Cynthia Barnes

Founder and CEO

I spent 20 years building frameworks that made other people rich.

Sales methodologies that became "company best practices." Training programs that got renamed and rolled out without my name attached. Revenue strategies that showed up in Brad's promotion announcement while I got a 2.3% raise and a note about "executive presence."

I documented everything. Exposed the math. Calculated the extraction.

$847,000.

That's the average lifetime wage gap for a Black woman in corporate America. Not a metaphor. Not a feeling. An invoice that never got paid.

So I stopped asking for raises. Started building infrastructure.

---

What I do now:

I build the sales architecture for Black women executives exiting corporate—so they can convert 20+ years of extracted expertise into high-ticket consulting contracts.

No pitching. No shrinking. No explaining your worth to people who've never had to prove theirs.

We don't coach. We build:
→ The offer that positions your expertise for C-Suite buyers
→ The pricing model that kills hourly rates forever
→ The proof assets that sell before you get on a call
→ The pipeline that fills your calendar without "networking"
→ The IP protection that ensures your frameworks stay yours

90 days. Proof to pipeline. Your expertise finally has your name on it.

---

This is for you if:

↳ You've built frameworks inside companies that got attributed to someone else
↳ You left (or you're leaving) and you're done being the secret weapon
↳ You have 15-25 years of expertise but no language to sell it
↳ You're tired of courses that teach theory—you want assets built
↳ You understand that Brad isn't the problem; the system is—and you're ready to build outside of it

---

This is NOT for you if:

↳ You're looking for mindset work, mantras, or manifestation
↳ You want someone to convince you your expertise has value
↳ You're still hoping the company will "finally see" you
↳ You need hand-holding through basic business decisions
↳ You think "putting yourself out there" is a strategy

---

I'm not here to help you get a seat at their table.

I'm here to help you build your own—and send them the invoice.

The Exit Architecture™
Black Women's Wealth Lab™

Thank You; It's True.™

* Founded NAWSP to offer executive-level consultation and develop DEI-specific strategies tailored for various industries, serving both U.S.-based and international clients.
* Advised C-Suite Leadership on optimal strategies to achieve short- and long-term objectives, sharing insights on trends, best practices, and their potential impacts on business models.
* Conducted Organizational Assessments to identify areas of improvement and recommended enhanced policies, processes, and procedures to clients.
* Developed and Facilitated Customized Curriculums focusing on recruitment and retention for over 50 organizations nationally and internationally.
* Implemented Employee Training and Development Programs to foster skill enhancement and professional growth.
* Established Performance Metrics and Measurement Systems to assess employee productivity and effectiveness.
* Orchestrated DE&I Roadmaps, aligning organizational goals with actionable diversity initiatives.
Increased Representation of underrepresented populations by 64% through targeted recruiting and mentorship programs.
* Conducted Equity Analysis across the entire employment life cycle, including recruitment, retention, interviews, performance evaluations, and separations.
* Developed ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) to promote inclusivity and address specific employee needs and concerns.
* Managed Talent and Succession Planning Programs to ensure organizational continuity and growth.
* Promoted a Positive and Inclusive Organizational Culture, enhancing team member engagement and productivity.
* Focused on Risk Management to mitigate potential organizational challenges and disruptions.
* Delivered Value by creating customized curricula and training for multiple industries, enhancing organizational capability and adaptability.
* Shared Industry Insights on current and emerging trends, enabling clients to adapt and innovate in their respective domains.

Carson V. Heady

Carson V. Heady is Managing Director for Microsoft Elevate, a bestselling author, top sales influencer, and podcast host who has built a career helping people and organizations win through technology, authenticity, and servant leadership.

With over 25 years in sales and leadership roles across Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, Carson has mastered the art of selling in complex environments. At Microsoft, he leads the Americas Nonprofit team supporting over 400 named nonprofit organizations, delivering transformative outcomes by aligning customer missions with Microsoft’s cloud, AI, and security solutions. He has also created a replicable demand generation social selling model that has generated $1 billion+ in revenue that he has trained in 11 countries and presented to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and his leadership team. Carson's success is driven by a philosophy that fuses heart, hustle, and human connection.

