Can I say something gently, the way I would if we were sitting across from each other with an almond milk latte? If you’ve ever walked out of a meeting thinking, “Dang it. I should have said that,” you’re not alone.

I’ll never forget the day a nonprofit leader in D.C. smiled at me and my colleague, patted us on the shoulders, and said, “Best to you, ladies”…like we were little girls playing at leadership. That moment lit a fire in me.

If you lost your job tomorrow, would your self-worth go with it? There’s a story so many of us have believed: Do the work. Get the title. Protect your seat. And you’ll be safe.

Let me tell you about the time I felt like a baby seal being skewered during a job interview. I was living in Colorado, interviewing for a job in the energy sector.

Ever noticed how a great story can stop you mid-scroll, keep you glued to your seat, or leave you replaying it in your mind for days? Now imagine if your leadership had that kind of power. Here’s the thing: it can.

This one is for you–a powerful woman leader in STEM. I see you sitting in your power suit around the ‘big boy’ table. I see you. But do they?

In last month’s blog post, I encouraged you to make this new year a banner year for your leadership. To toss aside the rulebooks you never wrote and the playbooks that weren’t ever really yours. This year is about stepping into your next level of leadership, not defined by anyone else but you.

How often does someone get promoted to a leadership (or C-level) position because they’ve produced amazing results in their technical role but do not have a clue how to actually lead?

Let’s get you up to speed in case you’ve not been following along. Situational leadership is critical to your team’s success. (Full stop.) There are four types of situational leaders: visionary, coaching, delegating, and directive. Meow, the name of the game in this blog post is delegating leadership, which is likened to herding cats.

The author humbly advises you to read the following in your best Morgan Freeman voice. Behold the industrious prairie dog; humble, head bowed, quiet, perfectly content to stay out of sight.

“Come on in, Ted. Grab a seat for our quarterly meeting, and let’s find out which balls we’ve been dropping for the last six months and who needed support but didn’t get it!” Sounds silly, doesn’t it?