Ever Sat in a Meeting and Watched Your Moment Pass? Executive Presence for Women Leaders: What Senior Female Leaders Need to Know

54% of women leaders face competence-based microaggressions. Learn what the 2025 Gallup research reveals about leadership presence—and how to close the gap.

"There is a gap between your capability and how you are being experienced. That gap is closable."

"How you are experienced matters."

"Hope is not fluff. Hope is strategy."

"Leadership is felt long before it is heard."

The Moment That Slips Away—And Why It Happens To Expert Women

Have you ever sat in a meeting with something important to say, then watched the moment pass because you second-guessed whether your voice mattered?

Or walked into a high-stakes room, looked around at people with less experience than you, less expertise than you, and still found yourself shrinking?

You are not imagining it. You are not lacking. What is happening is this:

There is a gap between your capability and how you are being experienced.

That gap is costing you visibility, credibility, and advancement opportunities you have already earned.

I created the Style and Strategy podcast because I learnt, after decades in high-level corporate roles, that showing up is not only about what you do. It is about how you align who you are with how the world sees you. It is where personal brand meets leadership and style.

In my daily work with senior executives, I hear the same things on repeat:

• I overthink everything I say in senior meetings.
• I overprepare and still feel like I am not quite enough.
• I make myself smaller so senior leaders do not feel threatened.
• I worry more about what I am wearing than what I am saying, because I do not want to be seen as difficult.

You are not the problem. The old playbook is.

Watch the Episode

This blog post is based on a podcast episode where I walk through the latest global research, what it means for women in leadership, and how to close the gap between your capability and how you're experienced.

New Global Research Reveals What People Really Want From Leaders In 2025

The Groundbreaking Gallup Study

In February 2025, Gallup released the largest study on leaders ever conducted.

• Over 30,000 people
• Across 52 countries
• Representing around 76% of the world's adult population

They asked a simple question:

"What do you need most from your leaders?"

The answers were not what most women leaders think they need to prove.

It was not strategic decisions.

It was not decisiveness.

It was not even competence.

The top answers were deeply human.

The Four Universal Needs From Leaders

Here is what people named when they described leaders who most positively influenced their lives:

1. Hope (56%) The ability to inspire a belief in a better future, to give people something meaningful to look forward to.
   
   
2. Trust (33%) Reliability, integrity, trustworthiness—being the person whose word means something. As the old saying goes, do what you say you are going to do. Walk the talk.
   
   
3. Compassion (7%) Making people feel cared about and listened to. I actually found that 7% a bit low, because in many workplaces today compassion feels like it is in short supply. I am curious what you think when you hear that number.
   
   
4. Stability (4%) Providing psychological safety during uncertainty. Given the rise of portfolio careers and non-linear work lives, it does not surprise me that traditional ideas of stability have shifted.
   
   

Here is the important part.

When leaders meet these four needs, wellbeing improves dramatically.

Gallup found that wellbeing went from 33% to 38% when these needs were met. Engagement and commitment also lifted.

So I want you to hear this very clearly:

Hope is not fluff. Hope is strategy.

This is where so many senior women get stuck. For decades you have been told that to be taken seriously you must be:

• More assertive
• More confident
• More strategic
• More masculine in your style

At the same time, when you show compassion, care or vulnerability, you are told you are too soft for leadership. Or that you do not have the right impact.

The data now proves what I have been saying for years.

Why Women's Natural Strengths Are Now A Leadership Superpower

The rules for how leaders are experienced have shifted in the last two years. For the first time in a long time, they finally work for women instead of against us.

The problem is that most women executives have not been told this.

So they keep trying to prove themselves using the old playbook. That is why so many brilliant, experienced women are still:

• Blending in when they should be standing out
• Holding themselves back when they should be owning the room

Here is what I hear all the time from senior women I coach:

• "I overthink what I am about to say, then the moment passes."
• "In my head, my point needs to sound perfect, so I stay quiet."
• "I dim my impact so people above me do not feel threatened."
• "I spend my morning stressing about what to wear, caught in the double bind of not looking too harsh or too soft."

These are not junior women. These are senior executives, deep experts, proven performers.

The issue is not a lack of capability. It is a disconnect between what you bring and how you are experienced.

Your collaborative, inclusive, emotionally intelligent way of leading is not a weakness.

It is your strategic advantage.

Now let us talk about the system you are operating in, because that matters too.

The Hidden Competence Gap Holding Women Back

What McKinsey Found In 2024

McKinsey's 2024 research confirmed what so many of us have lived.

• 54% of women in leadership experience competence-based microaggressions That is, having your judgement questioned in areas where you are literally the expert.
  
• Women are almost twice as likely as men to be mistaken for someone more junior.
  
  

Here is how that plays out in real life:

• You are valued for execution, but not invited into the strategy conversations.
• Or you are finally invited into the room, but you hold your views back, because your inner voice says, "They will question this" or "I have to phrase it perfectly."

I have lived this myself. In my previous corporate career, I lost count of the times I walked into a senior meeting and someone assumed I was the assistant, not the decision-maker.

