International Women’s Day 2026: Who Made You Free?
Let’s cut through the noise. International Women’s Day comes around. Brands share purple graphics. Panels discuss “empowerment.” Meanwhile, women’s rights are being eroded worldwide. So Mel Butcher asked the only question that matters:
Who made you free?
Michelle Redfern talks about her Nana and ...
Moral Ambition: Why Prestige Is Not the Same as Impact
In this episode of Lead to Soar, Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher discuss Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman.
The conversation centres on Bregman’s critique of so-called “b******t jobs” — roles that are well-paid, high-status, and socially approved, yet exist largely to protect power, manage percep...
Why Women's Leadership Ambition Matters More than Ever Right Now
Ambition has acquired a negative connotation for women. Openly ambitious women are (too) often seen as selfish, excessive, or dangerous.
At the same time, women are encouraged to be patient, resilient, and grateful, even as they navigate systems that are inherently resistant to change and unfair...
How Ambitious Women Tackle Ageism and Identity Bias
In this solo episode, Mel Butcher responds to two questions she has been asked by women in her network: one about whether to hide years of experience to avoid being judged as too young, and one about whether to anglicise a name on a resume to improve the odds of getting an interview.
Both questio...
Stop Throwing Women in a Room and Calling It Networking
Most networking events for women are lazy. Not malicious. Lazy. Someone books a venue, lines up a speaker, fills the room with wine and canapés, and expects the magic to happen. It doesn't. And the women in the room get blamed for not working the crowd hard enough.
In this episode, Mel Butcher an...
The Leadership Double Bind: Why Executive Women Still Can’t Win
Executive women are still judged against a narrow idea of what credible leadership looks and sounds like. Warmth can be mistaken for a lack of commercial acumen, authority can be interpreted as aggression, and likeability can become part of an assessment that should be about capability and result...
The Good Girl Tax
Being praised as a good team player feels rewarding. Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher call out what it actually costs this episode: a tax on women who’ve been socialised to say yes, one that rarely shows up in your pay or your title.
Two women in engineering consulting were asked to take on more ...
The Good Girl Tax
Being praised as a good team player feels rewarding. Michelle Redfern and Mel Butcher identified what it actually costs this episode: a tax on women who've been socialised to say yes, one that rarely shows up in your pay or your title.
Two women in engineering consulting were both asked to take o...
Who Gets to Speak Their Mind at Work, and Who Gets Called Abrasive?
Years ago, Michelle Redfern told her manager at one of Australia's big banks that the team had a politeness problem. He told her to keep speaking up. A couple of years later she had a reputation, and one of the words attached to it was "abrasive."
Mel Butcher and Michelle look at who gets to spea...
Nothing Left to Lose: When It’s Safe to Speak Up
A colleague decides to act on a workplace bully everyone else has been too afraid to challenge, after management’s own attempt to fix things made the problem worse. Michelle and Mel use the story to ask a harder question: how do you work out whether you’re actually safe enough to speak up, and wh...
