The Longest Day Podcast

This week, Anne-Marie Imafidon is Leah’s guest on The Longest Day. She is a keynote speaker, presenter, and co-founder of Stemettes, the enterprise inspiring the next generation of women into STEM roles. 

As a leader, Anne-Marie is all things to all people: she will never ask someone to do something she wouldn’t or couldn’t do herself. One of the advantages of this approach is that trust, authenticity, and inspiration empower her colleagues to step up in their roles. Another is that it gives her, as a leader, gravitas because of the value she brings to the different spaces she’s in. 

Anne-Marie consciously does not have yes people around her, finding that her closest allies are her most critical ones. The reason for this is that she knows she’s human and not perfect. So having critical friends and reading the negative comments as well as the positive ones give her perspective. 

She reflects on how everyone has a sphere of influence. But she asks questions about what that means, what power looks like, the nature of the system and how it works, and what are the levers needed to bring change. As a leader she builds, measures, and learns. As a role model, she exercises her agency in the room and leaves things better than she found them.