Welcome to this special feature coinciding with International Women’s Day 2026. Our collection of 40+ women executive profiles this year shows that over the years, the skills of women executives in business have transformed. Today the skills of women executive include an understanding of what is required to reach, deliver and stay at the very top rungs of executive leadership, and this includes hard and soft skills. Today’s women executives are also in the best position to deliver the theme of IWD 2026 which is, give to gain. When women thrive, we all rise.
Top women executives from Ankabut, AWS, BCG, Bentley Systems, Censys, Check Point, Cloudera, CPX, Daikin, Dell Technologies, DXC Technology, Endava, Ericsson Gulf , Globant, Heriot-Watt University, Holcim, HPE, IBM Consulting, IFS, Informatica from Salesforce, Liferay, ManageEngine, MAXION, Metropolitan Premium Properties, MRI Software, NTT DATA, NVIDIA, Piece Of You, PlanRadar, SandboxAQ, SANS Institute, Saxo Bank, Sophos, UBS Global Wealth Management, Union Properties, Veeam, Zurich International Life, Tenable, chose to share their profiles and experiences.
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Conversations are key to shaping trust
Anastasiya leads a communications and business consultant firm in the UAE. She has been supporting companies, institutions, diplomatic bodies, trade institutions, government institutions, and NGOs across MENA, CIS, and international markets, advising them on how to increase visibility in a complex B2B tech space. She also serves as a mentor for start-ups and SME’s helping them scale in this sector through the right communication strategies.
Top skills
Anastasiya focuses on communication with clients, the team, and partners, because the way conversations are being handled is key to shaping trust and engaging people. Emotional intelligence has been helping her provide support, build a positive environment, and keep relationships strong. Ethics has been staying at the backbone of everything she is doing, creating a solid foundation that is keeping people close for years and engaging them in initiatives that truly matter.
Soft approach
Clear communication, confident management, at the same time diplomatic feedback are helping women build credibility and influence across functions. Overall, these skills are proving essential for women executives to stand out, accelerate progression, and turn expertise into trusted leadership. Anastasiya believes that no one can be good at everything. Her strengths have been coming from genuine care and a strong focus on people around her more than on herself.
You do not need to be the loudest person in the room, just support others, build your actions on ethics, and lead with passion, and people will gather around that kind of leadership, creating meaningful impact together.
Most satisfying
Job satisfaction has been coming from a real love for helping clients with market outreach strategies in the B2B tech space, turning work into something close to a hobby. Seeing business stories evolve, and lives being positively influenced through her work, has been rewarding.
Most challenging
The challenging side is financial management, legal, and accounting matters. For these, she has been engaging specialist experts.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace environment is supportive and positive, with no bullying or judgement. Mentorship and guidance are provided with logic and context, not a just do this approach. Teamwork is prioritised, with ethics as a core requirement for both the team and management. It is important to be humble, alongside dialogue and an open-door policy to fix and improve things together.
Five years from now …
Anastasiya is aiming to use her skills, passion, and experience to lead diverse challenging projects, and expand her expertise across industries. In her business, Anastasiya looks forward to creating a wider ecosystem, introducing more services, tapping into more markets, and supporting and empowering more team members.
Success mantras
- You do not need to be the loudest person in the room, just support others, build your actions on ethics, and lead with passion.
- An ideal workplace environment is supportive and positive, with no bullying or judgement.
- Clear communication, confident management, at the same time diplomatic feedback are helping women build credibility and influence across functions.
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Turning ambiguity into clarity adds most value
Ghada Ali leads the alliances and transformation initiatives at Ankabut. She works closely with partners to build long term alliances, negotiate complex agreements and ensure technology strategies align with broader national and institutional goals. Throughout her career she has played a key role in building technology partnerships and developed governance – led vendor models that support steady growth.
Top skills
Ghada has driven complex technology partnerships by aligning strategic vision with strong communication successfully throughout her career. She works across diverse stakeholder groups, bringing emotional intelligence, resilience, and composure to every interaction.
Through active listening and effective communication, she aligns commercial, technical, and leadership teams around common goals. She addresses challenges without compromising trust, strengthening long-term relationships. Her clear, confident decision-making and team-oriented approach help bridge business and technology execution.
Soft approach
People and soft skills are powerful differentiators rather than optional attributes for women. While technical expertise earns credibility, emotional intelligence strengthens influence over time. Managing challenges and complex situations with clear communication at an executive level helps leader’s standout.
When women lead with both assertiveness and empathy, this creates high-performing, psychologically safe environments where teams feel empowered to contribute. In competitive environments, the ability to build relationships and confident decision-making is often what sets leaders apart.
Most satisfying
For Ghada, job satisfaction is the impact she creates rather than the activity. She is inspired by influencing direction, connecting ecosystems, and building frameworks that last beyond individual projects. Turning ambiguity into clarity is where she adds the most value.
Most challenging
The toughest moments arise when resources are stretched, or urgency overtakes thoughtful planning. Operating through pressure while protecting governance standards requires disciplined composure. However, these challenges have refined her approach and strengthened her ability to make decisions under complexity.
Dream workplace
Ghada feels that an ideal workplace is built on clarity, responsible leadership and trust. Performance should be measured by the quality of the work done. She supports work environments that encourage constructive and positive feedback and where effort is recognised, and performance is supported in a way that is sustainable and not exhausting.
Five years from now…
In coming years, Ghada intends to take greater responsibility by stepping into an executive leadership role where she can drive digital transformation at a regional and national level. Alongside this, she remains dedicated to supporting education-led CSR initiatives and mentoring future leaders.
Success mantras
- People and soft skills are powerful differentiators rather than optional attributes for women.
- While technical expertise earns credibility, emotional intelligence strengthens influence over time.
- When women lead with both assertiveness and empathy, this creates high-performing, psychologically safe environments.
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Progress, not perfection, drives lasting success
With seven years at Amazon Web Services, Ghada is helping regulated organisations navigate complex compliance and security requirements while driving cloud innovation. She takes pride with the latest UAE e& Sovereign Launchpad, with an aim to scale similar strategic partnership models globally.
Top skills
Throughout her career, multiple roles spanning individual contribution and people management have been undertaken. These experiences have taught that leadership is not defined by a title – it is driven by influence, impact, and respect. Success requires a clear strategy, strong execution plan, ability to communicate with clarity, building trust, and being accountable for your decisions.
It has also been learned that the power of delegation is critical to driving growth. Trusting and empowering your teams by giving them ownership and the space to execute, while providing ongoing feedback, guidance, and coaching, is essential to building high-performing teams.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are equally critical for all executives, regardless of gender. Women leaders bring exceptional strengths to the table – emotional intelligence, resilience, and the ability to drive results through collaboration. What sets successful executives apart is maintaining composure under pressure, staying laser-focused on outcomes, and executing closely with their teams.
Embracing failure as a natural steppingstone in any success cycle is essential. The most effective leaders process setbacks quickly, establish a clear mitigation path, and pivot fast. Women executives should leverage their innate strengths with confidence and self-compassion, recognising that progress – not perfection- is what drives lasting success.
Most satisfying
What is most enjoyed is engaging with customers and partners – building trusted relationships, understanding their needs, collaborating with my teams and peers to drive innovative solutions, and helping customers achieve their business outcomes.
Equally rewarding is the opportunity to bring regional perspectives to global leadership, ensuring that unique market nuances are reflected in product roadmaps and go-to-market strategies. This process of bridging regional expertise with global strategy is both intellectually stimulating and deeply fulfilling, as it drives meaningful impact for our customers and partners.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is like a well-architected solution – every piece matters. It starts with putting customers and employees first, building trust, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and respecting individual strengths. When these elements come together seamlessly, they create an environment where people thrive, innovate, and deliver meaningful impact as one unified team.
Five years from now…
This career is guided by two principles: staying relevant through continuous learning across evolving technological domains and industry landscapes and driving meaningful impact through measurable results and success stories. In five years, there is a vision of building on these foundations to lead at a larger, global scale.
Success mantras
- Women leaders bring exceptional strengths to the table – emotional intelligence, resilience, ability to drive results through collaboration.
- People and soft skills are equally critical for all executives, regardless of gender.
- What sets successful executives apart is maintaining composure under pressure, staying focused on outcomes, executing closely with teams.
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Believing in the power of people
Iman Alomrani’s role is all about working closely with customers and partners and enabling their digital transformation agendas. This starts by earning trust with the leaders and decision makers from government, education, healthcare, or any enterprise. It also includes strategic conversations on how people, process, and technology align for successful implementations.
Top skills
We are human, and even the most brilliant individuals can make mistakes. What defines us is what we choose to do to be better – for ourselves and for others. In leading people, empathy, emotional intelligence, and assertiveness are a few key skills that make a difference. Acknowledging the difference in perspectives allows conversations to take different forms and build stronger bonds.
Assertiveness is equally important as it sets the tone for the standards of work accepted, expected and delivered. Leading by example works to demonstrate that no one is above the rules and we are all in it together.
Soft skills
Delivering results requires people. Delivering impactful and successful projects also requires people. Why? Because it is people that move the work forward. Hence, as an executive and a leader, it is important to believe in the power of people.
One must know how to motivate people, believe in their capabilities and at the same time create psychological safety for them to be vulnerable, should they stumble. It is not the power of one individual, but rather the collective.
Most satisfying
High job satisfaction stems from seeing the value brought to others, be it a team member coached to advance in their career and nail their promotion, or a project well executed when it had multiple technical complexities and interdependencies or disagreeable stakeholders.
Most challenging
Challenges are inevitable and it is how you approach them that makes the difference. Facing them head on, with the right attitude, the right mindset, the right team, even the impossible becomes possible.
Dream workplace
A dream workplace allows us to be our true selves – it starts and ends with respect. It harnesses the power of people and their strengths while encouraging experimentation and the freedom to fail without repercussions.
Five years from now…
Currently, the role involves leading and mentoring people to responsibly leverage Generative and Agentic AI to address real-world challenges. Five years from now, the aim is to amplify this impact at a larger scale, ensuring it continues to drive progress, purpose, and meaningful human outcomes.
Success mantras
- In leading people, empathy, emotional intelligence, and assertiveness are a few key skills that make a difference.
- Acknowledging the difference in perspectives allows conversations to take different forms and build stronger bonds.
- Assertiveness is equally important as it sets the tone for the standards of work accepted, expected and delivered.
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Combining commercial sharpness and presence to create impact
In her role, Madhavi Reddy drives regional growth and AI-led cloud adoption. Meaningful achievements include accelerating customer outcomes, building high-performing multidisciplinary teams, strengthening government and enterprise partnerships, advancing in-region digital-talent initiatives, supporting national digital-economy ambitions, and long-term soc-economic growth.
Top skills
Madhavi’s career progression has been anchored in people and soft skills, reinforced by strategic, technical, and execution capabilities. As technical competence became a baseline, advancement depended on influence, executive presence, empathy, and the ability to lead through others in complex organisations. Balancing senior leadership with motherhood in a dual-career household strengthened prioritisation, boundary-setting, and emotional intelligence.
Over 35 years in technology, continuous learning – from mainframes to cloud and AI, has ensured relevance. Living and working across India, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the US further honed my cross-cultural leadership, now passed on through mentoring women in STEM and leadership.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are decisive for women executives seeking to stand out and progress, once technical competence becomes table stakes. Technical skills establish credibility, but strategic influence, stakeholder alignment, and cultivating cross-functional partnerships are what truly drive career progression.
The courage to take calculated risks, embrace opportunities, and speak up in high-stakes moments set exceptional leaders apart. Ultimately, women who combine commercial sharpness with authentic presence and purpose create lasting impact and pave the way for future leaders.
Most satisfying
High job satisfaction stems from building and empowering high-performing teams, seeing customers and governments achieve meaningful outcomes, and contributing to long-term socio-economic impact through technology and talent development. Complex transformation, mentoring leaders, and shaping strategy at scale are particularly energising.
Most challenging
Some of the most growth-oriented aspects which could be challenging but rewarding include embracing ambiguity as an opportunity, thriving in a fast-moving environment, and collaborating across global teams. These experiences cultivate resilience, sharpen strategic thinking, and deepen purposeful leadership
Five years from now…
Five years from now, Madhavi Reddy sees herself leading at a global scale, continuing to shape technology-enabled business strategy and contribute to industry trends, while deepening impact through board roles and mentoring future leaders in STEM. The focus will be on sustainable growth and long-term societal impact through innovation and democratised education.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace combines purpose, scale, and impact. A workplace that values purpose-driven leadership, empowers high-performing teams, encourages cross-cultural collaboration while enabling bold, long-term thinking and responsible innovation.
Success mantras
- People and soft skills are decisive for women executives seeking to stand out and progress.
- Technical skills establish credibility, but strategic influence, stakeholder alignment, cultivating cross-functional partnerships drive career progression.
