Self-made doesn’t mean self-sufficient!

Jun 24, 2025 | Actualități , Leadership

For many women in leadership, the road has been long, exacting, and often lonely. We’ve learned how to build, how to protect, how to persist.

We’ve become fluent in over-functioning—proving our worth, holding it all together, offering more than we ever asked for in return.

But here’s what I’m learning now, in a different season of life (45😀) and leadership:

👉 Strength also means knowing when to receive. Support. Kindness. Recognition. Help. Even rest.

This is not weakness. It is nervous system wisdom.

🧠 Studies in organizational psychology and neurobiology show that: • Women leaders tend to undervalue external support, believing success must come from personal grit (Harvard Business Review, 2021). • Yet those who embrace reciprocal collaboration, mentoring, and emotional openness are more resilient and trusted—especially in uncertain environments. • The parasympathetic nervous system (rest/receive mode) enhances creativity, empathy, and long-term decision-making—capacities often under-activated in high-performance roles.

So perhaps the next frontier for us, self-made women is not to push harder, but to let in more grace, recognition and shared power!

(The wonderful photo is a stage set, from FITS, Sibiu, 2025)