The Latest Insights from Leading NOW

Have you ever wondered why women tend to stall at mid-level in their career? We did, too. And we discovered the biggest reason is really quite simple…most managers don’t actually know what skills and competencies they need to develop in order to be seen as future leaders––and reach VP and senior executive-level roles. Our research on The 9 Critical Differentiators™ for Career Success has cracked the code on what women need to succeed––and we want to share it with you now!

One of the biggest challenges I hear from clients is “How can we bring more women into leadership?” According to a recent report by McKinsey, women continue to be underrepresented at every stage of the corporate pipeline. I am a believer that empowering women in the workplace is not just a moral imperative; it’s a business advantage for any organization. And yet, most companies today face a different reality every time they look at their leadership team or talent pipeline. Why?

For decades, when a company wanted to hire a CEO or key executive, they knew what they needed to look for. The best candidates would have technical expertise, superior administrative skills and a proven track record of successfully managing financial resources. Because these skills had a direct impact on business performance and results, they were considered the most critical when searching for candidates to fill executive roles.

Women make up almost 50% of the American workforce, and for decades they'd been increasing their numbers in senior leadership roles. But in 2022, that trend began to reverse. According to the World Economic Forum's 2023 Global Gender Gap Report, the percentage of women in director roles or higher dropped by 10%.

Now is your chance to experience Leading NOW’s world-class women’s leadership development programming at the largest women’s leadership conference in Las Vegas––the Foundation for Women’s Leadership & Empowerment’s (FWLE) 17th annual WLC––where registration is now open and we are once again the exclusive Education content-provider for the third year running!

For over 20 years, Leading Women, a division of Leading NOW, has been advocating for gender parity in leadership by supporting women’s organizations around the globe. But did you know that one of the many ways we do this is through providing our proprietary leadership content to conferences for associations and organizations across all industries? Our skill-building and development workshops focus on business, strategic, and financial acumen; strategic relationships; and mentoring, and provide the kind of training needed for career advancement and success. To reach as many women as possible, we have been bringing our exceptional leadership development content to our partners’ industry conferences, creating customized certification programs, and creating events that have literally changed an entire industry. Here are just a few examples of the different kinds of programming we offer.

When we asked successful women leaders across all industries what they recommend organizations do to bring more women into senior leadership roles, a common thread from their responses emerged––diversity and inclusion is integral. In part three of our Leadership Lessons from Women Leaders research series, we share their insights and suggestions, along with a few of our own.

In part two of our Leadership Lessons from Women research series, we asked some of the most successful women leaders in business today what they felt was the one leadership trait that was most important to their own success. Not surprisingly, they used words that fit squarely into our 21st century definition of leadership. Here are the results:

January is National Mentoring Month –– a great time to start our new 5-part series called Leadership Lessons from Women Leaders.

With the gender gap growing at a rapid pace due to Covid-19, the retention and advancement of women in the workforce is at an important and critical inflection point. We know that hiring alone won’t address the gap, but the right kind of strategic talent development and coaching can! Leading Women is helping our clients develop, advance, and retain the talent they have within and across all levels of their organization - so that they see the opportunities that are possible at an organization that is committed to investing in their career journey. Leading Women has been recognized as a Top 10 Leadership Development Training/Coaching Company!