In today’s workplace, leaders must navigate unprecedented levels of change, stress, and complexity, all while still creating environments where people feel supported, valued, and able to thrive. On Monday, more than 150 attendees gathered at our signature Women’s Day event in Orlando to learn strategies for leading with compassion and purpose.
The conversations at Women’s Day made one message unmistakably clear: leadership today is deeply human work. Behind every deadline, meeting, or initiative is a person carrying both visible and invisible challenges. How leaders show up in these moments and how they listen, support, and build trust shapes not just individual well‑being but the culture of the entire organization. Here are the main takeaways:
Lead through trauma with empathy and clarity
Trauma informed leadership recognizes that personal crises and workplace responsibilities coexist, and leaders must support people through both. Effective leaders acknowledge trauma, listen deeply, and provide clear, factual information that restores stability, says Katharine Manning, author of The Empathetic Workplace and president of Blackbird DC. Leaders must learn how to support colleagues through difficult moments, she said.
Strategy: Trauma informed leadership requires acknowledgment, support, and trust. Build a culture where people feel seen and heard, especially in hard times, by practicing intentional listening and clear, compassionate communication.
To do so, practice active listening, avoid minimizing comparisons, and share factual information to help people regain a sense of control.
Foster psychological safety through transparency and fairness
Psychological safety enables people to admit mistakes, ask questions, and share challenges without fear. Leaders strengthen safety through consistency, fairness, and clarity. Manning said transparency and consistent expectations build trust and prevent employees from feeling blindsided.
Strategy: Clarify expectations, ensure rules apply equally to everyone, and communicate proactively, especially during change or uncertainty.
Actively support employee wellbeing and model self-care
Leaders underestimate how much their visible behaviors shape culture, Manning said. Modeling self-care and openly promoting available resources makes it easier for employees to seek help.
Strategy: Normalize mental health conversations, share your own healthy boundaries, and ensure your team understands and uses support resources.
Build strong teams through small, consistent human connections
Small personal touchpoints improve team cohesion, trust, and morale. Simple sharing of personal details, such as being a fan of Tina Turner, (can be the beginning of deeper trust, according to Manning.
Strategy: Create regular, low-pressure opportunities for people to connect as humans, not just coworkers.
Address engagement declines with clear expectations and realistic workloads
Manager disengagement is rising, especially among women and young men, due to unclear expectations and fear of failure, Manning said.
Strategy: Set crystal clear expectations, reduce hidden rules, and check in regularly to understand workload pressure points.
Create joy and fun as strategic productivity tools
Joy is not just nice to have. It sparks focus, memory, engagement, and resilience, according to Dr. Christie McMullen, CEO of AIM…Analyze, Improve, Move. She said “productive joy” happens when people achieve goals and feel good about themselves. Fun means people feel value and heard. Engagement disappears when fun disappears. But recognize that diverse personalities require diverse “fun” options. What may be fun to an extrovert, may not be enjoyable to an introvert.
Strategy: Offer multiple pathways to joy—social, quiet, creative—and embed them in daily work, not just special events.
Leverage lived experience as a source of leadership strength
Everyone has a “diversity story,” and hiding it drains authenticity, creativity, and problem-solving ability, said Jennifer Sarrett, founder, Disruptive Inclusion.
An inclusive workplace requires everyone to contribute their lived experience.
Strategy: Encourage people to share, leverage, and celebrate their lived experiences and design systems that work for the widest range of needs.
Maintain personal resilience to lead effectively
Leaders must manage their own stress responses to stay grounded. Recognize early warning signs, such as irritability, exhaustion, or insomnia, to prevent burnout.
Strategy: Build a personal resilience toolkit and use it daily; you cannot lead others well if you are depleted. Practice breathing techniques, name their feelings, and check in with their own wellbeing.
Take care of yourself: Don’t be afraid to negotiate and advocate for career advancement
Executive Leadership Coach Jen Coken urged attendees to rethink how they approach negotiation and consider why so many high-performing professionals hesitate to advocate for what they want. In many cases, hesitation isn’t a lack of capability, but uncertainty around how to communicate their value effectively.
Negotiation is not conflict, it is leadership, according to Coken. Career advancement, she said, is often determined by a single moment: the decision to speak up and ask with clarity rather than hold back. The biggest mistakes people make when they negotiate is over-explaining the ask, seeking permission or asking indirectly, or framing requests around effort instead of impact.
Strategy: Coken suggested attendees follow her Power Ask Framework, a simple repeatable structure:
- Context (clearly state impact)
- Clear ask (name exactly what you want)
- Strategic pause (allow space for response)
- Partnership (invite dialogue)
