And yet, celebration co-exists with both complexity and concern.
We’re in a moment when women’s progress—especially in corporate spaces but also on the world stage—is still too often hard-won. When diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are under attack. When the push to justify the value of inclusive leadership has returned, louder than it should ever need to be.
But the science is on our side.
A new meta-analysis reviewed nearly 40 years of research and found that women tend to lead more effectively than men on some key dimensions: transformational leadership, collaboration, and people development. These are not soft skills—they are bottom-line drivers of performance, innovation, and culture.
This is not to say that women are universally better leaders than men. Leadership effectiveness is both contextual and complex. Differences in effectiveness are powerful drivers for organizational success, but only if they’re celebrated, acknowledged, and equally valued.
This is something we often see overlooked in our work. People are moving fast, heads down, focused on performance, and miss chances to tease out — and truly utilize — valuable differences.
Perhaps you're struggling to develop a high potential employee, and your peer really excels at this. How do you tap into that?
Maybe you've been tasked with leading a critical cross-functional project, and you can't quite crack the code on collaboration with a diverse group—but your direct report knows just what to do.
These moments—where we tap into the power of difference in practical ways—are where inclusive, values-driven leadership leads to results. A project successfully delivered, or a clear, focused development plan that helps your high potential soar.
Here's what we know, and we hope you acknowledge too:
Women in leadership:
- Drive profitability and innovation when represented in greater numbers.
- Build teams with higher collective intelligence.
- Shape cultures where people don’t just stay—they thrive.
- Create policies that support success for all.
- Lift as they climb, mentoring others and paving the way for the next generation.
And yet, women still navigate a long list of hurdles:
- Being penalized for warmth or dismissed when assertive.
- Absorbing office “housework” that doesn’t advance their careers.
- Walking a tightrope of perception: too much, not enough.
- Facing the motherhood penalty and gendered feedback.
- Receiving less funding, fewer sponsors, and smaller chances to scale.
And still—we persist. Women lead. Reshape industries. Deliver results. Reimagine what leadership looks and feels like.
Whether you’re a woman in leadership yourself, or a manager, mentor, or decision-maker—your actions shape the environment around you. If you’re wondering how to make a difference, here are a few places to start:
- Notice who’s missing—and invite them in.
- Challenge bias and speak up when you see double standards or invisible labor falling along gendered lines, even in small moments.
- Surface powerful differences as real drivers of performance.
- Sponsor a woman whose results and potential deserve visibility.
- Trust the science, and the experts who’ve studied leadership dynamics and effectiveness for decades.
And finally, say thank you. Know a woman who’s made an impact on your career or leadership? Reach out today. A few simple words of recognition and an I see you can go an exceptionally long way.
At The Violet Group, we’re here to build better leaders, better teams, and better workplaces—through rigor, insight, and deep partnership. We’re proud to be women-owned. We’re even prouder to be women-led.
From the early days in my living room at my kitchen table to this milestone moment, I’m reminded that women’s leadership is powerful—not in theory, but in practice.
Happy Women’s History Month. May we keep learning from—and investing in—the leadership of women, every month of the year.
Happy leading and learning,
Stefanie
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