Across The Pond Talk

Assertive? You’re labelled aggressive. Reserved? You lack presence. Passionate? You’re too emotional. Leadership frameworks still reward one dominant style and it’s rarely one shaped by the lived experience of women of colour. The workplace may preach diversity, but too often it still promotes conformity.

Most mainstream leadership programmes are designed through a Eurocentric lens, prioritising traits like executive presence, charisma and linear communication. But these markers of “effectiveness” can clash with cultural ways of speaking, leading, or resolving conflict. As a result, women of colour are often forced to choose between authenticity and acceptance.

Dr. Patricia Sika Délano, a cultural psychologist, has written extensively on how culturally responsive leadership is essential in global workplaces. Her findings reveal that Black, Indigenous and Asian women are often expected to overperform to prove credibility while simultaneously masking aspects of their identity to appear “neutral.” The McKinsey/Lean In 2023 report echoed this, showing that Black and Latina women were more likely to be criticised for communication style than their white peers, regardless of message effectiveness.

Neuroscience tells us that authenticity isn’t just a feel-good idea it’s a performance enhancer. When leaders operate in alignment with their identity, their brains reduce cortisol (stress hormone) and increase dopamine (motivation and confidence hormone). Code-switching, on the other hand, activates hypervigilance in the brain’s limbic system causing fatigue, reducing emotional bandwidth and impairing decision-making. The cost of non-authentic leadership is neurological burnout.

Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, author of The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colours, highlighted how systemic structures of dominance demand self-negation from Black individuals, especially women in order to survive professionally. Her analysis on the psychological impact of cultural suppression supports the neuroscientific evidence that long-term identity suppression not only distorts self-perception but disrupts collective leadership potential. Cress Welsing’s work reminds us that authenticity isn't a luxury it’s a legacy issue tied to healing, legacy and the right to self-define in leadership spaces.

So, what feels like “professionalism” to one group can feel like erasure to another. And the long-term effects are real:

• Chronic imposter syndrome and burnout from constant identity modulation

• Suppressed innovation from underrepresented leadership voices

• Missed opportunities to bring cultural insight into team and customer engagement

In the NHS, this dynamic has shown up through formal leadership pathways that often favour dominant communication and leadership styles, side-lining those who express leadership through collaboration, cultural care or community insight. Black and minority ethnic women frequently report being told to 'tone down' their approach, 'speak more clearly', or 'be less emotional' coded language that implicitly undermines their authourity and professional presence. These experiences don't just affect individuals, they ripple across teams, diminishing trust, reducing retention and stifling the kind of innovation that only comes from a fully empowered and diverse leadership base.

Organisations need to understand that the global workplace is changing. Leadership no longer lives in corner offices it lives in remote calls, global teams and hybrid ecosystems. Adaptive leaders are those who can navigate across cultures, not flatten them. If we want to build future-ready businesses, we must redefine leadership through a lens of inclusion, emotional intelligence and cultural fluency.

Leadership Exercise:

• Recall a moment when you were told to change how you lead or speak. Now reframe that moment in your mind. What if that feedback wasn’t rejection, but redirection? What did it teach you about the kind of leader you ‘won’t’ become?

• Write three statements starting with “When I lead with [trait], I create…” to anchor your leadership style in impact e.g., “When I lead with softness, I create trust.”

• Close your eyes and imagine yourself leading without self-editing. What does your tone, posture and energy feel like? Anchor that visual to a daily action a meeting, email, or pitch.

Inclusive leadership isn’t just about “adding chairs to the table.” It’s about changing who feels free to speak once they sit down. Organisations must:

• Redesign leadership frameworks to reflect cultural agility and equity

• Acknowledge code-switching as an organisational risk not an individual skill

• Elevate and reward diverse leadership styles as strategic advantages, not anomalies

Because when leadership reflects real diversity, performance becomes sustainable and culture becomes transformative.

Like, comment and tag a woman who leads with her full voice. If you’ve had to shrink to fit in, what will you reclaim this week and who can help you expand into it fully?

Tag a sponsor or ally who has made space for your leadership, or someone ready to stand beside you as you do the same for others. Because confidence grows faster when it’s nurtured in community not isolation.