Leading with Heart: Megan K Senese of stage On The Power of Authentic Women’s Leadership

Intoday’s dynamic world, the concept of leadership is continuously evolving. While traditional leadership models have often been male-dominated, there is a growing recognition of the unique strengths and perspectives that women bring to these roles. This series aims to explore how women can become more effective leaders by authentically embracing their femininity and innate strengths, rather than conforming to traditional male leadership styles. In this series, we are talking to successful women leaders, coaches, authors, and experts who can provide insights and personal stories on how embracing their inherent feminine qualities has enhanced their leadership abilities. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Megan Senese.

Megan Senese, a former Big Law legal marketing and business development professional, is now the co-founder of stage, LLC. stage, a women-owned legal marketing and business development firm, specializes in coaching and actionable strategies to boost empathy, revenue, and visibility for lawyers, with a particular focus on women. stage stands out as one of the pioneering in-house legal marketing teams to transition from Big Law and launch an independent venture as a united team.

Additionally, stage provides free business development coaching to support working parents before and after parental leave. Megan brings 17 years of experience in professional services marketing and business development, covering personalized coaching, revenue growth strategies, new team development, co-selling initiatives, programming, and content campaigns for profile building. Her passion and expertise make her a valuable asset in the legal marketing and business development field.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about authentic, feminine leadership, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

Ialways joke that no one sets out for a career in legal marketing because it is obscure and niche, yet so many of us always stay. During college, I was a marketing intern for a law firm, and then I spent the next 16 years in professional services marketing because of my passion for helping people. The love continues and one year ago, I co-founded stage with my partners, and I am continuing to support lawyers and marketing teams who need us.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I always like to start the story by sharing how I applied to a Big Four accounting firm on Monster.com, which feels utterly unheard of now. While that job site dates me a bit, it also shows how much the industry has changed. I also had no idea that KPMG was an accounting firm. I thought it was a radio station, which is another hilarious view into how naïve I was upon graduation.

I was able to make my way into the Big Four Accounting Firm at KPMG by simply applying online. The most interesting transition was moving from Big Four to Big Law and becoming a co-founder of a woman-owned legal marketing company. My two partners and I said “I Quit” on the same day and launched our business two weeks later. Leaping into entrepreneurship is the most exciting thing about my career journey. I never set out to be my own boss; now, there’s no turning back.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

This is a good one. For me, the word “coach” is thrown around on social media and LinkedIn. The overuse of the word makes me hesitant to use it to describe what we do. Our clients are lawyers, and they are stretched thin with a ton of demands; business development is often the last thing they have time for. They need someone to “do”. Instead, I refer to stage as the legal marketing and business development “doers” who execute marketing activities with and for lawyers. My partners and I worked together in-house in Big Law as a collective group, left as a collective group, and formed a company as a collective group, which is one more way we differentiate ourselves from other legal marketing companies. We are clear about our purpose: to help and support all lawyers, not just the senior rainmakers. We also offer free 1:1 coaching for any lawyer going out on or returning from parental leave. We have a straightforward company ethos and believe in giving. When what we do is matched with purpose, it’s easy to stand out.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I appreciate assessments that focus on strengths. By leaning into strengths, there is almost no stopping you. For me, CliftonStrengths assessment was one of the most accurate tools to reflect my strengths. According to the assessment, my top three strengths are “discipline,” “achiever,” and “relator.” These have been highly beneficial while working in large matrixed law firms. “Discipline” and “achiever” are my driving forces to complete tasks and achieve goals. Law firms often move slowly, so having the discipline to stick with it whatever project I was working on always lead to completion instead of things falling flat. The achiever in me enabled me to be promoted to every position I worked in. If there is a goal, I will figure out a way to leverage resources and get it done. I once stood up 42 client teams in one quarter, which is a heavy lift. “Relator” is my ability to connect with people and understand their needs and styles. When you support hundreds of lawyers, everyone has a different working style; flexing and adhering to their style comes in handy.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader? I’m curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.

The word leadership has many connotations. It encompasses various meanings. Leadership can be as simple as leading yourself or colleagues at work and can be demonstrated in multiple ways. Making difficult decisions is often challenging because there is limited information. Make the best decision you can with the available context and resources and lead with your heart.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you share a personal experience where embracing your unique leadership style, which might not align with traditional expectations, led to a significant positive impact in your organization or team?

Whether leading a team or myself, my leadership style is to lead authentically. I show grace and set high expectations for myself. I lead with ambition, aim high, and demonstrate goals. Where I might buck tradition is to continue to voice my ambition and goals once I became a parent. What you want, what you strive for, those things don’t just change because you become a parent. Women have been told that a feminine approach is unprofessional. Our speech is monitored, our writing is reviewed, and our clothing is criticized. They say, “be feminine and assertive”, but not too much of either. Men do not get this message, at least not as often.

When women heed the well-intentioned advice and lean into the “masculine” to get ahead, they are often met with feedback that they are “too loud,” “too aggressive,” “too driven,” “too ambitious,” and “too bossy.”

This is why authenticity wins. What I know to be true is that being a person with grace, resilience, grit, sturdiness, and understanding are human traits that serve everyone. When you are authentic with yourself and transparent about your values, that draws others to you who are similarly situated.

