A powerful reframing of leadership for Black women, less proving, more positioning, and authority on your own terms.
January has a reputation for urgency. New goals. New metrics. New pressure to “hit the ground running.”
But for many Black women in the workplace, January doesn’t feel fresh, it feels familiar.
Familiar expectations, overextension, and reminders that being a strong leader alone is never enough.
For years, Black women have been taught,implicitly and explicitly,that leadership comes through endurance. That credibility is earned through sacrifice. That success requires being twice as prepared, three times as composed, and endlessly accommodating. The result? Highly capable leaders operating in constant performance mode, managing not only outcomes, but perceptions.
This year calls for something different.
Not a louder hustle, or another self-improvement plan.
But a fundamental shift in how leadership is approached, claimed, and protected.
This is not the year of proving.
Instead this is the year of positioning.
The Hidden Cost of Constant Excellence
Black women are among the most educated and ambitious professionals in the workforce. Yet data consistently shows they remain radically excluded from senior leadership and overrepresented in roles requiring emotional labor, cultural translation, and organizational cleanup.
What often goes unspoken is the cost of this imbalance.
Leadership for Black women frequently comes with invisible responsibilities:
- Managing team morale without authority
- Carrying institutional memory without recognition
- Being the “safe” person for conflict without protection
- Translating unspoken dynamics while navigating bias
Over time, high performance becomes transactional. You deliver more, hoping the system will eventually reward you. But systems rarely reward what they’ve learned to expect for free.
Positioning disrupts this cycle.
It asks a different question:
Rather than “How can I do more?” asking “How can I be placed where my leadership is respected, resourced, and sustainable?”
Leadership Is Not Just What You Do, It’s Where You Stand
Traditional leadership narratives emphasize output: performance, productivity, perseverance. Positioning focuses on context.
Where are your strengths most valued?
Who benefits from your labor, and who advocates for you when you’re not in the room?
What environments allow you to lead without shrinking, code-switching, or self-monitoring?
Positioning recognizes that talent does not exist in a vacuum. Even the most capable leaders require the right conditions to thrive.
This reframing is powerful because it removes the false belief that burnout is a personal failure rather than a structural signal. It also restores agency. You may not control the system, but you can control your proximity to power, support, and opportunity.
The Shift from Survival Leadership to Strategic Leadership
Survival leadership is reactive. It’s shaped by urgency, fear of being misunderstood, and the pressure to remain indispensable.
Strategic leadership is intentional. It is rooted in clarity, boundaries, and long-term vision.
The transition begins internally but must be reinforced externally. It requires three deliberate shifts:
1. From Over-Availability to Authority
Many Black women are conditioned to equate accessibility with value. The more available you are, the more essential you become, at least until availability replaces authority.
Authority is not loud. It is clear.
It sounds like:
- “That timeline you suggested is not realistic without additional resources.”
- “I can take this on if some of my other priorities are adjusted.”
- “I’ll need clarity on decision rights before moving forward.”
- “If I take on this extra responsibility, will it come with a pathway forward or additional pay?”
Authority is not granted through over-delivery. It is established through boundaries that signal self-trust.
2. From Emotional Labor to Strategic Influence
Emotional intelligence is a strength, but when it becomes unpaid labor, it drains leadership capital.
Being the one who smooths tensions, mentors everyone, and absorbs organizational stress may feel like leadership, but without influence, it becomes extraction.
Strategic influence requires discernment:
- When to engage
- When to observe
- When to escalate
- When to step back (Yes, I said it STEP BACK!)
Not every issue requires your emotional intervention, nor is it always yours to solve.
3. From Visibility to Sponsorship
Visibility alone does not lead to advancement. Many Black women are highly visible yet unsupported when promotion decisions are made.
As I share in my book, Glass Ceilings, Fragile Grounds, sponsorship,not mentorship, is the differentiator.
Sponsors speak your name in decision-making spaces. They connect your performance to opportunity. They use their power to shift outcomes.
If no one is advocating for you at that level, positioning requires finding,or moving toward, spaces where that advocacy is possible.
Designing a Leadership Strategy That Protects You
Positioning is an active leadership practice we must engage in.
Here are five strategic questions to guide this year:
- Where am I over-functioning, and who benefits from that imbalance?
- What expectations have I accepted without negotiation?
- Which relationships expand my power, and which ones drain it?
- What version of myself is this role requiring, and is it sustainable?
- If nothing changed here, where would I be in two years?
Keep in mind that honest answers create leverage; so really dig in!
Power with Boundaries Is Not Optional
Boundaries are often framed as personal wellness tools. For Black women, they are the leadership infrastructure.
Boundaries determine:
- How is your time valued?
- How is your expertise used?
- How is your leadership interpreted?
Boundaries are not walls; consider seeing them as signals.
They communicate that your contribution is intentional, not unlimited. That your leadership is strategic, not reactive. That access to you is earned through respect.
When boundaries are consistently enforced, perception shifts. And perception shapes opportunity.
For Organizations: Leadership Retention Is a Systems Issue
Organizations often celebrate Black women’s leadership while failing to retain it.
The disconnect lies in confusing representation with support.
Supporting Black women leaders requires more than statements. It requires operational changes:
- Clear promotion pathways
- Transparent performance criteria
- Shared emotional labor
- Real-time bias interruption
- Accountability for managers, not just employees
If Black women are consistently leaving roles labeled “great opportunities,” the issue is not ambition. It’s alignment.
The Invitation This Year
This year is not about becoming more impressive.
It’s about becoming more protected.
More intentional.
More strategically placed.
Leadership does not require self-erasure. It requires self-trust.
When Black women stop proving and start positioning, leadership becomes expansive rather than exhausting. Organizations become stronger. Cultures become healthier. And success becomes sustainable.
This is not a reset built on pressure.
It’s a realignment built on power.
Learn More About Illyasha Peete:
Founder of Catalyze and Cultivate Consulting
Email: ip****@****************************ng.com
Book: Glass Ceilings, Fragile Ground
Website: Catalyze and Cultivate Consulting
Illyasha Peete is an accomplished consultant, specializing in leadership, organizational development, and strategy. Through her consulting firm, Catalyze and Cultivate Consulting, she empowers organizations to build inclusive, effective environments. Her book, Glass Ceilings, Fragile Ground, highlights key issues around leadership and systemic barriers, offering insights into overcoming challenges faced by underrepresented groups in professional spaces.
You can connect with her on LinkedIn to learn more about her approach to leadership and consultation.
