Power Grows in the Hands of Women Who Share It
Let’s stop pretending that collaboration is some soft alternative to strategy. It isn’t. It’s how women build power in systems designed to keep us small.
The leadership world still runs on a lie: that success is limited, and that women have to fight each other to get any. That lie keeps us quiet, isolated, and too busy proving ourselves to notice that we were never supposed to make it past middle management in the first place.
But we know better now. And we’re doing something about it.
Scarcity Was the Setup. Collaboration Is the Shift.
We’ve spent years being told there’s only room for one woman at the top. That her win is your loss. That we should be grateful just to be in the room.
That story no longer works. Not for us.
In 2023, Forbes reported that over 80 percent of women in senior roles used strategic networking to access executive positions, negotiate better salaries, and land board seats. These were not one-off victories. They were the result of women backing each other with intention.
A 2024 study from Harvard Business Review found that women who maintained strong, trust-based networks with other high-performing women were significantly more likely to secure leadership roles with actual authority. Not symbolic titles. Not a seat at a table that never takes their vote seriously. Real influence.
This is not about being nice. It’s about building smart. Women aren’t just making space. We are creating momentum that moves others forward. That’s what power looks like.
Europe Still Thinks Visibility Is Enough
The 2024 Gender Equality Index reported that women still hold only 33 percent of national parliament seats across EU countries. Corporate leadership isn’t much better.
What we’re seeing isn’t a lack of ambition. It’s a lack of access. Women aren’t being invited to lead because these structures still reward familiarity over competence.
What’s shifting the numbers isn’t awareness campaigns. It’s action. Strategic networks, shared intel, and women building circles of real power.
Mentorship Is Not a Bonus. It’s the Backbone.
The She Figures 2024 report made it clear. Women are overrepresented at entry level and underrepresented at the top. Not because they checked out. Because they were blocked out.
Mentorship isn’t feel-good fluff. It’s infrastructure. It’s how women stay in the game long enough to shape it. We don’t need saving. We need support systems that function. And we’re building them for ourselves.
Collaboration Isn’t a Side Project. It’s the Main Strategy.
Collaboration is how women lead. It’s how we move faster, make better decisions, and shut down the false idea that leadership only looks one way.
This model works. It protects against burnout. It shares the spotlight without diluting power. It builds outcomes worth investing in.
The companies still clinging to outdated hierarchies and lone-wolf leadership models are not ready for what’s already happening. Women are designing their own networks, funding each other’s work, and trading access without waiting for approval.
We’re Not Waiting to Be Handed Anything
This isn’t about being seen. It’s about having influence, making decisions, and shaping futures.
Collaboration isn’t soft. It’s how we win without waiting. It’s how we create results that last. Women who work together are not playing catch-up. They’re writing the next chapter on their own terms.