- The courage to take calculated risks, embrace opportunities, and speak up in high-stakes moments set exceptional leaders apart.
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From gatekeeper to strategic business enabler
As the Head of Legal at AWS, Yasmine Afifi supports the Amazon Global Sales organisation across Middle East, Africa and Turkey spanning customers of all sizes across public sector, regulated industries, commercial enterprises, SMBs, and start-ups. This role particularly highlights leading key AWS flagship projects and infrastructure expansion over the past six years.
Top skills
Beyond legal expertise, her career has been built on high-judgment advisory, cultural intelligence, and empathetic leadership. In the legal field, people’s skills translate into being a trusted advisor who can simplify complex risks for executive leadership. Furthermore, as a people manager, a high-performing regional legal team has been built from the ground up, embracing the same mindset. These soft skills turn a legal department from a gatekeeper into a strategic business enabler.
Soft skills
For women executives, soft skills like resilience, strategic influence, and emotional intelligence are critical for navigating high-stakes environments. Strategic simplification, the ability to communicate complex data clearly, is a powerful tool for gaining executive leadership trust.
Additionally, leading with authenticity and purpose, allows women to shape corporate culture. By combining technical excellence with the ability to inspire and mentor others, women can transition from functional experts to indispensable organisational leaders.
Most satisfying
Immense satisfaction is found in the ability to influence tech policies and regulations through public consultations and building trust with regulators. While navigating rapidly evolving regulations requires constant agility and adaptability, balancing the need for business expansion with robust risk mitigation and solving these complex puzzle-like problems are exactly what keep the role intellectually rewarding.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is one that Strives to be Earth’s Best Employer – which is an Amazon Leadership Principle. It must be a high-trust culture where collaboration is foundational, fuelled by curiosity and constructive debate to drive innovation and deliver meaningful impact for customers and society.
Five years from now…
In five years, Yasmine envisions a global leadership role, scaling the strategic business enablement approach I have built regionally to a worldwide stage. The aim is to lead a global team, shape tech policy at a broader level, and continue driving impactful initiatives that bridge legal strategy with business growth.
Success mantras
- For women executives, soft skills like resilience, strategic influence, and emotional intelligence are critical for navigating high-stakes environments.
- Leading with authenticity and purpose, allows women to shape corporate culture.
- Strategic simplification, the ability to communicate complex data clearly, is a powerful tool for gaining executive leadership trust.
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Impact is the driver, not slides or presentations
Maya El Hachem leads the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices hosting around 1000 BCGers. She has been recognised for shaping national transformation agendas across the GCC and was named among Forbes Middle East’s 100 Most Powerful Businesswomen in 2025.
Top skills
Maya’s career has been anchored in three key skills: trust, collaboration, and mentoring emerging leaders. She prioritises building trust early, laying the foundation for honest dialogue and durable partnerships. She fosters collaboration across diverse teams, aligning people around shared goals and breaking down silos to accelerate progress.
Equally important, she invests in mentoring the next generation of leaders, believing transformation endures when capability is built from within. By combining strong relationships with collaborative teamwork and lifting others up, she drives both business outcomes and long-term leadership growth.
Soft skills
Soft skills are not optional – they are differentiators acting as a window into one’s authentic leadership style . The ability to build trust, influence without authority, and mobilise diverse teams through ambiguity separates managers from true transformation leaders.
For women executives, emotional intelligence and a strong instinct for collaboration are powerful assets. They help bridge silos, align people, and sustain momentum through uncertainty. These strengths do not replace strategic acumen and technical depth – they amplify it.
Most satisfying
Impact is what drives Maya – not the slide or the strategy presentation, but seeing ideas turn into lasting change for the people and economies she serves. In her work in shaping social, human, and economic agendas, working side-by-side with clients and teams, converting ambition into outcomes and ensuring they endure is what gives the work meaning. Leading BCG’s Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices adds another layer of purpose.
Most challenging
The hardest part is balancing long-term ambition with immediate demands and priorities. The discipline lies in making sure today’s decisions accelerate tomorrow’s transformation – not dilute it.
Dream workplace
Maya’s ideal workplace is a vibrant, purpose-driven environment built on trust, belonging, and shared ambition. It champions continuous learning, empowering everyone to innovate and grow together. This supportive culture derives motivation from a collective mission, making work both meaningful and fun, while fostering a setting where individuals truly thrive.
Five years from now…
Shape institutions that outlast strategies and leaders who outgrow their roles – that is how Maya sees the next chapter of her career. She aims to deepen impact across the region, particularly in national transformation agendas.
Success mantras
- Discipline lies in making sure today’s decisions accelerate tomorrow’s transformation – not dilute it.
- Prioritise building trust early, laying the foundation for honest dialogue and durable partnerships.
- For women executives, emotional intelligence and an instinct for collaboration are powerful assets.
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Enabling people to succeed through human-centric AI
At Bentley Systems, Ruth Sleeter directs global strategy for internal technology, systems, data, and security, which includes AI enablement and adoption across the company. Her distinguished 25-year career spans software leadership, strategic planning, and leading major business transformation initiatives. Prior to this, she served as CIO at Axon and Sonos, complemented by major IT transformation efforts at Lenovo and Deutsche Bank.
Top skills
Ruth’s career has been defined by a strong systems thinking, honed through computer science training and reinforced in engineering and product roles. Her ability to deconstruct complex problems and design effective systems underpins her leadership style. She leverages product management experience, customer empathy, and clear communication as foundational CIO skills.
Her customer-facing work has sharpened her understanding of user needs, while her time at Deutsche Bank and Lenovo informed her knowledge of business processes and transformation. These skills enable her to be a strategic leader who aligns technology with organisational priorities and business outcomes.
Soft skills
Ruth’s experience underscores how people-centric strengths shape leadership journeys for women. Though she once believed results should transcend gender, her senior roles showed her the importance of mentorship, especially as women early in their careers sought out her guidance. She maintains that open dialogue about gender equity helps create more inclusive environments.
This philosophy appears in her human-first approach to AI adoption, which prioritises empathy and communication. She finds these soft skills enable women leaders to build trust, guide change, and foster a true sense of belonging within their teams.
Most satisfying
Ruth finds energy in strategic leadership, particularly in translating organisational strategy into actionable technology investments. A major driver of her job satisfaction is enabling people to succeed through human-centric AI.
Most challenging
Challenges arise from breadth of information required for executive decisions, complexity of aligning diverse business functions, and emergence and rise of AI adoption. Managing this requires flexible thinking and empathy to guide the organisation through a transformational business shift in workplace practices.
Dream workplace
Ruth’s ideal workplace values systems thinking, open dialogue, and human-first leadership. This environment encourages experimentation and flexible approaches to emerging technologies like AI. It also embraces transparent conversations on inclusion and empowers individuals to improve their daily work.
Five years from now…
Ruth’s career trajectory centres on deepening her strategic leadership and advancing human-centric AI adoption. She aims to continue shaping organisational transformation and mentoring future leaders as AI reshapes global workforces. Her focus is ensuring technology investments reflect business priorities and strengthen systems thinking at scale.
Success mantras
- People-centric strengths shape leadership journeys for women.
- Open dialogue about gender equity helps create more inclusive environments.
- Soft skills enable women leaders to build trust, guide change, and foster a true sense of belonging within their teams.
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Inclusion should be more than surface gesture
Meriam is responsible for regional growth strategy across revenue, partnerships, and ecosystem development. Her proudest achievement is developing a focused security practice from scratch at VMware targeting the top focus partners in the META region. She turned the channel into a strong force that deployed innovative technology in the region.
Top skills
Over Meriam’s career spanning more than two decades in cybersecurity and enterprise technology, her greatest skill has been the ability to be resilient, empathetic, and develop meaningful relationships. She has always led from a perspective that consensus-building generates far more engaged and motivated teams than direction from the top.
Her exposure to working in diverse markets has helped develop her cultural intelligence. Meriam’s background in mathematics has also helped develop her critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. She is a strong believer in mentorship and sponsorship, both as a mentee early in her career and now as an active sponsor, and she believes these are compounding skill sets.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are not peripheral because they are the basic foundations of successful leadership. A female executive’s professional competence may get them into their desired roles, but real influence lies with how they lead with empathy, communicate clearly, and build trust with stakeholders.
These skills can become a strategic differentiator in places where women are still underrepresented, allowing for better inclusivity, establishing credibility, and managing conflict with grace. Having technical skills can be an advantage for more opportunities, but success lies with one’s authenticity and courage to lead with purpose.
Most satisfying
Meriam considers her team’s growth and success as her ultimate reward, especially when they successfully sign deals and create partnerships. Knowing that the services Censys offers are making an impact on the region and helping businesses and governments embrace proactive security is something she finds fulfilling.
Most challenging
The need to prove her credibility in environments where women continue to be the exception and not the rule is a challenge. She now understands that this is a standard she has set for herself and not a barrier.
Dream workplace
Inclusion should be more than just a surface-level gesture. Team members have been proven to thrive when they work in an environment where sponsorship and mentoring are part of the culture. This creates a real pathway for growth and where leadership is measured by impact and merit.
Five years from now…
In five years, Meriam envisions having built Censys as the go-to Internet intelligence vendor in META, with a strong regional team and partner ecosystem. She also wants to be a visible advocate for the next generation of women leaders in cybersecurity.
Success mantras
- Consensus-building generates more engaged and motivated teams than direction from the top.
- People and soft skills are not peripheral because they are the basic foundations of successful leadership.
- Real influence lies with how women executives lead with empathy, communicate clearly, and build trust with stakeholders.
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People skills are my strongest differentiator
As a Partner Sales Manager at Check Point, I drive revenue growth by building strategic partnerships across the territory. I enable partners with prevention-first security solutions, innovation and joint go-to-market strategies. A milestone I deeply value is being the first woman appointed to this role in GCC—an achievement that reflects trust, progress and inclusion.
Top skills
Throughout my career, people skills have been my strongest differentiator. Relationship-building, empathy and trust are essential in the channel ecosystem, where long-term success depends on collaboration. Resilience helps me navigate market pressures, while adaptability enables me to respond to evolving cybersecurity trends. Strong negotiation skills allow me to transform challenges into aligned business outcomes.
Clear, transparent communication ensures consistency between partners and Check Point’s strategy. I also prioritise strategic thinking and accountability, balancing performance with partnership. In a fast-moving industry driven by innovation, combining emotional intelligence with business acumen has been key to sustaining growth and delivering impact.
Soft approach
People and soft skills are critical for leadership and especially powerful for women executives. Empathy, clarity in communication and the ability to build trust creates influence beyond hierarchy. Confidence enables women to navigate competitive environments while remaining authentic. While technical expertise builds credibility, emotional intelligence sustains long-term leadership impact.
Most satisfying
The most rewarding aspect of my role is empowering partners to succeed in a rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape. Supporting them in delivering prevention-first security solutions that protect customers from emerging threats gives me strong purpose. I value the trust we build and the measurable growth we achieve together.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is operating in a highly competitive and dynamic market while maintaining alignment across stakeholders. Balancing short-term commercial objectives with long-term partnerships requires agility and strategic decision-making.
Dream workplace
My ideal workplace values trust, innovation, collaboration and accountability.
Five years from now…
In five years, I see myself in a leadership role within Check Point, driving strategic growth while mentoring the next generation of women leaders in cybersecurity. I aim to contribute not only to business success, but also to a culture rooted in innovation, collaboration and empowerment.
Success mantras
- Empathy, clarity in communication and ability to build trust creates influence beyond hierarchy.
- Confidence enables women to navigate competitive environments while remaining authentic.
- While technical expertise builds credibility, emotional intelligence sustains long-term leadership impact.
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Translating legal complexity into business advice
Alexandra Gartrell leads a team of lawyers across Europe, Middle East, and Africa, overseeing legal matters for the region, supporting sales, operations, and corporate functions. Alexandra enjoys working with every one of them, and is able to navigate complex, multi-jurisdictional matters, whilst ensuring business continuity and reinforcing the commitment to professional excellence.
Top skills
Alexandra’s technical expertise lies in technology, media, and telecoms, leading complex negotiations, working internationally, and managing risk. When working in a fast-paced environment, it is important to communicate clearly, be decisive, and lead with empathy. It is vital to be able to translate legal complexity into actionable business advice.
Alexandra’s diverse team is empowered to take responsibility, engaging with her and other stakeholders. Alexandra strives to foster a collegiate environment focused on building strong, trusted relationships with our colleagues, which results in fast problem-solving.
Soft skills
Communication is the most important skill to progress in the workplace. While technical acumen is essential, fostering positive relationships with colleagues is vitally important. Alexandra has had the pleasure of working with many exceptional women executives, but the ones who have stood out in her career have done so by championing not only their ideas but also developing space for innovation in their teams. Leading with resilience and commitment to mentoring others are also key.
