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As the 21st-century business landscape continues to evolve, talented women are actively seeking leadership roles in diverse industries. These dynamic female leaders (and aspiring leaders) must find ways to help bring legacy business operations into a complex, digitalized world.
Leen Kawas is Propel Bio Partners’ Managing General Partner. As a high-achieving biotech executive, she understands that female leaders’ vision and empathy help position women for success.
Accomplished biotech leader Leen Kawas is Propel Bio Partners’ Managing General Partner. This Los Angeles-based venture capital firm supports start-up and early-stage biotechs requiring financial, technical, and organizational assistance. Leen Kawas welcomes all pitches but is especially receptive to those from female and minority founders.
Before her current role, Leen Kawas excelled as biotech Athira’s Chief Executive Officer (or CEO). During her time at the company, she managed several drug development cycles. Leen Kawas also led Athira’s successful initial public offering (or IPO) in September 2020.
Accomplished female leaders, and talented women ready to enter the leadership ranks, often face significant roadblocks to achieving their goals. Leen Kawas noted that women in varied industries can encounter these five challenges.
Working on high-visibility projects offers opportunities for women to demonstrate their hard and soft job skills. Perhaps more importantly, these tasks provide a stage on which aspiring leaders can showcase their leadership talents. When talented women don’t receive access to these key opportunities, decision-makers have fewer chances to gauge the potential candidate’s abilities.
Female leaders often devote time and energy to supporting their colleagues in varied ways. However, the leaders’ efforts frequently go unrecognized. Again, this minimizes their visibility on the corporate stage. In turn, this makes it more difficult to contend for career-enhancing opportunities.
Female leaders with limited negotiation skills may find it difficult to obtain program resources and human capital. This suboptimal negotiation background can also negatively impact their ability to receive salary increases and/or promotions. Taken together, these disadvantages can drastically handicap the leaders’ career progression.
Female professionals typically outperform their male counterparts, and women are less likely to head for greener pastures. Despite higher performance metrics, the women receive reduced potential development scores from their managers. These suboptimal results set the stage for the women’s decreased odds of promotion.
A female leader with a dedicated sponsor has higher odds of career advancement. The sponsor is typically a senior-level leader who believes in (and advocates for) their less-experienced colleague. Sponsors can often open doors that would otherwise remain firmly closed. Unfortunately, a lack of willing sponsors often means talented female leaders (and aspiring leaders) are unable to reach their full potential.
Transformational leadership is the modern counterpoint to an increasingly outdated legacy systems structure. Leen Kawas offered insights on each leadership approach. She also emphasized that talented women are ideally positioned to excel as transformational leaders in diverse industries.
A “legacy systems” leadership model uses a static, highly structured foundation. Company leaders typically keep existing policies, processes, and procedures in place. They may also focus on increasing operational efficiencies to improve the business’ bottom line. However, legacy leaders often avoid major structural and organizational changes.
In contrast, dynamic transformational leadership is based on inspiration and motivation. These leaders encourage team members to effect substantial change while “reaching for the stars” in their own careers. Leen Kawas highlighted transformational leadership’s three key components.
A transformational leader has a bold, exciting vision for the company and for their team. Not surprisingly, this visionary often overflows with enthusiasm and creativity for their mission. As an effective communicator, this dynamic leader brings each team member along for the journey. Now, everyone can focus on achieving a shared goal.
Empathetic at heart, a transformational leader honors each team member’s personal needs and professional goals. This inspiring team leader offers personalized guidance and support aimed at helping each team member achieve their career objectives.
Each transformational leader “thinks outside the box.” They encourage team members to take the same approach, devising unconventional solutions and promoting creative innovation.
Many female innovators are ideally equipped to be transformational leaders. Each woman brings distinctive talents and strengths along with an ability to inspire and motivate her team members. Together, these attributes set the stage for significant positive change. Here, Leen Kawas presented five qualities that often prepare women to excel in the transformational leadership realm.
A truly transformational leader fosters a mutually respectful company culture. Empathy plays an integral role in this highly positive work environment. The leader values each team member’s contributions and connects with them on a personal level. These dynamics open the door to strong, constructive relationships that often spark innovation.
When team members have concerns, the leader acknowledges the issue(s) and takes steps to formulate a constructive solution. Not surprisingly, women are often acknowledged for their empathetic nature. Their innate ability to understand others’ concerns and motivations fosters a “win-win” dynamic that offers benefits for everyone.
As transformational leaders, women possess a high degree of emotional intelligence. They adeptly manage their own emotions while understanding others’ feelings and motivations. Together, these capabilities foster beneficial relationships and motivate team members. Emotionally intelligent leaders are also skilled in conflict resolution.
Female leaders frequently welcome diverse viewpoints and actively encourage every team member’s voice. This inclusive mindset sets the stage for high engagement and beneficial partnerships. Creativity and innovation are a natural outgrowth of this positive work environment.
A transformational leader is typically an excellent communicator and facilitator. Women often excel in these areas, sharing goals and fostering a collaborative work setting. This environment enables optimal team cooperation and goal achievement.
Every organization is constantly changing, and leaders must adapt to these fluctuations in a positive way. Women often have an uncanny ability to navigate change, displaying flexibility while steering their teams through new challenges. When things don’t go as planned, these transformational leaders show resilience and a commitment to keep moving forward.
Many organizations may find it difficult to transition from a legacy systems structure to a transformational leadership style. Leen Kawas affirmed that many qualified female leaders are well-positioned to excel in this complex (and long-term) challenge.
