- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 months, 2 weeks ago by Aleena Ahmad.
Starting my career as the youngest and first female leader of a team of 12 male technicians, all significantly older than me, placed me face to face with bias early on. I often felt out of place, judged more for who I was than for the value I brought to the table.
That experience forced me to work harder than I ever had, not just to prove my capability, but to earn my space. More importantly, it sharpened my awareness of how everyday comments, assumptions, and stereotypes about women at work quietly erode confidence and limit potential.
Those early challenges shaped my leadership deeply. They taught me resilience, empathy, and the importance of creating environments where people are evaluated on merit, not perception.
Have you ever had a moment in your career that fundamentally reshaped how you lead?
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Starting my career as the youngest and first female leader of a team of 12 male technicians, all significantly older than me, placed me face to face with bias early on. I often felt out of place, judged more for who I was than for the value I brought to the table.
That experience forced me to work harder than I ever had, not just to prove my capability, but to earn my space. More importantly, it sharpened my awareness of how everyday comments, assumptions, and stereotypes about women at work quietly erode confidence and limit potential.
Those early challenges shaped my leadership deeply. They taught me resilience, empathy, and the importance of creating environments where people are evaluated on merit, not perception.
Have you ever had a moment in your career that fundamentally reshaped how you lead?
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Yeah, I can completely resonate.
As I started rising up in the hierarchy, I felt a resistance in my work from the colleagues and business partners. What helped me was to maintain focus on my assigned targets and not to indulge in politics. This required resilience and ignoring the negative energies. However, practicing it while doing self-reflection helped me navigate through this challenge.
Once we achieve our goals the intensity of these negative energies slowly fades away. But such situation makes us more courageous and stronger. -
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Just today, I was thinking about how we often hate tough times (and rightfully so) yet we cannot amount to anything without them. I’m sure having to go the extra mile to prove yourself capable must have caused lots of headache and hurts at the time yet you are better for it. For me, I encountered challenges in my leading when my abilities were doubted by my superiors. It was tough but having to ground myself, respond rightly and keep doing my job as I should was an important learning curve and life lesson which I needed. Thank you for sharing Aleena!
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I have always believed in working hard, and with 20 years of experience now, I realize that this mindset came to me very early on—driven by the need to prove myself in a male-dominated world. I’m at a leadership level today, and I see that the higher you climb, the more you are expected to prove yourself, which is not a healthy culture. It will likely take decades for this thinking to truly change. Until then, we must continue to march forward and do our bit.
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