“I need us to stop telling women to take up space.” Not because women should take up less of it. Because “take up space” was never a strategy. It’s a vibe we’ve been calling advice for years, and nobody questions it anymore.
Speak up.
Ask for what you deserve.
Take your seat at the table.
None of it means anything without an answer to the questions underneath it: who actually makes the decision, what do they care about, and what happens if they say no?
In this quick, kick-in-the-pants Thursday episode, Dawn takes apart the leadership advice women get handed on repeat and explains why confidence was never the missing piece. What’s actually missing is power literacy, knowing how to read the room you’re standing in before you decide whether to push, wait, ask, tell, or walk away. If you’ve ever known exactly what you wanted to say and stopped yourself because you weren’t sure how it would land, this one’s for you.
If your organization is ready for a bigger conversation about women, leadership, and power, this is work Dawn does with companies every day, through leadership development, speaking, and custom programs. Find her at dawnandrews.com.
Key Takeaways
- Why “take up space,” “speak up,” and “be more confident” are incomplete leadership advice without a strategy for navigating power.
- How power literacy helps you identify who actually makes decisions, who influences them, what matters to them, and where resistance is likely to come from.
- Why bravery without strategy can get you hurt, while strategy without bravery can keep you small.
- How to tell fear-driven shrinking apart from strategic restraint, so you know when to push, wait, ask, tell, or walk away.
- Why getting into the room and understanding how decisions get made in it are two completely different skills.
Resources & Links
- Work With Dawn: Leadership Development, Speaking & Custom Programs
Related Episode
- Episode 182 — REPLAY: I Almost Deleted This. What Every Female Founder Must Stop Doing in 2026 To Lead Like They Mean It
- Episode 183 — REPLAY: The #1 Skill You Need to Give Clear Feedback Without Worrying About Hurting Your Team Members Feelings
- Episode 159 — The Bottleneck Isn’t Your Team. It’s What You Haven’t Been Willing to Say Out Loud
