Women's Leadership in a Post-DEI Era

What’s really holding women back from progressing at work? It’s not lack of ambition. Or confidence. Or kids. It’s the system. This is a topic that was on my mind when we conducted our pan-European research with 2,394 women. The findings revealed something stark: many women don’t believe they can progress within their organisation. And it’s not because they don’t want to. It’s because their environment is quietly telling them they can’t. The top 5 root causes? 1. Their line manager isn’t clear about the development gaps they need to address 2. They don’t have backing from senior leadership 3. They lack equitable access to career-shaping experiences 4. They can’t speak openly without being negatively labelled 5. They don’t see people like them in senior roles None of these are about women’s capability. All of them are about the context they’re in. And here's the thing. ALL of these things are easily fixable. If you're a senior HR, DEI or talent leader wondering why your gender diversity numbers aren’t moving - this can help to explain why. The good news? Once we name the real problem, we can solve it. 👉 Where do you see this playing out in your organisation? And what is your organisation doing to address it? #GenderEquity #DEI #ShapeTalent #WomenInLeadership

In recent years, many organizations have taken visible steps to improve gender diversity, investing in recruitment, mentorship, and leadership development programs to bring more women into their ranks. These efforts reflect a growing recognition that diverse teams drive better decision-making, innovation, and organizational performance. But while increasing gender diversity is an important milestone, a critical question remains: Does greater representation of women also translate into greater fairness—specifically, more gender pay equity? Or are organizations celebrating progress on diversity while leaving deep disparities in compensation unaddressed? My wonderful colleagues Dr. Claudia Holtschlag, Dr. Carlos Morales, Aline D. Masuda and I explored this question in a study that was just published in Human Resource Management (HRM) (Wiley). 📄 Full paper: https://lnkd.in/dP3kprRJ The answer to our question: Not necessarily. Here’s what we found in our longitudinal study of 9,000+ observations: 🔹 Women with lower initial pay tend to receive larger raises—consistent with equity-based pay policies. 🔹 But in work units that have already achieved gender balance, these equity-based raises weaken or stop altogether. 🔹 Why? It seems that once visible diversity goals (like a balanced ratio of female and male employees) are met, organizations feel the work is “done”—even when deep-seated inequities (like pay gaps) persist. We call this the diversity paradox: When well-intentioned diversity efforts signal progress, they may inadvertently stall further action toward real equity. Why this matters: Representation is just one part of the DEI equation. Without attention to how people are actually treated and rewarded, diversity initiatives risk creating symbolic progress rather than systemic change. 🔍 Diversity metrics ≠ equity outcomes. 📊 True progress requires tracking representation, opportunity, and reward together. We hope this research supports HR leaders, DEI professionals, and policymakers working to move from performative diversity to real equity. #DEI #GenderEquity #PayEquity #Leadership #DiversityParadox #PeopleAnalytics #HumanResources #Inclusion #WorkplaceEquity

