In this seven‑minute interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts executive coach and speaker Judy Hoberman, founder of Selling in a Skirt. Hoberman introduces herself as a coach who empowers professional women and encourages men to champion them. She shares two light‑hearted anecdotes: the constant curiosity about whether she’s wearing a skirt, and her early sales experience with Fuller Brush, where her mother taught her that love doesn’t guarantee a sale but can open referral networks. The core of the conversation centers on leadership principles. Hoberman proposes a “Chapter 7 – Know Your People” as essential reading for any company, emphasizing the need to understand each employee’s journey, aspirations, and personal life. She stresses that leaders must be generous with their time, fully present, and willing to mentor—even those who say they want the leader’s job—because mentorship creates a two‑way street of growth. Hoberman also highlights the importance of being 100 % present, avoiding distractions like phones, and establishing personal rules (e.g., no electronics at the dinner table). She recommends fellow coach Kim Walsh Phillips as a guest, praising her generosity and influence. The episode closes with Hoberman’s contact information: her website Selling in a Skirt and her social‑media presence.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
I am Judy Hoberman, excited to be here. I am an executive coach, a speaker, a trainer, and I work on empowering professional women and encouraging men to champion them.
Well, Judy, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
Okay, so there's actually a two-parter here. So the first part is that my company is called Selling in a Skirt, so people always look to see if they can catch me not wearing a skirt, and they'll tell me that. I came specifically to see what you were wearing. So that makes me laugh. The other part is I do a lot in financial services, the biggest relationship-driven industry that there is, and there's not a lot of women at the, you know, level of leadership. And we build relationships better than anyone. So it makes me laugh and makes me scratch my head.
Love it. And great, great giving those two different perspectives there. I love it. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
The chapter would be Chapter 7, and it would be called Know Your People, because I truly believe that it doesn't matter what you do or how you do it. If you don't know your people and you don't know the journey that they're on and you don't know how to get them there, you don't take them anywhere. When I first started out in my position and I was in, in financial services, I would always ask the question, tell me why you want to be in this industry and where do you see yourself? There's only one of three answers. I want to be a producer. I want to be in leadership. I want your job. So the last one I always laugh about, but the first one, if you want to be a producer, my answer would always be, let me show you the journey. And if they said they wanted to be in leadership, I'd say, let me show you the journey. It's two different journeys. If you don't know what your people want, then how do you get them there? So my chapter would say, know your people.
I absolutely love that insight. And I, you know, the third part of that about I want your job, you know, as a successful leader, you have to be, be willing to groom people who want your job and not be afraid of that. Would you agree?
Absolutely. And I would say to them, I would laugh, and I'd say, let me show you the journey. Because truthfully, you want to be promoted out of your position. Because when you elevate somebody else, you're going to be elevated. It's not you don't elevate someone so you can be elevated. It just naturally happens. So when somebody says, I want your job, I would ask them, tell me what you see. What do you want to do with that? And I always learn something when they tell me why they'd want my job. Which is also great. And, but it's, you know, it's just, I always knew my people. I always knew birthdays. I always knew their family. I always would meet their partners or their spouses because I wanted to know about them. I wanted to know, I wanted their child to know that when I would ask, you know, Dr. Pete to come in on a Saturday to do a trade show with me, they would know why you're doing it. So it was very important to me to know my people.
I love it. Love it. Question number 4, other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude and care for customers, What advice would you give to other business leaders?
I would say that you need, need to be generous. And I don't talk about financially generous, I'm talking about generous with their time because most people are looking for that mentor, that role model. And when you're too busy, then they don't have somebody to look up to. When you are generous with your time, you're showing them that they are the most important person that's in front of them. And so I always make sure that No matter what, I'm not available 24/7, but when I'm with you, I am with you. I am 100% present with you. There's nobody more important. And I believe that some of my experiences are going to help you, and some of your experiences are going to help me. It's a two-way street. So a lot of people will say to me, well, you know, I don't have time to mentor somebody. It's not a matter of time. It's a matter of desire. And when somebody says to me, would you mentor me, it's not a job application. Sometimes, you know, I would tell people just to say, you know what, I really I like the way you do X. Would you show me how to do it? There's the, there's the question. If somebody says I don't have time, they're not your person. So again, you go back to knowing your people, but be generous with your time. You will see the magic happen.
