Last updated: July 2026 · By Stratos Coaching — Certified Executive Coach (CEC)
The structural barriers to senior leadership are real and well-documented. So are the behavioral levers that overcome them. Stratos coaches women navigating VP, SVP, and C-suite transitions with evidence-based coaching grounded in operating experience — not generic leadership frameworks.
Women hold roughly 28% of C-suite roles despite making up nearly half the workforce (McKinsey & LeanIn, 2023). The gap is not a talent problem. It is a pipeline problem compounded by sponsorship deficits, a well-documented double bind between likeability and competence, and structural barriers that coaching helps leaders navigate strategically — without asking them to change who they are.
Every engagement is tailored to your leadership challenges, goals, and timeline. Includes DISC behavioral assessment, structured methodology, and measurable outcomes.
Senior women are statistically more likely to have mentors than sponsors — and research from the Center for Talent Innovation shows sponsorship, not mentorship, is the primary driver of advancement at VP and above. Understanding the distinction is the first step to acting on it. See also: executive coaching vs. mentoring for a deeper breakdown.
Source: Center for Talent Innovation, "Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor" research series; HBR research on sponsorship and advancement.
McKinsey and LeanIn's Women in the Workplace report has tracked one consistent finding across years of research: the most significant drop in women's representation happens at the first step into management, not at the top. For every 100 men promoted from individual contributor to manager, substantially fewer women make that same move. The numbers have improved but the gap persists — and because the path to senior leadership is built from that first promotion decision, fewer women entering management means fewer women available for VP and C-suite roles a decade later.
By the time you reach the senior levels where VP and SVP coaching becomes relevant, the field has already self-selected toward a narrower group. Women who have navigated that broken rung and reached senior leadership often arrive with stronger track records and broader skills than their peers — but face a new set of structural dynamics that did not exist at earlier levels.
The C-suite representation number sits at approximately 28% women (McKinsey, 2023), up from 17% a decade earlier. Progress is real. The gap is also real. And the dynamics that explain it are behavioral and structural, not a function of qualifications.
Harvard Business Review and Catalyst have both documented what researchers call the double bind: at senior levels, behavior that reads as confident and authoritative in men often reads as aggressive or difficult in women. The inverse is equally constraining — behavior that reads as warm and collaborative can reduce perceived competence. Leaders navigating this dynamic face a choice that their male counterparts do not: the way they naturally communicate is more likely to be misread.
The research-backed response is not to perform a different personality. It is to develop precision in reading the room and adjusting delivery without adjusting substance. A leader who can flex communication style across different audiences — board presentation, direct report feedback, peer negotiation, stakeholder alignment — without losing their own voice is solving the double bind at the behavioral level. That is the kind of work executive presence coaching addresses directly.
Catalyst's "double-bind dilemma" research (2007, updated 2018) found that women leaders are penalized for both communal and agentic behaviors — damned if they do, damned if they don't. The path through is not splitting the difference. It is building such clear situational awareness and behavioral range that the penalty has nowhere to land.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett's research at the Center for Talent Innovation found that while women have mentors in roughly equal or greater numbers than men, they are dramatically less likely to have sponsors. And at VP and above, the promotions that actually move careers forward are not decided by mentors — they are decided in rooms where a sponsor is willing to say, "She's ready, and I'm backing her."
Sponsorship is not assigned. It is earned by building a track record visible to people with decision-making power, and by making it easy for potential sponsors to see your value and low-risk to put their name behind you. Executive coaching builds the operational clarity, visibility strategy, and stakeholder communication skills that make sponsorship more likely — because sponsors choose people whose work reflects well on them.
HBR's research on the sponsorship gap found that among senior leaders, men are 46% more likely to have an active sponsor than women at similar performance levels. The gap is not performance-driven. It is access-driven — and access is a coaching problem with behavioral solutions. Combined with board and ELT communication coaching, leaders learn to build the kind of executive visibility that sponsors act on.
