Why Most Leadership Advice Fails Women of Color—And What to Do Instead

There’s no shortage of leadership books, podcasts, masterminds, and motivational events promising the same outcomes: clarity, confidence, and success.

But for women of color, that promise often rings hollow.

Because most leadership advice wasn’t written with us in mind.

It wasn’t built for the woman carrying the double weight of being underestimated and overburdened.

It doesn’t speak to:

• The code-switching we’ve had to master just to be heard

• The ancestral strength we’ve inherited, and the generational trauma we’re still healing

• The discomfort of being “the first” or “the only one” in rooms where our presence feels like a challenge

Leadership advice that assumes a level playing field will always fall short for those of us who were never even invited to the game.

What’s Missing From the Mainstream

Most leadership frameworks center on:

• Strategy without context

• Confidence without culture

• Influence without integrity to one’s identity

They tell us to be bold, but not too bold.
They say be authentic—until our truth feels too much.

What they rarely do is:

• Honor lived experience as leadership currency

• Address the barriers uniquely faced by Black and Brown women in systems built to exclude them

• Teach us how to lead without abandoning ourselves

What We Actually Need

We don’t need another “lean in” moment—we need language, liberation, and legacy.

We need leadership models that:

• Begin with identity before industry

• Make space for rest as resistance

• View lived experience as a leadership asset, not a liability

• Teach us how to make our mark without losing our soul

We need safe spaces to unlearn the lie that we must outwork the world just to be worthy.
We need mirrors, not masks.
We need mentors who see our story in their strategy.

So What Do We Do Instead?

We stop subscribing to leadership models that silence us.

We begin by:

1. Doing the identity work first. You can’t lead others if you’re still unsure of who you are.

2. Building from purpose, not performance. Influence isn’t about volume; it’s about alignment.

3. Creating what we wish existed. If the table doesn’t make room for us, we build a new one. And we bring chairs.

At MotivatHER, we don’t just teach leadership—we develop legacy-makers.
Women who are deeply rooted in their identity.
Women who radiate their brilliance without shrinking.
Women who are ready to make their mark on their terms—not on someone else’s blueprint.

Because when we rise, we don’t rise alone.

We rise for generations.

What part of this resonated most with you? Drop it in the comments.