Most satisfying
Alexandra gains a high level of satisfaction by solving problems and seeing projects through to their conclusion. She enjoys working in an international environment, where she can work with many different people from various backgrounds across the world and foster an environment that celebrates individual successes as well as team efforts.
Alexandra has mentored and coached many people during her career, and it is wonderful to see individuals flourish through the process. It is a two-way exchange, and Alexandra always learn during the process.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is navigating change, which requires the ability to look ahead and anticipate change.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is one where the culture is transparent and collaborative, where employees feel psychological safety, and where intellectual curiosity is valued. Collaboration should be the default position where employees feel able to innovate and are supported on their personal and professional journeys.
Five years from now…
Alexandra leads Cloudera’s sustainability and actively supports our Women Leaders in Technology and Women Data Pioneers initiatives. Alexandra hopes that in five years, she will be able to devote more time to these important causes, as well as continuing to support those at various stages of their careers through mentoring and coaching.
Success mantras
- Communication is the most important skill to progress in the workplace.
- While technical acumen is essential, fostering positive relationships with colleagues is vitally important.
- Leading with resilience and commitment to mentoring others is also key.
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Competence and courage paves way for future generations
Nasma Al Mansoori’s role focuses on leading strategic supply chain operations, procurement governance, and business services to enable operational excellence and sustainable growth. As a proud UAE national, contributing to resilient capabilities aligned with the UAE’s long-term national vision remains especially meaningful.
Top skills
Throughout her career, strategic thinking, strong stakeholder alignment, and values-driven leadership have been critical. Beyond technical expertise, emotional intelligence, communication, and influence are essential in delivering results across complex environments.
To me, leadership is grounded in clarity of vision and empowering others to perform at their best. Building trust, fostering accountability, and navigating change with resilience continue to shape my approach.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are powerful enablers of long-term success. Technical capability establishes credibility but communication, confidence, and executive presence determine influence. Women executives who lead with authenticity and decisiveness are well positioned to shape outcomes and inspire teams.
Resilience and strategic thinking are particularly important in navigating complex environments. In line with the UAE’s commitment to women empowerment and leadership development, women who combine competence with courage and purpose not only advance their own careers but also pave the way for future generations and ultimately strengthen national progress.
Most satisfying
The greatest sense of satisfaction comes from building strong operational foundations that enable performance and long-term value creation. Developing high-performing teams, mentoring emerging leaders, and contributing to institutional resilience are particularly rewarding aspects of the role.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is balancing competing priorities like cost, risk, speed, and stakeholder expectations while also maintaining governance and strategic alignment. They require thoughtful decision-making and steady leadership, which ultimately strengthen organisational capability.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is built on trust, accountability, and shared purpose. It promotes inclusion, continuous learning, and performance excellence. Strong governance, clear strategy, and empowered teams create sustainable success. Most importantly, it inspires individuals to contribute meaningfully to organisational impact and national progress.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, her goal is to contribute at a broader strategic level, helping shape enterprise resilience, governance, and sustainable growth initiatives. The focus will remain on mentoring future leaders and strengthening capabilities that enhance national competitiveness and long-term economic development.
Success mantras
- People and soft skills are powerful enablers of long-term success.
- Technical capability establishes credibility but communication, confidence, and executive presence determine influence.
- Women executives who lead with authenticity and decisiveness are positioned to shape outcomes and inspire teams.
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Supporting long term capability building and cultural resilience
Laila Sahaf-Amin leads strategic integration of environmental, social, and governance priorities into the company’s business and value creation agenda. The role oversees ESG strategy alignment with Daikin’s sustainability vision.
Top skills
Laila is a people centric leader recognised for her ability to inspire, engage, and empower diverse teams across technical, commercial, and sustainability functions. Through visible advocacy for diversity, inclusion, and women in engineering, she promotes trust, psychological safety, and shared purpose.
Laila is known for coaching oriented leadership, encouraging growth mindsets, cross functional teamwork, and ownership while aligning people efforts with broader ESG and organisational objectives. Her people management approach balances high performance with care, supporting long term capability building and cultural resilience across the organisation.
Soft skills
Soft skills and people skills are critical for women executives as they enable inclusive, high impact leadership in complex organisations. Capabilities such as emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, and collaboration help women leaders build trust, motivate diverse teams, and navigate change effectively.
In modern, matrixed, and hybrid workplaces, strong people skills allow women executives to influence beyond authority, drive performance, and deliver sustainable, long term organisational success.
Most satisfying
Job satisfaction comes from contributing to a meaningful transformation in mindset across the organisation, helping to create a cultural shift where shared values become part of everyday work and decision-making. Supporting this move toward more responsible and future-focused practices provides a strong sense of purpose.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is turning this vision into clear, practical results that business leaders can see and support. Demonstrating real value, gaining ongoing commitment, and keeping different teams engaged requires persistence and strong communication. Converting long-term goals into concrete actions that deliver visible benefits remains complex and demanding.
Dream workplace
A dream workplace is one where psychological safety allows people to speak up, take risks, and be their authentic selves without fear, fostering trust and collaboration. Achievements are recognised fairly and inclusively, ensuring equal respect and opportunity regardless of gender or background. Flexible work arrangements support work life integration, enabling employees to balance performance with personal wellbeing.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, Laila’s career progression is aligned with the strategic direction set by Daikin Industries through its Fusion Plan. As the ESG function is newly established in the Middle East, the focus will be on building a strong framework and baseline. Continuous learning, agility, and adapting to rapid AI-driven change will be essential.
Success mantras
- Demonstrating real value, gaining commitment, and keeping different teams engaged requires persistence and strong communication.
- Soft skills and people skills are critical for women executives as they enable high impact leadership in organisations.
- Capabilities such as emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, and collaboration help women leaders build trust and navigate change.
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Mentoring female leaders across technology is an aspiration
Haifa AbouFarah’s focus is on leading strategic enterprise relationships, driving digital transformation, and delivering measurable business outcomes. With 17 years in the IT industry and a background in computer engineering, she contributes to the growth of complex accounts while championing sustainability and inclusive leadership initiatives.
Top skills
Throughout her career, relationship-building, resilience, emotional intelligence, and strategic communication have been central to success. Enterprise sales are ultimately about trust: understanding client challenges deeply and aligning technology with real business value. Active listening, empathy, and adaptability have been critical, especially when navigating complex stakeholder environments.
Confidence combined with authenticity builds long-term credibility, while resilience remains critical in sales environments. Staying solution-oriented and focused despite setbacks has proven just as important as technical expertise in sustaining long-term success.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are not optional, they are differentiators. For women executives, emotional intelligence, executive presence, and the ability to influence strategically are powerful accelerators. While technical competence earns a seat at the table, communication, confidence, and clarity of vision enable leaders to shape conversations and outcomes.
Women often bring strong collaboration and empathy to leadership; when combined with assertiveness and strategic thinking, this becomes a competitive advantage. Progression requires balancing authenticity with courage, speaking up, taking space, and building networks.
Most satisfying
The greatest motivation comes from impact, helping organisations transform through technology and seeing tangible business results. Building long-term partnerships and being recognised as a trusted advisor rather than simply a vendor is particularly rewarding. Mentoring others and contributing beyond revenue targets also brings strong professional fulfilment.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is managing competing priorities in high-pressure environments while ensuring strategic focus is not lost in operational urgency. Enterprise sales can be unpredictable, requiring agility and resilience. However, these challenges also sharpen leadership and decision-making skills.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is purpose-driven, inclusive, and performance-oriented. It values merit, encourages diverse perspectives, and fosters psychological safety. Transparent and empowering leadership, with clear growth pathways and flexibility enables a culture where ambition and wellbeing coexist. This creates sustainable success for individuals and organisations alike.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, Haifa’s ambition is to take on a broader leadership role driving strategic growth across regions while continuing to champion sustainability and inclusive leadership. Influencing business transformation at scale and mentoring emerging female leaders across technology and enterprise sales remain key aspirations.
Success mantras
- For women executives, emotional intelligence, executive presence, and ability to influence strategically are accelerators.
- While technical competence earns a seat at the table, communication, confidence, and clarity of vision enable leaders to shape conversations and outcomes.
- Women often bring collaboration and empathy to leadership; when combined with assertiveness and strategic thinking, this becomes a competitive advantage.
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Soft skills are not soft at all
Clodagh Farrell role is about stewardship of the business, of people, and of culture. She is accountable for financial and operational outcomes, but she is just as focused on how DXC gets there. What she is most proud of is not just one single result, but the trust and clarity she and her team have built during times of change, and the space for open conversation.
Soft skills
The longer Clodagh leads, the more convinced she is that soft skills are not ‘soft’ at all; they are the hardest and most impactful skills to master. Clarity in communication, simplifying the complex so people know what really matters, being authentic and having a willingness to listen are important skills to her.
Clodagh believes that it is crucial to make engagement, recognition, and development part of the rhythm of leadership. The achievements that matter most to her are seeing people grow in confidence, stepping into leadership opportunities and feeling genuinely valued.
Clodagh leads by passing on the valuable lessons she had the opportunity to benefit from. According to her, people do not need leaders to have all the answers, they need leaders who are real, clear, and willing to listen.
For women, leadership often is not just about capability, it is about visibility, credibility, and influence. Women leaders often need people or soft skills not because they lack hard skills, but because leadership is gendered. They face a double bind in how assertiveness is judged, and they receive less informal sponsorship and career advocacy.
Research from McKinsey, LeanIn and Harvard-linked sources shows women’s advancement depends significantly on visibility, networks, and psychological safety. This makes influence, communication, and relationship-building disproportionately important levers for impact and progression. When women lead with empathy and strength, it changes the tone of the room and the outcomes.
Dream workplace
Clodagh’s ideal workplace is one where performance and humanity coexist, where trust, transparency and accountability are present, and diverse perspectives are genuinely valued. She believes that we must invest in our people’s growth, learning and adaptability. When people feel safe, seen and supported, performance follows every time.
If there is one thing she has learned, it is that you do not have to change who you are to succeed. Clodagh’s experience has shown her that leaders who combine strong business acumen with empathy, courage, and authenticity create followership, not compliance.
Next five years…
In five years, Clodagh wants to be operating at a broader enterprise level, driving impactful outcome. It is important to her to continue building strong leadership benches, particularly for women, as that is her legacy. Progress, for Clodagh, is about scale of impact and influence.
Success mantras
- Clarity in communication, simplifying the complex, being authentic and having a willingness to listen are important skills to her.
- It is crucial to make engagement, recognition, development part of the rhythm of leadership.
- For women, leadership is not just about capability, it is about visibility, credibility, and influence.
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What matters most is self-awareness
Maria Gomez works as Chief of Staff to Endava’s CTO, which she considers genuinely a privilege. The role gives her a front-row seat to the decisions shaping the future of Endava’s business, but it is also very hands-on. Maria is involved in delivering key transformation initiatives while continuing to work directly with clients.
Top skills
Across her career, Maria has relied heavily on positivity, pragmatism, and strong relationship building. She is a natural problem solver and likes to bring perspective to situations and focus on resolving them without over complicating things. She believes that most challenges just need clarity, ownership, and action.
A key strength in her role is the ability to quickly understand new topics and complex issues, assimilate information at pace, and get up to speed fast, particularly important in environments where priorities shift and context changes frequently.
The ability to build strong, genuine relationships has been fundamental to her success. She considers herself a people person, and cares about the humans behind the roles. Maria believes in taking accountability, not taking things personally, and backing her team, especially when things are tough.
Soft skills
Maria does not think that women need a different set of soft skills, than men, to succeed. She has never approached her career thinking she needed to develop certain capabilities because of her gender. In Maria’s view, strong leadership skills, clarity, accountability, empathy, decisiveness, are universal.
Maria points out that what matters more is self-awareness. The key is understanding where you uniquely add value and leaning into that with confidence. Soft skills absolutely matter in leadership, the ability to build trust, align diverse stakeholders, and navigate ambiguity is what drives influence. Maria personally believes that when you are authentic and consistent, progression tends to follow naturally.
Most satisfying
People are, without question, the most fulfilling part of Maria’s job. She feels that she is incredibly fortunate to work with inspiring individuals that she admires and can learn from. For her, that sense of mutual respect makes even the toughest weeks worthwhile.
Most challenging
But at the same time, that variety can be challenging. There is a lot of contexts switching and ambiguity, and some days she feels pulled in many directions. It requires resilience and focus, but Maria has come to see that stretch as part of growth.
Dream workplace
Maria values environments where people feel safe to speak up, challenge ideas, and admit mistakes without fear. Maria is energised by cultures that embrace innovation and continuous learning. The best workplaces are those where people feel inspired, stretched, and supported in equal measure.
Success mantras
- Strong leadership skills; clarity, accountability, empathy, decisiveness, are universal.
- The key is understanding where you uniquely add value and leaning into that with confidence.
