Early in my career, I never felt out of place or under-qualified in any room. I was used to being top of my class and moving up quickly. For decades, my ultimate career dream was clear: I wanted to be at the higher/highest level overseeing full operations for a major bank or corporate firm.

Step by step, those dreams came true. I became Thailand Head of Sales, then APAC Head of my department. But standing at those milestones, a quiet question started echoing: What’s next? Global Head of something else? Why? What am I actually building?

Recently, while facilitating an "Influencing Without Authority" workshop for a group of female Red Cross leaders across South East Asia, the answer to that question finally became clear.

Quiet Achievements, Extraordinary Stakes During a module on self-promotion, I noticed how humble—and at times, genuinely shy—many of these women were about their credentials. But as we went around the room and they began declaring their life achievements, the sheer magnitude of their work left me deeply humbled.

These weren't typical corporate accomplishments:

• Several leaders were the very first women in their families to receive a formal education, opening doors for every girl coming after them.
• One leader had just completed a Master’s degree taught entirely in Portuguese—just one of multiple languages she speaks fluently.
• Their daily work involves real-time crisis management: coordinating emergency evacuations during tsunamis, rescue operations, and flood relief efforts in Laos. For them, project failure isn't lost revenue—it's lost lives.

Shifting From Titles to Transformation Listening to their stories triggered a profound internal shift. I realized the fundamental difference between the path I had walked and the path they were on.

In my early career, I was climbing a corporate ladder measured by titles, scope, and status. These women were scaling an impact ladder. They were stepping into higher positions not for prestige, but because a larger platform allowed them to protect more communities and save more lives.

It brought me back to that core question:

‍What is the point of what we do every day?

Are we grinding just to hit the next corporate milestone?

Or are we building an impact ladder that expands our capacity to leave this world better than we found it?

My heart truly smiles reflecting on this day. It was an absolute privilege to equip these remarkable women with practical tools to influence up, down, and across their organizations without needing formal authority.

To Evelyn and every single woman leader in that room: thank you for reminding me what real leadership looks like. May you continue to step into your power and shape the world through your life-saving work.

Over to You 

Have you ever hit a career goal only to realize you wanted a different kind of purpose? 

Which ladder are you building today? 

Let's chat to explore meaning and impact for your corporate work.