Explore the qualities that define exceptional leadership through a career spanning multiple industries. Learn how curiosity, adaptability, and continuous improvement drive meaningful organizational change and personal growth.
In Conversation
Brittany Barker for Bold. Brilliant. Unstoppable.
Read the transcript
Brittany Barker: Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about asking great questions, building trust, and helping others succeed.
What does being an Influential Woman mean to you?
Brittany Barker: Being an influential woman isn't about having the biggest title or being the smartest person in the room. To me, it's about leaving people better than you found them. When I look back at my career, I don't think about the projects first. I think about the people. I think about the teammates who gained confidence, the team that learned to trust each other, the organization that became stronger because we worked together to improve it. I had the opportunity to work in many different industries. I worked in healthcare, finance, aerospace, gaming, consulting, and retail technologies. Every time I changed industries, I had to start over in many ways. Those experiences taught me resilience, curiosity, and humility. I learned that leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about asking great questions, building trust, and helping others succeed. If people around me are growing because of something I did, that is what influences me.
What's one piece of advice you would give to younger women chasing their dreams?
Brittany Barker: One piece of advice that I would give to someone younger is don't be afraid to take the opportunity, but also don't forget who you are once you get there. You don't have to know everything before saying yes. Some of my biggest opportunities came from stepping into industries where I wasn't the expert. I made mistakes, learned along the way, and every experience made me a stronger leader. Growth happens outside of your comfort zone. So at the same time, don't lose your personality trying to be professional. I've always found it interesting when people ask me, how would your friends describe you, and then how would your co-workers describe you? I hope those answers are pretty similar. Your professionalism comes from integrity, accountability, respect, and following through. Your personality is what makes you memorable. Your curiosity, your kindness, your sense of humor, and your empathy. Those are the qualities that build trust and lessen your relationships. So be brave enough to take the opportunity. Humble enough to keep learning and confident enough to stay true to yourself along the way.
Full transcript available
Her Story
About Brittany
Brittany Barker is a Senior Enterprise Project Consultant with over a decade of experience delivering enterprise technology and operational transformation initiatives across multiple industries, including healthcare, finance, aerospace, gaming, consulting, and retail.
Rather than relying on industry-specific knowledge alone, Brittany has built her career by rapidly learning new businesses, earning stakeholder trust, and simplifying complex problems. She partners with executives, business leaders, technical teams, and vendors to align priorities, remove obstacles, and deliver strategic initiatives from concept through implementation.
Her expertise includes enterprise program management, organizational change management, process improvement, stakeholder engagement, executive communication, Agile and Waterfall delivery, and cross-functional leadership.
One of her proudest accomplishments was taking over the largest and most behind-schedule project at a Fortune 500 client. Within weeks, she rebuilt stakeholder confidence, aligned multiple teams around a shared strategy, removed critical roadblocks, and transformed the initiative into a successful delivery.
Brittany believes the best leaders begin by listening. She approaches every new organization with curiosity, spending time understanding people, processes, and business challenges before recommending solutions. Her passion for continuous improvement extends beyond business into personal growth, leadership development, health, and mentoring others.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Brittany
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to a commitment to continuous improvement. I've always believed that growth isn't just about becoming better myself; it's about helping the people around me become better too. I strive to build trust, lead with empathy, stay curious, and leave every organization stronger than I found it.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I've received is to never assume you know the answer before you fully understand the problem. I spend far more time asking thoughtful questions than jumping straight to solutions. I also challenge myself to develop multiple possible solutions because the best ideas often come after you've pushed past the obvious ones. Curiosity consistently leads to better outcomes.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't feel like you have to know everything before taking on a new opportunity. Some of the greatest growth comes from stepping into unfamiliar situations with confidence, curiosity, and a willingness to learn. Build strong relationships, ask thoughtful questions, listen before you speak, and never underestimate the value of integrity and follow-through. Your ability to earn trust will take you further than trying to have every answer.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Organizations are facing constant change from emerging technologies and AI to evolving business priorities and increasing customer expectations. The greatest opportunity isn't simply adopting new technology; it's helping people successfully adapt to change. Leaders who can build alignment, simplify complexity, and create collaboration across teams will continue to have the greatest impact.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that guide me are integrity, curiosity, empathy, accountability, and continuous improvement. I believe strong relationships are the foundation of every successful organization. Whether leading enterprise programs or mentoring others, I strive to create environments where people feel heard, trusted, and empowered to do their best work.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Brittany
Improvement Is More Than a Goal—It's an Identity
How seeing potential instead of settling for "good enough" shaped my leadership philosophy and personal growth.
The Best Leaders I Have Worked With
The best leaders I have worked with all have one thing in common.
They are never satisfied with "good enough."
Not because they are perfectionists. Not because they believe everything is broken. But because they see potential where others see routine.
Over the Course of My Career
Over the course of my career, I've worked across healthcare, finance, aerospace, gaming, consulting, and retail technology. On paper, those industries couldn't look more different: different products, different customers, different regulations, and different cultures.
Yet every organization shared one thing in common.
Every one of them had opportunities to improve.
Early in my career, I thought my job was to deliver projects on time and within budget. While those outcomes are certainly important, I eventually realized that wasn't what energized me most.
What I love is understanding how things work.
When I join a new organization, I don't immediately start suggesting changes. I listen first. I build relationships. I ask questions. I spend time understanding how people experience their work every day because the people closest to the process usually know exactly what's working and what's getting in their way.
Only after understanding the people can you truly improve the process.
Very Few Problems Are Actually Technology Problems
One lesson I've learned is that very few problems are actually technology problems.
- More often, they're communication problems.
- Or ownership problems.
- Or process problems.
Technology simply exposes them.
Adaptability Became My Competitive Advantage
Throughout my career, I've often been placed in unfamiliar environments where there wasn't a roadmap waiting for me. Every company had different systems, different terminology, and different ways of operating. Rather than seeing that as a disadvantage, I learned to see it as one of my greatest strengths.
Adaptability became my competitive advantage.
Each new role taught me how to quickly learn a business, earn trust across teams, and identify opportunities that people inside the organization sometimes stopped seeing because "that's how we've always done it."
Some of the improvements I'm most proud of weren't large technology implementations.
- They were creating clarity.
- Documenting processes that didn't exist.
- Bringing departments together that rarely communicated.
- Helping teams understand how their work impacted one another.
- Building systems that would continue helping people long after the project was finished.
Continuous Improvement Isn't Limited to Work
Over time, I realized something even more important.
Continuous improvement isn't limited to work.
It became the way I approached my own life.
Whether recovering from injuries so I could continue running, strengthening muscles that had been compensating for years, considering a move across the country, or learning new skills outside my profession, I found myself asking the same question I ask at work:
"How can I be just a little better than I was yesterday?"
That mindset has changed how I define success.
- Success isn't arriving at perfection.
- It's remaining curious.
- It's having the humility to admit there may be a better way.
- It's creating environments where people feel heard enough to contribute ideas.
- And it's leaving every team, every organization, and every person a little stronger than you found them.
Because at the end of the day, improvement isn't something we accomplish once.
It's something we choose every single day.
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