- When you are authentic and consistent, progression tends to follow naturally.
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Strengthening partnerships and guiding innovations
Petra Schirren leads regional strategy focused on advancing connectivity, digitalisation and next-generation networks. Drawing on more than two decades of global telecommunications leadership, her defining achievement has been strengthening trusted partnerships and guiding innovations that accelerate digital transformation across Gulf markets.
Top skills
Across her career, Petra has demonstrated the importance of adaptability, decisiveness and collaboration. She believes diverse teams spark innovation, solve complex challenges and deliver strategic outcomes across markets. Known for leading by example and delivering on commitments, she builds trust, accountability and inclusive leadership to empower teams and unlock high performance.
She approaches complexity with confidence, curiosity and resilience. Her leadership philosophy reflects the conviction that opportunities must be shaped through courage, continuous learning, and a willingness to embrace change.
Soft skills
For Petra, soft skills are fundamental leadership differentiators. Technical expertise may open doors, but the ability to inspire, communicate and build trust defines long-term impact. For women executives especially, strong interpersonal leadership enables influence, alignment and resilience in fast-changing environments.
These capabilities transform vision into execution and are essential for building high-performing teams, managing complexity, and driving innovation. By combining empathy with clarity, capability and confidence, women leaders can foster collaboration, navigate complexity, and create inclusive workplaces where diverse talent and ideas thrive.
Most satisfying
She is motivated by driving progress and witnessing teams deliver meaningful, measurable impact. Leading innovative initiatives and enabling partners to realise ambitious digital goals brings strong professional satisfaction. She finds fulfilment in helping organisations translate strategy into tangible outcomes that benefit businesses and communities.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is managing competing priorities across fast-moving markets. This requires sharp focus, disciplined decision-making and constant prioritisation. She views these challenges as opportunities to strengthen resilience and lead with clarity.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is built on integrity, inclusivity, and continuous learning, with room for enjoyment and positive energy. It encourages diverse perspectives, supports innovation, and empowers teams to tackle challenges, celebrate success, work hard, support one another, and enjoy the journey creating an environment where people feel trusted, and motivated to achieve their full potential.
Five years from now…
In five years, she aims to lead large scale strategic initiatives that shape the region’s digital future, while continuing to mentor emerging leaders.
Success mantras
- Technical expertise may open doors, but ability to inspire, communicate and build trust defines long-term impact.
- For women executives, strong interpersonal leadership enables influence, alignment and resilience in fast-changing environments.
- By combining empathy with clarity, capability and confidence, women leaders can create inclusive workplaces where diverse talent and ideas thrive.
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Working at intersection of growth and transformation
Laura Hernandez oversees technology, delivery, strategy, and sales across the Middle East. She works at the intersection of growth and transformation, helping scale complex programmes in highly competitive markets such as Saudi Arabia, where large-scale change is redefining industries and expectations.
Top skills
Throughout her career, Laura has focused on adaptability and building strong teams. She places emphasis on defining strategic direction and ensuring teams not only understand it, but see their role within it. She combines strong relationship-building skills with emotional intelligence. She believes people perform at their best when they are trusted, given real responsibility, and supported to grow.
Identifying individual strengths and creating space to maximise them has been central to her leadership. She encourages autonomy, paired with clear accountability for results. In technology and AI environments, meaningful scale happens when strategy, execution, and ownership move coordinated.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are critical for any executive operating in complex environments. The ability to influence, build alignment, and communicate with clarity determines whether strategy translates into results. Emotional intelligence, particularly the ability to stay calm and make sound decisions under pressure, reinforces leadership credibility.
Confidence and authenticity are powerful differentiators in executive leadership. Leadership is reflected in the quality of the teams built, the durability of the impact delivered, the trust earned over time, and the ability to lead through pressure with steadiness and clarity. Leaders who combine clear vision with strong interpersonal capability mobilise teams, navigate ambiguity, and deliver consistent results.
Most satisfying
What drives the greatest satisfaction for Laura is seeing real impact — not just growth, but tangible change in how organisations operate and evolve. Building teams that truly function, grounded in trust, ownership, and high standards, is equally meaningful. Developing people and helping them grow into larger roles creates lasting value.
Most challenging
The challenge lies in sustaining that momentum, scaling fast while protecting culture, maintaining standards, and preserving long-term focus.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace combines ambition with trust. Clear expectations, open dialogue, and accountability create strong foundations. It rewards performance, encourages debate and diverse perspectives, and supports experimentation without fear of failure. Such environments empower people to contribute, grow, and take real ownership of outcomes.
Five years from now…
Technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with AI reshaping not only business but society more broadly. Laura’s ambition is to lead at greater scale, develop strong leaders who help build resilient organisations capable of adapting responsibly, while strengthening the region’s role.
Success mantras
- Leaders who combine clear vision with interpersonal capability mobilise teams, navigate ambiguity, and deliver consistent results.
- Emotional intelligence, particularly ability to stay calm and make sound decisions under pressure, reinforces leadership credibility.
- Ability to influence, build alignment, communicate with clarity, determines whether strategy translates into results.
- Leadership is reflected in quality of the teams built, durability of impact delivered, trust earned over time, and ability to lead through pressure.
- Confidence and authenticity are powerful differentiators in executive leadership.
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Senior decisions require trade-offs and defensible outcomes
Anna Griffin serves as Head of Sustainability and Advocacy shaping decarbonisation strategy and industry engagement across policy, partnerships, and project delivery. Key achievements include translating sustainability targets into measurable business action, strengthening reporting, and launching Women in Sustainable Construction.
Top skills
Throughout her career, Anna has relied on her ability to bring people, especially when the topic is complex or change is uncomfortable. She is known for listening carefully, communicating with clarity, and translating technical sustainability goals into practical priorities for commercial, operations, and project teams.
Strong stakeholder management helps her build alignment across clients, regulators, and partners. She values reliability and follow-through, because credibility is earned in the small moments as much as the big ones.
Soft skills
Leadership is influence at scale and people and soft skills are essential for standing out. For women executives, clear communication, sound judgement, and relationship building accelerate trust and create access to high-impact roles. Negotiation and conflict management protect time, resources, and standards, while empathy and active listening keep teams engaged during change.
Executive presence matters, but so does consistency, delivery, and the confidence to challenge assumptions respectfully. Alongside these, strategic thinking, financial awareness, and data fluency are increasingly important, because senior decisions require trade-offs and defensible outcomes, not just ambition.
Most satisfying
Job satisfaction comes from seeing sustainability move beyond intention and into day-to-day decisions, from specification choices to project delivery. The role is most rewarding when teams align early around measurable targets and when partnerships help shift market expectations toward low-carbon construction.
The challenging aspects are balancing pace with rigour, and navigating competing priorities, cost pressures, and tight timelines. Change can be slow when perception outweighs evidence.
Dream workplace
A dream workplace is values led and performance driven, with leaders who sponsor talent and set clear expectations. It encourages open dialogue, protects focus time, and rewards outcomes rather than visibility. Decisions are evidence based, collaboration is practical across functions, and wellbeing is treated as a foundation for sustained performance. Inclusion is backed with mentorship and real progression opportunities, not statements.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, Anna aims to scale sustainability projects and contribute to the development of an ecosystem for deep decarbonisation in hard-to-abate sectors in the UAE.
Success mantras
- For women executives, clear communication, sound judgement, and relationship building accelerate access to high-impact roles.
- Negotiation and conflict management protect time, resources, and standards, while empathy and active listening keep teams engaged during change.
- Executive presence matters, but so does consistency, delivery, and the confidence to challenge assumptions respectfully.
- Strategic thinking, financial awareness, data fluency are important, because senior decisions require trade-offs and not just ambition.
- Leadership is influence at scale and people and soft skills are essential for standing out.
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Translating technical value into business outcomes
Mashail Alhassoun leads technical strategy and solution architecture for HPE that drives regional digital transformation. This role connects complex engineering with inclusive business results. She has led large-scale hybrid cloud deployments that modernise national infrastructure, supported local initiatives and created equitable career pathways for diverse young talents across the region.
Top skills
Mashail’s success in the regional technology market has been built on clear communication, cultural intelligence and professional empathy. In the Middle East, aligning global technology with local priorities requires interpersonal diplomacy and the narrative agility to translate technical value into business outcomes.
Leveraging these skills, Mashail is accelerating complex projects, motivating diverse engineering teams, and turning vendor transactions into long term strategic partnerships. By fostering trust and simplifying technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders, she ensures projects deliver measurable impact while empowering local talent and strengthening client confidence in transformational initiatives.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are essential for female leaders in technology. Emotional intelligence, clear communication and relationship building enable inclusive decision making and inspire diverse teams. Beyond technical competence, networking, advocacy and mentoring amplify influence and open opportunities.
Effective leaders combine domain expertise with the courage to promote team success, creating environments where emerging talent, particularly local and underrepresented candidates, can thrive.
Most satisfying
Mashail derives deep satisfaction from deploying technology that strengthens regional economies and advances national digital visions, and from mentoring young engineers as they grow into impactful contributors. The most rewarding moments are when technical solutions deliver measurable social and economic benefits.
Most challenging
Challenges include keeping pace with rapid technological change and navigating diverse regulatory landscapes across markets. Balancing short term business targets with the long-term work of building sustainable, inclusive digital ecosystems requires continual learning, strategic patience and agility. Maintaining team focus amid shifting priorities and complexity remains an ongoing leadership challenge.
Dream workplace
For Mashail the ideal workplace combines fairness, mutual respect, and open innovation with flexible working practices. It values diverse perspectives over hierarchy, encourages continuous learning, and rewards collaboration. Such an environment empowers employees, especially young local talent, to grow and take ownership.
Five years from now…
Mashail’s focus for the next few years will be on expanding her strategic influence, guiding leaders to invest purposefully in technology that aligns with their own and national priorities, and local economies. By prioritising local expertise, skill development and inclusive workforce growth, she aims to ensure that innovation delivers sustained value for organisations.
Success mantras
- Emotional intelligence, clear communication, relationship building enable inclusive decision making and inspire diverse teams.
- Beyond technical competence, networking, advocacy and mentoring amplify influence and open opportunities.
- Effective leaders combine domain expertise with courage to promote team success, creating environments where local candidates can thrive.
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Soft skills are essential for complex workplaces
As an academic, Professor Hind Zantout, has responsibilities in learning and teaching, research and administration. Most critical and rewarding is the engagement with students. Equally important is supporting students to become lifelong learners and being professional in their jobs.
Top skills
An effective skill is to apply the right type of leadership to fit the situation. In the classroom, this could be authoritative to help establish discipline so students can concentrate on the lecture. At the same time, it is important to reinforce the message of kindness and empathy, being respectful of students of all abilities without discrimination.
Working with colleagues, leading by example, often doing the work up front, then sharing what is needed and why, helps usher in needed change with essential support from the team. Good communication skills underpin all activities and are essential at every stage.
Soft skills
The UAE is a good place for women to pursue careers and excel in the workplace, especially in technology. With an ever more complex workplace, driven by developments in technology, soft skills that an executive must possess are critical.
This involves appreciating the complex moving parts of business, listening to the various stakeholders and critically evaluating those messages, then making decisions and communicating them well. Women should develop skills to progress to leading roles in their workplace.
Most satisfying
Working with young people, equipping them with the fundamentals to drive the next generation of technology, is a real privilege. The abundance of good information, easily accessible means students can supplement and drive their learning beyond the classroom and is often reflected in the high-quality dissertation that forms the crowning of their years of study. But in that process, they must rely on their supervisor’s experience and maturity that they lack.
Most challenging
The real challenge is the fast pace of developments in technology and incorporating those in the curriculum in a meaningful way; Generative AI is one such example.
Dream workplace
Many work environments today can be characterised by a 24×7 culture. Be it doctors’ patients, lawyers’ clients, lecturers’ students, everyone is expected to be available. A dream workplace could be one where mechanisms are in place to help reestablish clear working hours and working spaces.
Five years from now…
Thinking back five years, reflecting on how the workplace has changed compared to today, it is almost impossible to predict the impact on careers. Many sectors have roles that did not exist five years ago, and the opportunities that Generative AI may bring to higher education are still being explored.
Success mantras
- An effective skill is to apply the right type of leadership to fit the situation.
- It is important to reinforce the message of kindness and empathy, being respectful of students of all abilities without discrimination.
- Good communication skills underpin all activities and are essential at every stage.
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Combining deep consulting and technology leadership
Lula Mohanty leads strategy, growth, talent and performance across a multi-country portfolio. With over 25 years’ experience, she drives enterprise-scale digital and AI-led transformation, and has led major global pursuits, including co-authoring IBM’s inaugural Chief AI Officer study.
Top skills
Throughout her career, Lula has combined deep consulting and technology leadership with a strong focus on people and purpose. She is skilled at fostering executive-level dialogue on digital strategy and aligning innovation with long-term value creation and translating global insight into local impact. She is particularly passionate about investing in talent, building diverse leadership pipelines, and creating alignment across complex stakeholder ecosystems.
