A decade ago, I walked into the meeting room as the new COO of the organisation. There were twelve leaders in the room, and I was the only female apart from the HR director. I held two positions at this time as I was also playing the part of Sales Director, which was my previous position. Ask the imminent COO, I made a new proposal that would completely change the way business was being done. But after I made my statement the other leaders in the room put forward a few facts and then moved on to the next topic on the agenda. My proposal was completely ignored. This compelled me to think about where I could have gone wrong. I reflected on whether I had projected my idea in the correct manner, or if I had not prepared well for the meeting. I also considered if I should have spoken to the stakeholders in private, before the meeting, to gain their confidence.