Deemed Ready to Lead: Heather Quigley on the Invisible Rules of STEM Leadership

Heather Quigley found out she had been selected for sponsorship to move further up the leadership ladder. It should have felt validating. What came up instead was no. She had a PhD in chemical engineering, a postdoctoral fellowship at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and more than a decade at a Fortune 500 chemical company, the last stretch of it leading people. From the outside the path ran perfectly straight. From the inside, things had been shifting for years. She left in May. She now coaches women in STEM through the move from individual contributor into leading people, teaching the unwritten rules nobody hands you on the way in. We talk about the week her brand new team lost all of its funding, what she means when she says the job changed but nobody explained that the rules had changed, the months she spent building the wrong idea and why she refuses to call that wasted time, and the one rule she would give any woman about to lead for the first time. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to The Scenic Route with Victoria Steward 00:47 From PhD Chemical Engineer to NASA Kennedy Space Center 04:31 Always on the Technical Path: Making the Next Right Choice 06:40 Choosing the Career That Fit the Life She Actually Wanted 09:31 The Super Highway: Optimizing Every Part of Your Life at Once 12:17 First Leadership Role: Nobody Said the Rules Had Changed 14:04 Technical Track vs Leadership: Two Completely Different Jobs 15:07 Chronically Tired: When Your Body Starts Sending the Signal 16:05 The Side Business That Showed Her Another Life Was Possible 17:51 The 2025 Turning Point: A New Team Loses All Its Funding 20:00 Offered a Path Further Up the Ladder and Saying No 22:07 Separating Self Worth From Your Title and Financial Security 26:12 Building the Wrong Idea First and Why It Was Not Wasted Time 29:46 The Broken Rung: Why Women Disappear as You Move Up in STEM 38:46 Rule One of STEM Leadership: Ambiguity Is the Job ABOUT HEATHER QUIGLEY Heather Quigley is a PhD chemical engineer and former R&D leader who founded Signal + Flow, a coaching practice for women in STEM leadership. She helps women navigate the transition from individual contributor to leader by teaching the unspoken rules no one else tells them. Website Get Your The 6 Real Rules of STEM Leadership Free Resource Follow On LinkedIn ABOUT VICTORIA Victoria Steward is a Corporate Exit and Financial Empowerment Coach, helping senior corporate women stuck in the 'one-more-year' loop build the self-trust and financial clarity to leave corporate on their own terms, their own timing, their own scenic route. Curious? Book a Pivot Clarity Call. Follow On LinkedIn On InstagramResources The Can I Pivot Yet? Exit RoadmapThe Engineer's Exit Decision Toolkit The 5-Minute Grounding Reset Website