10 Lessons We Can Apply From Traits of Successful Female Leaders

Did you know that a study shows women are often better at leading and managing than men? Women-led countries are more likely to rank among the happiest nations, and women-led companies are more likely to be less toxic compared to their male counterparts. According to a survey by the Pew Research, women are better political leaders than men.

Which brings us to the question: Why? What are the traits that set female leaders apart from male leaders? There are 10 traits of successful female leaders that we can learn from.

What Makes a Female Leader Successful? Let’s Look at the 10 Defining Traits

Now, we could name a few feminine traits, such as nurturing nature, soft-spokenness, and clear-mindedness, as signs of successful women. However, that alone doesn’t define a successful woman, or does it? Well, it’s both.

For this blog, we have 10 traits of successful female leaders backed by science and statistical data. For example, if we look at the data from Pew Research, women rank higher in key traits like honesty, creativity, compassion, and outgoing nature. 

So, what are these defining traits? Here’s what you need to know:

1. Emotional Intelligence

A study shows that high Emotional Intelligence in leaders leads to transformational leadership. Now, when you remember that a study by the University of Zurich shows that women have better EI than men, you realize the first trait that makes women better.

Women, for evolutionary reasons, are generally better equipped to manage stress and process emotions than men. And it is this very trait that allows them to be a great leader. On average, women outperform men in 11 out of 12 key emotional intelligence competencies. And that’s the secret behind them being better leaders.

Impact:

• Builds psychological safety, enabling teams to take risks and innovate without fear of blame.​
• Enhances conflict resolution by reading emotional cues, reducing turnover, and sustaining collaboration.​
• Boosts motivation through empathy, lifting engagement scores in high-EI leaders.

How to Implement?

• Pause before responding in tense meetings to name your emotions silently.
• Schedule weekly 1:1s focused solely on listening without advising.
• Journal nightly about one interaction where you noticed others’ feelings.

2. Transformational Leadership Style

Research shows that women are more likely to adopt a transformational leadership style than men. It is a universal trait of all female leaders. According to research conducted in the 1990s to identify differences in leadership styles between men and women, it was concluded that women are more likely to follow the transformational leadership style than men. Men tend to use laissez-faire and passive leadership styles more frequently.

Various surveys show that an active and involved approach to leadership is comparatively better than passive leadership styles. In transformational leadership, you are more involved and more approachable as a leader. And being approachable is one of the top traits of successful female leaders.

Impact:

• Inspires extra effort by aligning teams to a shared vision, outperforming transactional styles in productivity.​
• Fosters individual growth via mentoring, increasing skill development, and retention rates.​
• Drives adaptability in crises, correlating with higher team resilience metrics.

How to Implement?

• Start team huddles by sharing a personal story tied to the goal.
• Assign stretch projects framing failures as learning experiments.
• Recognize public wins with specific praise for effort and growth.

3. Relational/Communal Orientation

When you take a look at the data on communal traits, qualities such as kindness, helpfulness, and deep understanding, you see why women naturally rise to the top in modern organizations. These relational strengths correlate directly with leadership effectiveness, especially in roles that demand high-level collaboration and people management. 

While old-school leadership was about command, today’s success depends on a leader’s ability to foster psychological safety and trust. Because women are often more naturally inclined toward this communal orientation, they create environments where teams feel safe to take risks, learn from mistakes, and adapt quickly. 

Impact:

• Cultivates trust and loyalty, reducing counterproductive behaviors by up to 40% per ethical climate studies.​
• Improves knowledge sharing in teams, linked to variance in learning outcomes.​
• Enhances diversity and inclusion, yielding higher innovation revenue in collaborative settings.

How to Implement?

• Use “What do you need from me?” in feedback conversations.
• Host casual cross-team lunches to build informal bonds.
• Follow up on personal details shared by colleagues.

4. Agentic Competence

Agentic competence is the raw ability to be assertive and decisive. It’s the trait that allows women to signal they are ready for the next level without the typical social backlash, making them 1.5x more likely to be promoted when they pair that grit with warmth. It isn’t just about being “bossy”; it’s about execution. 

Research shows women make decisions 25% faster than men due to their agentic competence. They shatter the bias that holds others back. It turns out that being able to command a room while delivering results is the ultimate “bias-killer,” making these traits of successful female leaders the most effective navigators of complex corporate hierarchies.

