195 Jennifer McCollum, CEO, Author and Leadership Expert: Why Fixing Workplaces for Women Fixes Them for Men Too

Jennifer McCollum spent twenty-five years climbing toward a seat she wasn't sure she'd ever reach. Then a single phone call changed everything by telling her exactly what she didn't want.

Jennifer is President and CEO of Catalyst, the global nonprofit working with many of the world's most powerful companies to build workplaces that work for women, and only the sixth leader in its sixty-year history. She's the author of In Her Own Voice and, most recently, Men at Work: The Road Map to Gender Partnership, launched this year at the New York Stock Exchange, and a member of Marshall Goldsmith's 100 Coaches community.

In this episode, she shares the Unlock Moment that redirected her career, and why clarity of action begins with a harder question than "what do I do next?" We cover the scrappy childhood that shaped her drive, the two layoffs and the sabbatical that made her stop and reassess, and why getting clear on what she didn't want freed her to find the work she was made for.

We also get into the heart of Men at Work: why workplaces were never designed for women, why they aren't serving men especially well either, and what it really takes to build organisations that work for everyone.

A conversation about ambition, clarity, and the choices leaders can make right now rather than waiting for the culture to catch up.