Should companies ditch DEI and what about more masculine energy at work? 👇 As an advocate for women in cybersecurity, and a strong proponent of DEI, I find the recent actions by Meta and other tech companies to deprioritise DEI efforts, coupled with Mark Zuckerberg’s comments on masculine energy, deeply concerning. So. I'm going to unpack this: 1. Ditching DEI Is a Step Backward In an industry like cyber—where women represent only about 24% of the global workforce (17% in the UK, where I live)—DEI initiatives are not just a “nice to have,” they’re essential. They break down systemic barriers, foster innovation, and address the talent gap. Dismantling these efforts sends a harmful message: that diversity in all its forms (not just women) is expendable when budgets are tight or priorities shift. Organisations thrive (i.e., make more money) when diverse perspectives inform decisions. A lack of diversity isn’t just a moral failing—it’s a BUSINESS RISK, especially in fields like cyber where different viewpoints can mean the difference between securing systems or missing critical threats. 2. The “Masculine Energy” Narrative Zuckerberg’s call to embrace “masculine energy” in corporate environments risks perpetuating outdated stereotypes about leadership. While qualities like assertiveness and decisiveness are valuable, framing them as inherently masculine is counterproductive. These traits are not tied to gender—they are human qualities. By suggesting that corporate culture has become “neutered,” Zuckerberg undermines the strides we’ve made toward fostering collaborative, inclusive workplaces where all employees—regardless of gender—can thrive. Balance is key, yes, but that balance is not achieved by leaning back into aggression or traditional gender norms! 3. Women in Cybersecurity: The Double Standard In cyber and tech, women already face an uphill battle against bias, stereotype-driven evaluations, and limited access to opportunities. When leaders promote “masculine” traits like aggression as ideal, it reinforces harmful stereotypes that often penalise women for displaying the same behaviours men are rewarded for. If Zuckerberg truly supports female empowerment, he needs to educate himself on women, and companies like his need to actively prioritise DEI efforts, ensuring that women and underrepresented groups have equal opportunities to succeed, without having to mimic masculine energy to do so. 4. The Broader Impact When billion dollar companies remove DEI initiatives, they set a tone that ripples across others. By deprioritising DEI, they risk normalising exclusionary practices and discouraging talented individuals—women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups—from entering the field. What Needs to Happen? Three things. Swipe to find out 👉 For more resources, visit my website and the IN Security Movement https://lnkd.in/emuxwvCZ #Cybersecurity #DEI #WomenInTech #InclusiveLeadership #DiversityMatters

The multi-billion-dollar DEI industry has a dirty secret: it's teaching women to navigate broken systems rather than fixing the systems. Billions spent on "empowerment" programs teaching women to speak up, lean in, and negotiate, all within structures designed to penalise them for doing precisely that. Imagine if we redirected those resources to redesigning promotion systems, accountability structures, and power distribution instead. Stop teaching fish to climb trees. Inclusion isn't about teaching marginalised groups how to succeed despite injustice. It's about removing that injustice entirely.

Black women are the most educated demographic in America. Period. Despite centuries of systemic barriers, we: 👉 Earn a higher percentage of associate’s, bachelor’s, and advanced degrees than Black men. 👉 In many categories, we match or surpass white women in educational attainment. And yet, we’re still underpaid, under-promoted, and under-supported at every level. We earn just 66 cents for every dollar a white man makes. We’re consistently shut out of decision-making roles, even in fields we dominate. And we navigate workplaces where racism, microaggressions, and outright disrespect are still far too common, from managers and coworkers. So what do we need? Let me be clear: 👉 Stop the DEI Branding: Hiring Black women as symbols without power is performative. We are not your “Pet to Threat” case study. Invest in us as leaders with influence, autonomy, and compensation that matches our credentials, not your optics. 👉 Pay Equity: Not vibes. Not likability. Not who makes you feel “comfortable.” I was a recruiter, and I’ve seen how often less-qualified people are paid more simply because they “fit the culture.” That ends now. 👉 Sponsorship Over Mentorship: We don’t need another mentor lunch. We need advocates who use their power to open doors when we’re not in the room. Sponsorship creates career mobility. Mentorship just keeps us company where we are. 👉 Support Black Women Entrepreneurs: We’re leading in entrepreneurship, but we’re not getting funded or supported at the same rate. And when we create our own, we get attacked for it. (Google Fearless Fund, you’ll see what I mean.) 👉 Accountability: Track the promotions. Track the pay. Track who gets visibility and stretch roles. Hold leadership accountable when the numbers don’t lie and when the excuses start flowing. 👉 Retire the “Strong Black Woman” narrative: We are not here to survive your workplace. We are here to thrive, grow, and lead. Treat us with the respect and dignity every professional deserves. And most importantly, listen to us. Every time I posted about Black women, someone felt compelled to comment with their take. Let me save you the trouble: you don’t need to weigh in. Just listen. Despite all of this, we’re still here. Still rising. Still reclaiming our stories, owning our power, and doing the damn work. And let me say it one more time for the people in the back: I have NEVER worked with a Black woman who wasn’t qualified. Most of us are overqualified. Yes, we really are that good. Y'all be easy!

