Make 2025 your best leadership year yet.

It’s a new year, new dawn, new day, but are you feeling good?

For 10 years, Take The Lead has been working to reach the goal of gender and racial parity in leadership across all sectors. So much progress is visible and palpable. But it isn’t all equal just yet.

“For 10 years, @TaketheLeadWomen has been working to reach the goal of #gender and #racial #parity in leadership across all sectors. So much #progress is #visible and palpable. But it isn’t all #equal just yet. ”

Knowing that all change begins with each one of us, the suggestion is to take the time to set priorities to make 2025 a breakthrough year personally and professionally. By naming and reaching for these milestones with deliberate intention and action, you improve yourself and set a roadmap for colleagues, management, leaders, supporters, and those you mentor.

“By naming and reaching for #milestones with deliberate #intention and action, you improve yourself and set a #roadmap for colleagues, management, leaders, supporters, and those you mentor. #newyearsresolutions”

Self-help is help for all.

Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead writes that “Commitments to self” deserve top priority in any list of your intentions. That list includes these actions: “ Advocate for myself; clean up the inner monologue; attitude is everything; go all in for that job I want; stand unapologetically in my power, even in front of those boys; and speak up in the rooms I am in.”

“#Commitments to #self deserve top priority in any list of your #intentions. — @GloriaFeldt1 #newyearsresolutions #2025 #newyearnewme”

Here are Take The Lead’s 10 suggestions for you for your leadership path in 2025.

1. Prioritize your physical and mental health at work. The World Health Organization reports that work that not only gives you a livelihood, but promotes “a sense of confidence, purpose and achievement; an opportunity for positive relationships and inclusion in a community. Work that has psychosocial detriments are those with high conflict, “excessive workloads or work pace, understaffing; long, unsocial or inflexible hours; lack of control over job design or workload; unsafe or poor physical working conditions; organizational culture that enables negative behaviors; limited support from colleagues or authoritarian supervision; violence, harassment or bullying; discrimination and exclusion or unclear job role.” If any of those circumstances describe your workplace experience, then speak up and try to rectify the situation, or make a plan to find another job or role.

This is a very real problem, according to Moneywise. A new study from NatWest Youth Index, shows “20% of 16- to 25-year-olds missed work over the past year due to psychological issues — and some young people even avoid applying to jobs, with 18% of the age bracket not sending resumés and 12% missing interviews because of anxiety, depression or other reasons.”

Learn more in Take The Lead on your mental health

2. Secure your network. You may be involved in one or many professional organizations, or an informal group of colleagues. Make sure you give as much as you receive in your network by offering advice and resources as much as you seek it. According to B2B Marketing, “Networking groups can be an efficient way to meet valuable contacts and gain ideas. But for some, female-only networking groups go the extra mile in providing a space for gender issues and equality to be discussed without judgement.”

“You may be involved in one or many #professionalorganizations, or an informal group of colleagues. Make sure you give as much as you receive in your network by offering #advice and #resources as much as you seek it. #givingback”

Corinne Sklar of Salesforce tells B2B, “We started to realize it was also about bringing women with you, it’s not enough to get there alone, you’ve got to bring the next generation with you and pull other women who are starting their careers and bring them up. You can’t be what you can’t see. Networking may not be different from how I network with a man but we need that camaraderie to support each other. So networking is a different environment and way for us to support each other.”

3. Learn new skills. It’s not OK to keep rolling along with all that you know and have been doing for years the same way. Whether or not your organization has training courses in place, or whether you are deciding to implement them, there is a universe of options for continued education. The Great Courses Plus is an online streaming service with a repertoire of 18,000 courses that include quantum mechanics, philosophy, engineering and so many more. You can earn certificates, degrees or just enhance your knowledge. Edx.org offers courses in partnership with Harvard University, Boston University, Berkeley University and scores more institutions with the goal of improving your career or helping you start a new one. Take a stats class or a leadership course in communication. Lifewire, Tech For Humans, recommends the top online classes available.

Take The Lead is all about advancing yourself and your career in courses, webinars, in-person and digital events, cohorts and events. Learn more about Take The Lead’s offerings here. The 9 Leadership Power Tools course is a good fit, according to Feldt, if “you are ambitious but are tired of being overlooked or ignored, and want to gain the respect and leadership roles you deserve. Or, if the past few years have shifted not only your daily life but also your mindset, causing you to reconsider priorities, and how you truly want to live.” More reasons can be that, “you want to get clarity on your next professional move and a powerful plan to achieve your most important goals; you value diversity, equity, inclusion, and think it’s time for gender parity in leadership and you’re ready to take the lead in your life and career, bringing your power and leadership forward so that you can live and work in your full authenticity with confidence, passion and grace,” according to Feldt.

4. Set three goals a month in each one of three categories: This week, this month, this year, and update. This is far beyond a to-do list or a bucket list. If your goals for yourself remain elusive and amorphous, take the time to make them specific, so it is easier to take action. Plus you have a deadline. As the author of seven books, people ask me constantly how to write a book on top of working full time (and more). I say a book is only a chapter at a time, a paragraph at a time and a sentence at a time. So write the first sentence and keep going. If your goal by the end of the year is to land a new position or be given new responsibilities in your current title, then write down what you will do this week. Perhaps that will be to call for a meeting with your supervisor. The monthly goal may be to complete a training webinar or to finish a course, or collaborate with a coworker. Make sure each goal is specific and doable. The yearly goal may to be happier, but articulate it specifically.