Carson is the author of 6 books, including the "Birth of a Salesman" series and his latest releases "The Show Must Go On" and "UNBEATABLE" — modern sales playbooks for navigating reinvention, resilience, and growth in an evolving landscape. His books blend storytelling with strategic insights and are used by sales professionals, leaders, and organizations as practical guides to career advancement.

He is also the host of two successful podcasts: *Mastering Modern Selling* and *Connected Teamwork*, where he interviews top industry voices and explores topics like AI in sales, personal branding, emotional intelligence, and nonprofit digital transformation. His guests have included CEOs, bestselling authors, comedians, Microsoft executives, and healthcare experts.

Carson is an 8-time CEO/President’s Club winner, a frequent keynote speaker, and a recognized LinkedIn Top Voice in sales and leadership. He’s known for his high-energy delivery, candid storytelling, and tactical advice that inspires sellers to take bold action while staying grounded in purpose.

Rooted in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and now based in St. Louis, Carson is a proud husband and father of three daughters. He believes success isn’t just about quota — it’s about showing up, staying true, and making a difference.

Co-host of The Crocodile School Podcast

We are capable of so much more than our small but powerful reptilian brain want us to believe. How do we access our true potential and transform the parts of us that keep us small? Join leadership coach & award-winning author Hylke Faber and best-selling author & Microsoft #1 Social Seller Carson V. Heady for this monthly podcast in which they explore how we can use every challenge as an opportunity to get to know more of our best self and share that with others. Carson will bring live case examples and leadership lessons and Hylke will bring coaching insights leveraging his Taming Your Crocodiles approach and the truth that is available in this moment.

Carson Heady

I’m going to say something most professionals won’t admit out loud: The fear of losing your job can shrink you long before a layoff ever does.


And if you’ve felt that pit in your stomach lately — you’re not weak.

You’re human.

I’ve lost jobs.

I’ve feared losing jobs.

I’ve sat in seasons where the rumors were louder than the strategy.

And here’s what I learned the hard way:

The fear itself is often more damaging than the outcome.

Because fear makes you:

• Play smaller
• Avoid risk
• Stop speaking up
• Protect instead of create
• Shrink your resourcefulness

When you operate from fear, you don’t perform at your highest level.

You perform at your safest level.

And safe rarely leads to standout.

Here’s the reframe that changed everything for me:

Fear is a thought happening in your mind — not a prophecy.

When you label it as a thought, you gain leverage.

You create space between stimulus and response.

And in that space, you get your power back.

Then you do something even more important:

You double down on contribution.

Not politics.
Not image management.
Not résumé polishing in the shadows.

Contribution.

You ask:

• How can I deliver undeniable value today?
• How can I make my customers win?
• How can I elevate my team?
• How can I make my manager’s job easier?
• How can I leave zero doubt about my effort and execution?

Confidence doesn’t come from hoping you’re safe.

It comes from knowing you showed up fully.

And here’s another truth most people avoid:

Your job is not your identity.

It’s a platform.

Every job I lost eventually led to something bigger.

But while I was in the crucible? It didn’t feel that way.

It felt uncertain. Heavy. Personal.

Until I realized this:

If I maximize the season I’m in, I will never regret the outcome — regardless of what happens.

That mindset changes everything.

Because now:

If you stay — you rise.
If you leave — you evolve.

Either way, you grow.

Layoffs happen.

Markets shift.

Leadership changes.

But your resourcefulness? That’s portable.

Your reputation? That’s portable.

Your discipline? Portable.

Your courage? Portable.

Fear wants you to contract.

Growth requires you to expand.

If you’re navigating uncertainty right now, don’t shrink.

Build.

Create.

Serve.

Deliver wins.

And remember — the best operators don’t wait for certainty to perform at their peak.

They perform at their peak because that’s who they are.

If this season is stretching you, what’s one action you can take today that proves to yourself you’re bigger than the fear?

Best-Selling Author | Managing Director, Americas @ Microsoft Elevate Nonprofit | Sales Hall of Fame | Podcast Host | Award-Winning Sales Leader

Most companies say "culture matters." Very few are willing to rebuild it from the inside out. When Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft, he started with mindset. 


