Hello Velocity | Accelerated Leadership and Goal Setting for Women

How Leaders Can Cut Meeting Overload and Get Hours Back on Their Calendar📥 FREE RESOURCE: What habits are quietly working against your leadership? Take the Leadership Blind Spot Audit https://www.hellovelocity.co/blindspotWhen you’re in meetings all day, when are you supposed to do the actual work? In this solo episode, host Brittany Canaski looks at why leaders end up with back-to-back meetings that run long and produce nothing. She explains how to be more selective about which meetings belong on your calendar, run them more efficiently, and win back hours for you and your team.Brittany shares Adam Grant’s four reasons to hold a meeting (to learn, to decide, to do, and to bond). She also walks through what to do before, during, and after every meeting so each one ends with clear outcomes instead of another “let’s circle back.”Key takeaways: • If a meeting isn’t helping you learn, decide, do, or bond, it could probably be an email. Status-update meetings especially need a new purpose. • Before each meeting, set a clear objective, invite only the people you need, and question the default one-hour time block. Meetings tend to fill whatever time they’re given. • During the meeting, open by restating the objective and keep to the agenda. Use the parking lot technique to capture tangents politely without derailing the group. • At the end, close with “who does what by when,” and block time on your calendar right away for your follow-ups so progress actually happens between meetings.What we covered:00:00 Meeting Overload Problem01:46 Four Reasons to Meet04:34 Audit Your Calendar05:26 Before the Meeting Prep06:18 Right Size Attendees and Time08:44 Run Efficient Meetings11:29 Parking Lot Tangents13:05 Wrap Up and Next Steps16:03 Meeting Audit Challenge17:05 Final Sendoff✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills without the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletterHello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out.👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski:Instagram - @HelloVelocityCoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco#HelloVelocity #Leadershipskills #WomeninLeadership #MeetingTips

Responsible Bragging at Work: Lisa Stryker’s BRAG Framework for Visibility, Raises & Promotions 📥 FREE RESOURCE: What habits are quietly working against your leadership? Take the Leadership Blind Spot Audit https://www.hellovelocity.co/blindspot Host Brittany Canaski talks with leadership coach Lisa Stryker about reframing “bragging” as responsible self-advocacy for corporate women. Lisa explains how women’s socialization and cultural expectations of humility can hold women back from sharing the impact of their work, and in turn, hold them back from promotions, raises, and more opportunities at work.Lisa shares her BRAG framework to help women share the value of their work: Back yourself, Recognize your value, Aim communication strategically, and Go consistently.Key takeaways: ○ Visibility can feel risky, yet staying quiet causes valuable work to be missed in corporate environments. ○ Lisa recommends tracking weekly wins, communicating impact (not task lists), and building relationships with interested and influential stakeholders. ○ You also need to remember to identify key connections, align messaging to audiences, and make visibility a routine for it to be effective.🔗 Connect with Lisa:Website: Lisastryker.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisastryker/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisa__stryker/Download the free Impact Audit: https://go.lisastryker.com//audit-your-impact-01⏱ What we covered:00:00 Bragging Reframed 00:13 Meet Lisa Stryker 00:58 Why Bragging Matters 02:26 Women And The Double Bind 07:21 How It Holds You Back 12:05 Track Wins Weekly 15:37 Introducing BRAG Framework 17:00 B Is Back Yourself 20:13 Self Trust Over Control 23:31 Recognize Your Wins 26:11 Aim Your Message 28:02 Build Influential Connections 32:46 Go With Consistency 34:57 Real Client Results 38:43 Increase Luck Surface Area 40:10 Resources And Wrap Up✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills without the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out.👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco#HelloVelocity #Leadershipskills #WomeninLeadership

