Monique Tallon
Monique Tallon is a Women's Leadership and Inclusion expert, and author of Leading Gracefully: A Woman's Guide to Confident, Authentic and Effective Leadership. She is also the CEO of Highest Path Consulting, a global executive coaching and training firm specializing in developing 21st century leaders and building gender-blanced, inclusive cultures where innovation can thrive. Highest Path helps organizations attract and retain the right customers and talent by creating workplaces that value diversity and where collaboration, transparency and trust lead to better business outcomes.
Monique comes from the world of tech in Silicon Valley. Her previous experience as a Marketing manager includes producing tradeshows and large-scale conferences for eBay, Inc. including a 10,000 person conference where she managed internal and external teams and led one of the most successful events in the company’s 10 year history.
Monique started her coaching and training business in 2009. She left the corporate job with a specific desire to help women navigate the myriad of challenges they face in the corporate world.
Through her first‐hand experience working in the male‐dominated corporate world of Silicon Valley, Monique learned at a young age that in business, what works for men doesn’t necessarily work for women. She discovered that there was a different way to lead that felt more authentic to who she was and not surprisingly, turned out to be as (if not more!) effective in delivering business results.
This led her to create the Feminine Leadership Model™ and the Feminine Leadership Coaching Program™ to help women embrace their feminine strengths and combine them with traditional qualities to develop an effective leadership presence and create more influence and impact.
Combining 15 years of personal development work, professional coach training, and corporate experience, she has coached and trained hundreds of executives in organizations like Microsoft, Deloitte, Samsung Next, Juniper Networks, Dundee Precious Metals, among others to cultivate a leadership style that is ultimately more inclusive and drives innovation – two things that are necessary in the 21st century economy.
Monique has her Bachelor's Degree in Business from San Francisco State University and received her coach training at the internationally-known Coaches Training Institute. She is a member of the International Coach Federation and the National Speakers Association.
Monique’s innovative approach to advancing women's leadership and gender-balanced organizations has led her to speak and train throughout the United States as well as the UK, Italy, France and Armenia.
Speaking Topics
Topic 1: Leading Gracefully: How to Own Your Strengths for More Impact
Women have a unique challenge in the workplace in the face of ingrained gender bias. Studies show that leadership is still equated with traditionally masculine qualities, like being aggressive, direct and dominating. However, when women choose to lead with this style their likeability and effectiveness suffers.
This challenge is called the “Double Bind,” where women are faced to choose between being respected vs. being liked. This “Leadership Tightrope” makes it difficult for women to find an authentic leadership style, and can lead to a lack of motivation, decreased performance or worse yet, opting-out; factors which contribute to the gender gap we continue to see in industries ranging from legal to tech.
Based on Monique’s top-selling book, Leading Gracefully: A Woman’s Guide to Confident, Authentic and Effective Leadership, you will discover what it takes to be a successful female leader in a world still very much dominated by men.
You’ll learn about a radically new approach to leadership called The Feminine Leadership ModelTM that is designed to play to women’s strengths, while leveraging traditional qualities of leadership. What works for men doesn't necessarily work for women in a leadership context, and given obstacles like gender bias, women need a new roadmap to leadership that is designed to help them succeed.
Participants will walk away with the understanding of:
How gender bias and the "Double Bind" can hinder women's advancement
"The Leadership Tightrope" where women have to choose between being liked vs respected
7 strengths that women possess that are necessary for leading high-performing teams and organizations
4 traditional qualities of leadership that women need for maximum impact
Practical tips, tools and practices to develop a balanced, authentic and confident approach to leadership
Topic 2: Gender Balanced Leadership: How to Create Inclusive Cultures that Drive Innovation
We live in a volatile, unstable, complex and ambiguous world, and although this is a term that was coined for the military, we can use it to describe today’s business world as well.
How can we lead in a shifting world where innovation and creativity are necessary to remain competitive? What qualities are necessary for us to foster inclusive environments where people can thrive?
In this eye-opening, perspective-shifting keynote, Monique will present a new model of leadership that balances the traditional way of leading along with the strengths people are looking for their leaders today: empathy, compassion, care, and vulnerability, among others.
In this keynote, you will learn about:
The business case for diversity and how organizations can better leverage it
The latest research that tells us which qualities people are looking for in their leaders today
The 5 qualities of leadership that lead to organizational performance
A new model of gender-balanced leadership that allows us to leverage the strengths women bring to the table
How we can engage men to embrace and value these behaviors
Perfect for: A mixed-gender audience geared toward high-potential leaders, all the way to C-suite executives who are committed to building inclusive organizations.
Topic 3: NAVIGATING GENDER BIAS IN THE WORKPLACE
Recent neuroscience research shows that part of the reason why we still see a gender gap in leadership is due to the unconscious wiring of the brain. The subsequent subtle behavior that stems from unconscious bias can potentially exclude a certain group of people while giving a slight advantage to others. This results is an un-level playing field that creates work environments where one group is more dominant than the other.
As organizations begin to understand the importance of diversity training, one question still remains. How does one navigate bias in the face of persistent stereotypes and slow-changing cultures?
In this keynote, participants will have the opportunity to learn the basics as it relates to gender bias, and to gain an understanding of the impact on women and the larger organization. The workshop offers practical tools to decrease the potentially negative outcomes related to gender bias.
This training can be slightly modified for mixed audiences or for women only.
In this keynote, you will learn about:
The latest neuroscience research on bias and how it impacts our behavior
The 4 Types of Common Gender Bias
The Impact of Bias on Women & Minority Groups
Tools on how to build self-awareness and reduce subtle harmful behaviors to decrease negative impacts of bias
Tools on navigating gender bias more effectively in the workplace
Perfect for: Women at all levels in an organization or a mixed-gender audience who are committed to building inclusive organizations.
References
"I think working women in all stages of their career from entry level to senior executives could benefit from Monique's message."
- Patti Solaski - Global Diversity & Inclusion Manager - Microsoft
"Monique Tallon provided our recent record-setting Groundbreaking Women in Construction conference with a compelling and enthusiastically delivered presentation that resonated with our nearly 400 attendees to find that “inner cheerleader”in building needed career confidence in an often challenging industry environment. Monique indeed showed GWIC conferees, by her own example, how to “lead gracefully.”
- Debra Rubin, Editor at Large, Engineering News Record Magazine