.
Kimberley Borgens:And, so that's why she's one of the people that I I have followed throughout the years. Now she's retired, but she still goes out and she does speaking and, and so on. So think about for you. Who are those women that you've watched who've stepped into their feminine leadership, who have stepped into that power, and and really dig into them, study them a little bit, learn what you can from them. The that's how you start to create the mentors in your life that you're looking to follow and emulate.
Kimberley Borgens:So today, I'm gonna give you some simple strategies to step into your own power into feminine leadership. The first strategy I'd give you is to name your superpower. You know, write down three leadership qualities that you naturally embody. Maybe it's listening. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:Maybe you have a gift of seeing a big picture vision or you're really great at building relationships. Lean into those qualities, but write them down because we're gonna do something here. And then practice your presence. I'm about command presence, owning your space. So you need to practice your presence because it's like that muscle.
Kimberley Borgens:You keep practicing, the quicker and faster it comes to you when you need it. Right? So each day this week, set aside five minutes. That's it. Five minutes to stand tall, breathe deeply, and visualize yourself commanding the room with your unique voice and the perspective of those three qualities that you wrote down.
Kimberley Borgens:And then celebrate the small wins. Every time that you lead with empathy or collaboration, acknowledge it. Even if it's just for yourself, you don't have to acknowledge it in front of a group of people. Maybe just make a note of it and put it in your file of encouragement because these moments add up when you really need them. So three simple strategies to step into your power.
Kimberley Borgens:One is to name your superpowers. Right? Write down three leadership qualities that you naturally embody. Maybe it's listening, big picture vision, or building relationships. Maybe it's knowing when to stop talking, knowing when to speak up, whatever those qualities are for you, lean into those qualities, and then practice your presence.
Kimberley Borgens:Each day this week, make sure that you set aside five minutes of time to stand tall, breathe deeply, and visualizing yourself commanding the room with your voice and your perspective from those three qualities, and then celebrate your small wins. Every time that you lead with empathy, every time that you collaborate and it goes well, acknowledge it. Even if it's collaborating with your kids. Look. I need you to get your room clean.
Kimberley Borgens:I don't wanna clean my room. Okay. How can we get you to clean your room and allow you some time for yourself? Right? Those are small wins.
Kimberley Borgens:You take them where you can. That's what I would challenge you for this week. Simple strategies. But I do have a superhero challenge. This week's superhero challenge is I challenge you to lead one meeting or one conversation using your authentic leadership style.
Kimberley Borgens:Let your intuition guide you, whether that means listening more, asking deeper questions, or encouraging your team. Remember, it's about how you can just get in there and and and speak who you are with all that you have in your heart and your soul for the business, for the for the job that you have, for the community that you're a part of. Let your intuition guide you. And then afterwards, reflect on that. Did the energy change in the room?
Kimberley Borgens:Did collaboration improve? Did you learn something new about yourself? If you don't have staff around, if you don't have a team of people around you to practice that, then practice it at a networking event or a family event. Don't say I can't do that because we all can. It could just be a conversation with another human being.
Kimberley Borgens:But that's your superhero challenge today. So I challenge you to lead one meeting or conversation using your authentic leadership style. Right? And then share it with us. Share your stories on social media.
Kimberley Borgens:Use the hashtag superheroes and heels. If you're over in the hive hangout, share it there. Because who knows? I'll be I just might be featuring a few of the stories in a future podcast. So thank you so much for tuning into Superheroes and Heels.
Kimberley Borgens:And remember, true power isn't about fitting into somebody else's mold. It's about owning your story, your strengths, your presence. You're a leader who this world needs. Seriously. We need you just as you are, just who you're meant to be, just as the woman that you're moving into in the world.
Kimberley Borgens:And I'm so excited for you. I'm so excited for me. So until next time. Stay bold, stay brilliant, and keep your heels on or your sneakers, and have them ready for your next adventure. Be blessed.
Kimberley Borgens:Till next time. Have a great week.
Outro:Thanks for tuning in to Superheroes in Heels with Kimberley Borgans. If you're walking away feeling a little braver, a little bolder, and a whole lot more powerful, mission accomplished. Be sure to subscribe to the show and leave a review. It helps us to reach more women who are ready to unleash their power and lead with confidence. And if you do leave a review, you might just hear your name in an upcoming episode.
Outro:If today's conversation lit a fire in you, share it with your network and join us inside the hive society at Kimberleyborgans.com, where powerful women gather to break barriers and rise together. Until next time, keep showing up, standing strong, and heels or not, keep embracing your inner superhero.