Born to Lead with Passion and Compassion

As an Amazigh, Moroccan and African, I grew up in a household and community where female leaders are the norm not the exception. This shaped the dimensions of my identity, who I am as an individual, woman, wife, and mother. Guided my choices, successes, failures, and purpose in life!

It may surprise you but Africa is a continent where historically women did rule as great leaders, traders, wives and mothers- women such as Al-Kahina, Berber queen warrior who refused to bend the knee in her fights against Arabs in North Africa or Idia, first queen mother of the kingdom of Benin (present- day Nigeria), Nzinga Mbandi- Queen of Angola described as a “deft diplomat, skillful negotiator and formidable tactician,” who resisted colonisation right until her death....And more recently, Odunayo Eweniyi successful Nigerian entrepreneur and young feminist leader named in the Bloomberg list of people who changed global business in 2021. Emtithal Mahmoud, Sudanese world champion slam poet and activist for the refugee cause or Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh. Feminist blogger, humanitarian reporter from Cameroon and the founder of the NGO Women for a Change.…And many more!!!

This is my Africa, full of inspiring voices built on powerful iconic women born to challenge the status quo and push social boundaries…All from different backgrounds but with one common thread- they lead and inspire change by putting people ahead of themselves. They simply lead with Kindness!

Fast forward, joining the corporate world…. From Africa, Middle East, Turkey to Asia, I had the privilege to work with powerful women from all walks of life with different backgrounds and leadership styles. I was truly impressed with their formidable human skills and ‘genius’ tactics to softly navigate a male dominated system. What really made them stand out from other leaders in the organization is their innate ability to elevate others-being less transactional and more human in their relationships. They don’t command; they empathize. They don’t lead from the front , they lead from the heart. They unlock human potential, they coach, promote, and empower women in their teams. They nurture a change in beliefs through purpose rather than behaviour. Unique transformational leaders with exceptional blend of IQ and EQ into action!

Day after day, I found myself obsessed with female leaders! I started contemplating and observing their behaviour with the strong conviction that my learnings will help shape positively my leadership style to make a difference in a male dominated world.. Women empowerment became my purpose!

Worth sharing what makes these women exceptionally unique and inspiring- summarized below as 'help' or 'AIDE' in French:

- Authentic: their natural personality shapes their leadership style. They are motivated by Love, Care and Trust rather than Power and Fear. They know that if they ‘take care of people; people will take care of the business’.

- Inclusive: they don’t keep anyone out! People are treated respectfully and fairly. They build a thriving people-first company culture of confidence and illumination.

- Decisive: Female leaders who made a difference in times of uncertainty and stress are queens of decisiveness. They are not afraid to admit they don’t know it all and they simply use the knowledge and wisdom around them to address complex challenges.

- Empowering: Role models driving empowerment towards real equality. They don’t believe in female rivalry. They are aware of the barriers and obstacles many working women face. They fight to unlock these barriers and promote an empowering culture at the workplace.

But regrettably not all women are empathetic, humble, and therefore inspiring leaders. Worth also mentioning what makes female leaders self-focused and centered to foster their teams and female talents. What I sadly observed is that these women are blindly exhausting their teams to climb the narrow corporate pyramid. They come to work highly motivated to impress their top management and depress their teams! Excellent at manipulating people; they end up adopting a passive aggressive leadership style to achieve their own goals. They want it all for themselves and they will go to extreme actions to get things done and faster. Queens of corporate bullying..!

I therefore found myself obsessed with another set of questions…Why on earth would women deprive themselves from the only behaviour that makes them exceptional effective leaders? Why don’t women support other women? Why women in power bully other women…what is going on in there?

When it comes to corporate bullying, it is a fact that women tend to choose other women as targets 80% of the time (*workplace bullying institute). Digging and reading about it; many articles and leadership specialists simply think that:

- Women can be “overly aggressive” because there are too few opportunities for advancement. Some women may sabotage one another because they feel that helping their female co-workers could jeopardize their own careers.

- They can find a less confrontative person or someone less likely to respond to aggression with aggression.

- Women are easier target to bully than men because women are supposedly less tough than men.

- If women business leaders act consistent with gender stereotypes, they are considered too soft

In summary. De-valuing other women to find value in themselves! To get ahead, sadly some women in leadership positions feel the need to bully their women co-workers by withholding information and blocking opportunities. As a result, sabotaging each other and creating a toxic culture of negative competition!

I personally believe that women are natural born leaders! There are so many inspiring female leaders we can learn from. The only way to see women as allies not competition is to be fully aware of our shared identity as women! Stay focused to always becoming a better version of ourselves and rest assured that the magic key to the corporate kingdom is confidence and empathy.

Indeed, what made a difference between female leaders my path crossed so far, is their incredible ability to understand their worth and potential in life. In their mind, there is no other competition. They understood that when women support each other, magic happen! With such an awareness- women can be a powerful catalyst for change at the forefront of women empowerment agenda. Using their corporate power to create space for other female voices to be heard and truly break the glass ceiling. We don't need the world to empower us!!

As we say in Africa ‘when you empower a man, you empower an individual; When you empower a woman, you empower a generation’…So, let’s stand together to empower the next generation!!

Women are Unstoppable!! 💪🏽💪🏽

XoXo

Hindy