I have had the opportunity of working with, and for, some of the brightest and most talented individuals within some of the largest global companies. These companies, I believe, will become the dominant forces within their industry sector. As both a professional coach that advises CEOs and works with top leaders, I can say that I have met with some of the best and advised some of the brightest and you know what—and here is a shocking thing ... they were not all men.

However, with 80% of consumer decisions being made by women and only 3% of women holding leadership positions in these corporations that are making these decisions, something stinks in the way our world makes talent decisions.  

Clearly, we are a long way from integrating the best talent into our business leaders cadre and it is realisations like this that lead me to believe that we’re stupid, idle or victims of collective blindness. It must be one of those, because it seems we continue to apply the rules of feudalism in the new world of work democracy. By this I mean we wax lyrical about innovation and authentic leadership and gender equality in principle, but we do not support our ideals on paper. You need only look around you at the people who are being promoted today to conclude on the qualities truly valued by the organisations of tomorrow.

Looking back, it seems that we are a long way from the Suffragist style catalyst of the late nineteenth century (a reference that cannot be ignored in an article about women in business) – we have stagnated. Looking around us, it would appear we’re amidst an unfinished evolution. Looking forward, then, it is clear we have a golden opportunity to redefine the ideal final result and, more crucially, to reset the mould on how we get there! It is time for women to take the lead in remoulding the work and business models that have delivered us the current troubled times we face. I hope we see a new generation of leaders including all the best talent and understand that we cannot apply old solutions to new problems and that we cannot continue our practice of extending the past into the future, or apply the rules of feudalism to the practices of democracy. Now is the time for a transformation to a new way of doing things and our women leaders must be leading that change.