If you've ever been told to "be more strategic" with no explanation of what that actually means — this episode is for you.

Limor Bergman Gross spent 20+ years leading engineering organisations across continents before making the leap to executive leadership herself. Now she coaches ambitious women in tech to do the same. In this conversation, she gets real about the patterns that keep talented women stuck — people-pleasing, hiding achievements, staying rigidly inside their job description — and shares the practical strategies that actually work.

We also dig into what it looks like to expand (not just "break out of") your comfort zone, how to say no without using the word no, and why protecting your time and energy isn't selfish — it's strategic. Whether you're climbing toward a promotion or trying to lead more sustainably, there's something here for you.

Key Topics

• How Limor broke through from first-line manager to executive — and what "be more strategic" really means
• Introverts, permission-seeking, and taking initiative without going rogue
• Expanding vs. "stepping outside" your comfort zone: – the reframe
• Why you should say yes first and figure it out later
• What leaders can do to create inclusive spaces for quiet people
• Patterns Limor sees holding women in tech back — and how to shift them
• How to say no without the word "no" — a practical script
• Why overcommitting is bad for your employer too
• It's not just how much you do — it's what you do and the impact it creates
• Limor's closing message to every introvert

About Limor Bergman Gross

Limor is a former Director of Engineering with 20+ years in tech, having led engineering teams across continents. She now coaches ambitious women in tech into leadership roles and speaks globally on leadership, influence, and visibility. She is also the host of the From a Woman to a Leader podcast.

🔗 Connect with Limor on LinkedIn 🎙️ From a Woman to a Leader podcast

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This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

What if being overlooked at work had nothing to do with your performance — and everything to do with a bias so embedded in workplace culture that most people don't even recognise it as bias at all?

David Boroughs spent 30 years navigating corporate America as an introvert. He received top performance rankings and was still told, repeatedly, that he wasn't visible enough. Near the end of his career, that contradiction became an epiphany: it wasn't him that was broken. It was the culture.

Now retired, David is an author and advocate for personality type inclusion. We talk about what it costs to mask your introversion, why the burden of change cannot keep falling on the individual, and what leaders can practically do to create cultures where introverts thrive as their authentic selves.

We also explore the Anxiety High book series — a fiction series for introverted teenagers that David co-authored with his son, Joshua — and why it's finding just as much resonance with parents, teachers, and school counsellors.

In this episode:

• What "personality type bias" is — unconscious, socially accepted, and legally unchallenged
• The performance review moment that changed everything for David
• The exhaustion of performing extroversion, and why it compounds over time
• What leaders can do differently: hiring language, selection committees, and creating genuine belonging
• Why introverts who break into leadership sometimes perpetuate the very bias they've suffered
• How David and his teenage son wrote fiction books together to help young introverts feel seen

About David Boroughs

David is the author of The Extrovert's Guide to Elevating Introverted Leaders in the Workplace and co-author of the Anxiety High teen fiction series. Connect with David on LinkedIn and his website.

Work with Serena

If you’re successful on paper but still feel unseen, over-extended or quietly stuck at the same level despite everything you’ve achieved, the SEEN executive calibration was designed for you. It helps identify the deeper patterns that may be affecting how you communicate, advocate for yourself, lead, and show up professionally.

You’ll find more information HERE.

Work with Serena Low at serenalow.com.au.

Loved this episode? Leave a review to help other Quiet Warriors find the show.

This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

What do you do when life hands you a diagnosis — and you're the person everyone else depends on?

Deb Krier was a “good patient” kind of person. Annual physical. Mammogram. Did everything right. And still didn't make it home from the hospital before the phone rang.

What followed over the next decade was 34 surgeries under general anaesthesia, a stage zero diagnosis that leapt to stage four almost overnight, septic shock with a 75% fatality rate — and a surgeon who told her husband she would be dead by midnight.

Her response? Excuse me. I get to vote.

In this episode, Deb — cancer advocate, strategic advisor, creator of TryingNotToDie.live, and host of the Business Power Hour — shares what she's learned about leading through a health crisis without losing yourself, your business, or your people..

If you've ever pushed through difficulty alone because you feared what people would think — this one is for you.

You'll learn:

• Why hiding a health crisis from your clients almost always backfires
• How to maintain decision-making authority when your brain has short-circuited
• What solopreneurs need to put in place before a crisis hits
• Why asking for help is not weakness — it's what warriors do

Key Takeaways:

• Isolation is the enemy. The instinct to hide a health crisis from your clients and colleagues is understandable — but it's the thing most likely to make everything harder.
• Transparency converts people into supporters. When Deb told her clients the truth, they didn't pull away. They asked, what can we do to help?
• You are the decision-maker — even when the white coats disagree. Give yourself the time to grieve, gather yourself, and then choose the path that is right for you.
• Bring backup to the hard appointments. A level-headed person by your side can hold onto information your shocked brain can't process.
• Build your systems before you need them. Automated invoicing, a backup contact, someone who can handle the basics — these are not just illness preparations. They're what lets you take a vacation too.
• The strongest thing you can do is ask for help. Reaching out — to a friend, a counsellor, a faith community, a stranger on Facebook — is not weakness. It is what warriors do.
• Gratitude doesn't have to be grand. It can be as simple as: I woke up. The project didn't get done, and the world didn't stop.

About Deb Krier

Deb Krier is a cancer advocate and strategic advisor for executives and business owners navigating the personal and professional impact of a cancer diagnosis. She provides high-level guidance for leaders who want to maintain their executive presence and decision-making authority while managing the complex realities of cancer.

Deb is the creator of TryingNotToDie.live and the host of the Business Power Hour.

Gentle invitation for Quiet Leaders:

If you love learning at your own pace, I’ve created a mini-course that you can digest in a weekend. You can download it here:

https://www.quietwarrioracademy.com/leadershipforintroverts

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Work with Serena Low at serenalow.com.au.

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This episode was edited by Aura House Productions