It’s Time To Do Women’s Leadership Development Differently

Every single day millions of women across the country are engaging in women’s leadership development programs. From corporate to nonprofit to academic, women are looking to advance. There are so many  options  these days as companies and leaders have seized the market, creating tools, communities, and platforms to inspire and motivate women to step into their power and lead. From programs priced at $99 a month to workshops that cost upwards of $25,000 a session, billions of dollars are spent each year to support leadership development. So, if that’s true, why have we not achieved gender parity yet?

While the answer to this question is complex in nature, once can point to the need to talk about power and talk about it differently in the context of women’s leadership. Take The Lead is a prime program in the field that has been doing it differently since 2014. With a bold goal to achieve gender parity by 2025, Take the Lead’s Founder, Gloria Feldt has been helping women redefine power, understand their power, and embrace their power fully. 

Having designed Take the Lead’s model after an impressive 30-year career culminating in serving as CEO and President of the world’s largest reproductive health and advocacy organization, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Feldt knew it was time to bring urgency to get more women leaders in top ranking industries. Her wisdom, in so many ways, has rung true after the past year, where women’s leadership has been highlighted again and again as companies and communities faced the global pandemic of Covid-19 and millions of women have lost jobs or left the workforce. 

With recent research by Mckinsey showing that the Covid-19 crisis would set women back more than a decade, Feldt shares more below in an intimate interview for the women’s leadership development space, proposing ways in which we can all reignite and enhance the sector going forward.

Why do women’s leadership programs need to change? Why now?

I’ll start off by saying that if we keep doing women leadership programs like they have always been done, gender parity won’t happen. The only reason I ‘un-retired’ to put this program together and create a vision for getting a couple of things into the women’s leadership ecosystem, was that in my own research I found that the missing piece was talking with women about their relationship to power. 

First, to do this, you have to understand a couple of things – that power as we have known it from the narrative of history has called women to be ambivalent about embracing that type of “power.” It has been about wars and fighting and scarce resources. That’s the negative power and we know that is not a good thing. But on the other hand, when I would like women to talk more about power in the positive sense of the power to accomplish things and make life better for their families, they stammer but begin to think on it and imagine they can build something together or break something apart. A power to do something. I began this work years ago seeing the masks fall off of women’s faces and then they  sigh and then it’s, “yes, I want that kind of power.” Women’s leadership programs and platforms and places – they all need to discuss this power and help women to claim it.

Wow. Power seems like it is a really important word in your work at Take the Lead. What must we do as we think about power itself in women’s leadership structures? So many exist! What do we do to re-shape or enhance them?

First, you have to understand and deconstruct power. At Take the Lead, we have a whole section on deconstructing power and reconstructing it so women are prepared to embrace it. There is no pie for power. We aren’t fighting over the crumbs (laughs). And the second thing is, having done that of course, you then need to have introspection. Skills are important but what is even more important is knowing yourself and getting solid on what the value is that you bring as a leader. In our solution as women  take the locus of  power into ourselves. You need to have a higher level of intention for who we want to be and who we can be. I often find women are not walking through the doors that are open to them. Ambition and  intention  go hand in hand. Ambition is I wish, I want and I hope – Intention is ‘heck yes! I know I’m going to take all those opportunities as my own, I see myself doing it, I know it is possible for me. 

I think women’s leadership platforms need to realize that the “you can’t have it all” mentality society has tried to put on women is not going to change any time soon. That norm is deeply entrenched. So, with billions of dollars spent on women leadership training it’s got to be about ourselves and shifting the mindset we have in our own heads. I’d say we all need to enhance, refine, and deepen into a different kind of preparation and embrace power as a positive intention before the skill building happens in our work.

You like to say that women innately have ‘super-powers’. What exactly do you mean by that if we are moving away from a more masculine definition of power?

Women have super-powers precisely because of some of the negative ways in which we have been socialized. We’ve had to accommodate patriarchal norms and structures for so long that we haven’t been just doing the work to become leaders, we’ve been doing the work to become leaders while facing many implicit and explicit biases! We can get angry about that but we must now move to embrace it and love it too. The socialization we have received has created superpowers that the world needs more than ever now—empathy, collaboration, and a focus on communication for example. Take that socialization and use it advantageously.  Have a vision for your leadership and know that you will always have conflicts and barriers but we will have a healthier culture with more women in leadership.

