Next Level Leadership Mastery With Sima Newell

A 12-month group coaching programme, by application only, for women directors in STEM, finance, law, academia and other analytical fields who are done watching less capable people get promoted past them.

You Built Your Career on Competence

You've Done Everything Right.

You built your career on delivering results. Your team trusts you. Your colleagues rely on you. 

 

And yet something has shifted.

 

You watch people with fewer results and more fluff move up faster. You feel underestimated, passed over. You've been told you're "too direct," or that you need to work on your presence, and you can't quite work out what that means. Maybe you tell yourself you're just not political enough. Or maybe you wonder if you need to be someone other than who you are.

Here's what's actually happening: competence is essential. It got you here. And at senior leadership level, competence alone is no longer enough. 

 

The dynamics that shape how you are heard, recognised, and advanced operate by rules you were never taught. 

 

Most capable women leaders never receive explicit mentorship in these dynamics.

 

And the cost of that gap is real, not abstract. Your company will not invest in you the way it should until it already believes you're ready for the next level, so waiting for it to move first can keep you stuck exactly where you are, sometimes for years.

 

A two-year delay on a promotion above director typically costs women €40,000 to €45,000 in combined salary and lost investment growth, more the longer it runs.

 

The good news is this is not a personality trait. It's a gap and opportunity in your leadership development, and it's entirely learnable.

What Closing This Gap Actually Looks Like

Next Level Leadership Mastery is designed exactly to close this gap. It's a 12-month container because this work is best done through practise over time. 

 

Executive habits take time to develop, shape, practise and refine.

We open with a 1:1 private session so that Sima understands your situation and we set out some achievable goals. 

 

This means that the programme is tailored specifically to your needs. 

 

We have fortnightly group coaching alongside a cohort of peers, so you learn from other's situations, from giving them your insights and from receiving both coaching and peer feedback.

Next Level Leadership Mastery also includes a complete training vault covering dozens of leadership topics for women (communications, conflict, emotional resilience, pitching, boundaries, influence, change management, dealing with toxic people... the list goes on). 

 

We also have quarterly virtual retreats, and you receive a physical planner and weekly agenda to help you develop the daily executive habits you need.

  • This is for you if...

  • You're a director, senior director, or equivalent-level leader (department head, senior partner-track, or similar) in a corporate, international, or analytical-field organisation, and you earn at least €120,000 annually.

  • You've probably already invested in your own development, perhaps via company programmes or coaching, and you're frustrated that none of it was built for your specific situation as a woman leading in a male-dominated arena.

  • You're watching less capable people get promoted past you, and you know your results should already be speaking louder than they are.

  • You're ready to act now to resolve this, not observe for another quarter, and you're ready to invest in yourself, whether self-funded (to break the cycle) or through your organisation (if they are committed to you).

  • This is not for you if...

  • You're earlier in your career and still building your track record.

  • You want tactics or a quick fix, and you're not committed to a lasting framework, embedded through time and practice with peers.

  • You're not ready to invest in yourself right now, and/or you're not in an income bracket that would even make that possible.

  • You prefer solitary work and shrink from honest feedback, even in a supportive environment.

If, after reading this, you know this isn't the right fit yet, that's useful information, not a rejection. We have some free resources that can help right now, and occasionally offer stand-alone trainings. Learn More.

What You Get from the Programme

01 Recognition that you have high leadership potential and are ready for the next step.
 

You stop over-efforting to be seen and start being credited for what you bring to the table, without becoming louder or more political to get there. If you're in an environment that is not actually serving you, this will also become crystal clear, as will the steps to address it.

02 A peer group living this too.
 

You grow by hearing other women leaders' situations, and gain confidence when you contribute your wisdom. You get feedback from Sima and your peers on your situation, benefiting from supportive perspectives. You learn the principles of good-fit in different contexts rather than staying isolated in your day-to-day without any external frame of reference.

