The Origin Story - Women Emerging

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Women Emerging

Origin Story

An inspiring story of women reimagining leading—together.

The Spark

Julia delivers a series of 80+ leadership talks on women’s leadership programmes globally. The irony? Most of the books recommended on the reading lists are written by men or by women on how to lead in a man’s world.
She commits to addressing this problem, having moved on after 30 years as CEO of the global leadership development organisation Common Purpose, which she founded.
COVID hits. Countries are in a lockdown. The marginalisation and isolation of women is compounded.
A LinkedIn community begins to form: Women Emerging from Isolation. They are determined to emerge from isolation to lead and lead in a different way, their way.
Each week, one woman’s leadership story is shared with the group—real, honest, and inspiring.

Finding The Voice

The community starts to grow. It is renamed Women Emerging.
A powerful message emerges from the community: too many women are turning away from leading at a time when their insights are needed more than ever. In the words of Julia Middleton:

There is work being done across the globe to produce systems change so that the odds of women emerging, leading and succeeding are not so heavily stacked against them. This work needs to be complemented with a steady supply of women choosing to lead.

Yet many women observing ‘status quo leadership’ – which is mostly shaped by men and often by western thinking – are turning away from leading, either deciding not to lead at all or adopting the status quo approach which doesn’t resonate with them.

There is a huge jigsaw that is women empowerment, with some huge pieces in it about women’s employment, health, rights etc. In one corner of the jigsaw there is one small piece that needs filling in. It provides women with an approach to leading that works for them. It’s a piece that helps them decide to lead their way. Women Emerging will be devoted to filling in this piece in the jigsaw.

The idea of an expedition to find an approach to leading that resonates with women germinates. The hunt begins to identify 24 explorers and persuade these busy women to find the time to explore together.
The first Women Emerging weekly podcast episode airs, women start sharing their practical insights on leading.

The First Expedition

The expedition sets off. 24 women from across geographies, generations, abilities, aspirations, backgrounds, beliefs, sectors and specialisms embark on the yearlong virtual expedition. They will talk to thousands of women and regroup monthly to digest and share their findings.
An early discovery: to stop talking about ‘leaders’, a title which many women reject, and rather to talk about ‘leading’, an action which women embrace, and always have.

The Expedition Map

The 24 explorers finally meet in one place as the expedition comes to an end: they are guests of The Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, on Lake Como in Italy.
They know now that there isn’t a single approach to leading that works for all women. It’s individual to every woman. They decide:
- to invite women the world over to go on their own expeditions.
- And to capture the methodology developed on the first expedition so as to provide a map for future expeditions.

The community is really building now; posts are reaching thousands of women.

The book “If that’s leading, I’m in” launches. It is written by Julia Middleton with over 100 women who were explorers or guides on what has now become known as the first expedition. The book lays out the expedition map in detail along with the 4Es methodology for future explorers to use.

In the words of Vidya Shah, Executive Chairperson, Edelgive Foundation and Steering Group Chair, Women Emerging:

Most of the literature on leadership, whether written by men or women is either from a man’s perspective or distinctly advocates imitating masculine leadership for women. But today, there are many more traits we look for – not necessarily feminine, mind you! – authenticity, resilience, showing vulnerability, assertion, collaboration among many others. We are going to unpeel these layers, for future generations of women leaders. We are NOT advocating for a feminine approach; just one that will resonate for women, given some universal lived experiences of other women who have grappled with what leadership has meant to them.

Growing Fast

The Gates Foundation grants Women Emerging two years start-up funding, the scaling begins.
The brand values are pinned down: Generous, Embracing, Freeing, Undaunted and Jugaad.
A Steering Group of 7 women from the first expedition is established to guide the movement, Vidya Shah is appointed Chair
A group of female software engineers gather in Steering Group member Joanna Janik’s kitchen: the concept of the WE Hub is born. It will be a free, digital library designed to widely share and translate the insights gained from the expeditions.
The second expedition sets off. It is for women in Pakistan, led by steering group member Dr. Ayesha Mian. Ayesha says
Leading the WE expedition of Women in Business in Pakistan was very much a journey of self-discovery and edification. As you learn from the collective of insightful women exchanging ideas of Essence, Expression and Energy, you are forced to be brutal about what may be your blind spots. Leading an expedition brought clarity and authenticity to my own version of leading
The third expedition sets off, for women with disabilities or chronic conditions. This one is led by Katrina Webb, a Paralympian, leadership coach and an explorer from the first expedition.
The Women Emerging team expands with colleagues in place in Botswana and India.
The first expedition for Higher Education begins in partnership with Global Business Schools Network (GBSN) and University of Connecticut (UConn) with 20 students from 7 partner institutions, 9 countries and from GenX to Gen Z. Julia leads this expedition herself.
More expeditions start to roll out, some global, some very local, some focused on specific sectors.

Sharing Everything

The first solo expedition launches: a free self-paced, online expedition for individual women.
The Pakistan expedition ends. Explorers develop a specific solo expedition for women in Pakistan. This means they can share their insights and reflections widely and enrich the solo expedition for their networks. Explorers on other expeditions decide they will do the same.
The WE Hub launches. Now the insights, stories and discoveries from expeditions and the thousands of women involved with Women Emerging can be shared.
25,000 women, across 34 countries on 6 continents, from GenZ to Gen X, are engaging with the movement.
New partnerships are forming fast: amongst them Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, Buzz Women, Belgium 40 under 40, Re:wild, Teach for Nigeria, WOW, WiRE, Youthtopia, are joining Gates Foundation, Rockerfeller Foundation and Edelgive.
100 women decide to formalise their commitment to Women Emerging by volunteering to become WE Guides on future expeditions. This community of expedition Guides promises to enrich and deepen the impact of all future expeditions.
The City Expedition in Brussels in partnership with The Merode and Belgium 40 under 40 sets off. This is the first city expedition with even greater ambitions: as well as uncovering an approach to leading that works for women in the city, they also commit to bringing more female energy to the leadership of the city.

Way Forward

From this foundation, we will build a global movement of women who know how they want to lead, have the tools to do so and are connected to each other in their continuous learning through the WE Hub.

As a result, Women Emerging will play its part in diversifying the global leadership base so that more women are at the center of addressing the big issues we face in the world. Over time women will reshape the leadership narrative towards one that resonates with all.