While the leadership landscape in 2025 is evolving to be more diverse, inclusive and dynamic, many challenges still exist, especially for women. As female leaders, we’ve experienced firsthand the highs and lows of leading in the male-dominated field that is media and advertising. Throughout this journey, we’ve gathered several lessons that can guide aspiring female leaders in the years ahead.
1. Embrace Your Unique Leadership Style
It’s essential to embrace what makes you different, both as an individual and a leader. As women, we often face pressures to lead in ways that mirror traditional, male-dominated models of authority. But as a leader, your strength lies in your individuality. How do you best communicate with others? What does your team value from your management style? How do you inspire employees? Do the work to dig into what makes you uniquely you and leverage those qualities in how you manage. Our style is all about transparency. We believe leaders should be transparent with their teams on company issues, challenges and be able to openly discuss solutions. On a personal note, we get to know our people from a personal standpoint, not just a work standpoint. We’ve always had an open door policy which ensures our team has access to us. At Media+, part of what makes us unique is our overlap with the most common purchaser demographic – it’s a real advantage that 99% of agencies that are male-owned can’t claim.
2. Cultivate Resilience and Adaptability
The landscape of business is changing rapidly and resilience has never been more important. The ability to pivot, learn from setbacks and continue pushing forward despite obstacles is a key characteristic of successful leaders. Female leaders, in particular, may face unique challenges—whether it’s balancing societal expectations or breaking through glass ceilings—but resilience will help you not only survive, but thrive.
People will always have their opinions, but you can’t let those opinions knock you down. There will be times when those who aren’t in your shoes compare you to previous bosses they’ve worked for, perhaps without children or in a completely different life stage. Those moments should reinforce an important lesson: some perspectives can be reshaped, while others remain deeply ingrained. Rather than trying to conform to outdated molds, choose to redefine success on your own terms, which means focusing on what truly matters.
3. A Strong Network of Support is Key
70% of new CEOs report feelings of loneliness, but while leadership can be lonely, you don’t have to do it alone. Surround yourself with a strong network of mentors, peers, and advocates who support your growth and hold you accountable. As women, we can sometimes be hesitant to ask for help or lean on others, but we need to break this pattern. Our best advice is to find a group of likeminded women who are in a similar life stage to you. I live on an island in the Pacific Northwest, and during my daily ferry commute I met a group of women just like me – women balancing families and their careers. This “Ferry Club” provided me with a network of support.
Beyond that, it’s also important to lean on external advisors that are specialists in their field. You don’t need to always know how to do it all, and outsourcing certain pieces goes a long way.
Finally, we also enlisted the help of an executive leadership coach that specializes in female leadership and empowerment, which helped us to reframe some of the narratives that females typically have in the workplace.
4. Lead with Empathy
Empathy is an often-overlooked quality in leadership, but it is one of the most powerful tools at a leader’s disposal. Leading with empathy means understanding and responding to the needs, emotions, and motivations of your team members which fosters a culture of trust, loyalty, and collaboration. Female leaders are naturally inclined to be empathetic, so use this as a strength to connect with your team, build a cohesive and engaged workforce, and create a workplace where people feel supported.
5. Recognize You Can’t Have It All, All the Time
While ambition and dedication to your career are important, it’s essential to recognize the value of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. This is particularly true for female leaders, who often find themselves juggling both personal and professional responsibilities. While new ways of working like remote work and hybrid work have many perks, many female leaders are quick to burn out. Bloomberg recently noted that nearly 80% of the unpaid work necessary to maintain a household and care for family members is done by women. The pressure to do it all can be overwhelming, but as you step into leadership roles, you must prioritize self-care and set boundaries.
Sometimes the balance is tipped more towards work and sometimes it is tipped more towards personal life. In our partnership we can lean on one another when things get challenging. We also try to do this with everyone on our team – supporting our people through all of life’s ups and downs – and your team will take notice. Leading by example in this area will create a healthier, more sustainable work environment for everyone.
