3 A-Rated Leadership Skills Shared by Women as Essential for 2025
I’m hitting your in-box a little late in March because I came down with that nasty flu and then suffered a bad case of overload (overwhelm?). Like many of you leaders, I have been juggling managing my recovery with the consequences of taking personal time off to visit family in New York (during the coldest time of year, no less), and playing work catch-up on planes or in-between daily energy naps. You get the picture.
What has been fruitful about the past few weeks is that I have discovered some important leadership themes from many conversations with different women leaders. Apropos to International Women’s Day on March 8th, and considering this is the month that we celebrate women’s many achievements throughout history, I want to share what I heard from these remarkable leaders as they weather the challenges of 2025.
To say that many leaders are experiencing operational and emotional consequences due to the impact of government policy changes, defunding threats, tariffs, federal workforce reductions, aggressive immigration actions, adverse weather, stock market volatility, (the list goes on), would be an understatement. More and more, my conversations with both male and female leaders describe their moods with words like ambiguous, exhausted, overwhelmed, overworked, anxious, unsure, unmotivated, burned out, afraid to take any risks, and in some cases worried about retaliation.
When I ask what they are doing to change the mood or support their teams, common remedies they provide include self-care, news and social media avoidance, meditation, checking-in, community, connection, conversation, joy and fun – all very good actions.
And when I query them on the leadership muscles they can grow or flex this year to help during these tumultuous, confusing times, these top 3 always make the A-list:
Authenticity: This is not a single skill to be learned. Rather it is a combination of qualities and behaviors that leaders consistently exhibit to build trust and encourage others to want to follow them. In many of the conversations, leaders tell me they want to be better communicators and collaborators; show more empathy and engage with more curiosity; or be more self-aware to ensure that they not only see themselves living their values, but that those they lead recognize this, too.
Ambiguity: Knowing how to deal with this is an important skill for all leaders in general, however during a recent sharing of Chief Guides regarding how they help leaders (and themselves) navigate the unknown, I found one metaphor about the magnificence of trees to be particularly helpful – “Deep roots can weather the storm”. Practicing pragmatism, managing emotions and tapping into the expertise of others are 3 ways in particular to strengthen our roots.
Adaptation: Recognize the old adage, ‘the only thing constant in today’s world is change?” Yes it’s old, but it’s also the new #1 leadership theme for 2025. Given all the uncertainty that already exists in just this first quarter of 2025, this might be the biggest muscle leaders can build as they continue to literally and figuratively weather the storms of 2025.
Read:
Watch: “Flow”. This academy-award winning, animated film explores themes of adaptation, cooperation, and the impact of environmental change, using a cat as a protagonist who, after a flood, learns to navigate a new world and finds companionship with other animals. Make sure you have tissues handy, for both sad and happy tears!
There is one more A-list theme for 2025 that I continue to hear a lot about, especially from high-level leaders, that’s Anxiety. Next time we’ll explore resources to help leaders counteract all the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) they will continue to experience throughout the year.
All the Best,
Loretta Stagnitto
