Women in leadership: A conversation with Liz Walker for International Women’s Day 2025

This short interview, conducted for International Women’s Day 2025 features an interview with coach and facilitator Liz Walker.  Liz aligns her work with the International Women’s Day theme of ‘accelerate action,’ aiming to equip women to take meaningful action for themselves using ACT principles in the workplace and how they can be used to support women to lead and live authentically.

This video also features on our YouTube channel where we have plenty of ACT resources, expert tips and metaphors to inspire you.

Key points addressed include:

• Focus on women in the workplace: Liz highlights that while men and women are equally capable, societal expectations, organisational experiences, and life events such as menopause and fertility often create different outcomes for women. She mentions challenges like the gender pay gap, fewer women in senior roles, and the “double bind” of being seen as either competent or likeable, but not both.
• Critique of traditional women’s development programmes: Liz critiques many women’s programmes for implying that women are “less than” or need to be “more” (e.g., more assertive or influential) to succeed. She also challenges the labelling of women with “imposter syndrome,” arguing that such thoughts are human, not a medical condition, and are not exclusive to women.
• Application of ACT principles: Liz describes using ACT to help women accept their thoughts and feelings, stay present, and take action aligned with their core values. She emphasises that her approach does not prescribe a specific way of leading but rather empowers women to lead authentically based on what is important to them.
• Inner critic work: Liz discusses using ACT techniques, like diffusion, to help women manage their inner critic. She shares an example of a woman who initially tried to “throw away” her inner critic (personified as a monkey) but found relief through ACT’s approach of noticing, naming, and turning down the volume of such thoughts.

The overall message is about supporting women to navigate challenges in the workplace and lead authentically, without trying to “fix” or change them to fit into predefined moulds. Liz advocates for a compassionate, values-driven approach that aligns with ACT principles.

LIZ WALKER is a coach and facilitator with nearly 20 years’ experience in leadership, digital learning design and development in global organisations. She has a masters in organisational behaviour and is an EMCC accredited coach, working across a range of sectors and all levels of the organisation, including at board level.