I’ve never really had a problem speaking up.
If something isn’t right, I say something. If a project is heading in the wrong direction, I raise the flag. And if my clients need someone to advocate for them, I’m often the first person in the room willing to do it.
Over the years I’ve spoken up for my kids, my teams, my clients, my community, and the projects I care deeply about.
But speaking up for myself has sometimes been a different story.
Not because I didn’t have something to say. And certainly not because I didn’t have the experience or information to support it. But like many people—especially women in leadership—I learned that advocating for others often feels easier than advocating for yourself.
It feels more comfortable to defend a client or a team than it does to put your own voice forward.
Recently, though, I’ve been thinking about why that matters.
The truth is that if I want my clients to find their voice as leaders, I have to go first.
Leadership isn’t about quietly knowing the right answer while sitting in the background. Leadership is about being willing to say the thing that needs to be said, even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular. In fact, those are often the moments when it matters most.
When you’re building a company, leading a team, or developing a product, silence carries a cost.
Bad ideas survive when no one challenges them. Risks grow when no one calls them out. And founders can become bottlenecks when they stop trusting their own perspective and voice.
That’s one of the reasons speaking up matters so much.
It’s also why I’ve decided to be more vocal about the things I know.
Not because I want to be loud for the sake of being loud, but because the work I do requires clarity, perspective, and the willingness to say what others might hesitate to say.
And if we’re being honest about the broader landscape, there’s another piece to this.
If tech bros can confidently spout opinions about things they barely understand, then I can absolutely speak with conviction about things I have spent decades actually doing.
Experience deserves a voice.
Knowledge deserves a voice.
Leadership requires a voice.
More importantly, my clients deserve to see that modeled.
I work with founders who are navigating complexity, risk, and far too many competing ideas. They don’t need another quiet advisor sitting on the sidelines. They need someone willing to say, “This isn’t the right path,” or “Here’s what the data actually tells us,” or “Let’s focus on what will actually move the business forward.”
That kind of clarity only happens when someone is willing to speak.
So this is my reminder to myself as much as it is a message to anyone reading this:
I’m not going to be quieter about the things I know.
I’m going to say the thing.
Because if I want founders and leaders to step fully into their roles, I have to model what that looks like. And sometimes leadership begins with something as simple—and as powerful—as using your voice.
And this is exactly why the work we do around the CEO Goal Reset matters so much.
When founders step back and intentionally reset their goals, they give themselves the space to reconnect with their voice as a leader. It creates the clarity to decide what actually matters, what needs to change, and what they are no longer willing to stay quiet about in their company or their strategy.
The CEO Goal Reset isn’t just about setting better goals. It’s about making sure the person leading the company is aligned, intentional, and willing to speak clearly about where things are going next.
Because when a CEO finds their voice, the entire company moves with more focus and conviction.
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