Recognised as a strategic voice shaping regional technology agendas, Lula leads with clarity, accountability, and trust. Her approach blends thought leadership with practical execution, championing responsible AI adoption, enterprise transformation, and sustainable capability-building across the markets she serves.
Soft skills
For women executives, technical excellence must be matched with strong communication, and relationship-building skills. Real impact comes from shaping agendas, building trust, and translating expertise into decisions and outcomes. The ability to mentor, sponsor and elevate others strengthens both personal credibility and organisational culture.
Leading with clarity of purpose helps navigate complex structures, align diverse stakeholders and drive momentum. By combining strategic communication with authentic leadership, women can ensure innovation delivers measurable business value while building long-term influence, strong ecosystems, and sustainable impact.
Most satisfying
What drives the greatest satisfaction is helping clients translate bold ambition into measurable, sustainable outcomes and unlocking new growth. Seeing strategy move from boardroom vision to enterprise-wide execution is deeply rewarding. Equally meaningful is building, mentoring and empowering a diverse, high-performing consulting organisation across multiple markets.
Most challenging
The challenge lies in balancing speed, scale and accountability. Leading varied market realities requires moving fast while ensuring innovation is governed and aligned to value creation.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace champions innovation and invests deeply in people. It connects global insight with local opportunity, values diverse perspectives, and builds trust through transparency and accountability. It is an environment where women leaders thrive, collaboration is the default, and employees are empowered to shape the future with purpose and confidence.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, the focus is on leveraging global experience to shape enterprise-scale hybrid cloud and AI transformation, as the region continues to take its place on the world stage as a leader in technology and innovation. Equal priority is placed on advancing initiatives that develop the next generation of diverse technology leaders through mentorship, collaboration and responsible innovation.
Success mantras
- For women executives, technical excellence must be matched with communication, and relationship-building skills.
- Real impact comes from shaping agendas, building trust, and translating expertise into decisions and outcomes.
- The ability to mentor, sponsor and elevate others strengthens both personal credibility and organisational culture.
- Leading with clarity of purpose helps navigate complex structures, align diverse stakeholders and drive momentum.
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Transforming a functional team into high-performing one
Preeti Saini’s role brings together demand generation, brand, digital, and marketing operations to drive revenue and long-term brand strength. Preeti is especially proud of transforming marketing into a commercially aligned growth engine, implementing a CRM foundation, strengthening brand positioning, and building a talented global team delivering pipeline impact.
Top skills
Deep expertise across marketing has always mattered, and growing her capability in digital and excites Preeti. But the defining thread has been understanding people: what motivates them, how they work best, where they need support, and adapting her leadership to meet them there. That is what transforms a functional team into a truly high-performing one.
Leadership is not one style applied universally. It requires reading individuals and situations carefully while staying authentic. Over time, balancing commercial clarity with human insight has proved more powerful than any technical skill alone.
Soft skills
So much of executive leadership is built on negotiation, influence, and bringing people with you, and none of that happens by accident. It is built and earned over time. Preeti has seen highly talented women hold themselves back through self-doubt, and she has seen others accelerate because they trusted their own competence and showed up with conviction.
Reading the room, understanding power dynamics, and knowing when to challenge constructively are essential. Technical excellence is expected; presence and persuasion differentiate. Women who speak with clarity, stay grounded under pressure, and back themselves and open doors for others too.
Most satisfying
There is real satisfaction when a strategy comes together and results genuinely move the needle. Even more so when it happens because the team worked in harmony and knows how to repeat and scale that success. Seeing people recognise their own impact and grow in confidence is rewarding.
The more senior you become, the greater the responsibility to take time to recognise people and genuinely connect with them. Those coming up through the ranks notice it far more than you might realise, and it costs nothing.
Most challenging
The challenge lies in maintaining momentum. Not everyone moves at the same pace, and transformation rarely works immediately. Patience, resilience, and keeping people aligned when results are not instant requiring deliberate leadership.
Dream workplace
A place with pressure to move fast and deliver results, but with space to think so speed does not become haste. An environment that challenges you to grow.
Five years from now…
Leading as CMO of a high-growth company, continuing to deepen expertise in digital and the evolving AI landscape. Alongside that, mentoring emerging leaders, contributing as a board advisor, and helping organisations to grow.
Success mantras
- Patience, resilience, keeping people aligned when results are not instant, requires deliberate leadership.
- Executive leadership is built on negotiation, influence, bringing people with you, and none of that happens by accident.
- Reading the room, understanding power dynamics, and knowing when to challenge constructively are essential.
- Technical excellence is expected; presence and persuasion differentiate.
- Women who speak with clarity, stay grounded under pressure, open doors for others too.
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Creating a community of people that exchanges insights
Marielle work as a global community of practice leader for application modernisation. Her focus is on the role of data management for application modernisations and larger digital transformation programmes. She defines the technical go to market in this area and acts as a thought leader and subject matter expert in this space. Marielle’s goal is to enable others and create a community of people that exchanges insights and drives innovation to help support companies in improving outcomes.
Top skills
Marielle has always been a strong analytical thinker which allows her to see relationships and understand problems quite quickly. She is quick to point out that her preference for the bigger picture, rather than focussing on the details, was a hindrance at the beginning of her career but now has become a very useful skill. Marielle says that her most powerful skill is the ability to communicate, whether it is verbally or written. Over the years she has become good at building relationships.
Soft skills
Communication and patience are crucial skills. You cannot assume just because you have said something once, that others have listened and understood what you mean. You must take others along on the journey, put yourself in their shoes and continuously communicate.
As a leader you must put your ego aside and focus on how to make others shine. Besides the satisfaction of seeing someone else grow, collective success is a bigger multiplier than your own success.
Most satisfying
Marielle says that it gives her tremendous energy if she can use her creativity and define a strategy and vision to address a challenge or new market development that companies face. She loves defining what the future could look like and how to solve the challenges to get there.
Most challenging
However, when it comes to further detailing this vision to product and execution level, Marielle finds this more challenging.
Dream workplace
Marielle says that she functions best in an environment with autonomy and flexibility. She points out that markets and businesses change more rapidly than ever before, and if processes and boundaries become too strict, there is no room for change. Innovation and growth come from doing things differently, not from doing them as we did before.
Five years from now…
Marielle sees so many opportunities that applications, agents and data can bring. She would love to continue what she does as a thought leader, but in an even broader and more strategic context. Marielle enjoys defining vision and strategy for the challenges and market changes that companies face.
Success mantras
- Communication and patience are crucial skills.
- As a leader you must put your ego aside and focus on how to make others shine.
- Collective success is a bigger multiplier than your own success.
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Successfully connecting technology to business reality
Dina Makled works at the intersection of technology and business, helping organisations understand how digital platforms can support their transformation goals and translate them into scalable platform solutions by aligning technical complexities with business outcomes through product demos and proofs of concept.
Top skills
Dina has learned that success in technology is not just about technical depth, but about how clearly you can connect it to business reality. She has focused on developing the ability to simplify complexity, so stakeholders can see how it works and why it matters.
Dina developed analytical and listening skills early in her career, going beyond topline discussions or technical briefs. Her ability to understand customers’ broader business aspirations, not just their stated technical requirements, has set her apart from her peers and played a major role in her professional growth.
Her approach combines robust technical knowledge with a focus on aligning solutions to business outcomes.
Soft skills
Dina feels that soft skills often shape how effectively someone can contribute, especially in environments where decisions are complex and collaborative. The ability to communicate with clarity, understand different perspectives, and remain confident in your expertise makes a significant difference.
Women do not need to change who they are to succeed in technology. Bringing authenticity, emotional intelligence, and technical capability together allows them to influence conversations and create impact. Leadership is not always about being the loudest voice; it is often about bringing clarity, perspective, and consistency to the table.
Most satisfying
What Dina enjoys most is being part of conversations where organisations are rethinking how they engage with their customers and evolve their digital experiences. There is something fulfilling about helping people see new possibilities through technology.
Most challenging
At the same time, the role comes with constant learning and change. Every customer, industry, and challenge are different, and balancing business expectations with what technology can realistically deliver requires both honesty and adaptability.
Dream workplace
For Dina, the ideal workplace is one where people feel trusted and have an environment conducive for growth. An environment where curiosity is encouraged, ideas can be shared openly, and individuals have the space to grow beyond defined roles. Dina believes people do their best work and find genuine purpose in such places.
Five years from now…
Dina hopes to take on a role where she can contribute more strategically while supporting and mentoring others entering the field. Technology continues to evolve rapidly, and she wants to remain close to that evolution, not just as an observer, but as someone helping organisations and people navigate change with confidence.
Success mantras
- Women do not need to change who they are to succeed in technology.
- Bringing authenticity, emotional intelligence, technical capability together allows them to influence conversations and create impact.
- Leadership is not always about being the loudest voice; it is often about bringing clarity, perspective, consistency to the table.
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Moving complex initiatives forward at enterprise scale
Aparna specialises in translating complex customer requirements into strategic product roadmaps, driving execution through cross-functional leadership, and designing effective go-to-market strategies. A key achievement has been shaping platform strategies that reduce time to value for global customers while amplifying productivity.
Top skills
Working with cross-functional teams spanning engineering, product management, sales, and marketing demands getting comfortable with high ambiguity, competing priorities, and diverse viewpoints. Her strength lies in synthesising all these inputs and distilling them into shared goals that teams can align with.
Equally important is her focus on trust: creating an environment where individuals understand their role in the larger scheme of things and feel ownership of outcomes. This combination of clarity, alignment, and trust has consistently enabled Aparna to move complex initiatives forward at enterprise scale.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are powerful force multipliers for women who are operating at platform and enterprise scale. The ability to assert clarity, build alliances, and navigate disagreement constructively is essential for moving into agenda-setting leadership roles.
Influence, executive presence, and negotiation remain some of the most underestimated yet critical skills for aligning diverse stakeholders around strategic business outcomes. When combined with business acumen and deep domain expertise, these capabilities significantly elevate women leaders’ credibility and make them natural candidates for executive sponsorship and bigger opportunities.
Most satisfying
Aparna views product building as a process where rough ideas are shaped into gems through sustained friction. Working with highly talented and deeply passionate people inevitably brings strong opinions and colliding perspectives. Navigating this friction is among the most challenging aspects of her role, demanding patience, judgment, and resilience.
Yet it is also one of the high-leverage aspects of the job, with the potential to produce non-linear, disproportionate outcomes. Through debate, iteration, and alignment, teams ultimately deliver meaningful solutions that earn lasting customer trust.
Dream workplace
Aparna’s ideal workplace is one where systemic incentive encourage collaboration across functions, transparency in decision-making, and alignment around a common vision. She thrives in environments that reward collective outcomes over silos; enable open dialogue; and empower teams to move with clarity, trust, and shared accountability.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, Aparna sees her career defined less by a fixed roadmap and more by the ability to iterate, experiment, and adapt at the pace of technological change. In an era where strategies are increasingly becoming perishable, she believes sustained relevance belongs to leaders who learn fast, evolve continuously, and embrace change as opportunity.
Success mantras
- People and soft skills are powerful force multipliers for women who are operating at enterprise scale.
- The ability to assert clarity, build alliances, and navigate disagreement constructively is essential for moving into leadership roles.
- Influence, executive presence, and negotiation remain some of the most underestimated yet critical skills.
- Combined with business acumen and domain expertise, these capabilities elevate women leaders’ credibility and make them candidates for bigger opportunities.
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Leveraging AI to foster meaningful connections
Christiana Maxion is Founder and CEO of MAXION, an AI supported app-based platform in UAE designed to foster meaningful connections and a community for busy professionals, entrepreneurs, and high-achieving expatriates. She leads the company’s strategic direction and product vision.
Christiana entered the technology space because she understood the problem, had proven the model in the real world, and recognised how technology could scale and amplify its impact.
Top skills
Throughout her career, Christiana has leveraged discernment, emotional intelligence, and disciplined execution. Competitive experience as a springboard has shaped her approach to pressure, focus, and performance. While leading a team, advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and building a technology company, she applies the ability to read people accurately and early, understanding motivation, hesitation, and behavioural shifts.
She believes that strategic thinking and financial discipline ground execution, but trust drives outcomes. Across the industries she has worked in, the ability to build trust quickly has been a lasting advantage.
Soft skills
People’s skills are not an accessory to leadership, they are leverage. As industries become more technical and automated, the ability to navigate personalities, manage tension, and align teams around a shared objective becomes even more critical.
For women executives, the edge often lies in balancing authority with awareness. Being able to communicate clearly, hold boundaries, negotiate under pressure, and build loyalty without theatrics creates long-term influence. Technical expertise opens doors. The capacity to build trust, read the room, and lead with composure determines how far you go.