Impact:

• Signals promotability without backlash, making women 1.5x more likely for advancement when balanced with warmth.​
• Ensures execution under pressure, tying decisiveness to faster strategic pivots.​
• Counters bias through competence displays, elevating perceived effectiveness across hierarchies.

How to Implement?

• Block calendar time weekly for high-priority strategic work. 
• Practice saying no to low-impact requests with brief reasons. 
• Track and review your top three quarterly wins.

5. Ethical and Integrity-Based Leadership

Think about the leader who actually “walks the talk.” When you look at 360° feedback across the board, women consistently outpace men on the dimensions of honesty and integrity. It’s a natural alignment with ethical leadership that turns a manager into a moral compass for the entire team. It isn’t just about playing by the rules; it’s about the massive ripple effect that follows. 

When a leader leads with genuine integrity, it triggers a surge in organizational commitment and slams the door on toxic, counterproductive behaviors. By simply being more inclined to do the right thing, women build an ironclad foundation of trust that makes them more effective at keeping a company aligned and motivated.

Impact:

• Strengthens organizational commitment, cutting voluntary turnover via role modeling.​
• Builds stakeholder trust, correlating with higher long-term financial returns.​
• Minimizes ethical risks, fostering cultures where 85% of employees report higher morale.

How to Implement?

• Share your decision-making criteria openly in group settings.
• Admit small errors promptly and outline fixes.
• Model work boundaries by logging off visibly.

6. Participation and Democratic Decision-Making

Another leadership style that is often found in the traits of successful female leaders is Democratic leadership. See, transformational leadership makes you involved in the team, and democratic leadership makes the team involved in your work. It makes the team feel like they are part of the process and adds to their stake in the organization.

It improves the autonomy and innovativeness of the team. So, why is this one of the traits of a successful female leader? As a study by Frontiers shows, autonomy improves the productivity of a team by 5.2%. And this translates to success in your goal and that of your organization. That’s why democratic and participative leadership is a game-changer in the entrepreneurial scene.

Impact:

• Increases buy-in and autonomy, boosting productivity through empowered teams.​
• Sparks creativity via diverse input, improving decision quality in complex environments.​
• Elevates satisfaction, with participative styles showing higher approval in 360 reviews.

How to Implement?

• Poll options anonymously before final calls.
• Delegate full ownership of decisions with clear success metrics.
• Rotate who leads brainstorming sessions.

7. Communication and Feedback Quality

When you look at the way high-performing teams actually grow, you realize that communication isn’t just about talking; it’s about the quality of the feedback loop. It’s this specific habit of checking in on their people that bridges the gap between a stagnant team and a force. Female leaders create a culture of transparency where role clarity and engagement are the daily reality. 

At the end of the day, when a leader takes the time to sharpen their team’s skills, it leads to massive gains in knowledge sharing and innovation. That consistent, high-quality feedback is the engine that drives a team to exceed its goals, and it’s a reason why women are so effective at building resilient, future-ready organizations.

Impact:

• Clarifies roles and expectations, reducing errors and accelerating onboarding.​
• Accelerates development, with coaching linked to gains in individual performance.​
• Promotes innovation by encouraging open dialogue, tied to more novel ideas generated.

How to Implement?

• End 1:1s asking “What feedback do you have for me?”
• Use visuals or stories to explain complex updates.
• Repeat back what you heard to confirm understanding.

8. Resilience and Stress Management

Resilience and stress management are must-have traits of successful female leaders. But did you know, there was a scientific reason behind them being better at it? Yes, according to a study by UCLA, women release more oxytocin during stressful situations. And this chemical is known to promote nurturing and seeking social support. 

The release of these chemicals counters cortisol and reduces the long-term harmful effects, including isolation. Not only that, but women show stronger limbic/striatal responses to stress, facilitating social bonding and recovery via support networks. But why is it important? The answer is simple: good stress management leads to better leadership and faster decisions.

Impact:

• Stabilizes teams during uncertainty, lowering burnout contagion in high-stress roles.​
• Models adaptive coping, sustaining output where others decline.
• Enables bold decisions, associating resilient leaders with better crisis recovery.

How to Implement?

• Practice 5-minute breathing resets between meetings.
• Build a 3-person trusted circle for venting and support.
• Reframe setbacks as data for next attempts.