How does women rising into their leadership affect men? Or what can men learn from this work, those who wish to help women lead?

I would say the fact that men have been prisoners to what they are supposed to be also allows us to talk openly about a dominant culture that has put both men and women into boxes.. Men have been socialized to have to be sole providers. They, too, are locked into a stereotype, a particular cultural stereotype of strength, that is not good for them. Men’s lives could be healthier and happier too, for us all. Research shows us that children are healthier and happier when they have both parents paying attention to them, understanding their power. So, lifting up women to  lead with these new definitions of power, has an impact on men, and ultimately can lead to greater prosperity and physical health. Just look at the gender pay gap! Parity in pay is actually beneficial for entire households.  When men and women are sharing equally, there will be greater equity in the home and in the workplace and in the world. To get there, women need to lead and show by example. 

Take me through a typical Take the Lead training. What’s different in the format and structure?

Normal leadership trainings begin in an agenda and objectives. We don’t. At the first meeting, I line people up on a continuum of power and from 1-10 (10 is they crave power, 1 is don’t like  it at all). Then, as we do introductions, I have them assess their power, literally and figuratively, and nowadays on video calls. Each shares, “I’m a 9 and here’s why” and we always do this at the beginning and also, at the end of each training. Then, at the end of our other discussions and activities, we measure the percentage who shift higher on that scale as they go deeper in the training. It’s also important to note that before Covid-19 we were doing this physically because you have to stand and feel power in your body. It’s key. To share a bit more, the rest of the training is structured around three things:  the data about why women already have power in their hands), the 9 Leadership Power Tools to provide actionable skills to thrive in the world as it is while changing it, and then to put it all together with a Strategic Leadership Action Plan so that the learning will translate to doing.   We certainly acknowledge that  if you appear powerful you may be judged harshly- you may be disregarded- two edge sword- but don’t let it define us.

Our workshops ask women about their gifts and powers – what they are? Constant assessment and reflection  lead to a plan to execute on what has been learned. This is a big difference in our model. Most programs won’t have you make a full, robust, strategic leadership action plan. Participants set a high level intention and make it measurable. Then, within their cohorts, they are accountable.

Speaking broadly, what really needs to be reimagined right now to get more women in leadership?

Merely reaching more and numbers isn’t always most important. In our 50 Women Can Change The World cohorts, our strategy is to go deep and intensive to leverage the cohorts and individuals within them who can and will bring change to their industries or professions. My advice is to find and curate cohorts like we do – of 50 women in key sectors. If you get 50 emerging leaders in key sectors,  the whole sector improves faster than if you merely aim to reach thousands superficially. Mindset changes such as we teach can help women advance farther faster than typical training.  In addition, the hierarchy that served us well 200 years ago, does not serve women or men well now. We need to create systems and orgnaizations that are more fluid and boundaryless. Imagine what will happen when we, as a global society, unleash the capabilities of all the world versus half the world’s intelligence?  Institutions and groups must become more amoeba-like to embrace the ongoing and ever-changing needs yet, have a core of values and a vision. It is scary for a lot of people, especially those making decisions or designing the programs, but the results will be better than traditional models in today’s rapidly changing world.

 What should women consider if they’re ready to invest in a new training, program, or leadership model in 2021, especially if they have been out of work or shifted careers during Covid-19?

My advice to women, today, would be to give deep thought to what  they believe so strongly in that they would walk away if they had to violate that value and what makes them feel full of energy and joy. Then try to match that with paths they could take and move forward with intention toward achieving it! I invite every reader to consider taking our new online self-directed course, 9 Leadership Power Tools to Advance Your Career to learn all the skills, techniques, and secrets I’ve learned over a lifetime to lead and live without limits. 

I want the next generation  to know that although there are many  opportunities and options, it’s more productive to go easy on yourself and know that you can shift and change careers a few times in your life. There will be disruptions like COVID and others that make us pivot or reimagine ourselves.  If each of us is lucky, we’ll  live a long enough life that we can have multiple different career paths.You have time to do more than one thing in your life. In the words of one of our leadership ambassadors at Take the Lead, “let it be easy”. Truly. Let it be easy.