Failing doesn't make you a failure.Host Brittany Canaski interviews Rachel Franco, founder of Fail Smarter, about reframing failure as a catalyst for innovation and stronger outcomes. 📥 FREE RESOURCE: What habits are quietly working against your leadership? Take the Leadership Blind Spot Audit https://www.hellovelocity.co/blindspotFranco explains how viewing failure as data improves solutions, builds resilience, and accelerates learning, while corporate culture and social judgment often make people fear mistakes and tie them to identity.Key takeaways:○ To get more comfortable with failure, you can start by taking ownership, responding with curiosity, and differentiating “intelligent failure” (experimentation in service of discovery) from preventable or complex failures. ○ Psychological safety is essential for teams to speak up about ideas, concerns, and setbacks,○ Leaders need to role-model vulnerability, ask open-ended questions, and can measure the team's psychological safety using Amy Edmondson’s Fearless Organization Scan at https://amycedmondson.com/psychological-safety/🔗 Connect with Rachel:Website: https://www.fail-smarter.com/LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelfranco/Company LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fail-smarter/⏱ What we covered:00:00 Facing Failure Head On 00:19 Meet Rachel Franco 02:00 Why Failure Helps Us Grow 05:00 Why We Fear Failure 09:20 Women Perfectionism Pressure 12:03 Ownership Builds Respect 14:46 Intelligent Failure Types 16:49 Psychological Safety Culture 20:19 How To Build Safety 26:35 Admit Mistakes Confidently 32:45 Surviving Toxic Cultures 39:43 Wrap Up Resources✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills without the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out.👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco#HelloVelocity #Leadershipskills #WomeninLeadership

How to Build Deeper Connections: Boundaries, Values & Conversation Starters Host Brittany Canaski talks with Rikketta Franklin, founder of The Social Experience, about building deeper connections by getting to know yourself on a deeper level first. They discuss how assumptions and trying to read other people's minds block meaningful connection, and why connection starts with self-knowledge, core values, consistency, and boundaries that protect energy. Rikketta also demonstrates her joy-focused conversation card deck that can be used in team and networking activations or as self-reflection journal prompts.Key takeaways: ○ You first have to get to know yourself on a deeper level before you can build deeper relationships with other people. ○ You can deepen workplace and personal relationships through accountability, consistent action, clear intentions, transparency, and knowing your “no's.” ○ In order to build that deeper connection with someone, first acknowledge if there's anything to apologize or clean up from the past, then acting consistently within your values, and then being transparent about what you want for the relationship.🔗 Connect with Rikketta:Instagram: @meettsxWebsite: www.meettsx.com P.S. You can buy the conversation cards on her website, too!⏱ What we covered:00:00 Why Connection Matters 00:11 Meet Rikketta Franklin 01:58 What Blocks Connection 06:06 Start With Self 08:39 Boundaries Protect Energy 19:29 Holding Boundaries Firmly 22:40 Deepening Work Relationships 33:46 Conversation Cards In Action 41:03 Using Prompts Daily 43:07 Wrap Up And Connect✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills without the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out.👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco#HelloVelocity #Leadershipskills #WomeninLeadership

Empowering Women in Male-Dominated Fields: Kara Schlageter on Authentic Leadership, Confidence & Career Growth 📥 FREE RESOURCE: What habits are quietly working against your leadership? Take the Leadership Blind Spot Audit https://www.hellovelocity.co/blindspotHost Brittany Canaski interviews Kara Schlageter, VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Discovery Education, about empowering women in male-dominated industries. Kara shares her career path from HR to cybersecurity and her people-first approach to technology and leadership. They discuss hurdles women face, including ambition being questioned, being labeled “too emotional,” and needing to prove themselves for promotions while men are advanced on potential. Kara emphasizes resilience, psychological safety, strengths-based leadership, defining values and “why,” getting a coach, owning your worth, storytelling, and pulling up a chair for other women to move from competition to collaboration. Key takeaways:- There are countless stories and studies that prove women are treated differently than men in corporate environments, especially when it comes to promotions, receiving feedback, and earning trust.- Historically when there were even less women in leadership positions, it created a competitive environment for women that we're now trying to shift into collaborative environments.- It's no longer 'you or me' for women in corporate spaces, it's 'you and me' so we need to learn to hype up other women, own our worth, and pull up chairs for more women at the table.🔗 Connect with Kara:For speaking engagements, advisory opportunities, and professional connections: Connect with Kara on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kara-martin-schlageter⏱ What we covered:00:00 Women in Male Spaces 00:19 Meet Kara the CISO 01:38 From HR to Cybersecurity 06:42 People First Leadership 08:33 Gender Hurdles at Work 15:26 Promotion Double Standards 19:22 Stop People Pleasing 21:53 Speak Up with Confidence 26:30 Values and Your Why 28:57 Women Supporting Women 35:04 How to Lift Others Up 40:47 Humility and Self Advocacy 43:23 Final Advice and Wrap Up ✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills without the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out.👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco#HelloVelocity #Leadershipskills #WomeninLeadership

