What if the women leaders who were long overlooked are the ones we can’t afford to ignore today. The proverbial career ladder has long been the dominant metaphor for success. For many, it works: a clear, linear climb, one predictable rung at a time. For others, it doesn’t, because the ladder was never built to hold the weight of multiple roles and ambitions.
Women, in particular, have mastered a multi-hyphenate model of leadership out of necessity: mother and manager, founder and caregiver, mentor and innovator. What looked “nonlinear” was simply a different kind of training ground, one that creates resilience, adaptability, and perspective.
Today’s multi-hyphenates are entrepreneurs-executives-authors, CEOs-board members-storytellers, and founders-volunteers-mentors. They’ve pivoted across industries, re-entered the workforce after pauses, and taken lateral moves to gain new skills or flexibility. Those shifts and gaps aren’t liabilities, they’re evidence of courage, perspective, and the kind of agility various lived experiences produce.
Lattice, not ladder
Instead of advancing only upward, these women have built careers in multiple directions. A “lattice” (or jungle gym) career is about growing wider, deeper, and smarter, not just higher. For generations, women’s professional ambition has been constrained and conditional: don’t pause, don’t deviate, don’t improvise. Today, women are rejecting those outdated rules and designing careers on their own terms.
A multi-hyphenate career isn’t about abandoning ambition, it’s about redefining it. Success is measured not just by titles or tenure, but by influence, impact, and the ability to bring others along. In fact, when women come together, through mentorship, collaboration, and shared experience, they create a multiplier effect that accelerates learning, leadership, and impact across organizations.
That’s not to say the traditional ladder is irrelevant. For many leaders, it remains a powerful and valid route to the top. It just can’t be the only one.
What the modern workplace needs
Even in corporate roles, this era of constant disruption is testing every leader’s ability to make high-stakes decisions and rally teams through uncertainty and upheaval. Employee expectations are shifting: new generations demand empathy, flexibility, and cultural fluency. These are existential challenges that require resilience and the ability to hold multiple perspectives at once. In that context, the women leaders who have crossed sectors, scaled startups, and taken a career pause are uniquely positioned for what the modern workplace needs right now.
No matter where they sit, multi-hyphenates carry the very skills once dismissed as “soft” but now recognized as indispensable: empathy, emotional intelligence, adaptability, and the ability to build trust across divides. Innovation thrives at intersections, and these women leaders know how to bridge industries, cultures, and generations.
Good for the bottom line
The business case is undeniable. Companies with women executives outperform competitors by 30% and women founders deliver higher ROI when funded. From our vantage points—one leading chief, the world’s largest network for women executives—and one who is CEO and cofounder of a leading AI driven, and the fastest-growing executive search firm in the U.S.—we both hear directly from thousands of women navigating this reality. Together, they represent not just a large share of today’s workforce, but the very talent pipeline companies will depend on for the C-suite of tomorrow. The pattern is unmistakable: nonlinear careers are producing leaders uniquely equipped for today’s complexity.
Yet, too many companies still cling to neatly sequenced résumés over pivots, pauses, or plurality. And they overlook a critical truth that leadership today is rarely developed in isolation. Women, in particular, are adept at building support networks that foster growth and create opportunities for many in their orbit. This collective strength can amplify influence far beyond what one individual could achieve alone. After all, leadership is a team sport.
Systemic change
Unlocking this potential requires change across the system. Boards should prize crisis navigation and cross-functionality. Recruiters must weigh adaptability and emotional intelligence alongside tenure. HR leaders should create returnships and project-based roles. And women themselves must stop apologizing for nonlinear journeys and claim their value.
We’re not looking to replace the corporate ladder. For some, it still works, and that’s fine. But clinging to it as the only credible path is a mistake. Nonlinear, multi-hyphenate careers—once dismissed as messy, flawed, or unfocused—are proving to be a highly effective model for leadership. Women have been beta-testing this blueprint for decades. It works. And it’s time for companies to embrace it.
