Hello beautiful soul
As this is the season of goodwill, so I’ve decided it’s the perfect time to sprinkle a little tough love.
Get ready.
According to the latest Women in the Workplace 2025 study — the largest annual research of its kind from McKinsey & Company and Lean In — only about half of companies say women’s career advancement is a high priority.
And two in ten say it’s a low or no priority at all.
The gap is even wider when it comes to women of colour.
Even more striking, the report shows a growing ambition gap.
Women are now noticeably less likely than men to say they want a promotion — not because they lack talent or dedication, but because women receive less career support, fewer sponsorship opportunities, and fewer stretch chances to rise up.
Let. That. Sink. In.
Women are just as committed and capable as men — yet overall support and investment from organisations are declining, at the exact moment so many companies claim they care about diversity.
That’s the system reality.
Now here comes the big-sister real talk, and trust me, this comes from the DEEPEST part of my heart...
If women’s professional advancement is not a priority for the very organisations we work in… then waiting for them to validate our worth, pick up the tab for our growth, or open the door for us is a losing strategy.
Please hear me when I say this:
We CANNOT rely on them.
We have to rely on ourselves.
Because as long as you’re letting other people be responsible for your career, you’re never going to get the glow-up your soul is craving.
As long as you’re waiting to be chosen, you’ll keep shrinking in rooms you were born to lead.
As long as you’re blaming “them” for not investing in you, you’re feeding the same patriarchal machine that benefits from your silence.
As long as you’re waiting for permission, you’re postponing a life that’s already calling your name.
Leadership is not something someone gives you.
It’s something you claim.
This is me in around 2015 — carving out public speaking opportunities for myself, because I had this feeling that I had something to share, and they weren’t going to give me the opportunity at work.
This is the part people often miss.
I wasn’t invited onto stages.
I wasn’t “identified as high potential.”
No one tapped me on the shoulder and said, you should be speaking.
So I went ROGUE, and real talk — my boss at the time deeply resented me for it.
I built my own stage.
I said yes to rooms that scared me.
I created the experiences I wanted instead of waiting to be granted them.
And that mindset never left me, I still do it in my business today.
Which brings me to something people are often surprised to learn about my business.
For around a decade now, my biggest expense has always been my own development.
It still is.
Not ads. Not software. Not look-at-me branding.
Me.
Coaching. Training. Workshops that didn’t make “logical business sense.” Growth spaces that stretched me long before they made me capable.
Not because I was chasing credentials.
Not because I thought I was broken.
But because I knew — deep in my nervous system — that the woman I wanted to be required capacity, clarity, and courage I couldn’t borrow from anyone else.
Every investment I made in my own learning expanded not just what I could do — but who I became.
That’s how you build a life that doesn’t need permission slips.
So here’s the real invitation.
In the new year, I’m opening a new group for Women Who Lead.
If you’ve been sitting quietly in my ecosystem for a while — reading, watching, nodding along — this is your nudge.
Life isn’t waiting for permission. It’s passing while we look for it.
At least five women I connected with for Sisterhood Two in the summer said no because their company wouldn’t pay for them.
If that’s you, or you think you might end up getting a similar response from your company — is it time to back your damn self instead?
Because if you’re here reading this, it’s because you already know there’s more in you.
So I’ll leave you with this:
Where are you still waiting for someone else to validate your growth —
and what would change if you decided to build your own damn stage instead?
Rooting for you always
Ruth x
Ps. THIS is why vision matters. When you don’t choose where you’re going, someone else does.
One of the biggest shifts in my life and career came the year I stopped drifting and started reviewing my life with intention.
Not resolutions. Not performance. Reflection. Truth. Choice.
For years now, I’ve reviewed my own development and set a theme and an energy for each new year — not goals on paper, but a decision about who I’m becoming.
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