Let this land:

You are not imagining the friction. The data shows it is real.

Experience	Women in leadership	Men in leadership
Competence-based microaggressions	54%	Much lower
Mistaken for someone more junior	Almost 2x as likely	Less likely

So the question is not:

• "How do I become more capable?"
• "How many more qualifications do I need?"
  
  

You are already capable.

The real question is:

How do I close the gap between my capability and how I am experienced by others?

That is where personal brand and leadership presence come in.

How you are experienced matters.

Personal Brand: Your Secret Weapon For Instant Credibility

When I say personal brand, many women immediately think: influencers.

That is not what I am talking about.

Your personal brand is how people experience you and your leadership when you are not in the room.

It is:

• The reputation that precedes you
• The credibility that opens doors before you say a word
• The trust that lets your ideas land the moment you share them

Research shows:

• Around 50% of a company's reputation is linked to the CEO's reputation
• Around 44% of market value is also attributed to the CEO's reputation

Not just the product. Not just the strategy.

The leader.

We also know first impressions form in milliseconds, and around 55% of that first impression is influenced by appearance.

I am not sharing that to create pressure. I am sharing it because you feel this every day when you:

• Walk into a meeting
• Present to stakeholders
• Step into a new room where people do not know you yet

If your personal brand and how you are experienced do not match the weight of your expertise, you will work twice as hard for half the recognition.

This is the Perception element of my Visibility Equation™—how others see and experience you. And it is shaped before you say a word.

Leadership is felt long before it is heard.

You cannot outsource it.

You have to build it in a way that feels true to you.

Unlock Your Power With The 3D Impact Method™

I got tired of watching brilliant women be treated as if they were two-dimensional.

A job title. A function. A safe pair of hands.

You are not two-dimensional. You have depth, range, and impact.

So I created my 3D Impact Method™ to bring that full depth into how you are seen.

The goal is simple: impact that matches your expertise.

And yes, there are three literal D's.

1. Discover: Your Leadership Identity

The first step is Discover. This is where we define your leadership identity.

Here we get clear on:

• Who you are at your core
• What you stand for
• How you show up when you are at your best

I use a set of proprietary frameworks plus Human Design for Leadership™. It allows us to look at both:

• Your mind and how you make decisions
• Your energetic presence and how people experience you when you walk into a room

The benefits of this Discover stage are direct:

• You gain language for the version of you that is already there
• You stop trying to copy other people's style
• You identify the version of you that needs to be seen in senior rooms

When you feel like you, you lead like you.

2. Define: Style And Strategy Expression

The second D is Define. This is your style strategy.

Here we look at how you visually and verbally express who you are.

This is not old-school "dress for success" or a rigid dress code. I am not interested in putting you in a costume.

We create:

• A signature style that visually reinforces your credibility and authority
• A communication approach that feels like your natural voice, not a script
• A visual brand that is aligned with who you are, not a cookie-cutter template

Your presence should feel like you—not a persona.

This is where you stop waking up thinking, "What do I wear so I do not upset anyone?" and start asking, "What supports the version of me I need to be today?"

3. Design: Visibility Strategy

The third D is Design. This is your visibility strategy.

We decide:

• How you show up in the rooms that matter
• How you are experienced online and in person
• How you land before you say a single word

This is the stage that moves you from:

• Holding back in senior rooms

to

• Owning the room as yourself

When Discover, Define, and Design work together, your impact becomes three-dimensional.

Now line that up with the Gallup research:

• Hope
• Trust
• Compassion
• Stability

These do not live in a separate world. They are felt through how you show up.

If people cannot trust you because they do not really know you, they cannot receive your vision.

If how you show up does not match the weight of your message, they cannot feel stability from you—even if you are rock solid inside.

Your personal brand is the infrastructure that allows your impact to be felt.

Presence is built, not born.

Imposter Syndrome: Even CEOs Feel It

Here is something that might give you permission to stop doubting yourself.

Research from Korn Ferry in 2024 found that:

• 71% of CEOs experience imposter syndrome
• At the same time, 85% of those CEOs feel totally competent in their roles

So let us be clear.

Feeling like an imposter does not mean you are unqualified.

It means:

• You are self-aware enough to see complexity
• You care enough to ask, "Am I doing this right?"

The problem is not the doubt. The problem is when the doubt stops you from owning your presence.

Many of the women I work with have spent years proving competence. They have forgotten how to simply be the leader they already are.

They are:

• Waiting for permission
• Waiting to feel ready
• Waiting for someone else to validate what they already know inside

True presence is not a badge you earn once. It is an ongoing evolution.

It is:

• Cultivated
• Intentional
• Authentic

It is the difference between hoping people see your value and making sure they experience it.

Presence despite the doubt. That is the shift.

Executive Presence Has Evolved—And It Is Good News For Women

What HBR Found About Executive Presence

Harvard Business Review compared executive presence surveys from 2012 and 2022. The shift was significant.

Gravitas still matters, but what sits underneath it has changed.

