Embracing Change: Female Leadership in a Disruptive Era

18 Jun

Written By The Equality Conversation

with Kathryn Britten, Partner & Managing Director at AlixPartners

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Episode #58: Embracing Change: Female Leadership in a Disruptive Era

Series 8, Episode 5, Wednesday 18 June 2025

In this episode, Joy Burnford interviews Kathryn Britten. Kathryn is Partner and Managing Director in global consulting firm, AlixPartners. Kathryn joins Joy to talk about her career journey in a male-dominated industry, how male and female leaders lead differently when faced with disruption, and her experience of what works well when it comes to the progression and retention of women in the workplace.

Key takeaways

Don’t make assumptions about women in the workplace: Kathryn explains that in her early career, people made assumptions about her and other women in the workplace. E.g. you wouldn’t want to be a partner, you wouldn’t want to travel, you wouldn’t need equal pay or to be in the pension scheme, you wouldn’t want to participate in networking or corporate entertaining activities. Things have changed for the better and people don’t say those things now. But they haven’t changed fast enough, and quite a lot of those attitudes may well persist.
The importance of taking opportunities and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone: Kathryn speaks about a point in her career where she was faced with a disruptive situation and took an opportunity to do something she'd never done before, which was to lead a project to put in a quality management system. She had to push herself out of her comfort zone and learn on the job but it became a pivotal moment in her career because she became very visible to the leaders. Kathryn was also upfront in telling people she wanted to be a partner, and she found someone who was prepared to sponsor her to help her do that.
Female leaders see more opportunity in disruption than male leaders: Kathryn explains that AlixPartners conducted research, published in 2024, asking leaders to rate 15 disruptive forces as an opportunity or a threat for their company over the next 12 months. For 14 of those 15 forces, a greater percentage of female leaders consistently saw opportunity rather than threat. Only AI was considered equally an opportunity by female and male leaders. The subsequent 2025 research shows there's a big doubling down of that opportunity being seen by women, particularly in the world of digital transformation and AI. Female leaders are also showing a more adaptive mindset. Kathryn considers that this may be due to many female leaders probably having quite disruptive careers and meeting challenges along the way. This, she thinks, may help women to have a different perspective on disruption and a different way of embracing barriers they are faced with.
Female leaders seek more support from advisors to be successful: Whereas, in AlixPartners’ 2024 research, more male leaders said they were personally falling behind in terms of knowledge and skills, the 2025 research shows an increase in the proportion of both male and female leaders seeking support. Kathryn says that seeking support gives validation and enrichment of ideas as well as diverse perspectives. It is a collaborative way of working that fosters cooperation and engagement. Leaders who feel threatened could take a lesson from those leaders who are optimistic and who are collaborating and seeking support. They could bring in more diverse views. They could better understand transformation and uncertainty, and that way, they'll see opportunity, and they'll navigate changes much more confidently, regardless of their gender.
Accelerating gender equality and removing barriers for women at AlixPartners: Kathryn outlines several initiatives in place at AlixPartners to remove barriers for women, but the most important thing is that AlixPartners leaders are demonstrating their belief in the importance of diversity and inclusion. Initiatives include:
- A global sponsorship scheme helps to align early and mid-career talent with senior leaders, and also has a benefit of reverse mentoring for senior leaders.
- Inclusive leadership is embedded in training at all levels and drives the reward system.
- A focus on flexibility, so when starting a project or an engagement, leaders work with the team to build in the flexibility those individuals need. They also seek to personalise flexibility and find a way to build a map that meets an individual's needs, recognising that those needs change over time. They know that no one size fits all.
- Employee resource groups which are open to everyone and led by employees. These have showed an improvement in psychological safety measurements from surveys and diagnostics.

Insights from Kathryn

“I think too often, we work hard, we keep our heads down, and we hope people will notice us. And I do believe it's important, to actually tell people what you want.”
“If female leaders have had to build confidence and resilience, and overcome bias and personal challenges to progress, particularly those in male dominated environments, they'll see disruption as a catalyst for change. This is much needed change, a chance to tear up the rule books, challenge the status quo and dismantle those long-standing barriers.”
“I think we all know, actually, that diversity, generally in leadership teams, brings about better outcomes. Diversity of thought and different perspectives is really important. It strengthens our teams, it enhances innovation, and it drives better outcomes. It's central to AlixPartners business and our global strategy, and it enables us to achieve much better results for our clients.”

Top tip

“My top tip is personalise, personalise, personalise. Flexibility has to be for the individual, at the time. It's been very important throughout my career, and I really do think I've tried most types of flexibility. I've been lucky to be able to pioneer them. But the beauty of that has been in the firms that I’ve work with, who've let me pioneer them, have had a very dedicated and committed employee, later, partner, always prepared to go the extra mile. This is important because it is a multi-dimensional agenda. So, personalise, for the individual and the business. Recognise that it needs to be a win-win situation. Find ways to make it work so that everybody gets the outcome that they want, and the solution that they want.”

Keywords

Gender equality, disruption, leadership, career progression, flexibility, sponsorship, resilience, expert witnesses, opportunity mindset, inclusive leadership, career breaks, role models, bias, professional development, women in business, digital transformation, AI, stakeholder pressure, personal growth, adaptability.