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Liz previously worked as ERF’s Partnerships and Evaluations Manager in Africa, before taking on a secondment with Ruben Centre. Today, Liz leads the Centre as Director, bringing deep insight, lived experience, and a strong commitment to community-led development.
In this piece, Liz reflects on her journey of leadership and the evolving understanding of power shaped through her work alongside communities.
Over the years, my understanding of leadership has evolved – not just from books or boardrooms, but from lived experience. I have sat at tables where titles spoke loudly, and I have witnessed moments where the quietest person in the room carried the greatest influence. It made me question: who is really in charge?
In reading The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, I was struck by a simple but powerful truth: the person with the highest title is not always the one who holds real power.
Real power belongs to the one who shapes decisions, controls critical resources, influences perception, and builds networks of loyalty. It is the person others cannot afford to ignore.
But as a woman leader, I have also wrestled with what power is supposed to look like.
For a long time, leadership around me looked loud, forceful, and unyielding. It looked like control. It looked like dominance. And at times, I questioned whether I needed to become harder, sharper, or more aggressive to be taken seriously.
Yet I have learned something deeply personal: power does not have to be loud to be real.
There is a different kind of strength – one rooted in emotional intelligence, intuition, empathy, and resilience.
Feminine power is the courage to lead with heart in spaces that often reward hardness. It is the discipline to listen before speaking. It is the wisdom to build trust instead of fear. It is choosing collaboration over intimidation, even when pressure demands otherwise.
I have learned that some of the most powerful moments in leadership are not in commanding a room — but in mentoring someone who doubts themselves, in holding steady during crisis, in making a difficult decision with integrity, or in creating space for others to rise.
Titles may grant authority. Control may create power. But trust – trust sustains leadership.
Being a woman leader has taught me that I do not need to sacrifice compassion to demonstrate strength. I can be decisive and empathetic. Strategic and nurturing. Firm and kind. Power does not diminish when shared — it expands.
Leadership, for me, is no longer about proving I belong at the table. It is about making sure others have a seat too. It is about leaving systems healthier, people stronger, and communities more empowered than I found them.
And perhaps the truest form of power is this: the ability to influence change without losing your humanity.