Most satisfying
Christiana describes the most rewarding part of her role as proximity to the user. Direct conversations with clients sharpen judgment and keep the product anchored in reality. Listening carefully and integrating feedback ensures that the company builds on truth, not assumption.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is scaling with precision. As the company grows, complexity increases and decisions carry greater consequences. Delegating effectively while maintaining standards requires clarity and discipline.
Dream workplace
Christiana describes her ideal workplace as one that balances autonomy with in-person collaboration. She emphasises the value of face-to-face interaction for exchanging ideas, challenging thinking, and building momentum in real time. The environment prioritises intentional presence over rigid routines.
Five years from now…
Five years from now, MAXION expects to be established across leading expat cities globally, operating as the reference point for intentional, real-world connections. Christina’s role continues to remain anchored in vision, strategy, and standards, scaling the model internationally while preserving the experience.
Success mantras
- People’s skills are not an accessory to leadership, they are leverage.
- As industries become automated, ability to navigate personalities and align teams around a shared objective becomes more critical.
- Being able to communicate clearly, hold boundaries, negotiate under pressure, and build loyalty without theatrics creates long-term influence.
- Technical expertise opens doors, but capacity to build trust, read the room, and lead with composure determines how far you go.
- For women executives, the edge lies in balancing authority with awareness.
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Healthy competition encourages continuous improvement
Svetlana Vasilieva leads the Secondary Sales Department at Metropolitan Premium Properties, overseeing almost 100 agents. Having started as an agent in 2006, she understands the business from the ground level and continues to work with several long-standing clients. Stepping into a leadership role to rebuild culture, structure and deliver consistent results remains one of her proudest achievements.
Top skills
Throughout Svetlana’s career, she has relied as much on people skills as technical expertise. Communication and emotional intelligence are essential in real estate, where professionals work with diverse personalities and high-pressure situations daily. She believes advisers must first understand the market and product thoroughly before guiding clients. She continues to study listings, pricing and areas personally, while encouraging her team to do the same.
Soft skills
Soft skills are critical because modern leadership depends on influence rather than position. While performance earns respect, communication, confidence and executive presence ensure a leader’s voice is heard. Many women continue to face subtle bias, alongside the unspoken pressure to balance authority with approachability.
Preparation builds credibility and credibility builds trust. For women in leadership, consistent preparation and clear communication help counter underestimation. Negotiation, active listening and empathy then transform trust into long-term client and team relationships.
Most satisfying
The most rewarding aspect of Svetlana’s role is witnessing agents grow and succeed. She consistently reinforces that no one is more invested in their success than their leadership. Observing individuals build confidence and achieve consistent results, particularly those who began with limited experience, brings significant satisfaction.
Most challenging
However, the level of responsibility can be demanding. Leaders are expected to remain decisive, provide clarity and offer direction, even during periods of uncertainty. In real estate, market conditions shift rapidly, sometimes week to week, requiring a careful balance between driving performance and managing people, while remaining calm, composed and supportive.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is energetic, supportive and performance driven. In real estate, healthy competition encourages continuous improvement, while a strong team ensures collaboration and shared success. Employees should have genuine opportunities to develop their skills, close meaningful transactions and be rewarded fairly for measurable results.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, Svetlana aims to evolve into a stronger executive leader, contributing more strategically to the company’s long-term direction and growth. Ultimately, her ambition is to reach CEO level, driven not by title but by the opportunity to create meaningful impact.
Success mantras
- Preparation builds credibility and credibility builds trust.
- Soft skills are critical because modern leadership depends on influence rather than position.
- While performance earns respect, communication, confidence and executive presence ensure a leader’s voice is heard.
- For women in leadership, consistent preparation and clear communication help counter underestimation.
- Negotiation, active listening and empathy then transform trust into long-term client and team relationships.
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Translating market demands into roadmap decisions
Taya Lau has been a consistent achiever and has been recognised with multiple MVP and Board of Directors awards. Known as a gap finder and fixer, she led the development of a multi-regional product upgrade process and pioneered the first Client Advisory Council in EMEA. She also co-chairs the Women Allies Group, advocating for inclusive leadership in real estate technology.
Top skills
Taya’s career sits at the intersection of commercial scale and strategic influence. She leverages structured communication and storytelling to influence senior leaders, translating complex market demands into product roadmap decisions. Her ability to act as a strategic connector allows her to bridge product, delivery and executive sponsors to drive strong growth.
As an active voice in the sector, she shares insights as a speaker and panel moderator on AI and PropTech. Guided by a nuanced understanding of people and dynamics, she navigates high-stakes negotiations while fostering inclusive, high-performing teams
Soft skills
Taya believes soft skills are critical differentiators that transform professional credibility into organisational influence. For women in technology, the ability to lead authentic conversations and build trust is what enables them to confidently lead senior conversations, whether in a boardroom or at industry events. Emotional intelligence and resilience allow women to remain effective in high-stakes environments.
Taya advocates that progression must be supported by systemic change. When organisations commit to equitable sponsorship and recognise diverse leadership styles, women can effectively use relational strengths to shape strategy and lead senior-level transformation.
Most satisfying
Taya finds immense satisfaction in the design of transformation programmes, specifically identifying operational gaps and building the systems to fix them. Seeing customer insights directly dictate innovation through her Client Advisory Councils is deeply rewarding.
Most challenging
Conversely, the challenge lies in balancing the intense pressures of high growth with the needs of multi-regional stakeholders. Navigating competing timelines across diverse markets requires relentless prioritisation and emotional discipline. She views these pressures as intellectual catalysts that reinforce her commitment to adaptability and sustainable, people-centred performance.
Dream workplace
Taya’s dream workplace balances psychological safety with high-performance accountability. It is an environment that values authenticity, encourages constructive challenge and ensures flexibility is built-in rather than optional. Leadership is transparent and data-informed, investing equally in performance and wellbeing.
Five years from now…
In five years, Taya envisions herself in a strategic leadership role overseeing enterprise portfolios and shaping regional go-to-market strategies. Having benefited from mentorship herself, she aims to lead diverse account teams and contribute to broader industry conversations.
Success mantras
- Soft skills are critical differentiators that transform professional credibility into organisational influence.
- For women in technology, ability to lead authentic conversations and build trust is what enables them to lead senior conversations.
- Emotional intelligence and resilience allow women to remain effective in high-stakes environments.
- When organisations recognise diverse leadership styles, women can use relational strengths to shape strategy and lead senior-level transformation.
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Positioning client success as a growth engine
Shaheen Niloufer Shahjahan is leading transformational growth with strategic global accounts across Middle East and Africa. She also heads the client success organisation in the region to drive recurring revenue with data driven adoption and analytics She is recognised for building long-term executive partnerships, strategizing growth in a subscription economy and positioning client success as a growth engine rather than a support function.
Top skills
Across her career, Shaheen has consistently leveraged emotional intelligence, executive communication, and stakeholder empathy to drive outcomes. Her ability to listen deeply, influence without authority, and align diverse global teams has been central to her success. She combines strategic thinking with cultural sensitivity, particularly critical in multinational and cross regional environments.
Coaching teams, navigating complex client dynamics, and building trust at C-suite level are strengths she has refined over time. These people-centric skills, coupled with commercial acumen and delivery rigor, enable her to turn complex challenges into sustainable partnerships.
Soft skills
True leadership is the ability to listen deeply, align diverse voices, and move people toward a shared outcome. For women executives, people and soft skills are not optional, they are differentiators. Shaheen believes skills such as confidence, clarity of communication, resilience, and stakeholder management enable women to lead with authenticity while driving results.
The ability to influence, manage ambiguity, and build alliances is often what accelerates progression into senior leadership. Equally important is strategic visibility, articulating value, owning achievements, and advocating for oneself. When combined with strong domain expertise, these skills empower women to navigate complexity, challenge bias, and lead transformational change
Most satisfying
Shaheen derives the greatest satisfaction from creating meaningful impact, helping clients achieve measurable outcomes while developing high performing teams. Building trusted advisor relationships and shaping long term strategies across global stakeholders are particularly fulfilling.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is balancing competing priorities across geographies, time zones, and expectations while maintaining depth in every engagement. Navigating change at scale, whether organisational, technological, or cultural, also demands constant adaptability.
Dream workplace
Shaheen’s ideal workplace is inclusive, purpose driven, and performance oriented, where diverse perspectives are valued, leadership is empathetic, and growth is intentional. A culture that rewards collaboration, continuous learning, and psychological safety enables individuals to bring their best selves to work.
Five years from now…
In five years, Shaheen envisions herself in a broader global leadership role, shaping client success and growth strategies at an enterprise level. She aims to influence industry conversations, mentor future leaders, and contribute to building inclusive, high impact organisations.
Success mantras
- Leadership is the ability to listen deeply, align diverse voices, and move people toward a shared outcome.
- For women executives, people and soft skills are not optional, they are differentiators.
- Skills such as confidence, clarity of communication, resilience, stakeholder management enable women to lead with authenticity.
- Ability to influence, manage ambiguity, build alliances is what accelerates progression into senior leadership.
- Equally important is strategic visibility, articulating value, owning achievements, and advocating for oneself.
- When combined with domain expertise, these skills empower women to navigate complexity, challenge bias, and lead transformational change.
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Intersection of AI strategy, infrastructure, national agendas
Yasmeen Al Ghussain is driving the development of large-scale AI infrastructure and national-level initiatives across the Middle East. Her work focuses on enabling sovereign AI capabilities, advancing strategic partnerships, and supporting long-term digital transformation agendas that deliver measurable economic and societal impact.
Top skills
Yasmeen’s career has been defined by the ability to build trusted executive relationships and align diverse stakeholders around complex, high-value technology programmes. Her role requires translating advanced AI strategies into clear commercial and national outcomes for Ministers, CEOs, and technical leadership teams.
Strategic communication, negotiation, and stakeholder orchestration are central to navigating multi-party environments where priorities, timelines, and objectives must converge. Adaptability and resilience remain essential in evolving markets, while credibility, emotional intelligence, and cultural awareness enable long-term partnerships.
The role is defined by its pace and scale. Coordinating across multiple geographies, institutions, and leadership groups requires sustained focus, agility, and the ability to operate with clarity in environments characterised by ambiguity and competing priorities.
Soft skills
People and leadership skills are often the defining factor between functional management and true influence. In complex decision-making environments, the ability to listen with intent, communicate with clarity, and build alignment across senior stakeholders carries as much weight as technical expertise.
For women in executive roles, presence, consistency, and confidence are critical in shaping perception and driving outcomes at pace. Trust is built through authenticity, composure, and the ability to navigate challenging conversations with purpose. While domain expertise creates opportunity, sustained progression is driven by credibility, strategic thinking, and the capacity to influence at scale.
Most satisfying
A strong sense of purpose is derived from leading initiatives that translate ambitious AI visions into tangible, high-impact outcomes for nations and industries. Shaping strategy, aligning multi-sector stakeholders, and enabling the deployment of infrastructure is professionally rewarding. The most fulfilling moments come from seeing complex ecosystems move from concept to execution.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is defined by integrity, performance, and a commitment to continuous learning. It promotes diverse perspectives, transparent decision-making, and accountability at every level. Environments that empower bold thinking while fostering trust, collaboration, and measurable outcomes create the conditions for sustainable innovation and enduring impact.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, Yasmeen is focused on expanding her leadership at the intersection of AI strategy, infrastructure, and national transformation agendas. The priority remains on shaping scalable sovereign AI ecosystems, strengthening global partnerships, and enabling innovation frameworks.
Success mantras
- People and leadership skills are the defining factor between functional management and true influence.
- In complex environments, ability to listen with intent, communicate with clarity, and build alignment carries as much weight as expertise.
- For women in executive roles, presence, consistency, and confidence are critical in shaping perception and driving outcomes.
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Understanding people boosts understanding design
Amreen Iqbal oversees how personalised jewellery moves from individual stories to finished design. One of the more meaningful achievements has been demonstrating how customised pieces are shifting from occasional gifts to everyday expressions of identity, memory, and personal meaning.
Top skills
Much of the work has depended on understanding people as much as understanding design. Listening closely and recognising the emotion behind customer requests have shaped many decisions along the way.
Clear communication has helped translate personal stories into wearable pieces without losing intent or practicality. Adaptability has been equally important, particularly as expectations around personalisation continue to evolve.
Patience and consistency have helped balance creative freedom with craftsmanship and timelines, especially when every request is different. These skills have helped turn sensitive, often emotional conversations into designs that feel authentic, while ensuring processes remain structured and outcomes remain clear.
Soft skills
Soft skills often determine how leadership is experienced by others. Communication, emotional awareness, and the ability to build trust are critical, particularly in industries shaped by creativity and client interaction. For women executives, clarity and confidence can strongly influence how ideas are received and supported.
