From the Felt to the Boardroom: How Poker Skills Can Boost Your Career Success | Ep. 289

In this captivating episode, Erin Lydon of Poker Power deals out a hand of wisdom showing how poker strategies can shape your financial and professional world. Learn why folding isn't just a poker move, but a life skill, and how calculating risks can lead to big payoffs both on and off the felt.

About Our Guest

Erin Lydon is a thought leader, frequent speaker on equal pay and workplace equity, and President of Poker Power. Her passion to lead Poker Power stemmed from her experience working on Wall Street twenty years ago. After learning that she was not being paid the same as her male colleagues, and struggling to find a seat at the table in the male-dominated financial industry, Erin was confronted with the reality of the “force field” surrounding tables of power that keep women from sitting down, playing, and competing equally. Erin discovered poker during this time, and made the connection that learning to think, negotiate and take risks, like a winning poker player, trained her in skillsets that offered a solution for pushing the needle on women’s empowerment in the workplace. Erin now leads Poker Power’s mission to teach one million girls and women how to stack their skills, negotiate, and take calculated risks by gamifying key leadership lessons with poker gameplay.

Before joining Poker Power, Erin was the strategic advisor to the management team of Evil Geniuses, a global e-sports organization. She has previously served as an independent corporate director on the boards of Marbles and Roomlinx and began her finance career at JPMorgan.

Erin received her MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and BA from Bates College. In 2023, she received the Global Gaming Women “Women of Inspiration–Woman to Watch” award and has spoken on many premier stages including TEDx, Money 20/20 RiseUp, AWS Women’s Leadership Summits, TEDx Talk, Monaco Positive Impact Summit, and many more. Erin serves on the Advisory Board for Money 20/20 RiseUp and was a mentor for SXSW Edu in 2023. Additionally, she is a member of McKinsey’s Midwest Executive Women’s Forum.