By wlc
Published February 22, 2026
The higher a woman rises, the quieter it gets around her. It’s time we address this loneliness.
She runs the meeting, sets the direction, makes the decisions, and then she closes her office door and wonders, quietly, if she’s doing it right. Alone.
Nobody talks about this part of leadership.
According to TheLi.st’s research, 80% of women report feeling lonely because of their job, and the feelings intensify as they get more senior.
While men tend to feel less lonely as they climb, 40% of women in leadership say their feelings of loneliness and isolation actually increased as their careers progressed.
The higher the responsibility, the fewer the spaces where women can speak without calculating the cost of their words first.
This isn’t a personal failing. It’s a structural one.
One of the more talked-about reasons why women rarely advance to top management is their lack of industry networks and informal support systems—the kind that often form more easily in traditionally male-dominated professional spaces.
And the women who do make it to senior roles often find themselves navigating something harder to name—being visible without feeling seen.
When Loneliness Becomes the Cost of Ambition
Ann Shoket, former editor-in-chief of Seventeen and CEO of TheLi.st, has spoken about this directly.
Having climbed to the top of a major media brand before founding her own company, she described feeling lonely while doing it and mistaking it for ordinary stress.
“We’ve so deeply entangled loneliness with ambition that it has become synonymous with success. It’s as if loneliness is a penalty we must pay for being ambitious.”
The consequences go beyond how a woman feels.
It’s not uncommon to hear of women stepping away from opportunities or leaving roles altogether because of this isolation.
This is not just a wellness issue. It is a leadership pipeline problem.
The Rise of Intentional Circles
However, something important is quietly changing.
Women are beginning to build what the professional world was never designed to give them:
- Peer circles
- Honest communities
- Spaces where rank does not control honesty
Why Circles Matter More Than Networks
A study by the Kellogg School of Management found something interesting.
While broad networks helped women, those who reached the most senior roles—with the highest authority and compensation—had something more specific:
A close inner circle.
Not a large one. A real one.
People who understood the unique challenges of being a woman making high-stakes decisions in environments that weren’t always designed with her in mind.
In fact, 77% of the highest-achieving women had strong ties with such an inner circle.
The study also found that women with strong professional relationships across both peers and senior contacts are 2.5 times more likely to secure a promotion.
Connection, it turns out, is not soft. It is strategic.
What Happens Inside These Circles
Inside these spaces, something shifts.
A leader can say, “I’m not sure about this” without it becoming a liability.
She can admit something feels heavy without being expected to fix it immediately.
And she can hear the words that may be the most powerful in leadership:
“I’ve been there too.”
Leadership Was Never Meant to Be Carried Alone
Leadership has always required holding complexity, making decisions under pressure, and staying steady when others depend on you.
None of that is weakened by having someone you can call.
The leaders who sustain, grow, and build meaningful impact almost always have that support system.
Build the circle. Protect it. Show up honestly.
You were never meant to carry all of this alone.
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