Microsoft moved from a culture of “Who’s the smartest person in the room?” to  “Who’s learning the fastest together?”

That shift changed everything.

Leadership stopped being about authority.  
Performance stopped being about ranking.  
Growth stopped being about titles.

Instead, Microsoft anchored on three deceptively simple behaviors:

🔹 Model — Lead by example  
🔹 Coach — Create space for others to grow  
🔹 Care — Build trust through empathy

Satya puts it best: “The learn‑it‑all does better than the know‑it‑all.”

What cultural shift has made the biggest difference in your organization?


https://msft.it/6042Qe2Q6 

#MSFTAdvocate

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AI can write your emails, schedule your meetings, and analyze your pipeline — but it can’t build trust over a shared meal. The real competitive advantage might be sitting across the table and actually listening.

For years, I underestimated the business lunch. Early in my career, I saw it as inefficient. Time away from calls. Time away from dashboards. Time awa

Open article: Why the Business Lunch Is a Strategic Advantage in the Age of AI by Carson V. Heady • 5 min read

Why the Business Lunch Is a Strategic Advantage in the Age of AI

Whatever you're called to do, do it well.

What if the real threat to your career isn’t layoffs, AI, or the economy—but the quiet fear that’s already shrinking how boldly you show up at work every day?

In uncertain economic cycles, a quiet psychological force spreads through workplaces long before any official layoffs are announced: fear. It rarely a

Open article: Fear Of Losing Your Job Is More Dangerous Than Losing It: A Mindset Shift For Professionals by Carson V. Heady • 4 min read

Fear Of Losing Your Job Is More Dangerous Than Losing It: A Mindset Shift For Professionals

Your LinkedIn reach didn’t drop because you got less interesting. It dropped because the platform changed — and most people didn’t.


In 2026, LinkedIn shifted from rewarding likes to rewarding meaningful conversations. Dwell time, comment quality, and topical authority now matter more than vanity metrics. Posts live longer. Generic AI content gets suppressed. Hard selling kills reach. Depth and specificity win.

Most creators are still playing by old rules. The ones winning aren’t chasing hacks or virality — they’re answering real customer questions, building authority in a focused niche, posting with structure, and engaging consistently.

This article breaks down exactly what to do — and what to stop doing — if you want predictable reach in 2026.

What’s changed most for you this year: reach, engagement, or follower growth?


https://msft.it/6040QeDn6

Across industries, AI is moving beyond answering questions to collaborating with people and amplifying their expertise. Find out about this and other trends to watch for in the coming year.

https://msft.it/6049QdUGl

#MicrosoftEmployee

Illustratrions produced with Create in Microsoft Copilot 

Mark Hunter wrote the sales book this moment demands. Amidst hacks, automation, AI prompts, and “growth at all costs,” Integrity First Selling is a reminder of something far more powerful:


👉 Trust scales.
👉 Character compounds.
👉 Reputation closes deals long after tactics expire.

The biggest deals don't close because of a script. They close because of trust.

Mark nails something many sellers forget:
The goal isn’t to close more deals.
The goal is to create better customers.

In this era of AI-generated noise, integrity is the ultimate differentiator.

If you want sustainable pipeline…
If you want enterprise trust…
If you want a brand that outlives your title…

Read this book.

The future of sales belongs to the most trusted.

I love how he talks about earning, not manipulating, to get the meeting, network and ask for referrals. 

Do yourself a favor and pick up Integrity First Selling today!

When everything is falling apart around you… who are you? Are you the storm?  Or are you the steady hand on the wheel?


Because here’s what I’ve learned after decades in high-stakes enterprise sales, leading massive teams, carrying billion-dollar quotas, navigating layoffs, public setbacks, private battles, and moments that could have broken me:

Brilliance is overrated.

Calm is everything.

💥 The phone rings minutes before your big customer presentation — and it’s news that changes your family’s world.

💥 Procurement tears you down on camera. Escalates over your head. Questions your integrity.

💥 You are emotionally exhausted… and yet your calendar is full, your inbox is overflowing, and people are counting on you to show up like nothing’s wrong.

I’ve lived those days. Many times, for decades.

The days where you take a call that shatters you… Then jump on a stage or a Teams meeting and deliver like a pro.

