In 1995 , all Fortune 500 CEO positions were held by men, with women accounting for only 9.6% of board member positions. Fast forward to 2022 - women hold 17.6% of chair positions, 31.2% of directorships, 34.5% of key management roles and 19.4% are CEOs.

Not bad, right? Just shy of 30 years ago, the landscape of women in leadership painted a very different picture. Had it not been for the women campaigning for their voice, the idea of gender equality in the workplace would be a very different scene.

For decades women have been fighting for the right to equal opportunity in the workplace. So it seems fitting for 2023 International Womens Day (IWD) theme to reflect the importance of innovation towards gender equality.

Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender-equal future speaks to the necessity of strengthening womens skillsets, knowledge and education through equal opportunity.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Building the Workplace of the Future with More Women Leaders

Without transformative ideas, inclusive technologies and access to education (particularly science, mathematics, engineering and technology), women cannot reach the equal opportunity needed to strive for leadership roles.

Within our Growth Faculty community are many influential female leaders who keep us up-to-date about their research, achievements and challenges.

So, in the lead up to IWD 2023, we thought wed take the time to reflect and celebrate some of our strongest women leaders, authors and speakers.

In doing so weve gathered noteworthy tips for aspiring female leaders in the workplace. Lets dive in.

While weve come leaps and bounds since the 20th century, were still not quite there yet. Women in leadership roles is still in the minority and the pay gap is still at 14.2% in Australia.

So lets reflect on lessons weve learned from women who mean business and know what it takes to become a great leader.

_ If we want to reignite innovation and passion, we have to rehumanise work. -_ Dr. Bren Brown.

When it comes to leadership, Dr. Bren Brown says we need empathy, connection and courage to tap into our leadership potential. As a researcher professor, PhD and an author of five No.1 best-selling books, Dr. Brown knows that daring leadership starts with embracing to who we are, our vulnerability and our curiosity.

In other words, we women need to be brave, courageous and trust in our humanising qualities to build up the skillset of what it means to be a strong leader. She shares that our own vulnerability and empathic traits form the foundations of bravery and courage in the workplace. This allows us to have tough conversations, even when we feel uncomfortable and to champion our natural leadership styles.

At our event and in her book, Dare To Lead , Dr. Brown highlights the risk of self-protection. In other words, its not fear that inhibits us, its the armour we assemble to protect ourselves. Whether its avoidance, defensiveness or showing off, its common to self-protect in lieu of vulnerability.

Dr. Brown acutely observes that the act of self-protection is a disservice to ourselves, our teams, and our potential. Instead, she guides us to work on leaning into our own vulnerability, to ask questions and to celebrate curiosity.

Instead of defaulting to self-protection, we have to be true to ourselves, trust our own ability and strive to learn. Dr. Brown says, Self-awareness and self-love matter. Who we are is how we lead.

So, be brave. And be courageous.

Inside many companies, we have to address this issue of conscious and unconscious bias you strip those people, [and]... their confidence, and when you strip them of their confidence, you strip away their competence[but] All these labels are what people give you, not necessarily what you are The fact is, there is a job to be done, and I believe Im the best person to do it. - Indra Nooyi.

When the former PepsiCo CEO said this in 2019 during her appearance at the Growth Faculty event An evening with Indra Nooyi at the Sydney ICC, she left a big impression. Her insight into what it takes to be a strong, female leader in a modern workplace is simple: If theres a job to be done, do it.

The magnitude of Indra Nooyis reign at PepsiCo is not lost among us. Throughout her leadership she handled mergers, forwarded strategic shifts and encouraged a push for more sustainability. She was one of only 11 CEOs of a Fortune 500 company from 2006 to 2017, during which PepsiCos revenue increased from $35 billion to $63.5 billion.

She is no stranger to the peaks and pitfalls of holding a high-profile position while raising a growing family. In her book, My Life in Full: Work, Family, And Our Future , Nooyi describes the bare reality of her role, ...if you don't come into work everyday with a fear in the pit of your stomach, you're doing yourself a disservice. You've got to feel the weight of the job in you, all the time.

Her immigrant background was always an integral part of Indra the leader, but no impediment to her eventual huge success. From growing up in India to moving to the United States, Indra made her mark by ascending through the ranks from a consultant, corporate strategist and into senior executive positions. Her work at PepsiCo evolved throughout the years, giving the company a new sense of purpose.

Indra Nooyi says that her success was driven by her own efforts, that of her teams and the support of her company.

Simultaneously, she showed us that an exceptional leader is not defined by masculine traits or immeasurable sacrifice. She believes in accountability, in showing up, reliability and taking the good from the bad.

