317: Leadership Advice for Career Growth: Owning Your Metrics and AI Transformation with Kimberly Williams

"If I wanted someone who would commute, I could have hired a man from New York."

That's what a private equity partner said to Kimberly Williams while offering her first CEO role. She took the job anyway, delivered results he couldn't argue with, and changed how he saw women in leadership.

Kimberly is Chairperson and CEO of Absorb Software, and before that grew CST Holdings more than five-fold in seven years, taking it from fifth in its market to first. In this episode of Leading Women in Tech Kimberly shares the career advice that took her from a strategy role at Boston Consulting Group to the CEO seat — including the single piece of guidance she gives every ambitious woman, why asking for help builds supporters rather than doubts, and how she thinks about AI transformation as a sitting CEO.

What we cover:

• Why one small comment from anyone in your life can change a trajectory, positively or negatively
• Boston Consulting Group as the first true meritocracy she'd worked in
• The accidental route into running a business: a $4.3 million business case
• "If I wanted someone who would commute, I could have hired a man from New York"
• The importance of your support network, and why this may be the most consequential move you make in your career
• The career advice Kimberly gives every woman: fight for roles that carry numbers
• Why asking for help creates supporters — the cognitive dissonance effect
• Humility as a CEO strength: your job isn't to have the answers
• AI transformation: why AI serves your strategy rather than being your strategy
• Pick projects that could make your company great, not 1% more profitable
• Testing agentic outbound sales outside the core business

Useful Links

Connect with today's guest and sponsor, Kimberly Dolan Williams, on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlydolanwilliams/) and find out more about Absorb Software at https://www.absorblms.com.

This episode was sponsored by Absorb Software. Thank you Kimberly and Absorb for helping to bring Leading Women in Tech to this community!