How Women in Leadership Can Shape How Others See Them

Impression management is a critical part of every leader’s job. People’s perceptions of leaders directly impact their reputation, credibility, and status, which in turn influence their opportunities, assignments, latitude, and ultimately their career trajectory. For leaders who don’t look or act like our mental model of a leader—which historically has meant white, heterosexual, male, nondisabled, and from a socioeconomically advantaged background—the work of perception management is even more demanding, because core aspects of their identity are seen as divergent from, or even antithetical to, the qualities of an archetypal leader.