In your journey as a leader, how have you balanced demonstrating resilience, often seen as a masculine trait, with showing vulnerability, which is equally powerful, but typically feminine? Can you give an example where this balance created a meaningful difference?

Resilience and vulnerability are not exclusive to gender but are human traits essential for effective leadership. Balancing these qualities by acknowledging that resilience is crucial in navigating challenges while vulnerability fosters authentic connections and empathy within the team. Everyone can practice resilience to get the goals they set out to achieve. That means failing and maybe even failing a lot. How you talk to yourself during those moments of failure — that is resilience. Resilience is not shoving down the emotions of an upset. It’s about being brave enough to know when you need support and resources. People separate the two traits but really vulnerability and resilience go hand in hand. Want to innovate a new offering? Be a successful salesperson? Launch a company? Try something new? All of those require a level of vulnerability and there will be times that you will fail. And, how you overcome that setback — again, that is resilience.

Shedding prescriptive perceptions of what is professional has allowed me to connect more deeply with my clients. I show up authentically, and my clients, who are lawyers, feel comfortable sharing things that are bothering them. From there, we can get to the heart of the issues and obstacles they might encounter with developing their book of business.

As a woman in leadership, how have you navigated and challenged gender stereotypes, especially in situations where traditional male-dominated approaches are the norm? What strategies have you employed to remain authentic to your style?

When I first started my career in Big Law, I was frequently the only woman in the room and the youngest member present in meetings. This is a common experience among legal marketing professionals. However, I always remained professional, responsive, and organized, allowing my work to speak for itself. I aimed to produce quality work, provide support, and offer guidance. I never had trouble expressing my opinions or ideas using my voice. I also connected with other women mentors to be informed on how they approached certain situations. The most important thing was to use my voice, and I will continue to find ways to elevate the voices of others.

How do you utilize emotional intelligence and active listening to create an inclusive environment in your team or organization? Could you share a specific instance where these qualities particularly enhanced team dynamics or performance?”

Leveraging emotional intelligence creates a supportive environment where the team members want to do well and grow personally. As the leader of any group, you need to know what motivates them and drives them forward. Understanding each person’s perspective and preferred communication modes will allow you to tailor your communication style to ensure they hear you effectively. I often only connected with team members on video because that was received much more effectively than an email and vice versa, depending on the team member. Additionally, knowing people’s strengths allows each person to contribute meaningfully.

What role has mentorship played in developing your authentic leadership style, and how do you communicate authentically to inspire and empower both your mentors and mentees?

When people think about mentorship, they may imagine someone much more experienced and senior to them. However, my mentors were only slightly ahead of me in their career or stage of life. This allowed them to provide me with more timely feedback on experiences they had recently encountered and that I was also experiencing. Finding individuals with whom you can work well and trust is crucial to leading authentically. Explore relationships with curiosity and be open to unexpected connections.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience and research, can you please share “5 Ways Leading Authentically As A Woman Will Affect Your Leadership”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

1 . I’d like to list 5 ways to lead authentically as a person, not as a woman. Authentic leadership, leveraging emotional intelligence and empathy, applies to anyone. Create an open and inclusive environment where every voice is heard and every idea is welcomed. Foster a culture of belonging, respect, and acceptance. Seek out new ideas, seek out different voices, and educate yourself. We want to ensure resources are available for as many people as possible.

2 . Be driven by unbridled curiosity. Approach every project with a relentless desire to understand, learn, and explore to uncover unique solutions. During the first year of stage, I easily had over 200 meet and greets. Every meeting I took was an opportunity to get to know someone, be curious about who they are and explore ways that I could help and connect them with others.

3 . Leverage empathy to guide your actions. Strive to understand others’ challenges. Be a perspective taker; try to see other people’s points of view. This is how we coach and guide our clients in their sessions so that they take those skills and apply them to their client relationships.

4 . Share insights, collaborate openly, and build relationships based on trust and transparency. Know in your heart that regardless of your position, you have something of value to say. In the first year of stage’s launch, I was a guest on 8 podcasts discussing how to build relationships. All this opportunity came from writing about what I knew on how to connect in an authentic way.

5 . Embrace resilience and use it as an opportunity for growth. The best test of resilience…create a company, run the company, and reach the year mark. And, then, check in with me next year!

Are there potential pitfalls or challenges associated with being an empathetic leader? How can these be addressed?

There is no such thing as being “too nice” or “too understanding” if you have clear boundaries with yourself. You can be nice and expect a lot. You can be understanding and have your team perform. And chances are, if you are empathetic and understanding, your team will want to do things for you. They are less likely to leave. Leading with empathy is the path forward if you want to hire, retain, and encourage people to produce the best work possible. Want people to be more productive? To bring in more revenue? To collaborate? Lead with empathy, show vulnerability, treat people respectfully, pay them their worth, and provide them with the necessary resources to do their jobs. People want to do a good job, and they also want to have a good life.

Businesses need to avoid the banality of the outdated statement, “It’s just business.” Regardless of the industry, what matters most is the people.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

To promote more women in every aspect. Promote more women of color. Promote more mothers. Promote more women entrepreneurs. Promote women over 50. Paraphrasing Sallie Krawcheck who says, get more money into the hands of women and the entire economy benefits. Invest in women. Hire women.

How can our readers further follow you online?

On LinkedIn, Instagram or our website at www.stage.guide

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

Thank you for having me.