The wake you leave behind

When we think about leadership, we often focus on where we are going. But have you ever stopped to consider the wake you leave behind? Like a boat cutting through water, your presence – your leadership, your decisions, your actions – creates ripples that extend far beyond your immediate role.

This was a strong theme that came out of the Institute of Directors’ breakfast on Accelerating action for women’s equality to mark International Women’s Day. Hundreds of women (and a few men) attended the event, joining together to explore the challenges, successes, and tangible steps needed to ensure more women have a seat at the table.

The reality is that the pathways to governance are still uneven. Despite progress, women remain underrepresented in boardrooms, executive teams, and decision-making spaces. The Economist’s 2024 Glass Ceiling Index ranks New Zealand among the top three countries for board gender balance, but the numbers tell only part of the story. Leadership is not just about representation, it is about culture, inclusion, and influence.

Having a woman (or women) on the board is not enough. The real measure of progress is whether boards are creating an environment where others can step in without having to fight the same battles as they did in the past.

Every time someone takes on a governance role, serves as chair, or steps into a leadership position, they leave a wake behind them.

As women in governance, we are often advised to lean in, speak up, and take our seat at the table. But true leadership is not just about securing our place, it’s about ensuring that when we look back, we see a clear path for others to follow.

The wake you leave behind needs to be about normalising the presence of women in governance, not as the exception, but as the expectation. The question is: does your presence open doors for others or reinforce the status quo?

If women are not seen and their voices are not heard, their contributions and impact risk being diminished or erased. When women see other women leading, it normalises the idea of diverse governance. This is why sponsorship, not just mentorship is valuable.

Where mentorship offers guidance, sponsorship actively opens doors and can change careers. It means using influence to ensure women get the opportunities they deserve, rather than waiting for the system to catch up.

Speaking at the event, director Carolyn Steele pointed out that people “constantly underestimate what you’ve achieved in the past.” That bias plays out in subtle (and not so subtle) ways, including others speaking over you in meetings or having an idea that's ignored until a male colleague repeats it, suddenly bringing the idea to life.

Boards and leadership teams continue to be shaped by networks that favour familiarity over capability. If you’re in a position to recommend a candidate, are you defaulting to the same circles, or are you actively broadening the pool? Women need to advocate for one another and to challenge the unconscious biases that still inform many governance decisions.

Governance should not be a closed circuit. The next generation of leaders should not have to push for inclusion – it should be standard practice. That means embedding inclusion into governance structures, not leaving it to chance.

Advocate for recruitment policies and processes that ensures shortlists are balanced, diverse appointments to panels are made, and that board roles are advertised in a way that are welcoming and capture a feeling of inclusion where different voices are truly heard, rather than just tolerated.

Chairs also play a crucial role in shaping board culture and must ensure all voices are heard and valued, particularly those who might be newer to governance. This includes calling out unconscious bias – whether it’s overlooking the contributions others make or the assumption that a woman on the board should naturally take the HR or sustainability portfolio. True inclusion involves actively considering diverse perspectives in decision-making.

Boards should regularly review board evaluations through an inclusion lens to ensure that governance is not just diverse on paper, but effective in practice.

Regardless of gender, if you sit on a board take a moment to reflect on your career. Who has helped you get to where you are? Who have you lifted along the way? And who, right now, could benefit from your advocacy?

Women in governance have come too far to let progress stall. The world is shifting, and there is a backlash against diversity efforts, but that only makes our presence more critical.

But if the past decades have shown us anything, it is that leadership is about more than breaking glass ceilings – it is about ensuring the doors behind us remain open. Your presence matters. The wake you leave behind can make all the difference.