How Childhood Patterns Shape Your Leadership (Coaching vs Therapy, and Behaviors vs Personality)Host Brittany Canaski talks with licensed clinical social worker Latise Moore, founder of Moore Life Counseling & Wellness, about how childhood experiences can shape leadership habits at work, including people pleasing, perfectionism, conflict avoidance, hyper-vigilance, and over-functioning. 📥 FREE RESOURCE: What habits are quietly working against your leadership? Take the Leadership Blind Spot Audit https://www.hellovelocity.co/blindspotThey clarify the difference between coaching and therapy, and discuss how various childhood events, conversations, and even birth order can influence your leadership habits today. Latise explains trauma-processing modalities EMDR and brain spotting as somatic, body-focused approaches, while Brittany shares her personal experience with EMDR reducing anxiety and changing core beliefs.Key takeaways:○ Specific childhood conversations, events, traumas, and even birth order likely ingrained certain survival behaviors and patterns that you still do today.○ They likely helped you get to where you are today, but are no longer sustainable.○ To identify our learned, protective behaviors, you will notice that they feel rigid, like you have to do it to avoid something bad or avoid feeling a certain way.○ Attached to all of these protective behaviors are negative beliefs we have about ourselves that we need to shift in order to consistently shift our behavior.🔗 Connect with Latise:Website: https://moorelifecounseling.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/moorelifecounselingws/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@moorelifecounselingwsJoin The Soft Place interest list: https://forms.gle/5qteYjirxZ9hX9Sp9Get Tired of Being Strong: https://payhip.com/b/TQseW⏱ What we covered:00:00 Childhood Meets Work 01:44 Coaching vs Therapy 06:36 Burnout and Stuckness 11:28 EMDR and Brain Spotting 15:39 EMDR Personal Experience 23:48 Work Habits from Childhood 25:07 Childhood at Work 27:58 Birth Order Patterns 31:15 Personality or Survival 35:36 Costs of Coping 38:30 Changing Beliefs 41:10 EMDR and Trauma 45:31 Small Interruptions 47:46 Resources and Invitations✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills without the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out.👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco#HelloVelocity #Leadershipskills #WomeninLeadership

Unwritten Rules at Work: Navigating Corporate Culture and Diverse Backgrounds While Building Trust with Dr. Pravi Devineni  📥 FREE RESOURCE: What habits are quietly working against your leadership? Take the Leadership Blind Spot Audit https://www.hellovelocity.co/blindspot Host Brittany Canaski speaks with Dr. Pravi Devineni, lead AI scientist at Duke Energy, about the unwritten rules and cultural norms that shape communication, influence, and relationships in corporate America.  Pravi shares how moving from India to the U.S. for a PhD required learning new behaviors like speaking up in discussion-based classes, making small talk, and masking emotion in professional settings. Plus humorous examples of jargon and idioms causing confusion. Pravi also briefly addresses AI adoption, emphasizing literacy, accountability, and safety.Key takeaways: ○ Corporate dynamics and influence are often driven by visibility, ego, and recency bias. ○ We can build trust at work through consistency, negotiating workload, clarifying expectations, and developing “accent empathy.” ○ Corporate jargon, idioms, and acronyms often cause more confusion than they are worth.🔗 Connect with Dr. Pravi:Website: www.Pravi.techLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pdevineni/⏱ What we covered:00:00 Unwritten Workplace Rules 00:39 Meet Dr Pravi 01:50 Curiosity Driven Career 04:41 Culture Shock in Grad School 07:53 Emotions and Small Talk 12:25 Research vs Corporate Hierarchy 18:53 Visibility and Negotiation 27:28 Jargon Acronyms and Idioms 33:05 Accent Empathy and Trust 43:02 AI Adoption Accountability 47:46 Connect and Closing✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills without the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out.👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco#HelloVelocity #Leadershipskills #WomeninLeadership