Perhaps write: ” Have a vice president position where I am making this salary and have paid time off of three weeks a year.” That will make you happy.

And make your goal high enough that it is a little scary. Devoreaux Walton, owner of Distinct Personal Branding, tells Business News Daily, “Every successful entrepreneur and business leader did what they were afraid to do instead of just letting the fear rule in their personal and professional lives.”

Read more from Gloria Feldt on AI.

5. Get up to date on AI. Artificial intelligence is influencing industries in what is called the Fifth Industrial Revolution. There are countless ways to use AI so it is up to you to be up to date on the changes to your industry and how you can work with the advantages to expand your relevance and make your job more efficient. You will not be replaced when you understand the viability of AI to help with content, searches, creation of programs and presentations, and analyzing options.

According to the World Economic Forum, “LinkedIn predicts the skillsets required for jobs globally will change by as much as 68% by 2030. Many of these will be soft, interpersonal skills that help us work well together, such as team leadership, strategic leadership and collaboration. Of the soft skills listed on LinkedIn, women were found to have a 28% higher share than men. At the same time, women are pushing forward with their own technical upskilling. Since 2016, the share of female AI talent and the concentration of women working in AI engineering has grown significantly. So the advent of GenAI presents an opportunity to help close the gender gap.”

6. Be kind to your colleagues, clients, managers, mentors, and customers. The recent death of former President Jimmy Carter at 100 years old brought adulation for the humanitarian leader on his exceptional kindness and empathy to everyone he came in contact with personally, politically, and professionally. Former Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams said: “He was a giant who never saw anyone as smaller than himself. Whether at a Boys & Girls Club banquet or when he sponsored a medical clinic for the uninsured in his corner of rural Georgia, he lived James 2:17 each day. Jimmy Carter built homes, saved lives and tended to souls.”

Not that you can mimic the stature of a former U.S. president, but you want to be known professionally as someone who is competent, as well as kind. You do not want to be remembered for times you have lost your temper, because the five minutes of anger can last an entire career and no apology will make up for it. Do not send unkind messages by text or email, always practice civility. Be known for patience and respect of others.

“You want to be known professionally as someone who is #competent, as well as #kind. Be known for #patience and #respect of others. #wordstoliveby #2025goals #mindset”

7. Celebrate your wins. You don’t have to break out the champagne and order a three-tired cake every time you get a compliment or applause at work. But when you or your team has a significant positive outcome—however that is measured—take notice, announce it, and celebrate even it is just by bringing cookies to work and sending a congratulatory email. People notice and remember. Give credit to everyone who assisted in the win and name them.

“Celebrating wins is essential for maintaining motivation and improving overall life satisfaction”. writes Melanie A McNally Psy.D., in Psychology Today. “Research shows that recognizing small successes activates the brain’s reward system, which releases dopamine and reinforces positive behavior. This process fosters a sense of accomplishment and progress and boosts self-efficacy and self-esteem. Thus, when people celebrate their achievements, they are more likely to remain motivated and pursue further goals, creating a positive feedback loop of success and satisfaction.”

8. Deconstruct your setbacks. There is absolutely no shame in falling short of expectations. Mistakes, failures—everyone experiences them, some people way more than others—and often those individuals reach the highest forms of success. “No is a bump on the way to yes” can be your 2025 mantra. Don’t just brush yourself off and walk away, look back over the process, the timeline, the individuals and teams involved and define what happened when and where, and how it could go differently. Perhaps just the timing was off, or the wording of the invitation or packet. But learn from every misstep. And keep your eye on the ultimate goals.

“There is absolutely no shame in falling short of #expectations. #Mistakes, #failures—everyone experiences them. “No is a bump on the way to yes” can be your #2025mantra #newyearsresolutions”

9. Communicate effectively and authentically. Be transparent and open with your colleagues, team, managers, leaders, and clients. Don’t overload your co-workers with too much information, but always tell the truth and use clear, uncomplicated language that is sincere. Emails, texts, newsletters, any shared content lives forever. Make sure you are communicating in a way that expresses your true intent.

Listen to Gloria Feldt’s podcast on communication lessons

Whatever you are communicating about your work and your organization, make sure that it does not result in confusion. To be an effective communicator you need to practice, get feedback on what works and always be open for improvement.

Listen to a Take the Lead podcast on effective communication

10. Mentor at least one younger person for a full year. You didn’t get to where you are now by yourself. You got information, introductions, invitations, and assistance at many, many steps along the way. So pay it forward. Mentor one person inside or outside of your organization for a full calendar year. This person can be in your field, your community, your alumni association, your professional group or your own team. Mentor by answering questions, perhaps meeting regularly by zoom or in person, and doing due diligence on what this person asks of you. And respond by asking questions as you can learn from everyone at every age or generational group. The reason you do this is because people identifying as women need each other.

The World Economic Forum reports that in 2024 there was a slight drop in the percentage of women in leadership positions from 36.9% in 2023 to 36.4% in 2024. Women are 42% of the global workforce and just 31% of senior level positions. It is critical to lift each other up.

It’s a New Year and the goal is to make even more progress for gender and racial parity in 2025.

Leadership Takeaway of The Week:

Jimmy Carter built homes, saved lives and tended to souls. He was a giant who never saw anyone as smaller than himself." —Stacey Abrams, Former Georgia State Representative

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com