From the Floor to the Boardroom: How Leadership Is Really Developed
I don't believe someone suddenly becomes a leader when their title changes.
Some of the most important lessons I've learned came long before executive leadership—from watching people, asking questions, managing teams, making mistakes, learning to influence people I didn't manage and understanding how one decision can affect an entire organization.
Leadership can be taught. But it also has to be practiced.
Here are eight questions I've been asked about developing leaders, choosing speakers and creating more voices at the table—and how I answer them.
What are the key components of a successful leadership development program?
What are the key components of a successful leadership development program? I believe it starts with self-awareness.
Before you can effectively manage other people, you need to understand how you show up. Your communication, attitude, body language, decisions and reactions all affect the people around you.
Then comes business awareness.
I want someone to understand what's happening at the 10,000-, 20,000- and 30,000-foot view. Can you see what's happening directly in front of you while also understanding how it connects to where the organization is going?
One method I teach is something I call snowballing. Watch what's happening around you. Ask someone why they do something a certain way. Ask what they think could be better. That answer leads to another question, another conversation and another layer of understanding.
You don't have to walk into the room knowing everything.
You need enough awareness to ask better questions—and enough accountability to do something with the answers.
Top-rated women speakers for leadership conferences
Top-rated women speakers for leadership conferences should do more than leave an audience feeling motivated.
I study speakers and their ability to connect. The people I remember are usually willing to tell their own stories, including what didn't work, and then connect those experiences back to the person sitting in the audience.
I also believe experience matters.
There is a difference between leading yourself, leading five people, leading 75 people and leading without authority.
Leading without authority was one of the hardest things I had to learn. You don't control someone's role or performance review, yet you still need to create alignment, persuade people and move something forward.
That's a very different muscle.
Ultimately, I want someone in the audience to leave knowing what they're going to do differently Monday morning.
A great story may inspire an idea. But I think about it this way:
One point for an idea. Ten points for a plan. One hundred points for execution.
leadership development books
leadership development books have been a constant throughout my career, and I've realized they aren't always about learning how to manage someone else.
Often, they're about understanding yourself.
I've read books about habits, communication, psychology, consumers, change and critical thinking. What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith, Radical Candor by Kim Scott, Why She Buys by Bridget Brennan and A Whole New Mind by Daniel
Pink approach very different subjects, but there's a common thread for me:
Awareness.
The books I remember make me stop and think about why I do something, how someone else might interpret it or what happens next because of a decision I've made.
That matters because your actions have a domino effect when you're responsible for other people.
But you still have to put the book down and practice.
I've said this for years to practice managers:
You're a practice manager—so practice working the floor.
You can read about communication, accountability and emotional intelligence. Eventually, you have to show up and use them.
Where can I find professional women speakers for a corporate event?
Where can I find professional women speakers for a corporate event? Referrals are a great place to start, along with professional speaker bureaus, SpeakerHub, eSpeakers, the National Speakers Association, LinkedIn and industry conferences.
But I wouldn't choose someone based solely on where you found her.
Watch her speak. Look at testimonials. Understand her background. Most importantly, determine whether she can take what she knows and make it relevant to what your audience needs.
I've spoken to live audiences of up to 500 people, led teams and overseen strategy across more than 120 practices and hundreds of providers. But the part of my background I find most valuable isn't necessarily the size.
It's the range.
I've worked alongside the person serving the customer and patient, managed operations and strategy, and eventually participated in the executive decisions affecting those people.
I've seen what a decision looks like when it's made—and what happens when it lands.
That's what I would look for in a speaker: not simply someone who can command a stage, but someone whose experience gives the audience a perspective they can use.
Looking for a woman speaker for your next corporate or leadership event?
Own Your Seat is my keynote about recognizing the value of what you already know, contributing without waiting for permission and understanding what happens once you earn a seat in the room. Explore Own Your Seat and inquire about bringing AlexSandra Sisler to your next event.
Companies offering customized leadership development training
Companies offering customized leadership development training should be willing to figure out what is actually happening before deciding what needs to be taught.
When I've gone into a business with a problem, I look for misalignment.
I've interviewed people from the top of an organization to the front line and compared what I'm hearing. In smaller businesses, I've spent time observing the team in their actual environment.
Sometimes what looks like a people problem is really an operational problem. Expectations aren't clear. Responsibilities overlap. The company grew, but the structure didn't grow with it.
