The Female Advantage: Why the Traits You Were Told to Tone Down Are Your Biggest Leadership Assets
- Dr Pretty Basra
- Jun 11
- 2 min read
At some point in your career, it's likely you were given some version of the following advice: be more assertive. Don't be so emotional. Stop over-explaining. Toughen up.
What nobody told you is that the traits being gently (or not so gently) coached out of you are precisely the ones that make women exceptional leaders.
That's the female advantage. And it's time we stopped apologising for it.
What the research actually shows
Studies consistently show that organisations with more women in leadership outperform those without, on profitability, innovation, employee retention, and crisis management. This isn't sentiment. It's data.
And when researchers dig into why, the answer comes back to the same cluster of qualities, again and again: empathy, relational intelligence, the ability to hold complexity, collaborative decision-making, and a long-term orientation that prioritises sustainability over short-term gain.
These are not soft skills. They are the hard currency of effective leadership in a complex world.
The conditioning problem
The challenge is that many women have spent years, sometimes decades, actively suppressing these qualities in an attempt to fit a leadership template that was never designed with them in mind. They've learned to lead like men, because that was the only model on offer.
The result is leaders who are effective, but exhausted. Successful, but disconnected. High-performing, but quietly wondering whether this is really who they are.
You don't have to choose between being yourself and being a powerful leader. In fact, the research suggests you'll be a better leader precisely because of who you are.
Reclaiming your advantage
The first step is recognising these qualities as strengths, not liabilities. The second is learning how to deploy them strategically, because the female advantage is not about being nice. It's about being effective in a way that's distinctly, unapologetically yours.
That's the conversation I love to have. Whether in a boardroom, on a conference stage, or one-to-one, it's the most energising work I do.
About Dr Pretty Basra
Dr Pretty Basra is a TEDx speaker, international keynote speaker and award-winning healthcare entrepreneur with over 20 years in optometry and 10 years in leadership. She delivers neuroscience-informed keynotes on mental fitness, burnout, the female advantage, and confidence, wealth and freedom, for organisations across the UK and internationally.
She is Head of Events for the Optical Women's Association, Chair of the ICB Optometry Forum, a WOPEC assessor, and a member of the General Optical Council's fitness to practise panel. She is also the first UK optometrist to integrate medical aesthetics and ocular wellness into clinical practice.
Pretty hosts the The Women Money Business podcast and runs the Inner Circle membership community for women in optometry and healthcare.
📍 Based in the UK · Available for keynotes, workshops and panels worldwide
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