03 A framework that works with who you are, not against it. 
 

No becoming more political, less direct, or someone else. You keep your integrity intact while developing approaches adapted for women that help you get seen, heard, and taken seriously, without overstretching. The goal is to have you be perceived as ready for the next level, and then it's your choice if that's what you want to go for or not. Having that choice can only serve you well.

04 A pace that holds through a real year.
 

Self-paced study, flexible calls, replays of everything, and a community group where you can connect after hours, because a real year has real weeks that get in the way. And developing new skills and executive habits takes practise over time.

Imagine if six to twelve months from now, your boss says some version of "I don't know what changed, but you're nailing it, I'd love to see you at the next level," and you didn't have to push for it.

 

Or maybe recognition doesn't come from where you expected. You've moved to a company that actually deserves you, and your new boss backs you from day one, no proving required. You feel confident in your new role because you have the roadmap for success.

Real results for women executives
Next Level Leadership Mastery includes everything in our previous programme, 
Speak Up & Stand Out, and much more.

How Next Level Leadership Mastery works

  • Apply. 

    Complete a short, confidential application so Sima understands your situation and where you're headed.  

  • Interview

    A 20-minute conversation to see if this is the right fit, for you and for the group. If Next Level Mastery seems like a great fit, Sima will prepare an offer adapted for you, and she will invite you to a second conversation to go over all the details.

  • Begin.

    You start with a 1:1 kickoff, then move into fortnightly live coaching with your cohort of peers.

Why Working with Sima Is Different

Welcome! I'm Sima Newell. 

 

I'm an executive coach for women leaders in STEM, law, finance, academia and other analytical fields. 

 

I'm a structured, analytical executive myself, with 19 years running global technology and strategy at C-suite level, including as a UN Chief Information Officer. This means, if you're also in a STEM or analytical field, I speak your language, because I've lived it myself.

 

I've also completed years of training in coaching approaches, including Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Neo-Ericksonian hypnosis, not the one-week certificate version most coaches hold. That means I can usually sense very quickly what's actually blocking you behind the words, and shift it in the same session, not over months of talking about it.

I can also sense and reflect back in words your unique gifts. All leaders need to use analytical and intuitive methods, and I model this in my coaching approaches.

 

So much of what holds ambitious, high-performing women back operates at the subconscious level.

The bias they face from others, yes, and also what they carry inside themselves: "Don't shine too bright." "Don't be the tall poppy." "Don't stand out too much." "Being direct is the only right way to be honest."

 

These beliefs run deep, often from childhood, and they shape how a woman communicates, how she positions herself, and how far she allows herself to go.

 

The small percentage of women who make it to the C-suite have either never carried these beliefs, or they've done the work to let them go. That process is transformational. It's an identity shift that goes deep.

 

It's also why a one-week course won't cut it. If this were a simple skills gap, I promise you my high achievers would have closed it already. They're brilliant at learning skills. This goes further. It's about shifting the patterns and self-talk that run underneath the skills, the ones that determine whether those skills ever get used at full strength.

 

I'm selective about who joins Next Level Leadership Mastery, to protect the coherence of the group you'll be learning alongside.

Ready for the next step?

You already know how to deliver. The trap is waiting for your company to see that so they will invest in you. If they don't view you as a leader with SVP or C-level potential right now, they won't invest much in your next step.

 

And the cost of that compounds month on month, year on year with the promotion that is delayed or never comes. The honest truth is that most women find that self-funding is how you break the loop yourself. After developing the communications and influence skills you need, you can absolutely advocate effectively for your company to invest further in you. But waiting on them to act, when you know you have more to offer, is just harming you and your bank account over time.

 

If you're ready to be seen as high-leadership-potential, not just high-performing, apply below. I'm selective about who joins, to protect the integrity of the group every member is learning alongside.

Please note that completing this application doesn't guarantee your place.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the investment? 

Is this group coaching or private coaching?

How much time does this require?

Is everything confidential?

What happens after I apply?

How is this different from my company's leadership programme?