Are you a high performer who has been waiting for your hard work to speak for itself? You are not alone. Most women rise to the director level by being exceptional individual contributors, then hit an invisible ceiling that no one warned them about. The people getting promoted to vice president are not always working harder, they are working differently, and they understand a set of corporate power dynamics that nobody teaches women in business school, in onboarding, or anywhere along the way.
In this episode of the SisterSmart Leadership Podcast, host and executive coach Jill Avey sits down with Linda Reddy, Global Supply Chain Director at Nando's, to decode the invisible games of corporate power that determine who advances into senior leadership and who stays stuck at director. Linda has more than 25 years of leadership experience across South Africa, India, the Middle East, Africa, and globally, and she has watched countless talented women plateau at the same level she once did, until she figured out the real rules.
If you are a woman leader, director, senior director, or aspiring vice president looking for a roadmap from high performer to executive, this conversation will reframe how you think about visibility, influence, narrative, and what it really takes to be promoted to vice president. Linda walks through her framework of three career stages, the three elements of power, and the biggest mistakes women make when they pursue promotion. By the end of this episode you will know exactly where to focus to break through your next ceiling.
In this episode of the SisterSmart Leadership Podcast you will learn:
Why high performance alone will not get you promoted to vice president, and what does
The three corporate stages every woman leader must move through to reach senior leadership: high performer, influencer, and authority
How to use visibility, influence, and narrative as your real path to executive promotion
Why decisions about your career are happening outside the boardroom, and how to position yourself to be in those rooms
How to reframe self-promotion as a service that helps others do their job better
The high performer trap that is causing senior leaders to see you as an operator instead of a thought leader
Why being your own ambassador is the mindset shift that unlocks your next promotion
The biggest mistake women make when they say I am not 150 percent ready, and how to stop waiting
How to start small with risk and build the confidence muscle that gets you promoted
Linda's framework of the 11 invisible games of corporate power and the 22 human dynamics that underpin them
Related topics covered in this episode for women leaders:
How to get promoted from director to vice president, corporate power dynamics for women, executive presence for senior women leaders, women in supply chain leadership, leadership skills for women, how to be more visible at work, how to build influence as a woman leader, narrative framing for executives, sponsorship and mentorship for women, women in male dominated industries, women in global leadership, breaking the glass ceiling, gender in the workplace, leadership development for women, becoming a senior director, becoming a vice president, women and confidence, women and risk taking, professional growth for women leaders, how to be promoted faster.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Get Linda Reddy's reflection journal on the invisible games of corporate power when you subscribe to her newsletter: https://lindareddy.uk/
Linda Reddy's framework of the 11 invisible games of corporate power
The 22 human dynamics that underpin corporate power across identity and status, fear and control, relationships and trust, ambition and survival, narrative and perception, and influence
ABOUT LINDA REDDY
Linda Reddy is a London-based Global Executive and international speaker specialising in corporate systems, power, and performance.
Over 25 years, she has led large-scale supply chain and operational transformation across FMCG, banking, and hospitality in more than 24 countries running complex operations, multi-country P&Ls, and delivering over 400% EBITDA growth at C-suite level.
A Harvard Business School alumna, she identified early that corporate success is not driven by strategy alone—but by the invisible dynamics of power, positioning, and human behaviour.
That insight was sharpened beyond the boardroom.
Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, climbing Mount Fuji, and carrying the torch for the Olympic Games shaped a defining perspective on resilience, clarity, and legacy.
Today, she is the creator of two proprietary frameworks:
• The 11 Invisible Games of Corporate Power and
• The 22 Human Dynamics used to help professionals understand how decisions are really made, build influence, and avoid being overlooked despite strong performance.
Her work sits at the intersection of systems, power, and performance focused on how corporate actually functions, not how it is designed to
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