Drawing from her latest book, policy expert Gaia van der Esch meets the women who challenged leadership conventions, and won
Leadership has a set of unspoken conventions. Generally, a leader is someone with a job title that gives them power, who is assertive, authoritative, competitive, who has a certain seniority and often gender. For example, as of 2024, nearly 90% of Fortune500 CEOs are men with an average age of 57.7 years old.
Is this who a leader really is? As I advanced in my career, experiencing different styles of management and then learning myself how to lead teams and organisations, I started doubting that this combination of conventions should really be what defines a leader. Especially given that today’s world – with its wars, climate crisis, inequalities – is nothing else but the result of decades of a flawed leadership style.
Challenging the leadership conventions is, though, hard work. It takes boldness to imagine a different model of leadership, courage to stand-up to what is seen as “normal”, and resilience to deal with the inevitable backlash faced by those bringing change. But this hard work is happening, every day and at all levels, to re-define what leadership looks and acts like.
This is how my quest started, to find those doing the hard work, shaping new models of leadership, and to learn from them. A quest that transformed into Leading Our Way, a book that looks at how female leaders made ground in pushing boundaries, with the hope of sharing insights that can inspire today’s and tomorrow’s leaders – both women and men – to break the mould and redefine what leadership is about.
Leadership has no gender
Yemen ranks amongst the worst countries in the world, according to the World Economic Forum, when it comes to gender equality. An authoritative and patriarchal society, where women do not have equal rights nor equal access to power and leadership positions. Challenging this status quo is a daunting task, a task though that was taken on by Tawakkol Karman – a journalist and a Nobel Peace Prize Winner in recognition of her leadership during the 2011 revolution, which led to the fall of the dictatorship in her home country.
When speaking to her, one of the things I most wanted to understand was where Tawakkol found the courage to challenge a dictator, and the hope and resilience to continue pushing for this enormous change – especially as a woman in a conservative society. Her answer was very simple: the Queen of Sheba.
The Queen of Sheba is looked up to by Yemeni women and men as one of the greatest rulers their land has seen, as she led decades of peace and prosperity. “If the Queen of Sheba did it thousands of years ago, why shouldn’t a Yemeni woman, like me, be able to do so today?” said Tawakkol. Grounded and inspired by this model of female leadership, Tawakkol spent years investigating and reporting the crimes and corruption of the dictator and protesting the abuses of power. She spent nights in jail and in tents on the main square of her capital city to relentlessly ask for change. And, by doing so, she challenged the established convention of what leadership and power look like, convincing women and men to follow her and become part of the revolution.
“Because of the Queen of Sheba and because of my upbringing, to me it was the most natural thing to carry the responsibility and the force for change on my shoulders, to act whenever I wanted to see change – even if the cultural and religious norms surrounding me stated I shouldn’t.”
© Romain Biard / Shutterstock.com
Leadership has no age
What does a pioneering inventor look like? Surely not like a 12-year-old girl. Or maybe it does. Gitanjali Rao – now 18 years old – was named as the first ‘Kid of the Year’ by TIME magazineaged 14 thanks to her multiple inventions.
“Over the years I have been coming up with my inventions, my unique ways of tackling problems to which I felt I had a personal connection. And as I didn’t want to sit here and wait for someone else to come up with a solution, I found the solution myself” Gitanjali told me. This is how, at age 5, 8, 12, Gitanjali took her first steps and became an innovator – allowing her curiosity to open doors, no matter her young age.
“Innovation is not an option, it’s a necessity to fix our worlds’ problems”, added Gitanjali. And this is why she decided to invest time in providing workshops to students from across the world, to inspire others, unleash their power to bring change, and build a community of young innovators that can play their part in solving world problems – no matter their age.
Leadership is never one-size-fits-all
Footballer Becky Sauerbrunn – a defender, Olympic gold medallist and until recently, captain of the US Women’s National Soccer Team – shared how the first time she was appointed as captain, she struggled to find her leadership style and defaulted to adopting the “dominant” one. “Instead of leaning on people, empowering them, instead of being myself, I tried to be strong, decisive, and determined – because that’s what a leader, a captain, should be. I moved away from who I am, and that became a huge blowback,” she explained. A blowback which made her lose the captain role and feel like a failure.
She was reappointed captain a few years later, after one crucial realisation. Becky was an introvert, in a team of extroverts. And to lead them, she didn’t need to become a loud, assertive, egocentric personality – she needed to be herself. “Leading as an introvert, means being an observer, a fly on the wall: you see players having all these ideas, exploring 2000 different tactics, while I’m just sitting there, people-watching, soaking in everyone’s best points, taking the temperature of the room, to then put it together into something that is cohesive, which can work during the game and make us successful.”
By learning to appreciate and leverage her unique character as well as her introversion, Becky turned it into a strength. She redefined her leadership around empathy, collaboration and authenticity, and by using these traits Becky led the team towards incredible successes on and off the football field.
Be part of the change
Challenging leadership conventions is never easy. It requires perseverance, focus, and resilience. But it is needed today more than ever: redefining what leadership looks and acts like is a crucial starting point to create companies capable of generating better outcomes and solving the global challenges we are all facing.
Each of us can be part of this change. By rooting our leadership not in our job title but in our values and in the impact we aim to have; by bringing empathy and collaboration at the forefront of our work; and by having the boldness and confidence – no matter our gender, age, or character – to show-up, to lead and to do so in our own way.
Gaia van der Esch is a celebrated executive, policy expert and author of ‘Leading Our Way: How Women are Re-Defining Leadership’, out now. Through her work and leadership, she is driving change across the public and non-profit sectors to help build a more equitable and sustainable world.
Main image: Journalist and a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Tawakkol Karman
