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Despite progress in gender equality, women remain significantly underrepresented in leadership roles across nearly every sector. In boardrooms, on executive teams and in key decision-making positions, the numbers still don’t reflect the talent and capability available.
As one of the few women leading a global company in the oil and gas industry, I’ve had to make my way in rooms where I was often the only woman — sometimes the only outsider of any kind. But I’ve also seen how being different, thinking differently and leading differently can be a business advantage.
This is not just about fixing inequality. It’s about reshaping how we define leadership in the first place and why every business, no matter the industry, stands to benefit from bringing more women into senior roles.
Related: Why Women Make Great Leaders
Diverse leadership isn’t a trend — it’s a growth strategy
Companies that prioritize diverse leadership aren’t doing it out of goodwill alone, they’re doing it because it works. Studies consistently show that businesses with more gender diversity at the top perform better financially, innovate more effectively and retain talent more successfully.
A 2020 report from McKinsey & Company found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than those in the bottom quartile. Yet the gap keeps growing, suggesting that diversity has moved beyond helpful optics and is now essential to business productivity.
Why? Because different perspectives reduce blind spots. They make it harder to fall into groupthink. They surface new questions and identify different risks. Especially in high-pressure environments — whether you’re scaling a startup or managing operations across volatile markets — those insights matter.
At BGN, where we operate in more than 120 countries, our success hinges on understanding different cultures, responding to unpredictable situations and building trust with stakeholders across political and social lines. Those aren’t just technical challenges. They require empathy, adaptability and the ability to see around corners, traits that many women leaders bring naturally and that every organization should value more intentionally.
How inclusive leadership actually works in practice
Inclusive leadership cannot just rest on slogans or soft skills. There must be a concerted emphasis on who gets heard, who gets opportunities and who’s trusted with real responsibility. In my experience, the most effective leaders create systems that surface different perspectives and challenge their own assumptions, not just reinforce them. That might mean actively inviting pushback in decision-making meetings, paying attention to who’s getting promoted and who’s not or being honest about whether your leadership team actually reflects the people your business serves.
It also means being willing to let go of comfort. It’s easy to say you value diversity; it’s harder to give someone different from you full ownership over a high-stakes project or client relationship. But that’s where real change happens. If we want better outcomes, more innovation and stronger teams, we have to change not just how we talk about leadership, but how we practice it, day in and day out.
Related: Women Rising: Why We Need More Women At The Top
What women leaders bring to the table
Across industries, I see women leading differently and effectively. Not by mimicking the traditional leadership model, but by rewriting it. In particular, women often bring three strengths that are critical in today’s business environment:
First, empathetic decision-making. That doesn’t mean being submissive. It means being thoughtful about how decisions affect people, how to navigate competing priorities and how to build long-term trust. In the Middle Eastern markets that we operate in, empathy has helped our teams gain buy-in where others have struggled.
Second, measured risk assessment. In high-stakes environments, many women tend to evaluate risks not just in terms of profit and loss, but in terms of long-term stability and reputation. That broader view has helped BGN navigate volatility with fewer surprises and better resilience.
Third, community-focused leadership. More and more, customers and employees expect companies to do more than deliver profits. They want to know what you stand for. Women leaders often bring that clarity, embedding values into strategy and showing that purpose is an essential part of how business gets done.
Credibility, not conformity
One of the most powerful things I’ve learned is that leadership doesn’t require fitting into an old mold. In fact, it works better when you don’t. Over the years, I’ve found that the more I lead in a way that reflects my values and instincts — not someone else’s playbook — the more credibility I earn. That’s true whether I’m meeting with executives in Europe or negotiating commercial deals in Asia.
The same is true for any leader in any field: Your greatest asset is your ability to think independently and lead authentically. That’s how you build trust. That’s how you earn followership. Ultimately, that’s how you differentiate yourself in a market full of noise.
Related: To See More Women in Leadership Roles, Here’s What Needs to Happen
Women don’t need more reasons why leadership matters; we need more opportunities to lead. Likewise, businesses don’t need more diversity pledges; they need to start shifting power and responsibility where it hasn’t gone before.
Whether you’re building a business, managing a team or preparing for the next step in your career, remember this: Leadership is not about how loud you are in the room. It’s about the clarity of your vision, the quality of your decisions and the way you bring others with you.
And when more women are given that chance, the result is better companies, better leaders, more motivated employees and happier clients.
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Rüya Bayegan