Charting your own leadership path in times of change
Women Leaders24.09.2025
The path to leadership is rarely a straight line. This is true whether you are just starting your career or 25 years into an established one. To move ahead and grow, we must get comfortable with being a little uncomfortable. It is in those moments of challenge, when we are stretching beyond what we believe we are capable of, that we find our greatest potential.
My own career journey at Mastercard has been defined by a deliberate approach to seeking out new experiences and pushing beyond my comfort zone. Before my time as President of Mastercard in Canada, I moved between roles focused on direct engagement with external customers and stakeholders to positions that were more internally-focused, building products, solutions and services that help our partners grow. I also strongly believe in the value of a global perspective, so I sought out opportunities to live and work abroad, leading teams across the Nordics and Baltics as well as Asia.
Each role started with the classic roller coaster of confidence and self-doubt: a rapid ascent to the peak of “this job is amazing,” followed by a quick descent into the trough of “ugh – I don’t know how to do this.” The key to growth was to find the middle ground. Working through unique challenges and steep learning curves forced me to discover new skills, renewed confidence and sharpened my strategic expertise.
These intentional moves between roles that excited me and took me into new territory were instrumental in shaping my leadership style, providing me with a holistic view of our business and our customers’ needs. They directly influenced my move into my current role: leading the global integration of our latest acquisition, threat intelligence company Recorded Future, into Mastercard.
Cybersecurity has evolved from a technical concern to a strategic imperative for every sector, impacting everything from individual privacy to national infrastructure. It’s no longer a question of if a cyber threat will emerge, but how well prepared we are to both prevent and address it. For me, taking on this new challenge of bringing together the scale of Mastercard with the deep threat insights of Recorded Future is another example of navigating my way into new territory.
Despite the learning curve, it was the right move at the right time because it sits at the very heart of the trust that enables our digital world to function. Creating synergies between two companies with the specific aim of building a safer digital economy is extremely rewarding. I know the strongest solutions come from teams that have diverse perspectives and shared passions.
Creating a culture that encourages individuals, especially women, to embrace these significant career leaps requires collective effort. True leadership comes from building an environment where team members feel empowered to take risks. This means fostering open communication, leading with empathy, and encouraging a mindset where setbacks are viewed not as failures, but as learning opportunities on the path to innovation. This is how we unlock creativity, drive innovation, and become better equipped to solve complex problems. It’s not just the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do for our businesses, for talented team members, and for the growing digital economy.
The path to leadership inevitably requires navigating uncharted territory. It forces you to ask yourself what new skills you will need to build and how any new position aligns with your long-term vision for your career and personal life. It’s in these uncharted territories, whether leading the integration of two companies or tackling an emerging challenge like cybersecurity, that we discover our true capabilities and contribute to something larger than ourselves.
I often say great opportunities always come a little too early, or a little too late. You can’t always control the timing, but I encourage you to actively seek out new challenges, take calculated risks, and embrace leadership roles that promise significant professional growth. The rewards, both personally and professionally, are well worth the leap, especially when they contribute to building a more secure and prosperous future for everyone.