The days where you’re bleeding behind the curtain…  But leading in front of it.

And I’ll tell you what separates the professionals from the elite.

It’s not IQ.

It’s not talent.

It’s not even experience.

It’s emotional discipline.

It’s the ability to feel everything… Without letting fear grab the steering wheel.

People don’t follow panic.

If you look frantic… they feel unsafe.

If you react emotionally… they spiral emotionally.

If you lose composure… they lose confidence.

But when you remain steady?

When you say, “We’ve got this” — and your body language actually believes it?

Everything changes.

Leadership isn’t about pretending the storm doesn’t exist.

It’s about seeing it clearly… and refusing to become it.

You can acknowledge the chaos without becoming chaotic.

You can feel the weight — and still lift others.

That’s the superpower.

The calmer you are… the stronger you become.

The steadier your presence… the louder your influence.

The less you react… the more people respect you.

In a world addicted to outrage, hot takes, and emotional volatility, calm is a competitive advantage.

Will you be remembered as the loudest voice in the room — or the steadiest presence people trusted when it mattered most?

I booked 86 workshops in one day. And it had nothing to do with luck. Here's how you can easily do the same thing.


It started years earlier. Gratitude journaling has taught me that every “overnight success” is the harvest of seeds nobody saw you plant.

Years ago, I started building something most reps ignore.

A MASSIVE network. 37,000 contacts for executives in my team's market:
• Pulled from CRM
• Built intentionally in Sales Navigator
• Verified in ZoomInfo
• Captured from webinars
• Leads from marketing nobody ever touched that most people overlook
• Dormant accounts others forgot

I wasn’t prospecting.

I was compounding.

When the time came to promote a high-value workshop, I didn’t overthink it.

I didn’t send a 6-paragraph masterpiece.

I didn’t attach a deck.

I sent a 2-sentence email.

Why?

Because executives don’t have time.

And attention is the real currency.

I used AI to:
• Optimize the subject line for open probability
• Stress-test tone
• Remove fluff
• Lead with value, not a pitch

No selling.

No widget.

Just relevance.

It went to a large audience.

But it wasn’t spam.

It was earned attention from years of intentional network building.

The math was simple:

Large qualified audience
High open rate
Low cognitive load
Clear value
Frictionless call to action

Highest probability of success in a single day.

Result?

86 workshops booked.

Immediate engagement.

Millions in revenue that year that never would have happened otherwise.

I’m not “better” at prospecting.

I just build systems that make the odds of my success approach 100%.

Most sellers operate transactionally.

I operate probabilistically.

Most sellers try to win one meeting at a time.

I engineer environments where meetings are inevitable.

The day I booked 86 workshops wasn’t a breakthrough.

It was math finally maturing.

If you had to book 50+ meetings tomorrow…

Would your system support it?

Or would you be starting from zero?

What’s one asset you’re building today that will compound four years from now?

If you want my entire playbook, check out my new book "Moneyball Sales."

And if you're a Microsoft partner, and would like to book workshops with me, give me a call.

LinkedIn just released the Skills on the Rise 2026, and one thing is crystal clear: We are officially in the era of new-collar talent. Linear career paths matter less. What you can do — and how fast you can adapt — matters more than ever.

Here’s what’s exploding right now 👇

🔹 AI Engineering & Implementation
🔹 Operational Efficiency
🔹 AI for Business & Responsible AI
🔹 Executive-Level Communication
🔹 Financial Discipline
🔹 Leadership & People Development
🔹 Revenue Growth & GTM Strategy
🔹 Risk & Compliance

1 in 5 professionals globally say they’re struggling in the job market because they don’t have the right skills.

The market is telling us exactly where it’s going.

The question is whether we’re listening.


If you had to bet on one skill to double down on this year — what would it be? 👇

#SkillsOnTheRise #AI #Leadership #CareerGrowth #FutureOfWork #Sales #BusinessStrategy #MSFTAdvocate


https://msft.it/6047QdItz

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The Battle

Cynthia Barnes

Carson Heady

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taplio

The Battle

Cynthia Barnes

Carson Heady

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Carson Heady's LinkedIn Performance

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