Climbing the Corporate Ladder without Breaking a Heel

About Climbing the Corporate Ladder without Breaking a Heel

Climbing the Corporate Ladder Without Breaking a Heel is a leadership and career advancement podcast for ambitious women who want more than career advice. It explores the ideas shaping women in leadership, executive leadership, career growth, stronger organizations, and more intentional careers. Hosted by executive advisor, bestselling author, speaker, and Human Capital Strategist Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer, each episode features conversations with respected executives, researchers, authors, entrepreneurs, board directors, and thought leaders. Together, they explore leadership development, career advancement, human capital strategy, organizational effectiveness, executive decision-making, workplace dynamics, and the future of work. At the center of the podcast is one foundational belief: Drift is the gradual movement away from what matters most and what is required for future success. In our careers, leadership, organizations, and lives, drift is rarely dramatic. It happens one decision, one compromise, and one missed opportunity at a time. Each conversation examines how exceptional leaders recognize early signals, identify emerging patterns, and choose direction before small misalignments become significant consequences. While the ideas are relevant to every leader, the conversations are intentionally framed for ambitious women navigating leadership, influence, career progression, executive careers, and the path to senior leadership. The goal isn't simply to climb higher. It's to build a career of significance, intention, and lasting impact.

Publisher

Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Sept 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

2 of 61 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   Why Women Face Barriers to Leadership and Career Growth | Celeste Warren

   What's really holding women back from advancing in their careers? In this episode of Climbing the Corporate Ladder Without Breaking a Heel, I sit down with Celeste Warren, former Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Merck and founder of Celeste Warren Consulting, to explore the systemic barriers women face in the workplace and what it takes to create meaningful change. We discuss workplace equity vs. equality, unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, and how corporate talent management practices can influence career advancement opportunities. Celeste also shares practical strategies for women looking to advocate for themselves, navigate workplace challenges, build professional relationships, and take ownership of their leadership development. Whether you're an emerging leader or an experienced executive, this conversation offers actionable insights to help you advance your career and challenge the barriers standing in your way.

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Authentic Leadership, Women in Business & Breaking Taboos | Cindy Gallop

   How can women become more confident leaders, speak their truth, and challenge societal expectations? Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer sits down with advertising icon, entrepreneur, and TED Talk speaker Cindy Gallop to discuss authentic leadership, women's empowerment, workplace confidence, and breaking barriers in business. Cindy shares her approach to personal values, speaking up at work, and challenging the status quo. ] They also explore sex education, pornography's influence on relationships, online safety, and the importance of open conversations without shame. Discover how small daily actions can transform leadership, relationships, and personal growth.

3. 

   6 Oct 2026

   The "Good Girl" Trap: How People-Pleasing and Perfectionism Hold Women Back at Work | Michelle Minnikin

   What if the qualities that made you a "good girl" are the same ones quietly holding you back in your career? In this episode of Climbing the Corporate Ladder Without Breaking a Heel, Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer sits down with chartered organizational psychologist, author, and speaker Michelle Minnikin to unpack "good girl" conditioning and the impact it can have on women in the workplace. Michelle shares how her own ADHD diagnosis led her to question behaviors she had long considered part of her personality, including people-pleasing, perfectionism, conflict avoidance, over-preparing, and struggling to set boundaries. What she discovered was something much bigger: many of these behaviors can be learned survival strategies shaped by societal expectations and gender conditioning. Cynthia and Michelle explore how those unwritten rules follow women into the workplace. Be perfect. Work harder. Don't be difficult. Keep your emotions in check. Make sure you're completely qualified before you raise your hand. And, perhaps most damaging of all, do great work and wait for someone to notice. They also examine how gender conditioning affects career advancement, confidence, leadership, and self-advocacy, and why women may approach professional opportunities differently than men. The conversation moves into aging, menopause, power, and what happens when women become more direct, assertive, and less willing to follow the rules they were taught. Michelle leaves listeners with a deceptively simple challenge: start noticing the word "should." Every time you think, "I should do this," "I should be better at that," or "I shouldn't say that," ask yourself: Who taught me that rule, and do I actually want to keep following it? If you've ever been called a perfectionist, a people-pleaser, an overachiever, or "too much" the moment you started setting boundaries, this conversation may change the way you see yourself and your career. In this episode, you'll learn: What "good girl" conditioning is and how it develops Why people-pleasing, perfectionism, and conflict avoidance may be survival strategies rather than personality traits How gender conditioning can affect women's career advancement and leadership Why high-achieving women often over-prepare and wait until they feel completely qualified How workplace expectations influence boundaries, emotions, confidence, and self-advocacy Why aging and menopause can shift women's relationships with power and assertiveness How identifying the "shoulds" in your life can help you separate societal expectations from what you actually want It's time to question the rules, rethink the behaviors you've been rewarded for, and decide which ones still deserve a place in your life and career.

Inside a recent episode

Your Potential Is Bigger Than Your Paycheck

Published 7 Jul 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] My daughter did that for five years. And interestingly, Victoria, there was a point where— For her, everyone's unique. For her, she felt like she kind of lost her identity of all the other dreams and aspirations that she had. And her whole identity became, I'm a mom and a wife, instead of, I'm a singer and I'm an actress and I have all of this creative side. And she had a real... kind of moment where she was struggling with sort of her identity around that. It sounds like for you, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but kind of one of the things I heard you say is you sort of had a dream. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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