Women in STEM often lead within systems that weren’t designed with them in mind—yet they are expected to navigate those systems, create impact, and drive change all the same. Understanding how power, influence, and decision-making actually operate can be the difference between working harder and leading more strategically.
Drawing on her experience as a former federal healthcare research executive, clinical psychologist, and leadership consultant in STEM environments, Dr. Mira Brancu introduces a practical four-level framework for strategic influence. This session helps make invisible workplace dynamics visible—so participants can better understand where they have leverage and how to use it intentionally across individual, team, organizational, and systems levels. Through real-world stories from research, clinical, and academic settings, Dr. Brancu brings these concepts to life and offers concrete strategies participants can apply immediately.
Attendees will explore how to:
Identify where power and influence show up across individual, team, organizational, and systems levels
Make invisible workplace dynamics visible and use them as a strategic advantage
Lead with greater agency when shaping teams, culture, and decisions
Apply a practical framework for advancing both individual impact and collective progress in STEM environments
Designed to meet participants wherever they are in their careers—from early-career professionals building momentum to experienced leaders shaping teams and systems—this session offers practical tools for sustained influence and meaningful change.
Dr. Mira Brancu is a federal healthcare research executive and leadership & team development consulting psychologist specializing in disrupted healthcare, higher education, STEM research, and professional services. Through her award-winning social impact firm, Towerscope, she helps leaders navigate people, power, and high-pressure dynamics in large, complex systems. She is also a Duke University faculty member, author of The Millennials Guide to Workplace Politics and its companion workbook, a Psychology Today columnist, and host of The Hard Skills, a top 5% livestream podcast.
This webinar is FREE for members and $29 for non-members.