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Dean's Key Initiatives: End the Gap

The Future of Business
is With Women

Looking back, 2020 was not “the year of the woman.” After decades of steady gains in the business world, the pandemic seemed to halt women’s momentum. Working mothers attempted an incredible juggling act to balance career, homeschooling and childcare—a losing battle for many. And overall, women lost more jobs than men during COVID. Some say the “shecession”—the lopsided impact of the recession on women—set them back by years.

But despite the hardships of COVID, emerging trends reveal a brighter future. Take the evolution of company culture. Once characterized as cutthroat or competitive, more workplaces are becoming supportive environments where leaders embrace empathy, diversity and inclusion—skills women tend to excel at. The result? Profits increase, retention improves, and brands flourish.

As women’s aptitudes grow in demand, Leeds has seen a steady rise in women applicants and built programming to support their success. For example, the End the Gap initiative is a unique value proposition of empowerment, mentorship and community for women.

More than ever, the COVID era underscored the need for agile leaders who can embrace change and adapt to new ways of working. As more companies realize the tangible impact of talented women, what other trends do we see shaping the future of women in business?

Relational leadership will gain popularity. Empathy and inclusion will be valued in driving profits and growth.
Women will start more businesses. With more women business graduates, funding options, and role models, women-owned businesses will expand.
Companies will build diverse management teams. Companies motivated to improve business performance will have more women at the top.
Women will rise in tech. In 2020, UNESCO predicted “the STEM future is female,” as talented women begin to turn the tide in tech.
B2B sales roles will shift to women. As more customers go virtual, companies will seek stronger relational skills from salespeople, which can favor women with these strengths.

women guiding others to safety

What Leeds’ Women Think

“We have this new generation of women who just sees the workplace in a very different light and expects to be treated as individuals. They are going to demand more and better from their employers in terms of being heard and listened to.”
Shannon Flahive (MBA’21) | Vice President | Manna Tree

“While working mothers have always faced a challenging work-life experience, the pandemic intensified it. My hope for the future of women at work is that they will (re)enter the workforce under more flexible workplace policies that help them thrive and advance.”
Jennifer Bone Ph.D. | Associate Chair, Professional Effectiveness | Business Communication Instructor

“We learned a lot in the pandemic: that we have made significant gains for middle- and upper-class white women, but we have largely left out entire swaths of our population. So I’m looking forward to being a part of the solution on how we create a more diverse set of pathways into business.”
Kirsten Suddath (MBA’16) | Senior Associate, Next Frontier Capital | President, Leeds MBA Alumni Board

“Women challenge the status quo and talk about the elephant in the room. In many cases, this leads to better decisions, more positive workforces, better return on investment, and a stronger top and bottom line.”
Anne Dupont, Chair Emeritus, World Pulse | Retired Senior Partner, Accenture | Leeds Advisory Board

“There is a growing recognition that women bring unique strengths to business—qualities that are growing in importance in today’s complex world. Listening. Empathy. Systems thinking. A more holistic view of the ecosystem and a willingness to seek solutions that help us all.”
Sherri Leopard, Senior Advisor & Entrepreneur in Residence, SYPartners | Retired Founder, Snowleopard Strategy | Leeds Advisory Board

“Now more than ever, I see women helping women. When I started my career, women tried to not be seen as women and avoided favoring other women. Which leads to my favorite quote from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: ‘There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’”
Jane Miller, CEO and Founder, Jane Knows | Co-founder and CEO, Haevn | Leeds Advisory Board

END THE GAP
Leeds launched the End the Gap initiative in 2017 with the goal to achieve gender parity across the school. Designed to encourage more women to pursue business degrees, the effort aims to shift the playing field around gender in business, beginning in the classroom and extending all the way to the C-suite. Learn more