Strong people skills also help navigate differing viewpoints and maintain momentum without creating friction. At the same time, emotional intelligence needs to be supported by clear judgement and decision-making. Leadership today relies less on hierarchy and more on influence, and influence grows when people feel heard, respected, and aligned toward a shared direction.
Most satisfying
The most rewarding part of the role comes from seeing how personal stories evolve into something tangible that people carry with them every day. Watching an idea move from conversation to finished product creates a strong sense of purpose.
Most challenging
The challenge lies in balancing emotional expectations with practical realities, particularly when customised work demands precision, craftsmanship, and clear timelines. Decision-making often requires weighing sentiment against feasibility, and creativity against operational limits. As demand for personalisation grows, maintaining individuality while ensuring consistency and quality becomes more complex.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace fosters creativity, respect, and open communication, where ideas are valued regardless of hierarchy. It encourages collaboration and continuous learning while supporting craftsmanship and individuality. A culture built on trust and accountability enables people to produce thoughtful work, especially in environments where creativity and precision need to coexist.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, the focus is expected to centre on redefining how personalised jewellery is designed, moving beyond simple engraving toward deeper forms of customisation shaped by story, symbolism, and wearability. Greater emphasis will likely be placed on design innovation that makes personalisation more intentional, relevant, and lasting.
Success mantras
- Watching an idea move from conversation to finished product creates a strong sense of purpose.
- Patience and consistency have helped balance creative freedom with craftsmanship, especially when every request is different.
- For women executives, clarity and confidence can influence how ideas are received and supported.
- Emotional intelligence needs to be supported by clear judgement and decision-making
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An ideal workplace values outcomes over hierarchy
Merhan Gaballah advises developers, contractors, and asset owners on digital transformation across project delivery and facility operations. Among her key achievements are supporting multi-market adoption across the GCC and Europe and helping organisations transition from fragmented workflows to structured, data-driven operations.
Top skills
Merhan has relied on communication, adaptability, and stakeholder empathy as critical skills. Working across diverse markets and cultures has strengthened her ability to listen actively, ask the right questions, and translate complex technical challenges into practical business solutions.
Trust-building has been essential in advisory roles, where influence stems from credibility rather than authority. Merhan also draws on resilience and emotional intelligence to navigate change, manage expectations, and maintain alignment between people, processes, and technology, particularly during periods of transformation.
Soft skills
Merhan believes people and soft skills are fundamental for women executives, particularly in environments where representation continues to evolve. While technical expertise may open doors, communication, influence, and relationship-building sustain long-term progress.
She notes that soft skills enable women leaders to navigate complexity, manage diverse teams, and build trust across functions. They also bridge gaps between strategy and execution. In today’s workplace, leadership is defined less by authority and more by impact, driven by the ability to engage, align, and inspire others.
Most satisfying
For Merhan, the most rewarding aspect of her role is seeing tangible improvement when organisations adopt efficient and transparent ways of working. Supporting teams as they move from reactive processes to structured digital workflows brings a strong sense of purpose.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is change management. Technology adoption is rarely about tools alone; it requires aligning mindsets, habits, and expectations. Managing resistance while balancing short-term pressures with long-term transformation goals demands consistency and strategic focus.
Dream workplace
Merhan describes an ideal workplace as one that values outcomes over hierarchy, encourages continuous learning, and supports open dialogue. It should foster diversity of thought, provide space for innovation, and empower individuals to take ownership. A culture grounded in trust, flexibility, and accountability is essential for both performance and long-term professional growth.
Five years from now…
Looking ahead, Merhan envisions herself in a senior leadership role guiding large-scale digital transformation across the built environment. She aims to contribute strategically by shaping how technology, people, and processes integrate to drive sustainable growth.
Success mantras
- Technology adoption is rarely about tools alone; it requires aligning mindsets, habits, and expectations.
- Managing resistance while balancing short-term pressures with long-term transformation goals demands consistency and strategic focus.
- Soft skills enable women leaders to navigate complexity, manage diverse teams, and build trust across functions.
- Leadership is defined less by authority and more by impact, driven by the ability to engage and inspire others.
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Women leaders excel at duality
Kit Yee Au-Yeung leads a multidisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, physicists, researchers and medtech professionals. Their mission is to radically improve the confidence and speed of heart health decisions by addressing pain points in cardiac diagnostics.
Top skills
Across her career, Kit believes a few core skills have been especially important. First is the ability to cut to the chase and get to the heart of a complex problem quickly, which helps teams focus on what truly matters. Second is asking the right questions, not to have all the answers, but to unlock the team’s best thinking and solutions. They called this being a chaos pilot: bringing order and direction to highly ambiguous, fast moving situations and embracing the uncertainty.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are essential for all executives, not only women. They are what enable you to build trust, align stakeholders, and sustain teams through uncertainty and change. Kit has witnessed many women leaders excel at a particular duality: making tough, high stakes decisions while still keeping the team environment harmonious and even light. For Kit, the key is not taking herself too seriously, while being very serious about the team and the mission.
Most satisfying
Kit’s greatest satisfaction comes from seeing SandboxAQ’s products used in real clinical settings, serving patients and physicians, that is her north star. Equally rewarding for Kit is watching her team members grow into new strengths and identities.
Most challenging
Kit finds that on the challenging side, medtech is a highly regulated, conservative industry. Many parts of the healthcare system are resistant to change and prefer the status quo, even when innovation could help. Development and commercialisation are long, winding roads, a true marathon. Success requires stamina and a deep commitment to the problem so that the team can weather inevitable setbacks together.
Dream workplace
For Kit, a dream workplace has three core ingredients. First, the team is tackling problems that are truly impactful for society, not just interesting technology for its own sake. Second, the problems are intellectually challenging enough to stretch people and attract top talent. Third, the team shares a set of values, especially optimism, courage, and grit.
Five years from now…
Five years from now, Kit hopes that she is still working with the same intensity on problems she feels deeply passionate about. Having spent many years focused on engineering, clinical studies, and regulatory pathways, she would like to further develop skills in commercialisation, data visualisation, and end to end user experience in clinical environments.
Success mantras
- Development and commercialisation are long, winding roads, a true marathon.
- Success requires stamina and commitment to the problem so that the team can weather inevitable setbacks together.
- The key is not taking yourself too seriously, while being very serious about the team and the mission.
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Relying on adaptability because the field is changing every day
Heather Barnhart is the Head of Faculty at SANS Institute and DFIR Curriculum Lead. She also consults with Cellebrite as a senior digital forensic expert. The work she is most proud of spans her entire career: using digital evidence to protect children, hold their abusers accountable, and training investigators who carry that mission forward every day.
Top skills
Communication has been everything. The most critical forensic finding means nothing if you cannot explain it clearly to a jury, a law enforcement partner, a congressional briefing room, or a room full of investigators who need to act on it immediately. She has also relied heavily on adaptability, because this field changes every single day and the criminals who are being chased, change with it.
Soft skills
The women Heather has seen breakthrough are the ones who combine expertise with the ability to build trust and handle hard conversations without shrinking themselves and this is what sets them apart. In her experience, women often have to prove their technical credibility before they are given space to be heard.
She feels while technical skills get you in the room, it is the way you communicate, advocate for yourself, and bring other people with you determines whether you stay and whether you lead. She has also found that willingness to push for action, whether it is hiring, promoting, or simply making sure women’s voices are heard in the room, is what actually moves the needle.
Most satisfying
The work that fuels her the most is knowing that what she does protects children. When she thinks about the cases she has worked on, the forensic evidence that put predators away, the training she has delivered to investigators who then go on to solve their own cases, that is what gets her out of bed. As she has said publicly, nothing compares to knowing that the effort you put into writing and maintaining a course makes the world a better and safer place.
Most challenging
The hardest part is the pace of the threat. AI-generated deepfakes are a rapidly evolving crisis, and the tools and legislation are always playing catch-up. Keeping pace with how bad actors exploit new technology, while making sure investigators have what they need to fight back, is the relentless challenge of this work.
Five years from now…
Heather’s focus is keeping SANS faculty at the top of their fields while building a cybersecurity pipeline that ensures the profession never runs short of skilled, mission-driven investigators, especially women who belong in this field and have not yet found their way in. AI is reshaping every corner of this work, and her job is to make sure the instructors and students are always ahead of it.
Success mantras
- The most critical forensic finding means nothing if you cannot explain it clearly to a jury.
- While technical skills get you in the room, it is the way you communicate that determines whether you stay and whether you lead.
- Willingness to push for action, whether it is hiring, promoting, is what actually moves the needle.
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Emotional intelligence essential for complex environments
Fatma Al Naggar partners with tier-1 banks across the region to expand their digital footprint, enhance customer journeys, and improve conversion performance. Fatma is proud of driving strategic digital initiatives that strengthened long-term partnerships and delivered measurable, sustainable growth.
Top skills
Throughout her career, Fatma has relied on relationship building, strategic thinking, and clear communication. Managing tier-1 institutions requires trust, diplomacy, and the ability to influence without authority. She actively listens to understand each partner’s commercial priorities, regulatory landscape, and cultural nuances. Emotional intelligence has been essential in navigating complex stakeholder environments and aligning diverse teams toward common objectives.
Adaptability and resilience have also played a significant role, particularly when driving digital transformation initiatives. Strong negotiation skills, combined with data-driven decision-making, allow her to balance commercial outcomes with long-term partnership value. Ultimately, people skills have been as critical as technical expertise.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are fundamental for everyone, but especially women in male-dominated fields, seeking to stand out and progress in their career. Technical expertise opens doors, but leadership presence, communication, and influence sustain advancement. The ability to build trust, manage stakeholders, and navigate complex power dynamics is especially critical in senior roles.
For women, confidence and authenticity are equally important, owning expertise without hesitation. In fast-evolving industries like financial services, adaptability and continuous learning further differentiate leaders. Ultimately, combining competence with strong interpersonal skills enables women to lead with impact and credibility
Most satisfying
Contributing to strategic transformation at scale is highly rewarding. Fatma also values the intellectual challenge of working with institutions and senior stakeholders.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is balancing multiple complex relationships, each with distinct regulatory, commercial, and cultural dynamics. Aligning priorities across internal and external teams can require persistence and diplomacy.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace, aligned with the spirit of International Women’s Day, promotes equality, respect, and inclusivity. It ensures equal pay, leadership opportunities, safety, and flexible work options for women. Such an environment values diversity, prevents discrimination, supports career growth, and empowers every woman to succeed.
Five years from now…
In five years, Fatma sees herself in a senior strategic leadership role, shaping institutional growth initiatives across multiple markets. She aims to deepen expertise in digital transformation while mentoring emerging female leaders and contributing to a more inclusive, high-performance culture within the organisation.
Success mantras
- People and soft skills are fundamental for everyone, but especially women in male-dominated fields.
- Technical expertise opens doors, but leadership presence, communication, and influence sustain advancement.
- The ability to build trust, manage stakeholders, and navigate complex power dynamics is critical in senior roles.
- In fast-evolving industries like financial services, adaptability and continuous learning further differentiate leaders.
- Combining competence with interpersonal skills enables women to lead with impact and credibility
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Balancing technical knowledge and ability to connect
Morgan Demboski has built a foundation in both tactical and strategic threat intelligence. She analyses attacker behaviours, tools, and infrastructure to identify active threats, while also examining broader elements to inform long-term security strategy and decision-making. Presenting to more than 700 attendees was one of the biggest highlights of her career.
Top skills
Throughout her career, Morgan has always believed that the best outcomes come from working together. In cyber threat intelligence, where no one person has all the answers, she values collaboration, open knowledge-sharing, and learning from the expertise of those around her.
She has learned to stay calm under pressure, think critically, and make clear decisions in a fast-moving threat landscape. Over time, she has also grown in confidence and emotional intelligence, building trust, listening closely, and communicating in a way that resonates with both technical and non-technical audiences. It is the balance between her technical knowledge and her ability to connect with people that has shaped growth and impact.
Soft skills
Strong communication skills are essential as the ability to explain technical concepts to different audiences is highly valued. Critical thinking and problem-solving are just as important as technical skills. Additionally, understanding business strategy, risk management and leadership can help women stand out and advance in their careers.
Most satisfying
Morgan is most driven by the purpose behind her work. As the threat landscape is constantly evolving, it demands agility and critical thinking, offering opportunities for growth, innovation, and meaningful impact. At the same time, representation remains a challenge within the industry.
Most challenging
While progress has been made in improving gender diversity, it can still be daunting to work in environments where leadership is predominantly male. She views this not only as a challenge but as motivation to advocate for stronger mentorship, visibility, and inclusive pathways for the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
Dream workplace
Morgan believes an ideal workplace goes beyond supporting gender diversity and inclusion. It is about creating an environment where women in technology can thrive and feel supported at every stage of their career. Equipping women with skills in negotiation, leadership, and career development, helps build confidence and create pathways for long-term success.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, Morgan sees herself deepening her technical expertise and analytical capabilities while evolving into a leadership role. She aims to guide threat intelligence strategy and production, mentor analysts, and help shape impactful, high quality research.