Business Emotional Intelligence: The 8 Soft Skills That Make or Break Leadership and How Women Get Trapped to The Sticky Floor 📥 FREE RESOURCE: What habits are quietly working against your leadership? Take the Leadership Blind Spot Audit https://www.hellovelocity.co/blindspot Host Brittany Canaski talks with Fay Niewiadomski about business emotional intelligence - work-relevant emotional capabilities that drive performance and relationships. Fay explains eight key factors: decisiveness, motivation, influence,adaptability, conscientiousness, empathy, stress resilience, andself-awareness. They discuss how differences in these skills can create tension and not feeling safe unless teams understand and bridge behavioral drivers.Key takeaways:While personality is fixed, behavior is a choice. With greater self-awareness, we can choose to respond intentionally instead of react automatically.Women often get stuck in a burnout “triangle”  of high empathy, high conscientiousness, and low adaptability that shows up as people-pleasing, rule-following, and difficulty saying no.Fay advises building influence, not waiting for permission, and consulting leaders with options rather than asking what to do. 🔗 Connect with Fay:Book:  https://tinyurl.com/ytnr7tpb LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fayniewiadomski/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fayniewiadomski/Blog: https://www.ictn.com/blog/⏱ What we covered:00:00 Business EQ Intro 01:34 Defining Business EQ 04:10 Emotions Drive Performance 10:46 Research and Tools Used11:41 Decisiveness17:34 Motivation19:04 Influence20:18 Adaptability20:43 Stress Resilience21:34 Conscientiousness22:16 Empathy24:37 Applying Business EQ in Real Time 29:42 Women’s Burnout Triangle 38:37 Influence and Decisiveness Tips 43:57 Wrap Up and Resources ✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills without the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter  Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out. 👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco

Introvert-Approved Networking: How to Work the Room, Build Long-Term Connections & Follow Up  Host Brittany Canaski talks with Lauren Ansley, a conference emcee, facilitator, speaker, and audience engagement partner, about making networking less intimidating and more effective for long-term career growth. Lauren shares tips using “visual,verbal, and situational” connection cues to start conversations. They also cover conference networking follow-up systems plus ways to network internally at work through curiosity, small moments, and intentional relationship-building.  Key takeaways:Let's reframe networking events as places where everyone wants to meet people to make them less intimidating.The key to effective networking is actually in the strength of your follow-up system afterwards.Networking isn't just outside your organization, find ways to intentionally connect with people in your organization to build influence and trust internally.🔗 Connect with Lauren:Website: www.LaurenAnsley.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurensansley/Work The Room Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033HpDdEO7lNWC00N9bSw3Work The Room Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/work-the-room-with-lauren-ansley/id6785940020 ⏱ What we covered:00:00 Why Networking Matters 00:20 Meet Lauren Ansley 02:12 Introvert Friendly Events 05:48 Join the Circle Confidently 07:35 Bagel vs Croissant Networking08:43 Networking With Friends 13:09 Three Connection Cues 17:38 Beyond What Do You Do 19:05 Conference Follow Up Plan 22:39 Better Conference Questions 23:05 Follow Up Like a Pro 24:01 Write Contextual Messages 25:54 Tier Your Connections 28:04 Build a Follow Up System 30:47 Protect Your Energy 32:12 Network Inside Your Company 37:18 Personal Brand at Work 40:38 Fresh Eyes Add Value 41:42 Wrap Up and Where to Find Lauren✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter for actionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills with the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter  Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out. 👋 Connect with the host, Brittany Canaski: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco

Hello Velocity Season 4 Kickoff: The Unspoken Skills Corporate Women Need to Level Up  📥 FREE RESOURCE: What habits are quietly workingagainst your leadership? Take the Leadership Blind Spot Audit https://www.hellovelocity.co/blindspot Brittany Canaski, Leadership Coach and Podcast Host introduces season four, focused on empowering corporate women through the unspoken, harder-to-find leadership topics like navigating hard conversations, building meaningful connections, and the realities of being a woman in corporate America. The season centers on three recurring themes: relationship dynamics (with managers, teams, peers, and external networks), self-awareness (habits, triggers, emotional skills, and how personal experiences shape leadership), and unwritten rules in corporate culture (jargon, meeting norms, influence, and unspoken hurdles for women).  ⏱ What we covered:00:00 Season Four Kickoff 01:54 Why This Podcast Exists02:43 How To Use This Episode 03:37 Three Themes This Season 05:31 Relationship Dynamics Check 06:25 Self Awareness Deep Dive07:42 Unwritten Rules At Work 08:55 Growth Journey And Wrap 💬 What topics would you like to hear on the podcast? Anyone you think would be a great guest? Drop it in the comments.  ✉️ Leadership Insights: Join the Hello Velocity newsletter foractionable tips twice a month to grow your leadership skills with the burnout: https://www.hellovelocity.co/newsletter  Hello Velocity is a leadership coaching podcast to help high-achieving corporate women level up without burning out. 👋 Connect with Brittany: Instagram - @HelloVelocityCo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-canaski/Website - https://www.hellovelocity.co/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hellovelocityco