_ If you want to contribute at your fullest, dont just work harder; rather, strive to do the work that is more valuable, be more influential and maximise your impact._ - Liz Wiseman.

While the volume of women in leadership roles is escalating, we know that collectively women are finding themselves working harder, taking on higher workloads and feeling the need to prove themselves. According to McKinsey research , this is resulting in women feeling unrecognised and in many cases, are leaving their positions for a more supportive culture.

Liz Wisemans research on leadership focusses on ones ability to influence others. So when women tap into their Impact Player potential, they increase their ability to influence more effectively.

Liz Wiseman is a researcher, executive advisor and CEO of the Wiseman Group, a research and development firm with high-profile clients such as Disney, Facebook and Tesla. She is a New York Times best-selling author of books such as Multipliers __ and The Multiplier Effect as well as Rookie Smarts and Impact Players.

She says, to be an Impact Player , you must switch your mindset: view challenges as opportunities rather than threats in order to add value.

The mindset is simple, yet effective. It all starts with understanding that little differences in our mindset and behaviour has a huge impact on the value of our work.

Among Wisemans many tips for women, she emphasises that instead of doing the job, do the job thats needed. This could be improving a process and sharing the innovation with your team, celebrating collective and individual successes, and letting your work speak for itself. She says that sometimes, we can feel uncomfortable with sharing our own work achievements. Instead, we can focus on the success of the work and separate yourself from the task.

You can tactfully draw attention to your efforts, she says.

In a 2022 interview with ABC RN, Wendy McCarthy said I was told all the things I couldnt doThats never gone down well with me.

From parliament, street protests and doctors offices, Wendy McCarthy has been fighting for gender equality since the 1960s.

McCarthy paved her way into various high-profile leadership roles throughout her working life including Chair of the Australian Heritage Commission, Deputy Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and 12 years as Chair of Plan Australia. She has also held positions such as CEO of the National Trust, Chancellor of the University of Canberra and director of Star Citys casino's board.

Her extraordinary achievements has been charged by the will to champion equal pay and equal employment opportunities. She also is an advocate for accessible contraception services, better education and access to around-the-clock childcare. Any resistance that she faced was met with an innate instinct to keep going meanwhile firmly believing in following both ones head and heart.

Her memoir, Dont Be Too Polite, Girls , is a collection of memories, experiences, challenges and achievements. She acutely reflects on her work for feminism, womens rights, gender equality in the workplace and a never-ceasing will to strive for better.

She tells women that its not necessary to lean into the expectation to be nice all of the time, we must find our voice and listen to it. As one of Australias most influential female leaders, Wendy McCarthy also encourages women everywhere to jump at every opportunity.

Women need to shift from thinking I'm not ready to do that to thinking I want to do that, and Ill learn by doing it.

In her book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg recounts one of her first formal reviews as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Facebook. She says, Mark Zuckerberg cautioned that her desire to be liked by everyone would inhibit her from reaching her full potential. She listened.

From this, Sheryl Sandberg tells women to not hold back. Be assertive and lean in to their work. This means challenging decisions, being okay with stepping up and honing in on our confidence to do the job.

Throughout the years, Sandberg has held high-profile jobs since the 1990s for companies like Google, McKinsey Development, and the Department of Treasury. In 2008 she was recruited by Mark Zuckerberg to oversee daily operations as COO. She was Metas first female board member.

Sandberg comments on the need for more gender equality and diversity in leadership in her book as she shares her experiences and challenges while managing her career and motherhood. Shes honest, open and reflective about what it means to be a leading woman in the workplace, how far weve come and what we need to do to make sure the momentum continues to churn.

But more importantly (and perhaps more controversially), Sandberg believes that women sometimes lack the self-confidence to advance themselves. She says, we lower our own expectations of what we can achieve.

She takes a deep dive into the complexities of personal motivation, and suggests that females may face more internal struggles to get the job done. She advocates for women to be assertive when they need to be and to persist ahead. The more we lean in, the more opportunity there will be for soon-to-be and aspiring female leaders.

She says, In the future there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.

These powerful women know what it takes to be an effective leader. And while IWD 2023 emphasises the importance of striving for a gender equal future, our past and current female leaders remind us that it's all possible. Without them, we wouldn't have the headstart we do today.

If you'd like to increase your professional and personal development why not consider becoming a Growth Faculty Pass holder? Unlimited access to 40 live virtual masterclasses and Global Headliner virtual events - PLUS year-round leadership content at On Demand with videos, podcasts and book summaries. Join a community of knowledge seekers who are inspired by the best. See who's up next .

__ Photo by CoWomen on Unsplash