Leadership Lessons from Women Who Made It to the Top
Real-world tips for women leaders backed by experience, reflection, and credible data
When a woman earns a seat at the table of leadership, particularly in male-dominated industries or boardrooms, it’s never just a personal achievement. It’s a stealthy act of defiance, a redefinition of what power looks like. Yet while some women have succeeded, the overall data is sobering.
According to a 2024 Deloitte study, women hold just 17 percent of C-suite roles in India and make up only a third of junior-level positions. This isn’t for lack of ambition or ability. Across sectors, women face slower promotions, fewer sponsorships, and subtle or not-so-subtle scrutiny. That means the climb is often steeper, but not impossible.
Here are some practical, real-world tips for women navigating leadership drawn from research, lived experiences, and expert insights. Think of them as small, powerful reminders to help you rise, lead with confidence, and build success on your own terms.
1. Don’t Just Support, Lead
One of the most powerful tips for women leaders is deceptively simple. Move into line roles. According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace report, women are often overrepresented in staff functions like HR, legal, or communications. While important, these roles don’t typically feed into CEO pipelines.
Line roles, those responsible for revenue, growth, or product, are where strategic decisions are made and where future CXOs are often groomed.
If you’re early in your journey, seek out projects that allow you to directly impact the bottom line. If you’re mid-career, make your next move toward sales, operations, or strategy. Don’t wait to be one hundred percent ready. Say yes first and learn fast.
2. Find Your People and Your Sponsors
Networking can feel transactional when done wrong. But done right, it’s transformational. Bain and Company found that women with active sponsors are 27 percent more likely to land senior leadership roles.
Mentors advise. Sponsors advocate. Every woman in leadership needs both.
Make your growth visible. Stay in touch with former managers, raise your hand in leadership forums, and ask for feedback. People help people who know what you want.
3. Lead With Empathy, It’s a Strength, Not a Soft Skill
During the pandemic, Harvard Business Review reported research indicating that women leaders excelled over men in twelve of sixteen critical competencies, such as resilience, results orientation, and inspiring.
Empathy, teamwork, and emotional intelligence are not weaknesses. They’re leadership skills today’s teams desire. McKinsey’s studies, in fact, indicate that firms with heterogeneous leadership teams have a 25 percent chance of beating their financial performances.
Your innate style of leadership is an asset. Rather than dialing it back, double down on it. Lead with empathy as a business strength.
4. Fix the Ladder as You Climb
Personal development is important, but structural disadvantage is actual. McKinsey’s statistics reveal that for every 100 men who are promoted to the role of manager, only 87 women are offered the same chance. This clog, referred to as the broken rung, is a principal explanation for why women stay underrepresented in senior roles.
Once you’re in a position to influence systems, advocate for inclusive hiring, performance transparency, flexible policies, and equal pay audits. You’ll be making the climb easier for others too.
5. Speak Up and Keep Speaking.
Zenger Folkman research highlights a telling truth. Women tend to underrate their leadership skills, while men overrate theirs. The result is that women often hesitate to advocate for themselves, even when overperforming.
But visibility is not ego. It’s how leaders are created and remembered.
Share your successes. Give talks on panels. Refresh your LinkedIn. Rehearse your elevator pitch for yourself, not your company. Self-advocacy is one of the most important secrets for women leaders that’s most commonly neglected.
6. Use Failure as Data
One of the most underrated tips for women leaders is to redefine failure. The women who lead today didn’t get there by avoiding risk. They made calculated bets and learned from the ones that didn’t work out.
Whether it’s a startup pivot, a missed opportunity, or a feedback session gone sideways, failure gives data. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s momentum.
Capture your learnings. Keep a journal. Reflect and adapt. That’s how real growth happens.
7. Ask Bigger Questions
Leadership isn’t just about output. It’s about vision. Women are generally socialized to maximize within the system, not challenge the system itself.
One of the most empowering career changes is when you stop wondering how can I fit in and begin wondering what needs to change.
Think about what you want people to know you for, not necessarily what you want to get promoted to. Let that direct your decisions and direction.
8. Take Up More Digital Space
Your online presence is your modern-day elevator pitch. Whether you’re looking for investors, hiring, or thought leadership opportunities, your digital voice matters.
Pick a platform like LinkedIn and use it. Share stories, thoughts, reflections, and lessons. You don’t need a strategy deck. You just need to start showing up.
9. Make Room for Joy and Health
Leadership can’t be sustained on burnout. Yet many women in leadership roles feel guilty for resting, declining meetings, or logging off on time. But rest fuels strategy. Creativity thrives in space.
Block time for recovery with as much commitment as you block meetings. Build a lifestyle that sustains you. That’s part of the job.
Final Reflection
Leadership cannot be maintained on burnout. And yet so many women leaders feel terrible for resting, turning down meetings, or shutting off on time. But rest nourishes strategy. Creativity grows in space.
Block recovery time with as much dedication as you block meetings. Create a life that energizes you. That’s part of the job.