And sometimes it is a people problem.
I've made the decision to remove individuals who were highly productive—even highly profitable—because what they contributed individually no longer outweighed what their behavior was costing the rest of the team.
I've then watched the business become stronger, sometimes producing more revenue without replacing that person.
Individual performance doesn't always equal organizational value.
You can keep training around someone, or you can recognize when someone's attitude, behavior or lack of alignment is affecting everyone else's ability to succeed.
The goal isn't to make that decision lightly. It's to be willing to see the situation clearly enough to make it when necessary.
Then you build forward: What changes in 30 days? What should be different in 90? What are we measuring? Who owns it? That's how an idea becomes execution.
Need development—but aren't sure another workshop is actually the answer?
Sometimes a workshop is exactly what's needed. Sometimes the first step is figuring out what's underneath the problem.
women public speakers
women public speakers are something I want to see more of—not because I believe women are inherently better leaders than men, but because experience shapes perspective.
For roughly the first 15 years of my career, I worked almost exclusively with women. I didn't realize how unique that was until I began working in organizations with both men and women and eventually entered executive rooms.
It made me notice something else.
In industries heavily served and operated by women, the people making the highest-level decisions still don't always reflect the people doing the work.
Healthcare is a good example. McKinsey reported that women represented 76% of entry-level healthcare positions but only 35% of C-suite positions as of 2024.
I think those perspectives need to make it further up.
Someone who has worked as an esthetician, alongside medical assistants and patient coordinators, managed a practice, worked in strategy and national accounts, and then entered an executive room sees the business differently.
Not better. Differently.
And we need that balance.
We also need women talking honestly about what happens once they get into those rooms.
How do you stop shrinking yourself? How do you contribute without waiting for permission? How do you make sure you're sharing your thinking rather than automatically becoming the person taking the notes?
Getting a seat is one thing. Learning to own it is another.
How to choose a leadership development service for small businesses
How to choose a leadership development service for small businesses starts with finding someone who understands the business you're actually operating.
Whenever possible, I would choose someone who has worked in your market—or close enough to it to understand both the customer-facing environment and what ownership is trying to accomplish.
Small businesses are unique because people often wear multiple hats. That can also make it very easy to put your head down and focus exclusively on your own responsibilities.
I encourage people to put their toes across the line.
Don't just stay in your lane.
Ask yourself:
If I owned this business, what would I notice? What would I change? What would I take responsibility for?
You begin thinking differently when you stop looking only at your job description and start understanding how your work connects to everyone else's.
That's the kind of thinking I want to develop.
Best platforms to find women speakers for corporate events
Best platforms to find women speakers for corporate events include speaker directories, professional associations, referrals and the networks event planners already use.
SpeakerHub, eSpeakers, the National Speakers Association and LinkedIn are places to look, but I don't believe there is one magic platform.
Professional speakers make themselves visible in multiple places because that's how associations, conferences and corporate event planners find them.
I also believe strongly in referrals.
Ask a speaker you trust who she recommends. Ask an event planner who they've seen live. Look at speakers from conferences you've attended and professional organizations within your industry.
Then do your homework.
The directory may help you discover someone, but it shouldn't make the decision for you.
Use the platform to find the speaker. Use her body of work to decide whether she belongs on your stage.
From the Floor to the Boardroom
The title may change. The number of people you manage may change. Eventually, the rooms you're sitting in may change too.
But I don't think the fundamentals change very much.
Pay attention.
Ask questions.
Understand how your decisions affect other people.
Be willing to look beyond your own responsibilities.
Hold yourself accountable for what happens next.
And when you finally find yourself sitting in a room you once worked toward getting into, don't shrink. Own your seat.
AlexSandra Sisler is an executive leader, keynote speaker, published author and business strategist with nearly two decades of experience across retail, plastic surgery, medical aesthetics, physician-dispensed skincare, strategic accounts and executive leadership.
Her signature keynote, Own Your Seat, explores leadership, self-awareness and what it takes to contribute without waiting for permission. Her workshops and customized programs connect executive strategy to the people responsible for bringing it to life.
References & Resources
McKinsey & Company — Women in Healthcare Leadership Women represented 76% of entry-level healthcare positions and 35% of C-suite positions as of 2024.
National Speakers Association — Professional association and resource for professional speakers.
SpeakerHub — Online professional speaker directory.
eSpeakers — Professional speaker marketplace and event-industry platform.
Comments