This fall, Chief collaborated with The Harris Poll to conduct a study on the current state of women’s ambition, surveying more than 1,000 senior women leaders.
We spoke to a diverse group of highly experienced women, including those in the C-Suite, executives, entrepreneurs, founders, fractional professionals, and consultants.
The data reveals a powerful truth: Women aren’t stepping back from leadership — they’re redesigning it on their own terms.
Here, Sabrina Caluori, Chief Marketing Officer at Chief, and Chief Member Libby Rodney, Chief Strategy Officer at The Harris Poll, break down our key findings and what they tell us about the women shaping the future of leadership.
We’re calling BS on the narrative that women leaders are dialing back their ambition. It’s not fading, it’s on fire.
And we’ve got the data to prove it. According to a new national survey commissioned by Chief and conducted by The Harris Poll, 86% of senior women leaders say they’re more ambitious now than they were five years ago.
If that stat surprises you, just wait. An incredible 92% percent are energized by the professional growth still ahead, and 61% of senior women leaders believe they’re at their peak power now or will be in the next five years. So let’s be clear. Women aren’t “quiet quitting” on ambition. They’re rejecting the rules that never served them, and rewriting the playbook that wasn’t written for them.
This isn’t a story of retreat. It’s a story of momentum.
Ambition, Redefined
This momentum isn’t by chance, it’s by choice. Today’s women leaders are redefining ambition on their own terms. They’re not waiting for permission to lead differently. They’re expanding what success looks like for them, trading old markers like title and salary for autonomy, flexibility, and real impact.
These are women fully in command of their choices, building careers and lives that balance ambition with authenticity. They’re reshaping the very definition of leadership, crafting multidimensional, multihyphenate careers that reflect who they are, and what they stand for.
This evolution comes as no surprise. At Chief, we see this every day. Women leaders who juggle multiple roles and ambitions whether it’s founder-board director-mentor or entrepreneur-investor-caregiver. They’re not choosing to travel one lane. They’re building a whole new highway, and doing it with boldness, not caution.
Remarkably, 83% have navigated major career transitions, and an impressive 71% did so by choice. These are not reactive pivots forced upon them. They’re deliberate, strategic decisions grounded in self-determination and resilience.
In an unpredictable economy, 82% of women say traditional progression feels less reliable, and they’re using that uncertainty to fuel reinvention, not fear.
The Rise of the Multihyphenate Leader
The future of leadership isn’t linear, it’s layered. The average senior woman leader holds three professional identities at once, reflecting a new model of growth that’s dynamic, self-authored, and expansive.
They know the old career playbook no longer applies; 83% of senior women agree that model doesn’t work for them. Instead, they’re embracing evolution as a lifelong endeavor, with 92% of women agreeing: “I never stop thinking about how I can do more or something different with my career.”
This drive to evolve marks a profound shift in how women express ambition and measure success. It’s no longer about reaching a single destination, it’s about continually reevaluating and pursuing what’s next.
For many women leaders, success isn’t static. It’s growth in motion.
When asked what motivates them, senior women leaders cited growth first, followed by meaningful impact, value alignment, autonomy, and financial reward. This hierarchy reveals that progress and purpose now sit at the center of modern women’s ambition.
The old playbook that told us to climb, conform, and stay put, has been replaced by a mindset of evolution and expansion. For most senior leaders today, modern ambition doesn’t look like a race to the top, it’s about rising on your own path.
Ambition in Motion
There’s another defining force behind this momentum: each other. Today’s women leaders are not moving alone, they’re rising together.
Two-thirds believe their problem-solving is accelerated when brainstorming with other women leaders on business challenges; 92% believe they have the collective power to create new centers of influence and opportunity, and 94% say being around ambitious women fuels their own drive.
Ambition, it turns out, is contagious.
Today’s women leaders aren’t stepping back; they’re stepping forward by creating careers defined by courage, curiosity, and conviction. They’re rewriting the rules, building their own pathways to success, and bringing others along as they climb.
It’s not that women’s ambition has faded. It’s evolved. It’s broader, more intentional, and more powerful than ever.
For many senior women leaders, ambition isn’t about the arrival, it’s about the evolution itself.