And I can't agree with you more with that. And especially as you say, be present with them. How many times have we had a conversation with someone who says, oh yeah, I wanna give you my full attention, and then their phone buzzes.
Yeah.
And what are they doing? They're looking at their phone and the phone takes precedent. That's not being present. Would you agree?
Absolutely. You have to be 100% present. Part of it is eye contact. You know, if you're not looking at somebody in the eye, if they're constantly looking down, I remember the first time I ever saw an Apple Watch, the person I was with, he kept looking at his wrist. I'm like, am I that boring? That's what I kept thinking. I must be so boring 'cause he keeps looking at his watch. And he finally said to me, oh, this is the new Apple Watch. Like, okay, and what does it do? And he told me, I'm like, okay, so even worse. Now you're telling me what you're doing. So you have to be present with somebody. There's, you have to make sure that what they need from you, you have in those moments. You know, even if it's 5 minutes, it doesn't matter. We have a rule in my home that you cannot have any kind of electronics at the table for a meal. I don't care. My children are grown, they know it. And so, you know, it's no more like, oh, come on, mom, really? No, because even if it's only a few minutes, you learn so much from each other. You get to share your day, you get to share the good, the bad, the ugly. So doesn't matter. You just wanna be present. There's nothing more. That's, it's a gift. It really is. That's why they call it the present.
That's abs— oh, that's a good way to put it. I really like that. I'm going to remember that one too. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Okay, so I don't even have to think about this. It would be Kim Walsh Phillips. She is one of the most amazing leaders that I know. She is my— one of my coaches, one of my special coaches. I learned so much from her. She is one of the most generous people I have ever met in my entire life. She impacts so many people, and not because she gets up and say, you know, I'm an influencer. She is an influencer, but she doesn't go out there and say, well, I'm an influencer. Never. You'll never hear that from her. But she teaches you and she learns from you. Like I said before, that's a two-way street. She is somebody that you would just love because everybody— she's like a magnet. You just want to be around her. So that's who I would say.
Well, I look forward to connecting with her. Thank you for that referral. Absolutely. Our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
So my first job, and you'll know how old I am once I tell you what it is, my very, very first job was Fuller Brush. If you remember Fuller Brush. I do. This was the original, you know, knocking on the door, cold calling, sales, you know, salesperson. And I remember thinking that my very first door was my mom's. And I thought, this is gonna be great because I'm gonna be off to a good start. I'm gonna sell something. And my mom said no. She said no to me. And I thought, this is not— I must be on Candid Camera or something. Mom doesn't say no. But she taught me a really valuable lesson. First, she said to me, even though somebody loves you, it doesn't mean they're gonna buy something that they don't need.
Okay?
Then she said, part 2 of that is, even if somebody loves you, they're gonna refer you to their friends. So there was the part that, that was the beginning of my sales career. So I remember her saying, you know, so-and-so and so-and-so actually needs those brooms that you have. So why don't you call them? So to me, it was a valuable lesson. Not everybody's gonna buy from you, and even the people that you love are not gonna buy from you, but they're gonna give you, you know, open up their circles for you. So I thought that was the best lesson I ever learned. And that was way back when Fuller Brush was like the place to be.
Well, and it's funny that you say that, that awesome story, because I still own a Fuller Brush. It's, it's actually a, a small brush for the bath where it's, it's designed to scrub like your toenails and stuff and your fingernails and stuff like that. That, and that thing is rock solid. And it's, you know, it's from the early '70s.
That's very valuable.
I don't know about that, but, but it's— so it— it— I haven't heard that name in a long time, so thank you for bringing me back. Absolutely. Time zone there. And, and Judy, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
So my website is Selling in a Skirt, and everything— I'm on every single social media platform. Most of it is Selling in a Skirt. LinkedIn is Judy Hoberman for for some reason it's not selling the skirt. But I am, you know, everywhere. I do post every single day, and I usually make you think, ask a question, or just engage with me.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Get hundreds of amazing business insights from previous guest episodes on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening.