9. Vision and Purpose Orientation

Take a look at how the most successful companies stay ahead, and you’ll find a leader who can articulate a purpose so compelling it feels personal. It is where women truly excel. They frame the work through a visionary lens that makes every team member want to go far beyond their formal duties. It’s that natural “purpose-driven” approach that turns a standard office culture upside down. 

When you see women CEOs at the helm, you’ll notice they lean into this long-term framing, which builds an unshakable foundation of stakeholder trust. Even when the short-term risks get high, this focus on the “why” keeps the organization anchored. It’s this ability to connect the daily grind to a bigger mission that secures long-term performance.

Impact:

• Motivates beyond compliance, increasing discretionary effort in purpose-aligned teams.​
• Aligns strategy with values, driving superior long-term shareholder value.​
• Attracts talent, with visionary cultures showing higher employee net promoter scores.

How to Implement?

• Tie daily tasks to a six-month impact in team comms.
• Co-create updated team purpose statements yearly.
• Celebrate milestones with forward-looking reflections.

10. Creativity and Openness

Look at the way innovation actually happens, and you’ll realize it’s less about a single genius and more about an environment that’s wide open to new ideas. It is where women’s higher levels of openness come into play. Women in leadership roles are more likely to question the status quo and engage in frequent, meaningful interactions with the team. 

Of all the traits of successful female leaders, this specific one that allows them to foster an atmosphere where unconventional thinking is encouraged. By leading with a more relaxed, interpersonal style, female leaders reduce the fear of judgment that usually kills a new idea before it’s even spoken. The data backs this up as well: companies with gender-diverse leadership are 25% more likely to outperform financially because they are better at divergent thinking and solving complex problems.

Impact:

• Fuels adaptation to change, linking creative leaders to higher market agility.​
• Sparks relational innovation, boosting cross-functional collaboration.
• Enhances problem-solving diversity, correlating with greater revenue from new products.

How to Implement?

• Dedicate 30 minutes weekly to unrelated curiosity reading.
• Ask “What if the opposite were true?” in problem talks.
• Brainstorm solo first before group input.

Five Best Examples of Successful Women Leaders Who Implemented These Traits

Now that we know the traits of successful female leaders, let’s talk about five who show these traits. Here are five women who show off these traits and make a difference.

1. Arundhati Bhattacharya

Bhattacharya’s tenure at SBI proves that high-level empathy is a major business driver. By reading the emotional cues of a massive workforce, she launched the YONO app, not just as a tech update, but as a solution to real employee and customer pain points. Her ability to lead with deep understanding turned a traditional bank into a digital powerhouse.

2. Indra Nooyi

Nooyi is the ultimate architect of purpose-driven leadership. She used her high self-awareness to pivot PepsiCo toward Performance with Purpose, proving that you can deliver profit while honoring sustainability. Her decisiveness in moving toward healthier products, even amidst resistance, shows exactly how agentic competence and vision create long-term stakeholder loyalty.

3. Sheryl Sandberg

Sandberg redefined the corporate engine by making vulnerability a strength. Through her “Lean In” and “Option B” philosophies, she mentored a generation of talent by prioritizing high-quality feedback and resilience. Her openness about recovery and growth mindset didn’t just inspire individuals; it built a culture of transparency that allowed tech giants to scale and adapt.

4. Jacinda Ardern

Ardern’s leadership style serves as a masterclass in relational crisis management. Whether it was her “tend-and-befriend” response to national tragedy or her democratic approach to pandemic policy, she built unshakeable trust. Her ability to maintain composure under extreme stress proved that leading with empathy and transparent communication is the fastest way to stabilize a nation.

5. Anne Wojcicki

Wojcicki’s success at 23andMe is rooted in her high levels of openness and ethical integrity. By pioneering the consumer genomics industry with a focus on data privacy, she created an environment where unconventional thinking meets rigid moral standards. Her creative approach to complex problems shows how a leader’s curiosity can literally build a brand-new market from scratch.

Conclusion:

To conclude the blog on the traits of successful female leaders, these 10 traits are the basis of what makes most female leaders so successful. It is their nurturing nature, leadership style, and stress management that give them an edge as leaders.

By learning about these traits and implementing them, you can start your journey to be a successful leader. A leader’s success isn’t measured by the victories, although they are a huge part of it. It is measured by their leadership. And these traits of successful female leaders give us a glimpse at what it takes to be successful.

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