The Three Pillars of Developing Women Leaders

We recognize that the challenges of the 21st century calls for a new type of leadership that primarily demonstrates resilience, courage, flexibility, listening, empathy, collaboration, caring and collective contribution. These are all characteristics that are traditionally ascribed to women.

In view, we believe that in order to thrive and be successful, organizations must diversify their sources of talent and create gender-balanced environments as genuine examples of inclusion.

We looked at how we can best support this endeavor and identified our mission which is to develop qualified and talented women to fill leadership roles. Our mission drove us to constructing the Three Pillars of Developing Women Leaders as a foundation for women who want to enhance and enrich their personal development and leadership journey.

Pillar #1: Embrace Your Uniqueness as A Woman Leader

Recognize and accept who you are as an individual, a woman, and a leader. This also means that you fully embrace your whole self. Own your uniqueness so that you may fully embody, express and bring your gifts to the world. 

Pillar #2: Create A Vision For Success

Vision is a very powerful means in creating results. We encourage you to create a vision stemming from your own knowledge and experiences to picture your own success as a women leader. This empowers you to bring forward something that is genuinely and authentically yours.

Pillar #3: Develop Partnership As A Support Structure

We are in a networked world – a world that values relationship, partnership, cooperation and collaboration. These only get stronger in this emerging world. We invite you to develop partnerships both in your personal life and work. As you build your connections with people, recognize that you are building a support structure for your own development and leadership journey.

The three pillars above were derived from the concept of the Greek architecture, particularly the Ionic columns. In ancient Greece, buildings were constructed with a number of columns that held up their roofs. The three orders of Greek architecture are the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. The Ionic columns are said to be modeled after the more graceful elements of the female. 

We place those three pillars under a roof called Women Leaders. We feel that they not only support but lend value to their journey as a woman leader. 

These pillars sit on the ground of integrated practices that address cognitive, somatic, emotional, relational, and spiritual areas of life. Integrated practices are those activities when “in-action” strengthen, support, and sustain the pillars’ integrity. 

We encourage women to own these three pillars and practices, to see themselves making significant progress and strides in their developmental and leadership journey. We invite women to practice their uniqueness, take action on their vision, and develop their partnerships in ways that contribute to wholeness as women leaders.

We hope that this article contributes to your insights on women leadership.