It could take another 48 years to reach gender parity in senior leadership. That’s the stark reality from McKinsey’s latest 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 report. The parity horizon is even longer for all other minority groups. The report identifies the “broken rung” as a key barrier to women’s advancement. Unlike the “glass ceiling” or “bamboo ceiling”, the broken rung refers to the challenge women face in getting their first promotion from entry-level to manager positions. The ceilings refer to barriers that exist at more senior levels. Those aspiring to leadership must navigate three primary pathways: 🔹 Learn and adopt the leadership behaviors of current leaders in their organization. 🔹 Find another organization or industry where leadership styles align with their values. 🔹 Start their own companies and define their own standards for leadership. Each path has its own costs and benefits. The first path–learning to lead within the system—can be challenging but is essential. Adapting to the environment we operate in is critical if we want to drive change from the inside. It’s not easy, but it can open doors for future leaders who look like us. The second path–choosing more inclusive organizations–has its own hurdles. Many companies have scaled back their DEI programs, treating diversity as optional. But if groups vote with their feet, they can help shift the balance in favor of companies that are committed to diversity. The third path–starting your own company–offers freedom but comes with its own challenges. Women and minorities receive far less startup funding than their white male counterparts and often lack the networks needed for success. But entrepreneurship provides the opportunity to build cultures that value diverse leadership styles. If you want to lead–regardless of gender or race–you need to learn the behaviors that are rewarded, promoted, and funded. This varies across companies and industries, and you have to decide what you’re willing and able to do to become a leader. It requires keen observation, adaptability, and practice. How we show up, communicate and engage can define our path forward. One thing is certain: we cannot afford to stay in organizations without learning the rules of the road. This was a key message I shared at last week’s #AsianAmerican Business Association’s fireside chat at University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business, and it’s a core theme in the workshops and talks I deliver. What insights would you share about the path to leadership?

The current conversation around DEI is missing the point. We don’t need women in leadership roles for “diversity” – we need women in leadership roles because they’re better leaders. Which is to say: Women leaders are simply better at understanding and addressing many collective problems that we face today. For example: Countries with women as heads of state saw 40% fewer deaths during the early Covid pandemic than countries with male leaders. Another example: Women leaders consistently pass better climate policy than their male counterparts. (See video below for sources.) Look to specific women leaders, and you will find no shortage of inspiring examples: Like Sanna Marin, the prime minister of Finland, who effectively eradicated homelessness in her country. Or Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, who got the IMF to restructure her nation’s debt – thereby providing a model for other countries to break the chains of economic colonialism. Or Sophie Howe, the first-ever Future Generations Commissioner in Wales, who built a new system to protect future generations during today’s policy decisions And when it comes to transforming the economy, examples abound. The female prime ministers of New Zealand (Jacinda Ardern) Iceland (Katrín Jakobsdóttir), Scotland (Nicola Sturgeon) partnered with the Wellbeing Economy Alliance - WEAll to form the Wellbeing Economy Governments (“WEGo”), a coalition dedicated to shifting from GDP as the ultimate measure of success, towards a more holistic set of indicators that consider the wellbeing of society as a whole. This new framework includes factors like environmental health, social equality, educational access, and physical and mental well-being, creating a broader picture of national prosperity. All these women leaders have been pinpointing blindspots in our (traditionally very masculine) socioeconomic system – a system that has created today’s big social problems like the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and extreme wealth inequality. And we need their work now more than ever. So talking about “gender diversity” as if it’s just “the right thing” to include more women, fails to acknowledge that these leaders are securing real results for their people and the planet, while many men in positions of power are failing to do the same. The discussion doesn’t need to be framed as whether DEI is “right” or “wrong” when the results clearly speak for themselves. #economy #DEI #womeninleadership #genderdiversity #wellbeingeconomy PS: Thanks to my friends at WEAll — Simon Ticehurst, Michael Weatherhead, Frances Rayner, Amanda Janoo, and especially the wonderful Kate Petriw — for helping bring this work to life!

