5 ways women are redefining leadership

Many challenges in the world today are the result of failed leadership. A leadership style that thrives on hierarchy and rewards competition; a leadership that is built around the egos of those who lead and not around their capacity to lead positive change. We can no longer afford to continue this way, so how can we break the cycle?

We need to redefine a new understanding of leadership. This is where women — and people who have not traditionally held power so far — become a crucial piece of the puzzle. They bring new perspectives, different traits and innovative ways of exercising power to the table, capable of questioning the status quo, creating new rules for the leadership game and — by doing so — building more functional, fair and sustainable teams and businesses.

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I had the privilege to speak to trailblazing women leaders for Leading Our Way. By sharing some of the lessons they learned while creating new rules for the game we can inspire people to break the mold and redefine leadership for all.

#1 Bring empathy to the negotiating table

During my conversation with Christiana Figueres, the leader behind the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, she shared a metaphor that stuck with me: 

“Leadership has for too long been about the strong back — rules, authority, control. Leadership must now evolve into a balancing act of our strong back with our soft front, our empathy, our attention to others and to the impact we are having on the planet.”

She was raised in a patriarchal environment, excelling at showing her strong back while neglecting her soft front. Personal challenges faced during the Paris Climate Agreement negotiations prompted her soft front side to show, bringing open emotion into her work. She discovered that leading with empathy got results. When Christiana felt upset at stalling negotiations, she wasn’t afraid to cry in front of delegates. This showed her frustration at national posturing and egos blocking the interests of humanity and the planet.

Other leaders followed suit, refocusing their attention on what was at stake, and on their responsibility to find a solution. By balancing her strong back and soft front, Christiana delivered the most ambitious climate deal we have seen so far. Each leader should re-discover this balance, cultivate their soft front and show it proudly at work. 

#2 Break leadership free from job titles

When we ask someone to think of a leader today, they will respond with names of people who officially have authority and power over people: think CEOs, founders and managers. But is that just who a leader is?

Interviewing groundbreaking leaders revealed a different consensus: leadership is not defined by what is written on your business card but by the ability to lead change and empower others. Disconnecting leadership from titles and reconnecting it with the concept of driving change is a deep shift in how we view leadership. It means anyone can lead, no matter the seniority. It means anyone can be and bring the change they hope to see. 

This shift immediately recognizes the less traditional models of leadership, often adopted by women in our companies and communities. Think of the girls on the forefront of the climate change demonstrations; of the matriarchs that (often from behind the scenes) call most of the shots in your community; and also of the many women in our businesses who take charge of managing change, caring for teams or building inclusive work cultures — without having a title or salary recognition for it. What if this would become what we expect leaders of all genders to look and act like?

#3 Adopt circularity in leadership over hierarchy

Traditional leadership is built around a core pillar: hierarchy. The moment we start seeing leadership as power with others rather than power over them, this pillar falls. Activist and journalist Gloria Steinem adopted an alternative vision of how to structure leadership: circularity. Circularity has been used in female circles and organizations for decades if not centuries, as well as leveraged by the most impactful male leaders of the past century — from Gandhi to Mandela. Circularity generates a culture of belonging, creating companies and societies capable of advancing the common good, while fostering teams’ agility and innovation — crucial for this time of global transitions. “When you see circular leadership, when you experience it on your skin,” says Gloria, “it’s striking how natural it feels.”

To integrate circular leadership models into our workplaces, we must develop two essential skills: listening and trust. Gloria captures this perfectly: “Listen more than you talk, when you are more powerful than others in the room. Speak as much as you listen, when you are less powerful than those surrounding you.” By then bringing trust in, we can better work towards a shared goal: “Trust is the element that binds us together, it’s the basis of true power, allowing to put at the center the joint work to be done — not yourself.”

Adopting a willingness to listen and trust are pillars which will help us become inclusive and circular leaders. 

#4 Make integrity a core leadership trait

Is leadership linked to specific values? Many might argue it centers on performance, profit, and power, rather than the leading purpose behind that power. Yet, in my conversations for Leading Our Way a different perspective emerged: leadership is intrinsically tied to our values and integrity.

Comfort Ero, CEO of the International Crisis Group, told me she learned integrity from her mother, a trait often more visible in women than in men, including at leadership level — not because men don’t have it, but because they are not socialized to prioritize it over competition or self-fulfillment. “My mother wanted me to turn up and be good, to be honorable to people,” explains Comfort. This foundation shapes her view of leadership: “A leader should be a visionary, but even more they should show up in a good, honorable, honest way: to show people that you seek to be inclusive, to listen, to be transparent, to be held to account, to be good.”

As Comfort underscores, qualities like integrity, respect, and understanding, are what we need leaders to show: “We need integrity as a common currency because we are all in the same boat. Either we agree on a way of steering it together, or we’ll sink it — we will throw it out of balance by fighting on it. Which one do we choose?”

#5 Don’t be afraid to lead in your own way

So how can we redefine what it means to be a leader and deploy this change across our teams and companies? The iconic designer Diane von Furstenberg says something very simple yet very powerful: “Just be yourself.” 

Authenticity is what makes you find your purpose and passion, it is what makes you stand out from the crowd and achieve success. It is also a core part of leadership and true diversity, as it means that everyone at the leadership table can bring their viewpoints, unique experiences and visions to challenge what isn’t working. By being yourself when you lead, rather than trying to adhere to today’s leadership models, you will be helping to redefine the rules of the leadership game and open the doors for others to lead in their own way.