From I To We: The Collective Shift Women Leaders Are Making—And Why It's Working

Forbes

20-05-2025

Leadership is often framed as an individual pursuit. But at the recent WeTheChange gathering of women and nonbinary leaders of B Corps and values-aligned businesses, one truth resonated across every session, conversation, and shared moment: real change is collective.
As I sat among founders, CEOs, creatives, and community builders, I felt a rare mix of affirmation and relief. It was a room filled with people who had already 'made it'—and still knew that doing it alone wasn't the answer. The prevailing energy wasn't hustle or competition. It was we. Collaborative. Curious. Connected.
A powerful group of women leaders doing business in a way that's good for the world - and ... More themselves!
This shift from 'I' to 'we' isn't just a feel-good sentiment. It's an urgently needed evolution in how we think about power, progress, and performance. And it aligns beautifully with the Lead in 3D framework I've spent years learning, teaching, and living.
Lead in 3D is a simple but powerful framework that guides leaders to align their investments of time, energy, and attention across three essential dimensions:
When we get stuck in a single dimension—sacrificing 'Me' for the sake of 'World,' or neglecting 'We' in pursuit of 'Me'—we lose energy, perspective, and momentum. But when we lead in all three dimensions, we unlock sustainability and satisfaction. The shift from 'I' to 'we' doesn't erase the self. It integrates it into a broader ecosystem of change.
As Meghan French Dunbar, leadership expert and author of the forthcoming This Isn't Working, reminded us: women are more burned out, more stressed, and more likely to leave the workplace—not because we're less capable, but because we're navigating systems that were never designed for us. Her call was clear: stop contorting ourselves to fit broken norms. Start reshaping the norms to reflect who we are—and what we need to thrive.
Her words echoed the foundational insight of 3D leadership: performance doesn't have to require sacrifice. In fact, the data shows that when we center empathy, belonging, and shared wellbeing, results improve. Systems change starts with inner change. And that change becomes collective when we model it together.
Jessica Lau offered a metaphor that landed deeply: we need to move like geese flying in formation. In nature, each goose takes a turn leading—and rests in the slipstream when it's not their moment. No one flies alone. The formation creates efficiency, resilience, and shared direction.
In nature, each goose takes a turn leading—and rests when it's not their moment. No one flies alone.
It's the opposite of the solo-hero myth. And it's what I felt in that room: the ease and power of distributed leadership, of letting someone else carry the wind for a bit while you catch your breath—and then doing the same for them.
Leilani Raashida Henry's story brought us back to roots—literally. The daughter of the first person of African descent to set foot on Antarctica, she shared her own journey to that same continent, decades later. Her reflections reminded us that our presence in leadership is never just about us. It carries echoes of those who came before—and ripples into the lives of those who will come next.
Our presence in leadership is never just about us. It carries echoes of those who came before, as ... More Leilani Raashida Henry reminded us.
It was a moving reminder that our individual stories matter. Not to make us exceptional, but to make us connected. Our personal truths, our ancestral threads, our inner shifts—they're all part of collective change.
The event closed with a rousing moment led by Kate Dixon. One by one, each person stood and declared one action they would take. The range was stunning:
That last one got a loving nudge from across the room: 'Playing big a little is an oxymoron.' With a laugh, the speaker corrected herself: 'Okay, okay—play big a lot.'
It was a perfect metaphor for what we'd experienced: individual voices, strengthened by a collective container. Action made braver through shared witness. It wasn't about becoming someone new. It was about showing up as who we already are—together.
Like-hearted accountability is a powerful tool for action, in a way that serves our businesses, but ... More also our communities and ourselves!
As spiritual teacher Reverend angel Kyodo williams puts it: 'Without inner change there can be no outer change. Without collective change, no change matters.'
That's what we saw at WeTheChange: inner work becoming outer strategy. Personal insight becoming confidence to reimagine our systems. It's what we mean when we talk about 'leading in 3D.'
Some of us start with Me—recovering from burnout, reclaiming joy. Others begin with We—healing teams, reshaping culture. Still others begin with World—justice, equity, sustainability.
There's no wrong place to start. The key is to move, and to move together.
The old models of leadership told us to grind harder, do more, win alone. The new model invites us to align, collaborate, and rise—together.
We don't need to play by the old rules. We must write new ones. We can build workplaces—and systems—where thriving isn't the exception. Indeed, French Dunbar shared recent research by Stanford psychologist, Jamil Zaki, that demonstrated the return on investment of empathy as a superpower, leading private equity firm KKR to invest in empathy training programs for its portfolio companies' leaders.
This is the path to sustainable success, wellbeing, and shared prosperity.
And that change starts with We.