When I coach women in senior leadership roles, I’m struck by how often the same quiet worries surface, no matter how accomplished or capable they are. Many share concerns that sound like this: Am I good enough to sit at the table with other leaders? What if everyone else has more experience than I do? What if I get found out? Will I be confident enough to contribute in a meaningful way?
My response is always the same: yes, you absolutely deserve to be there. You’ve been placed in that role for a reason, and you have earned your place at the table. But understanding why these doubts appear is important, because they are far more common than most people realise.
A pattern I see consistently is that women often feel they need to meet every requirement before pursuing a leadership opportunity. They believe they must be fully qualified, perfectly prepared, and armed with substantial experience before stepping forward. Men, on the other hand, tend to apply even when they meet only some of the criteria. It’s not about capability; it’s about conditioning. Women often expect perfection from themselves before they permit themselves to grow.
There is another side to this that many women never consider. Those senior leaders they sit alongside – the ones with long CVs and decades of experience – are often facing their own insecurities. The world of work is evolving rapidly. Technology, AI, new systems, new governance structures. Many long-established leaders are quietly trying to keep pace. Some are wondering whether they still fit into this modern landscape. In their own way, they are experiencing impostor syndrome too.
This is where the dynamic becomes more balanced than women often assume. You can learn a great deal from leaders with years of experience, but they can also learn a great deal from you. Fresh knowledge, modern perspectives, adaptability and an understanding of today’s digital environment are incredibly valuable. The leadership table is strongest when every voice contributes something different.
There is also the reality of the additional load many women carry throughout their careers. Starting a family, stepping out of work, returning with small children, navigating childcare, managing perimenopause and menopause, and caring for ageing parents: these responsibilities often land more heavily on women. Combine that with workplace cultures that are not always supportive, and it becomes easy to understand why many talented women step back rather than continue fighting for recognition or advancement.
Industries such as the Lloyd’s market are feeling the impact of this. Women remain underrepresented in senior roles, even though the skills they bring are exactly what modern leadership requires: coordination, empathy, conflict management, and the ability to lead with a human-centric approach. These strengths are critical in the fast-changing environment we operate in today.
For a long time, I believed that we shouldn’t differentiate between men and women in leadership. I felt that women should simply compete on the same playing field and not expect special treatment. But experience has changed my perspective. Women are not asking for special rules, only fair ones. The truth is that they often have to work harder, be stronger, and perform at a higher level just to be seen as equal in systems that were not originally built with them in mind. That isn’t equality.
It is time to support women in ways that help them show up as the strongest version of themselves, without needing to be superhuman to do so. Women deserve environments that allow them to shine, to grow, and to lead without unnecessary hurdles standing in their way.
If any of this resonates with you and you would like to explore these challenges in a supportive coaching environment, I would be delighted to work with you. You deserve your place at the table, and it would be a privilege to help you step into it with confidence.
Jo Hayes, Executive Coach