Success mantras
- Communication skills are essential as the ability to explain technical concepts to different audiences is highly valued.
- Critical thinking and problem-solving are just as important as technical skills.
- Understanding business strategy, risk management and leadership can help women stand out and advance in their careers.
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Driving transformational change to engage clients
Emma Wheeler leads female client strategy at UBS, one of the world’s leading wealth managers. Her key achievement has been driving transformational behaviour change in how client advisors engage female clients, resulting in 45% of the client book being female and embedding these relationship skills into the firm.
Top skills
Throughout her career, innovation and entrepreneurship have been central to her work and continue to shape her approach. She has developed the vision and influence needed to bring others along, underpinned by strong communication skills, particularly writing, and active listening.
A critical capability is recognising the importance of data, knowing how to source it and apply it effectively. She combines big-picture thinking with the discipline to execute; driving programmes forward and consistently delivering against a clear strategic vision.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are essential for women executives to stand out and progress. Emma believes listening and clear communication are often underestimated yet can be a powerful advantage. Actively hearing all voices at the table and maintaining a learning mindset helps leaders stay grounded and on track.
She also highlights women’s strength in making calculated, well-informed risk decisions. Understanding the facts thoroughly and having the confidence to ask the right questions are critical skills that support strong judgment and sustainable leadership impact.
Most satisfying
Delivering on a clear vision and achieving commercial outcomes is rewarding, particularly in a male-dominated industry. Emma finds great satisfaction in driving global growth with female clients by empowering advisors to have more effective conversations, especially when they describe the approach as game changing for their business.
Most challenging
Managing teams across multiple countries can be challenging, but building the right team, united by a shared vision and strong initiative, creates an equally rewarding experience when they learn, perform and deliver together.
Dream workplace
Her ideal workplace is the UBS Monaco office, overlooking the Mediterranean, the hills and the harbour. She values its mix of spectacle and charm, as well as the opportunity to work with fascinating clients whose wealth journeys are complex. Supporting them through these complexities can be particularly rewarding.
Five years from now…
Over the next five years, Emma aims to ensure all geographies are fully equipped with the skills needed to have the right client conversations, embedded within formal training processes. Her team is nearly there and she sees how their unique approach is working.
Success mantras
- Listening and clear communication are underestimated yet can be a powerful advantage.
- Actively hearing all voices at the table and maintaining a learning mindset helps leaders stay grounded.
- Women have strength in making calculated, well-informed risk decisions.
- Understanding the facts thoroughly and having confidence to ask the right questions are skills that support leadership impact.
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Shaping strategies that deliver tangible impact
Tania Mills leads the company’s sales and marketing, overseeing brand positioning, and go-to-market strategies. As a key contributor to the Union Properties turnaround strategy, she launched over AED 4 billion in asset sales, enhancing asset value through data-driven execution, expanding the Company’s sales footprint and laying groundwork for upcoming projects.
Top skills
Across her career, Tania drove growth and transformation by combining strategic clarity, disciplined execution, and emotional intelligence. With a focus on fostering shared purpose among teams and empowering them with accountability and trust, she delivered results in high-pressure industries. Active listening, transparent communication and resilience have also enabled her to transform each strategy into a successful reality.
Her academic background from the University of Oxford, along with specialised coursework at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reflects her broader strategic perspective.
Soft skills
In competitive corporate environments, people and soft skills are strategic enablers of influence and impact while emotional intelligence and resilience serve as key determinants of strong leaders. For women executives, robust influence, clear communication and trust-building strengthen credibility among stakeholders and reinforce their leadership.
Coupled with strategic thinking, financial understanding, and digital fluency, these skills support informed decision-making and organisational growth. By balancing empathy with decisiveness and authenticity with authority, women executives can ensure a stronger position and progress in the present business environment.
Most satisfying
Tania’s efforts are based on the principle that the greatest satisfaction lies in shaping strategies that deliver tangible impact, such as restoring investor confidence, initiating transformations and strengthening brand equity. Leading a corporate turnaround strategy and witnessing teams exceed expectations have been particularly rewarding experience for her.
Most challenging
The more challenging aspect is navigating rapid market transformations while retaining long-term strategic discipline.
Real estate cycles, regulatory changes and evolving buyer demands require agility without sacrificing structure. Similarly, balancing immediate commercial performance with sustainable value creation necessitates resilience, clarity of vision and the ability to lead change. Aligning these requirements has proven both a test and professionally fulfilling.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is purpose-driven, transparent and performance-oriented, which values diverse thoughts and innovations. It should reward accountability and encourage teams’ growth. Leadership should inspire trust, rather than relying on hierarchy, by empowering teams and ensuring alignment to a shared vision. This will drive sustainable, high-impact success across the organisation.
Five years from now…
In the next five years, Tania aims to lead enterprise-wide transformation, boost digital integration and advance sustainable growth marketing and sales strategies, while supporting long-term corporate governance. Developing resilient leadership pipelines and shaping high-performance cultures will also be at the centre of her long-term goals.
Success mantras
- In competitive corporate environments, people and soft skills are strategic enablers of influence.
- Emotional intelligence and resilience serve as key determinants of strong leaders.
- For women executives, influence, clear communication, trust-building strengthen credibility and reinforce leadership.
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Self-driven and acting with accountability
Kinda Baydoun is responsible for establishing the vision and strategy to drive sustainable and profitable growth with resellers, global system integrators, cloud providers, distributors, and strategic alliances. A significant accomplishment has been spearheading a major transformation in the channel ecosystem across EMEA.
Top skills
Throughout her career, Kinda has consistently leveraged several key skills. Primary among them is acting with accountability. She is inherently self-driven, and strives to deliver high-quality results while assuming full responsibility for her work and actions.
Agility and resilience are also paramount, especially during times of change. These qualities have been honed both personally, given her background in a region frequently impacted by geopolitical challenges, and professionally. She has worked for large corporations and witnessed significant transformations, such as the separation of HP and HPE, the largest in IT history.
Maintaining a positive attitude during challenging times and placing trust in the leadership team has proven essential for navigating adversity and achieving success.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are critical for women executives to progress and lead effectively. The ability to collaborate, influence, and build trust enables leaders to navigate complexity and drive meaningful outcomes.
For women in leadership roles, strong communication and authenticity help create credibility and foster inclusive environments where teams and partners can succeed. Combined with business acumen, these skills empower women to lead with confidence, deliver impact, and contribute to long-term organisational success.
Most satisfying
Kinda finds the greatest satisfaction in working closely with partners to deliver data resilience solutions that align with customer needs and support business continuity. Helping partners grow, innovate, and succeed in an evolving digital landscape is highly rewarding.
Most challenging
The most challenging aspect is managing complexity across a large, diverse region, while balancing rapid technological change and evolving customer expectations. These challenges, however, reinforce the importance of strategic collaboration and strong leadership.
Next five years…
Over the next five years, Kinda sees herself continuing to lead at a strategic regional or global level, strengthening partner ecosystems and supporting business growth. She aims to further contribute to shaping partner-led strategies aligned with innovation, security, and data resilience priorities.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace is collaborative, inclusive, and growth focused, where teams are empowered to innovate and partners are viewed as strategic extensions of the business. Trust, transparency, and shared accountability are essential to delivering longer-term success for customers, partners, and the organisation.
Success mantras
- The ability to collaborate, influence, and build trust enables leaders to navigate complexity and drive outcomes.
- For women in leadership roles, communication and authenticity helps create credibility and foster inclusive environments.
- With business acumen, skills empower women to lead with confidence, deliver impact, and contribute to long-term organisational success.
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Seat at the table is based on merit not gender
Anuja Shah oversees the integration of technological innovation with strategic business initiatives to drive digital transformation across the insurance value chain. In her view, being entrusted with running initiatives that impact customer outcomes from ideation to execution has been quite special.
Top skills
The best ideas cut across functions, roles and hierarchies, so providing the assurance that every voice will be heard is important. Having a solution-oriented mindset and creating an environment for empowering the team members who work alongside you to also have the same, building a culture of resilience, transparency in communication and stakeholder management have been some of the key skills Anuja has picked up and leveraged across her career.
Soft skills
Technical skills being table stakes, people and soft skills and leading with empathy are key differentiators for any individual, not just a women executive, to make the journey from being a manager to being recognised as a leader.
Consistency in performance, using your voice for what is right, not necessarily what is popular, handling difficult conversations and having the foresight to create sustainable long-term value, which at times, may result in having to forego short-term gains are some hallmarks for being able to stand out. The seat at the table is based on merit, not gender.
Staying focused on execution is key to winning and retaining trust of stakeholders across the organisation.
Most satisfying
Being able to outline the strategy, key metrics, ensure alignment, highlight how every individual contribution fit in the wider puzzle and making a meaningful impact have been extremely fulfilling parts of the job role.
Being aligned to a common vision, knowing how individual contributions fit into the overall organisational objectives gives a sense of both belonging and becoming.
While every challenge like navigating macro factors and handling external dependence, invokes resilience and creativity in overcoming it, it also leaves you with a sense of accomplishment.
Dream workplace
People shape the culture of any workplace, and having people who support, challenge, inspire, ignite, innovate, fail fast and pivot is key to an ideal environment.
An appreciation for decision making and action over inaction, objectivity and respect while sharing diverse perspectives and having a sense of purpose with a real impact to customers’ lives are instrumental.
Five years from now…
Having moved across the spectrum of financial services and playing roles across functions, Anuja recognises that growth can be vertical, diagonal or horizontal. Career progression five years from now, would hopefully mean making a bigger dent in the universe – creating a better and bigger impact to the lives of people we serve.
Success mantras
- Staying focused on execution is key to winning and retaining trust of stakeholders across the organisation.
- People skills and leading with empathy are differentiators for any individual, not just a women executive, to make the journey into being recognised as a leader.
- Using your voice for what is right, not necessarily what is popular, and handling difficult conversations are some hallmarks for being able to stand out.
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Translating complex technologies into business outcomes
Nada Taha is responsible for driving strategic growth and partnerships across enterprise markets. She has been recognised as a global top performer for three consecutive years and was selected as a panellist at a global sales kick-off, highlighting her leadership and impact within the organisation.
Top skills
Throughout her career, Nada has relied on relationship building, strategic communication, and adaptability. In the cybersecurity industry, success often depends on trust and the ability to translate complex technologies into meaningful business outcomes. Strong listening skills and empathy have helped her understand customer challenges.
She also emphasises resilience, particularly in high-performance sales environments where persistence and optimism are essential. Additionally, cross-cultural communication has been critical when working across international teams and markets. These people-centric skills have enabled her to build lasting partnerships and consistently deliver results while maintaining a collaborative and growth-oriented mindset.
Soft skills
People and soft skills are increasingly becoming defining leadership differentiators. Technical expertise opens the door, but communication, emotional intelligence, and the ability to inspire teams are what sustain long-term leadership success. Women executives often bring strong collaboration and relationship-driven leadership styles that help build inclusive and high-performing teams.
In fast-moving industries like technology, leaders who can align diverse stakeholders, navigate change, and foster trust are invaluable. These capabilities enable women executives not only to stand out but also to drive meaningful organisational impact.
Most satisfying
One of the most rewarding aspects of Nada’s role is helping organisations strengthen their cybersecurity posture and seeing the tangible impact technology can have in protecting businesses and critical infrastructure. Building trusted relationships with customers and partners also brings significant satisfaction.
Most challenging
At the same time, the cybersecurity landscape evolves rapidly, which creates constant pressure to stay ahead of emerging threats and technological change. Balancing ambitious growth targets while maintaining deep customer engagement can also be demanding.
Dream workplace
An ideal workplace environment encourages innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. It provides equal opportunities for growth, values diverse perspectives, and supports employees in bringing their authentic selves to work. Transparent leadership, strong mentorship culture, and recognition of performance are also key factors in fostering high-performing teams.
Next five years…
Over the next five years, Nada aims to continue growing into broader leadership roles within the technology industry while contributing to strategic business transformation. She is particularly passionate about driving innovation, mentoring future leaders, and playing a role in shaping inclusive leadership.
Success mantras
- Strong listening skills and empathy have helped understand customer challenges.
- Cross-cultural communication has been critical when working across international teams and markets.
- People-centric skills have helped to build lasting partnerships and consistently deliver results.
- Technical expertise opens the door, but communication, emotional intelligence, sustain long-term leadership success.
- Women executives bring collaboration and relationship-driven leadership styles that build inclusive and high-performing teams.
- In fast-moving industries like technology, leaders who can align diverse stakeholders, navigate change, and foster trust are invaluable.
- These capabilities enable women executives not only to stand out but to drive meaningful organisational impact.
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