Confidently You: Women in Leadership · Rebecca Malotke-Meslin & Lynne Macziewski

Elevating Your Leadership

February 9, 2024·42 min·1 clip

Why this leader said 'no' three times before taking the Penn job.

Whitney Soule speaks about the early stretch of stepping into Penn and learning how the place works. She describes how understanding an institution changes what you need to prepare, who needs the information, and where your time should go. That kind of knowledge, she says, opens up opportunities that were easy to miss before. Rebecca and Lynn respond with their own sense of what year one feels like when everything is still being sorted out. They connect to the questions, the uncertainty, and the small internal moments that happen when you realize you are the person who has to move the meeting forward. One of those moments lands clearly: the instant when you look around the table for someone else to make the decision and then recognize that the responsibility is yours. The conversation also lingers on a simple habit Soule keeps for herself. She writes down surprising details in a booklet so she can remember what stood out as she was learning the new environment. That practice becomes a way of tracking the unfamiliar instead of rushing past it. The hosts treat that kind of note-taking as evidence of how leaders build confidence over time. Rather than treating confidence as a fixed trait, they frame it as something that grows through observation, repetition, and a willingness to admit what you do not yet know. Soule also points to the practical value of understanding how staff communicate and what they can already explain well. When a leader knows where the real expertise sits, the work becomes less about proving authority and more about using the room well. The conversation keeps returning to that idea of listening before acting. It suggests that the beginning of leadership often looks less like commanding and more like orienting. The hosts let that idea breathe instead of turning it into a slogan. That makes the episode feel grounded in actual school and higher-education life. It is full of the kinds of observations that come only after being new somewhere and paying attention long enough. By the end, the tone is encouraging without being glossy. It sounds like people who understand how strange and formative those early months can be. It leaves you with the sense that leadership confidence is built through small, accurate readings of the people and places around you.

As heard by us

A reflective conversation about how confidence grows through careful listening, context, and stepping up when the room stalls.

Confidently You, Women in Leadership tracks a new leader through the first-year work of learning a place well enough to lead it with confidence.

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Why you'd press play

You are learning a new role and need steadier footing inside the room.

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