How Women Can Lead With Purpose, Presence and Impact

What strategies do you use to help yourself lead with more purpose, presence and impact, while also simultaneously building resilience and reducing burnout?

To help women lead team members with vision and influence, we asked business leaders to share their insights in regard to the above question. From “remembering your why” to creating a healthy work-life balance, there are several practical suggestions you can incorporate into your professional life to build resilience and reduce burnout while also leading with your values.

Here are 12 tips to help you lead with purpose, presence and impact while reducing burnout:

1. Remember Your Why

As a female business owner, I always keep my “why” in mind. At The Lash Professional, I consider it my mission to empower my lash gang community, so this group of strong women has the tools to become their own boss.

We do this by providing educational opportunities and a line-up of high-quality eyelash extension supplies that will lead them to success. In my classes led by fellow lash artists, we talk about some of the difficult situations they may face as business owners in this industry, which prepares them as entrepreneurs and exposes them to women who are purpose driven and making their own dreams come true.

—Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional

2. Create the Right Networks

I believe that the correct connections and contacts can help women to acquire access to information, promotions and opportunities. I feel that to influence others and achieve their objectives, effective leaders rely on essential networks and trusted partners. I have noticed that many women are hesitant to network. However, networking, in my opinion, can empower women to lead with greater a greater sense of purpose, presence and impact.

—Vicky Franko, Insura

3. Focus on What You Can Control

I use positivity, balance and reflection to lead with a purpose, while also building resilience and avoiding burnout. It is important to me to establish a positive, trusting relationship with my clients and employees in order to put my best self in front of my company. I create positivity by being adaptable and putting energy into the things I can control, as opposed to the things that are out of our control.

This will ultimately lead to a work-life balance, which allows time to relax, unwind and recuperate. And reflecting on my emotions and emotional reactions allows me to have a positive presence and impact on my work. These strategies assist me in becoming a more visible, purposeful and impactful leader.

—Alisha Taylor, Alisha Taylor Interiors

4. Be a Thought Leader or Subject Matter Expert

Find your niche or area of expertise and be the go to person online, on your team or within your entire organization. Nothing beats being that individual with the wherewithal and know how when it comes to a specific tool or subject matter. No matter the industry, being able to demonstrate your expertise at work or on platforms like LinkedIn and Terkel, is a great way to build your personal and professional brand and lead with presence, purpose and impact.

—Rronniba Pemberton, Markitors

5. Focus on the Bigger Picture

At the Texas Adoption Center, the work that we do touches so many lives in a meaningful and impactful way. So whenever things get tough, we just remind ourselves and our teams to dig deeper and try harder to help another expectant mom and potential family. Every day, we wake up with a passion to help expectant moms find the right family for their baby. By simply remembering our goals, we are better able to lead with more presence and purpose in our goal to provide support and adoption education for the best possible outcomes.

—Kenna Hamm, Texas Adoption Center

6. Recharge and Refocus

Our business model focuses on design creativity, so it is important to our company that we take time away from our work to do activities we enjoy to refocus our creativity. I find that I come back to the office feeling recharged and refreshed with more creative ideas after taking a break and spending time in nature or with loved ones. By reconnecting with nature and loved ones, I also reconnect with myself, my intentions and my ability to create and do my best work in a way that is purposeful and impactful.

—Nataly Vanunu, Boho-Magic

7. Set Realistic Expectations and Boundaries

One way that I've found to be helpful in reducing burnout during college application season with my students is setting realistic expectations with them and the work they must complete for me, while sticking to the deadlines I set in place. As someone who is on the outside of their application process, my goal is to help them build autonomy and discover their own ability to stay on task and shine.

I help them do this by creating deadline plans and having bi-weekly meetings. I've found through the years that in order for me to be more purposeful and impactful with students, I must create that space for them while setting boundaries of what they expect me to be able to do or help with.

—Shannon Brady, TheCollegeMind

8. Delegate Tasks

A day has only 24 hours, and it appears that it should be longer to allow you to take the next activity. The trick is to make a more significant impact while not overloading yourself. The strategy I use is to delegate responsibilities. I simply select tasks that I do not have to do myself and train others to replace me. My resilience is boosted by having more time to regenerate and build relationships.

—Karolina Zajac, Passport-Photo.online

9. Speak Kindly To Yourself and Self-Assess

I regularly engage in positive self-talk. It is important to speak what you want, regardless of the norm. I also regularly assess my performance at work. It is necessary to keep tabs on your performance as it helps to measure your strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvement.

—Shagoon Maurya, Safe Space

10. Stay Centered on Who You Are

When I show up to a business setting, I'm simply a business person. I worry less about who is a man and who is a woman—I present as a strong, confident me, and that has allowed me to fit well in most situations, regardless of the gender of others involved. Similarly in leadership, I naturally bring a strong but kind, smart but creative, logical but empathetic presence and let all of who I am be a part of what I express.

I find that the less I focus on what others think about me and my style, the more I focus on the situation and bring extra helpful things to the table. A part of showing up means that if I'm losing energy, I have to stay aware of that and find ways to recharge my batteries. It's my responsibility to create enough balance in my life to sustain the intensity I need to run at, and I find that if I stay truly present in the small moments that I have for some “me time”, nature time or family time, they can go a long way in refreshing me.

—Christie Kerner, My Little Mascara Club

11. Stop Being Busy and Start Focusing

The strategy I use to lead myself with more presence, purpose and impact as an entrepreneur since the age of 21 is doing what I love. This keeps me motivated and focused and on point to accomplish my goals.

I am also genuinely and authentically myself in everything I do, and if something does not feel right with who I am, I say no. I do not fear missing out on an opportunity. It is more important that any opportunity is aligned with my brand and my purpose. When I follow these strategies and combine them with time for self-care and spending time doing the things I love that are not work, I reduce burnout.

It is important to recognize that you must schedule time for self-care just like you do appointments with clients. Regarding resilience, I believe that comes with setting boundaries and recognizing your boundaries. This, at times, may be learned through trial and error in your business.

—Galit Ventura-Rozen, Empowering U

12. Remember Preparation, Mindfulness and Acceptance

Three strategies I have adopted for leading with more presence, purpose and impact, while also simultaneously building resilience and reducing burnout are preparation, mindfulness and acceptance.

Preparation, first and foremost, supports my ability to show up as my best and most equipped self to give my best effort in a calm, authentic manner. Maintaining a measure of mindfulness throughout the process permits me to be more flexible as circumstances often shift and require me to make small adjustments in order to remain effective. (Deep breathing is a frequent favorite practice here). Embracing acceptance allows for grace to protect my confidence and spirit when the situation doesn't always proceed as I had planned and envisioned.

While I strive to perform well, I also reflect on learning from the occasion. Ultimately, it's most important to keep improving and growing while understanding that gaining experience over time will help in developing skills in resilience and reducing burnout.

—Jena Ritchie Land, Leader in Empowering Ethical Entrepreneurship

Do you want to lead with purpose, presence and impact? GCU’s Colangelo College of Business offers degree programs to help you to grow in your field and become a great leader. To learn more about our admissions or tuition, click on the Request Info button at the top of your screen.

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