• Inclusiveness and respect for others are now the third and fourth most valued leadership traits
• They sit right after confidence and decisiveness
• Authenticity has moved to the top of the list

So when you hear someone say, "She does not have executive presence", you need to ask: By whose definition?

Are they talking about grounded leadership, or outdated performance?

Brené Brown, Adam Grant And Pocket Presence

I was listening to a conversation between Brené Brown and Adam Grant recently that captured this shift perfectly.

Brené Brown has written and spoken for years about the problems with the old, rigid version of executive presence.

In that conversation, Adam Grant said that executive presence has sometimes been used as a cover for discriminating against women and introverts.

In other words, when an organisation says a woman does not have executive presence, what they may really mean is:

• She does not put on a big show
• She does not perform confidence the way the old guard did

Grant then asks a much better set of questions:

• Is she competent?
• Is she caring?
• Does she make her people feel better?
• Is she delivering?

If yes, promote her.

Brené Brown also shared a concept she calls pocket presence. It is about:

• Situational awareness
• Systems thinking
• The ability to read what is happening in a room without needing to dominate it

The key difference is this:

• Old executive presence was about individual performance
• Pocket presence is about collective capability

It is not about having all the answers. It is about holding the space for the right questions.

For women in leadership, this is confirmation of what you have felt all along.

Your natural style of leadership—which is often collaborative, inclusive, and emotionally intelligent—has always been a strength. The research finally matches that truth.

This is why I say:

Leadership presence, personal brand, and style are not three separate topics. They are one conversation about how you are experienced as a leader.

How you are experienced matters.

Key Insights And Takeaways

Let me bring the core points together for you.

• Your capability is not the problem The gap is between what you can do and how you are experienced.
  
• What people want from leaders has changed Hope, trust, compassion, and stability now sit above pure strategy and competence.
  
• Women's natural style is a strategic advantage Collaboration, inclusion, and emotional intelligence are not soft skills. They are what people are asking for.
  
• You face real structural friction 54% of women in senior roles experience competence-based microaggressions. You are not imagining it.
  
• Personal brand and presence are non-negotiable You are felt long before you are heard. You cannot outsource it.
  
• Leadership presence is built, not born It is a skill set you can develop, not a gift some people are born with.
  
• The 3D Impact Method™ closes the gap Discover your identity, Define your style and expression, Design your visibility.
  
• Imposter feelings do not mean you are unqualified They often mean you are self-aware and you care.
  
• Executive presence has evolved Authenticity, inclusiveness, and respect are now core traits—not side notes.

Your presence should feel like you—not a persona.

What You Can Do Now: Practical Actions

Here are some simple, concrete steps you can take from today.

1. Name your leadership identity

Write down:

• Three words that describe you when you are at your best as a leader
• What you stand for, in one sentence

This is the start of your Discover stage.

2. Seek feedback

Ask 3 to 5 trusted peers or team members:

• "In three words, how would you describe me as a leader?"
• "What is the first impression people have of me in a senior room?"

Compare that with how you want to be experienced. Spot the gap.

3. Choose one visual shift

Pick one small change to align your appearance with your leadership identity:

• Sharper silhouette
• Clearer colour choices
• Simpler, more intentional accessories

This is not about fashion. It is about alignment.

4. Practise presence despite the doubt

In your next meeting, set one intention:

• "I will share my view once, even if it is not perfectly phrased."

The aim is to show up, not to impress.

5. Embrace necessary risk

Ask yourself:

• "If I stopped waiting to feel ready, what would I do differently this quarter?"

Write the answer. Take one action in the next 7 days.

Resources to Support Your Next Step

Work With Me on Your Leadership Presence

If you're a senior leader ready to close the gap between your capability and how you're experienced, we can start with a Leadership Presence Audit™ to identify exactly where the disconnect is—and what to do about it.

Book Your Leadership Presence Strategy Call

Resources to Deepen Your Presence

Free Guide: Kickstart Your Personal Brand Download the Guide

Private Podcast: Get four focused episodes to support your next level of presence and positioning. Access Own The Room

Wardrobe Checklist: Your style is part of how people experience you. Download my checklist for professional women. Get the Checklist

Full Services: Explore how we can work together on identity, style, and presence. View Services

Stay Connected

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• Facebook

The research pieces I mentioned—including the Gallup global leadership study, the 2024 McKinsey report, the Korn Ferry findings, and the Brené Brown and Adam Grant conversation—are all linked in the podcast show notes.

Close The Gap And Lead The Room You Deserve To Lead

Let us finish where we started.

If you have ever sat in a meeting, had something important to say, and watched the moment slip because you second-guessed whether your voice mattered, I want you to remember this:

It is not because you lack capability.

It is because there is a gap between your capability and how you are being experienced.

That gap is closable.

I work with senior women who are ready to align their leadership presence with their expertise—so they are not just in the room, they are leading it.

Drop a comment if you are reading this on YouTube or my blog and tell me:

• Where are you still playing small?
• Where are you ready to own the room as you?

The world does not need another copy of the old leadership model.

It needs you—fully expressed, intentional, with the presence your leadership deserves.

How you are experienced matters.