Female Leaders- Was the race you're running designed for you?
Men are almost 30% more likely to be labelled “high potential” than women at the same performance level. Not because of better results or more experience. Just the label.
I’ve been sitting with that number for a while.
I’m a physiotherapist by background, an endurance athlete by choice, and, as it turns out, a researcher by frustration. A few months ago, I came across a study on kidney stress in ultra-runners. I wanted to know if I fit within the data. Then I hit the detail that stopped me: the study was conducted solely on men.
So I started digging. How much of the leadership and performance research used to develop, promote, and evaluate people is based on male data? The results were uncomfortable. Studies on stress resilience, decision fatigue, and cognitive load are routinely conducted on male participants or mixed samples with no gender breakdown. The body’s primary stress-response system functions differently in women. Oestrogen interacts directly with it, meaning women can experience a stronger cortisol spike to the same stressor as a male colleague.
We’ve been measuring women against a male template. Then wondering why the outcomes don’t match.
The same pattern plays out beyond research. Women represent less than 18% of full-distance IRONMAN participants globally and less than 26% of AI and data science roles. The datasets training recruitment tools and performance platforms reflect the biases already present in the workplaces that created them. In an AI-filtered world, visibility is as much a structural problem as it is a cultural one.
The Pacing Trap
In endurance sport, there’s a concept called pacing on someone else’s race plan. You match the pace of the runner ahead, even if it isn’t right for your body or your strategy. It feels like progress. It often ends in a blow-up.
Women in leadership do this constantly. The environments we’re in were designed around a different athlete’s physiology.
We know women tend to have higher proportions of slow-twitch muscle fibres and often pace more consistently in long-distance events. At ultra distances, the performance gap between men and women narrows dramatically, sometimes to near parity. Sustainable, long-range performance is where women thrive. Yet the workplace has largely been set up around the sprint model: short bursts, early peaks, immediate visible output.
The visibility problem isn’t just about recognition. It’s about whose definition of performance we’re using, and who designed the race.
When I work with women in male-dominated industries, one theme comes up repeatedly. They’ve become extraordinarily competent at the wrong things. They adapt. They code-switch. They learn the unspoken rules of what visibility looks like in their organisation. In doing so, they often bury the qualities that make them exceptional leaders: emotional intelligence, quiet composure, and strategic clarity.
Visibility isn’t just about being in the room. It’s about being known for the right things.
Three Places to Start Running Your Own Race
Know exactly what you want to be known for. Most leaders, when asked what they want their legacy to be, give an answer that sounds like someone else’s. Get specific. What is the distinctive contribution only you can make?
Protect your genius zones. When you spend your days doing things you’re good at but not exceptional at, you become valued for the wrong reasons. Map where your highest contribution actually is, then design your role and your boundaries around doing more of that work.
Build and use your support systems. You can’t be what you can’t see. Surround yourself with people who reflect your potential back to you, not just your current capacity. The data is clear: people who are seen and supported perform better, sustain longer, and recover faster.
The research gap is real. The structural bias in performance systems is real. The cultural inheritance of workplaces built around male career patterns is real.
And you don’t have to wait for all of it to be fixed before you start claiming the visibility you’ve earned.
The athletes who go the distance aren’t the ones who burn brightest at the start. They’re the ones who know their race, protect their energy, and build the capacity to keep climbing long after others have stopped. Leadership follows the same pattern. Don’t spend your career trying to win a race that was never designed for you. Design your own, and make sure the finish line is one that truly matters.
Originally published in my 20% More newsletter on LinkedIn on 3 July 2026.
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