📄 Women’s Leadership — What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Missing I invite you to read this new review co-authored by Ana María Muñoz Boudet, Francesca Bramucci , and Mariana Viollaz that examines policies to promote women’s leadership. Here are the takeaways for practitioners, governments, and development partners: 🔍 Main Findings 1. Women remain underrepresented in leadership across politics, business, and community institutions due to barriers in capabilities, motivation, and opportunity. 2. Quotas do not always yield substantive influence (i.e. real decision-making power). 3. Role models can inspire women and shift norms. Training, mentorship, and capacity-building often boost advancement potential, yet less clearly move women into top leadership positions. Success of organizational reforms and anti-discrimination policies depends on leadership buy-in and norm change. 4. Poorly designed interventions can provoke backlash, tokenism, or reinforce stereotypes. And without complementary supports—networks, legitimacy, access to resources—women leaders may struggle to influence outcomes meaningfully. 💡 Recommendations (and Reflections) • Adopt multidimensional strategies: To promote women’s leadership at scale, we must tackle multiple barriers—capabilities, motivation, and opportunity—simultaneously. • Design quotas in alignment with meritocracy and apply them with accountability and support systems. • Support role models and narrative change to boost women’s aspirations and shift norms. • Reorient training toward leadership outcomes: Align capacity-building with the “last mile” challenges women face stepping into top roles—navigating power dynamics, influencing strategy, leading teams. • Strengthen institutional architecture: Incentivize equal opportunities for women in leadership pipelines, evaluation and promotion systems. • Monitor “substantive representation” beyond counting women in leadership roles to assessing whether those roles yield real influence and improved outcomes. This paper resonates with my experience: • It confirms what I have observed: engaging women as leaders is not just about opening doors, but transforming systems so those roles are meaningful. • It underscores the importance of pairing structural reforms (laws, quotas) with norm change, institutional incentives, mentoring, and support. • It reminds us to evaluate substance and impact, not only representation. How do outcomes change when women participate in decision making? Let’s design leadership ecosystems that empower women not only to lead, but to shape agendas and drive better outcomes - and let’s measure the impact. 🔗 Read the full paper: Promoting Women’s Leadership: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Missing https://lnkd.in/dn-J4P27 #GenderEquality #WomenLeadership #WorldBank

For far too long, women in corporate have been expected to wait their turn just to get a seat at the table. But today’s women executives aren’t waiting for an invitation. They’re making bold choices to claim their space, set their own terms, and reshape leadership. Confidence is about trusting your skills, insights, and leadership. Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox, broke barriers as the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company by demonstrating her expertise and advocating for women in STEM. Similarly, Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, has been instrumental in leading the company’s push toward electric vehicles, breaking stereotypes in the male-dominated auto industry. Leaders like these don’t wait for validation but choose to claim their space with confidence. Whether launching their own businesses, stepping into board roles, or driving initiatives that support women in leadership, women are expanding the definition of executive success. Women like Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and Thrive Global, have built entire media empires from the ground up, showing that leadership isn’t just about climbing the corporate ladder, it’s about creating your own ladder. Across industries, women are making a choice to step into new spaces, break molds, and make leadership their own. Leadership is not a solo journey. Women who rise in their careers understand the power of strong networks: mentors who guide, peers who support, and allies who amplify their voices. Claiming a seat at the table isn’t just about individual success but about lifting others up along the way and empowering communities. Aukera Grown Diamond Jewellery partnered with Taapsee Pannu to challenge patriarchy and redefine womanhood. Loved how powerful their hashtag #mychoicemyvoice campaign turned out to be. Leadership isn’t about waiting for permission; it’s about making a choice. How have you claimed your seat at the table? #Mychoicemyvoice #echoesofchoice