🚀 Fuel the Future: Champion Women’s Leadership in 2024

Issue 249— January 1, 2024

I loved this question posed on social media by Sophia Yen, a longtime friend and the founder of Pandia Health. She asked us to “Brag to me about one thing you did in 2023.”

Take a minute and think about your answer.

It’s gratifying to look backward at what we’ve done and celebrate the wins. It’s also heartening to consider how much we learned from our mistakes or those setbacks that we couldn’t control.

But now 2023 is over. 2024 is here. Not exactly the innocent baby often used to symbolize the new year, but an opportunity to refresh, rethink, and look toward the future.

Let’s boldly imagine a world where leadership knows no gender, where every decision-making table is diverse and gender balanced.

**The Call to Action**

The headlines are buzzing with political fervor as we leap into this new year. At Take The Lead, as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan mission driven organization, we don’t play politics — but we do ignite change by helping women embrace their inherent power, with confidence, authenticity, and joy.

The call to action is clear: We’re on the brink of making that vision a reality, and 2024 could be the year we shatter ceilings — not just crack them. I am sure it will be for everyone’s good and the good of the world. That kind of fundamental power shift requires collaborative action.

**An Origin Story**

I’ll share a flashback to 2008: Elle magazine had me dissect why women weren’t running for office. We were on the cusp of potentially electing the first female U.S. President — or so they thought when they gave me the assignment. But it didn’t happen — and then it didn’t happen again in 2016.

The heart of the issue? The prevailing research concluded women had less ambition than men. “That’s not true,” I thought as I shook my head. But then, why? The women’s movement had worked hard to change discriminatory laws and open doors. We were seeing female firsts, yet too many women didn’t walk through the doors open to them, despite earning 57% of the college degrees and having the data that confirmed companies with more women are more profitable and legislatures or parliaments with more women had better decision processes and were more peaceful. In the U.S., women were found to be more likely to work across the aisle and to get legislation passed.

So I did my own research, talked with hundreds of women. I concluded that there were plenty of reasons but no excuses anymore for women to hold anything less than equal shares of leadership positions.

Yet, I also found — and this was the big aha — that women’s culturally learned ambivalence toward power had become the biggest force holding us back. In politics, women were only half as likely as men to even consider running for office for example. And therein lies the crux: You can’t win the race if you’re not on the track.

You can read my 2008 Elle magazine article here.

**The Unsettling Truth**

Back then, women held a meager 18% in Congress. That same stark 18% was mirrored across all sectors, a universal symbol of disparity. That’s when it clicked for me — shifting the power narrative was the master key to unlocking women’s leadership potential across all spheres.

Let’s face it, it’s hard to change a culture while you’re living in it, and we all grow up learning a narrative of history that frames power around wars and assumes scarce resources. In truth, in an economy based on brains, not brawn, there are no scarce resources of the most important things — innovation, intelligence, creativity, empathy, love — and even power.

**The Progress… and the Plateau**

Fast forward: I knew I had to help women transform how they were thinking about power from the oppressive power over to the generative power TO. So I wrote No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power to explain the phenomenon. Pretty soon people asked me to teach workshops about it. And soon after that, I saw how that transformation of power in our own minds liberates women to have higher intentions for their lives and leadership.

Soon, Take The Lead was born, 10 years ago. Since then, I’ve developed online, in-person, and blended programs that include training, coaching and cohort building, thought leadership, and role models to provide the actionable mindsets, skillsets, and strategic plans to accelerate women’s leadership, and with it to further equalize power and pay.

Today, women have made strides to 29% in the House, 25% in the Senate, and 24% as state governors. Those numbers are similar in business and professional leadership too, but let’s be clear: progress isn’t a natural phenomenon. It’s propelled by people like you taking action — by Take The Lead, and by working collaboratively with other organizations whose missions are aligned.

**The Moment of Truth**

We enter the brave new year 2024 knowing that we have the programs, we have the proof of their impact, and we are clear about the vision and mission of intersectional gender parity in leadership by — yes — 2025. What we need now is the fuel — the funding to be explicit — to magnify our reach by tenfold, to steer us toward a world where equity and parity aren’t aspirations, they’re assurances. They are just the way things are.

I’m going to own my power and say it out loud (metaphorically). We must raise $25 million to bring this world we’re imagining to fruition.

**Your Power to Propel**

This is my invitation for you to join me and Take The Lead in whatever way you can. It’s a declaration that you stand for equitable leadership. Together we can make 2024 a pivotal year for women in leadership, and move on to full parity the following year.

If you’ve read this far, I feel sure you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and get started. If so, click here.

Imagine that two years from now, we can answer Sophia’s question by saying we made the world a better place by changing the very concept of power, and ensuring that women and men share equitably in its opportunities.

Wishing you and yours a very happy New Year, a prosperous and healthy one, and above all, peace.

GLORIA FELDT is the Cofounder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker, a global expert in women’s leadership development and DEI for individuals and companies that want to build gender balance. She is a bestselling author of five books, most recently Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good. Honored as Forbes 50 Over 50, and Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Find her @GloriaFeldt on all social media.