Women Worth Watching^® WHY Letter

Dear Colleagues,

I’m often asked why we continue to host leadership awards and why Women Worth Watching^® remains such an important part of our work. For me, the answer begins with something very personal.

My mother was an elementary school teacher. She taught large classrooms of children, carried enormous responsibility, and brought home a very small paycheck. I learned early that the importance of someone’s work and the value of their contribution are not always matched by recognition, opportunity, or compensation. Years later, when I entered the business world, I began to see that same imbalance in a different form. Women were doing important work, taking on greater responsibility, and demonstrating that they could lead just as effectively as men, yet many were still underpaid, overlooked for advancement, and underrepresented in senior leadership.

That was part of the reason I created Women Worth Watching^®. We publish profiles because visibility matters, and since starting this work in 1999, we have published profiles of more than 2,500 women leaders. What began as an effort to give accomplished women greater visibility gradually taught us something broader about leadership itself.

Mary Barra is one example that has stayed with me. In 2011, General Motors nominated her for Women Worth Watching^® while she was serving as Senior Vice President of Global Product Development. We accepted the nomination and worked with her to include her in our 2011 class of Women Worth Watching^®. In her profile essay, she began by thanking Profiles in Diversity Journal^®, which became Profiles in Leadership Journal™ in 2025, for what she called a “prestigious award.” At the time, none of us could know exactly where her career would lead. In January 2014, she became CEO of General Motors.

Her story reminds me why visibility matters. Our recognition did not create her talent or make her a leader. That leadership was already there, and General Motors had already seen enough in her to nominate her. Our role was to provide another opportunity to bring her accomplishments forward and share her story with a wider audience.

History has shown us the same lesson in many different ways. Women stepped into factories during World War II and proved indispensable to the nation’s industrial effort. Native Americans served with distinction, including the Code Talkers whose contributions were critical to the war effort. African American soldiers served with courage and distinction, demonstrating leadership and sacrifice even when their contributions were not always fully recognized. People from many backgrounds have built companies, created jobs, strengthened communities, and led organizations while overcoming barriers that others did not face.

As our work expanded beyond Women Worth Watching^®, so did our understanding of leadership. Good leaders come from many backgrounds, professions, cultures, and parts of the world. They do not all look alike, sound alike, or follow the same path, and that belief continues to guide our Leadership Awards.

Today, our recognition reaches well beyond our original focus and increasingly beyond our national borders. We are seeing leadership stories come to us from organizations and individuals around the world, reinforcing something we have learned over many years: leadership ability is not limited by geography any more than it is limited by gender or background.

An important part of every profile is the nominee’s personal essay. We ask each person to share something of his or her own experience, values, passions, or perspective on leadership. That means our recognition is not simply about placing someone in a class of honorees. We give each person an opportunity to be heard in his or her own voice. I believe that is part of what makes this work special. We are not only recognizing accomplishments; we are creating a place for leaders to tell us what matters to them and, in doing so, perhaps influence someone who reads their story.

There are capable people doing meaningful work every day who deserve to be noticed. By identifying them and publishing their profiles, we can help bring their accomplishments forward, give them an opportunity to be seen and heard, and provide examples of leadership that others can learn from. Recognition cannot solve every inequality or create every opportunity, but sometimes being seen is where opportunity begins.

So, when I am asked why we continue this work, my answer is simple. We do it because leadership is everywhere, but recognition is not. We do it because talented people can be overlooked, underestimated, or left outside the traditional picture of who gets to lead. We do it because leaders deserve the opportunity not only to be seen for what they have accomplished, but also to be heard for what they believe. And we do it because greater visibility can help create opportunity, encourage others, and broaden our understanding of what leadership looks like.

As we continue accepting nominations for our Fall Leadership Awards, I hope you will consider the people within your organization, profession, or community whose leadership deserves greater visibility. They may already be doing remarkable work, and our role is to help make sure it does not go unnoticed.

Warm regards,

James Rector
Publisher & CEO
Profiles in Leadership Journal™
440.892.0444
leadershipjournal.com