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Welcome, lady Leader, welcome to the Leading Her Introvert Way podcast.

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I am your host, dr Nicole Bryan, and I help Black introvert women land their next senior leader role, become elite executive leaders and build wealth.

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Today we're talking about something that's costing Black introverted women hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wealth creation, but almost nobody calculates it.

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I call it the middle management tax.

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Every year, that you stay in middle management when you're ready for executive leadership is literally costing you money, it's costing you opportunity, it's costing you impact and it's even costing you your health.

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Today, I'm going to help you calculate exactly what that cost looks like for you personally.

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After the incredible response to our webinar last week on executive promotion strategies for Black introverted women, I received dozens of messages from women who recognized that they were ready for executive leadership but still hesitated to take action.

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The most common reason fear disguised as waiting for the right time.

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But here's the real deal Every year you wait is a year.

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You're paying a tax that your colleagues who advance are not paying is a year you're paying a tax that your colleagues who advance are not paying.

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And today we're going to quantify that tax in dollars, in opportunities and in impact.

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Let's start with the most obvious cost, which is money.

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Right, we all talk about. Well, we don't all talk about money.

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We think about money. Most of us want more money but we don't necessarily talk about money.

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But that's the most obvious thing to think about when we talk about costs, financial costs.

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The average compensation jump from a director level role to a VP level role.

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A vice president level role is between $50,000 to $100,000 annually, depending on your industry and your location.

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That's not counting additional stock options or bonuses or benefits that often come with executive roles.

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Now here is where it gets interesting. That's not just 50 to a hundred thousand dollars lost for one year, it's the compounding effect of that money over time.

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So let me share a quick calculation I did with my client, janelle.

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Janelle was earning $115,000 as a senior director, but she knew she was performing VP level work.

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The vice president role at her company started at at $175,000, which is already a $60,000 difference when we calculated what waiting just two more years would cost her.

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It wasn't just $120,000 in lost salary when we factored in lost investment, growth, retirement contributions and the ripple effect on her future earning potential and the ripple effect on her future earning potential that two-year delay was going to cost her over $350,000 in wealth creation over the next 10 years.

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This doesn't even account for the fact that executive compensation tends to accelerate faster than middle management compensation.

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The gap doesn't just stay at $60,000.

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It widens every year that you remain stuck.

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My client, alicia, discovered she had effectively lost over half a million dollars by staying in a senior manager role for four years when she was already performing at a director level.

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When she finally made the jump to director and then to vice president within 14 months using the strategies I teach, her compensation more than doubled.

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The financial tax of waiting is very real and it's very substantial.

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Okay, that's the financial piece.

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Let's talk about opportunity costs, because beyond the financial impact, there's opportunity costs.

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Executive roles give you access to things that may not already have a financial value associated.

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So things like experiences, things like networks, things like decision-making authority that simply aren't available at junior levels in an organization.

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Every year that you wait is a year that you're not building your executive network, you're not participating in strategic decisions that shape your organization, you're not developing the specific skills that can only be built through executive experiences organization, you're not developing the specific skills that can only be built through executive experiences and you're not establishing the track record that make future executive moves easier.

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This creates a cruel catch-22 for many Black introverted women you wait until you feel quote-unquote ready for an executive role, not realizing that some of that readiness can only come through being in the executive role itself.

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So I've talked about my client, maya, a few times on the podcast, but she had been told that she needed more strategic experience before she could be promoted to vice president, but the strategic projects and meetings she needed access to were only available to those already at the vice president level.

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It was a perfect system designed to keep her stuck.

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Using the strategies that I teach, she found ways to create strategic visibility without waiting for permission.

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Within four months of us working together, she was able to secure the VP role and discovered that many of her fears about not being ready were totally unfounded.

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She had been ready for years.

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She just needed the right strategies to break through the barriers, including her own mental barriers, that were holding her back.

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Okay, so we've talked about the financial costs.

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We talked about opportunity costs.

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Now let's talk about the common fears and myths.

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That is what's really keeping so many qualified, introverted women stuck in middle management, the fears and myths that they've internalized.

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Fear number one and let me know as I go through these.

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I want you to think about and answer the question if any of these relate to you, and it's probably not any of them, but what all of them relate to you.

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All right, fear number one I'll be exposed as not really executive material.

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This, my friend, is classic, classic imposter syndrome, but with an added layer of stereotype threat that Black women face.

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The myth here is that other executives don't have moments of doubt or learning curves.

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But the truth, the truth, is that everyone figures it out as they go.