The mechanics of a Stratos engagement are the same for every senior leader: structured sessions, DISC behavioral assessment, accountability frameworks, and measurable outcomes. The content is always tailored to what the individual is actually navigating. For women at VP and above, that work frequently clusters around four areas:
The ICF and PwC Global Coaching Study found a median ROI of 700% on executive coaching investment, with 70% of coached executives reporting measurably improved performance. See the full ROI data.
Every engagement begins with a complimentary conversation to identify the right structure for your challenges, goals, and timeline.
Focused leadership recalibration — executive presence, sponsorship strategy, stakeholder communication, promotion readiness. DISC assessment included.
A full year of coaching, midpoint review, and the depth to navigate multiple leadership challenges across a complex transition. DISC assessment included.
Starts with a complimentary 30-minute conversation. No obligation.
Women navigating a new title or organizational change often face compounded challenges: establishing credibility quickly, building relationships with a new stakeholder map, and resetting expectations in a room that may not yet see what they see. Leadership transition coaching is specifically designed for these inflection points — and many clients combine it with C-suite coaching when the scope of change spans organizational layers.
For leaders evaluating AI-assisted coaching between sessions, Stratos also offers an AI leadership coaching subscription (free trial available) for practice reps and on-demand executive scenario work.
Executive coaching for women leaders typically addresses the structural and behavioral challenges most acute at senior levels: building and activating a sponsorship network (not only mentors), navigating the likeability-competence double bind, developing executive presence calibrated for the room, communicating with boards and executive leadership teams, negotiating scope and advancement, and managing visibility in organizations where informal access still drives promotion decisions.
The broken rung refers to the first promotion from individual contributor to manager — the most significant drop-off point in women's representation in corporate pipelines. McKinsey and LeanIn's Women in the Workplace research found that for every 100 men promoted to manager, substantially fewer women make that same move. Because the entire path to senior leadership is built from that first promotion, the gap compounds at every level above it. Women who have navigated this rung and reached VP or above often arrive with stronger track records than peers — but face a new set of structural dynamics at senior levels.
A mentor gives you advice. A sponsor uses their political capital on your behalf. Mentors answer your questions; sponsors put your name in the room when you are not there. Research from the Center for Talent Innovation found that women are more likely than men to have mentors but significantly less likely to have sponsors — and sponsorship, not mentorship, is the primary driver of advancement at VP and above. For a full breakdown, see our guide on executive coaching vs. mentoring.
The mechanics of leadership are the same for everyone. The context is often different. Women at senior levels frequently navigate a double bind documented by Harvard Business Review and Catalyst: behavior that reads as confident and authoritative in men can read as aggressive or difficult in women, while warm and collaborative behavior can reduce perceived competence. Executive coaching addresses these dynamics directly — not by changing who someone is, but by developing behavioral range and situational precision that makes the double bind harder to land on.
No. What matters most is operating experience at the altitude the client is navigating and demonstrated skill in coaching the specific challenges on the table — executive presence, board communication, sponsorship strategy, promotion negotiation. A coach who has held a VP or C-suite role and worked across the full range of leadership dynamics is better positioned to help than a coach whose primary qualification is shared gender. That said, some leaders prefer a coach who has personally navigated similar organizational terrain, and that preference is entirely valid when evaluating fit.
Most leaders report measurable behavior change within 60 to 90 days of starting a structured engagement. The ICF and PwC Global Coaching Study found a median ROI of 700%, with 70% of coached executives reporting improved performance. A Stratos Accelerated Engagement (12 sessions, 6 months) is designed to produce tangible shifts in executive presence, stakeholder relationships, and advancement trajectory within that window. An Annual Partnership (24 sessions, 12 months) is appropriate when the challenges span multiple dimensions or the transition is more complex.
Mentoring is relationship-based guidance from someone with more experience in your field. Executive coaching is a structured, goal-oriented professional engagement focused on specific leadership behaviors, decisions, and outcomes. A mentor shares what worked for them. A coach builds your own judgment, presence, and strategic clarity — and holds you accountable to the changes you have committed to. For senior leaders, this distinction matters because mentors are often peers in the same industry, while coaches bring structured methodology and an outside perspective that cuts through internal politics. See: executive coaching vs. mentoring.