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The difference is that white, male executives are given grace and assumption of competence while they learn, while we Black, introverted women, we feel we have to be perfect from day one.

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Fear number two my introversion means I won't be effective at the executive level.

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This myth suggests that executive leadership requires extroversion, and you and I know that that is some bullshit.

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Some of the most effective executives are introverts who leverage their natural strengths in deep thinking, in careful listening, in thoughtful communication, and the list goes on and on and on.

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Your introversion is not a barrier.

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It's potentially your greatest executive asset.

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Fair number three there will be a better time to pursue this.

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I can wait. I can do this later.

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This is perhaps the most costly of myths that waiting will somehow make the path easier.

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The truth, however, is that the barriers that Black women face.

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They do not disappear with time. They're dismantled through strategic action.

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Waiting is not a strategy.

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I have said that till I am blue in the face on this podcast.

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Waiting is not a career strategy.

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Waiting does not make things easier.

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It just delays your impact and costs you money.

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Fear number four I need one more certification, one more degree, one more skill before I'm ready.

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Lord have mercy. I don't know how many times I've heard this one, but this myth suggests that executive advancement is primarily about skills and credentials.

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But the reality is that beyond a certain point additional credentials they yield a diminishing return, which means that the more credentials you get beyond a certain point, it's not giving you as much back.

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Executive advancement is more about strategic positioning and advocacy than it is about collecting more certification or more degrees.

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Fear number five I'll face too much scrutiny and pressure as a Black woman executive.

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Now, while it's true that Black women executives often face additional scrutiny, the myth here is that staying in middle management protects you from this, because the reality is you're likely already navigating scrutiny and bias.

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The difference is that at the executive level, you have more power to create systemic change and greater compensation and greater rewards for the challenges that you are facing.

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Each of these fears and myths creates psychological barriers that keep brilliant.

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Each of these fears and myths create psychological barriers that keep brilliant, capable women like yourself paying the middle management tax year after year after year.

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The final and fourth cost of waiting is perhaps the most significant.

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It's the impact costs.

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Every year you're not in an executive role is a year that you're not making decisions that could positively affect hundreds of thousands of employees.

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It's another year that you're not influencing organizational culture from a position of authority.

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It's another year that you're not creating the pathways for other underrepresented talent.

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It's another year that you are not building wealth that can be reinvested into yourself and your community.

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And it's another year that you are not demonstrating what's possible for other Black women and girls.

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My client Francesca. She realized that her hesitation wasn't just costing her.

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It was costing all the women who would have benefited from her leadership and mentorship at the executive level.

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This was the realization that finally motivated her to take action.

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Within six months of working together, she secured an executive role where she had since implemented mentorship programs, equitable hiring processes and inclusive leadership training that have transformed her team and her department.

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The cost of her waiting wasn't just personal.

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It wasn't just about her. It was the delayed impact on everyone who would have benefited from her leadership vision.

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As we wrap up today's episode, I want to leave you with this question what is waiting really costing you Not just in dollars, though that number is probably pretty damn big.

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What is it costing you in terms of impact, in terms of fulfillment and in terms of your leadership legacy, if you are ready to stop paying the middle management tax and accelerate your path to executive leadership?

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I have a few spots remaining in my elite executive experience.

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That's my one-on-one private coaching program for Black introverted women.

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This one-on-one coaching is specifically designed to help you navigate the unique barriers Black women face in executive advancement, while also leveraging and protecting and honoring your introvert strengths.

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My clients typically secure executive roles and significant compensation increases, anywhere from like $50,000 to $100,000 within five months of working together.

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The investment in the program pays for itself, often within the first year, through salary negotiation strategies alone, if you want to explore whether this program is right for you, then visit the link in my bio and set up a executive sales strategy session.

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During this session, you and I will have a very, very candid conversation about your specific situation and determine if my approach aligns with your goals.

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Remember every month that you wait is costing you more than just money.

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It is costing you impact.

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The world needs more Black women in executive leadership, and that my friend includes you.

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Until next time, keep leading your introvert way.

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That's a wrap for this episode of Leading Her Way.

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Thanks for tuning in. If you have thoughts, questions or ideas for future topics, connect and send me a message on LinkedIn and if you enjoyed today's episode, subscribe.

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And please take a minute to write a quick review on Apple Podcasts.

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Your review will help spread the word to other ambitious females so they know they're not alone and that this podcast is a community of support for all of us.

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Leading her way to the top. Remember your leadership is needed.

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Your leadership is powerful, so lead boldly.