From the outset, his style was intentional. He did not feel the need to manage every detail. Instead, he created space and encouraged me to step forward, take initiative, and trust my own judgement. When I made decisions, they were supported by his steady presence and insight. He was always available but never imposed himself. That autonomy, extended with genuine confidence, changed how I showed up. Leadership began to feel less like a role I was performing and more like a responsibility I was genuinely carrying.

The international context we operated in required diplomacy, cultural sensitivity, and restraint. What I observed in him went beyond professional competence. In complex, politically sensitive situations, he led with humility and deep listening. He ensured that local voices, particularly those of criminal justice officials we were there to support, remained central and not peripheral. He understood that being heard is not a courtesy. It is a condition for meaningful work. Watching him navigate those environments showed me that leadership can be both inclusive and decisive, and that empathy and rigour are not in tension.

There was also discipline in how my thinking was developed. Quick answers were rare. Instead, he asked questions that pushed me beyond surface-level responses, questions that required reflection, connection, and foresight. The discomfort was deliberate and purposeful.

It strengthened my ability to anticipate challenges, hold multiple perspectives, and engage stakeholders with greater intention and care. In meetings, my voice was consistently welcomed. Over time, that experience of being genuinely heard, rather than managed or redirected, built something durable. I became more strategic in my thinking, more considered in how I engaged others, and more attuned to the difference between occupying space and contributing to it. His example reshaped my understanding of what empathetic leadership actually looks like in practice: steady, measured, and grounded in real respect.

The most enduring lesson is this. Leadership is about service, trust, and the courage to believe in people before they fully believe in themselves. How you lead matters as much as what you deliver. When a leader demonstrates belief in your potential through the space they create rather than the control they retain, it changes not just how you perform. It changes how you see yourself and what you consider possible.

Today, I carry that forward. I extend the same trust and space to others that was once extended to me, not as a technique, but as a practice rooted in genuine regard for the people I work with. Trust, when practised intentionally, does more than empower performance. It develops leaders. It moves people from waiting for direction to taking responsibility, from self-doubt to self-trust, from following to leading. It is not simply a quality of good leadership. It is a discipline and its effects are lasting.

As Erin Meyer says, “Trust is like insurance. It is an investment you make up front before the need arises.” The best leaders I have known understood this instinctively. They did not wait for trust to be earned through time alone. They chose to extend it early, and in doing so, they built something that no structure or title ever could.

I was born into a generation that wrote letters by hand, sent job applications by post, and built professional relationships slowly, face to face — long before digital platforms shaped how we are seen. It was a professional world without digital infrastructure — where visibility depended on proximity, being known within institutions rather than digital profiles or public self-expression. The emerging leaders I mentor have grown up with the internet as infrastructure — and yet, paradoxically, many approach professional visibility with a level of caution and discomfort that is striking for a generation so digitally fluent.

These are generations highly fluent in digital tools and social platforms. Yet when asked to build a presence on platforms like LinkedIn, the quiet resistance is immediate and genuine. Some find it exposing, others call it “cringe”, some are uneasy about sharing their age, surname, or being publicly associated with their work. These responses are not trivial, as they reflect a shift in how identity, risk, and visibility are understood.

Gen Z and Millennials are navigating a digital environment shaped by permanence, algorithmic exposure, online harassment, and reputational risk at scale. Their caution is not reluctance without cause; it is informed behaviour.

From my experience, many young professionals experience a real disconnect between personal identity and professional identity constructed in public view. To them, the idea of presenting a curated professional self can feel performative — even inauthentic. At the same time, the labour market has evolved faster than this mindset.

Recruiters increasingly rely on digital presence as a first point of contact — with platforms like LinkedIn reporting that the majority of hiring managers use online profiles in candidate evaluation. Digital absence can therefore be interpreted — fairly or not — as a lack of readiness or engagement.

This is where the tension lies.

My role is not to override that concern. It is to reframe it. Professional visibility should not be viewed as performance, but as presence. In a digital and competitive labour market, presence is often the entry point to opportunity. It allows one’s work, thinking, and direction to be understood before you are in the room.

Platforms like Substack, LinkedIn and Instagram, when used with intention, can function as professional infrastructure. A profile, a portfolio, a piece of writing should not be viewed as acts of vanity. They are signals, and they communicate experience, clarity, capability, and trajectory.

What I encourage emerging leaders to understand is this: visibility does not require self-exposure without boundaries. It requires intentionality — and you decide what to share, how to frame it, and where to draw the line. The challenge, then, is not generational difference alone. It is alignment — between capability, identity, and visibility.

My responsibility as a Mentor is not to tell emerging leaders how things were done. It is to help them navigate how things are — without losing who they are. This is because professional visibility, on their own terms, is not a compromise of personal identity. It is a strategic extension of it. As a Gen X mentor, this has required growth on my part. It has challenged my assumptions about visibility and professionalism, and pushed me to understand a generation navigating a fundamentally different reality. Mentorship, in this context, is not one-directional — it becomes an exchange.

At its core, the Mindset-to-Output Mentorship Programme is designed to build alignment.

Moumi Awudu carries a phrase with her everywhere: “mindset to output.” She first heard it from her mentor, Margaret Akullo, and it has quietly reshaped how she moves through the world. “Whenever things feel uncertain or overwhelming, I remind myself that the mindset I bring into a situation will influence what I’m able to create from it,” she says.

The two women met at a pivotal moment. Moumi had just launched a project she had been building for six months, and doubt was beginning to creep in. “I never intended to give up completely, but I did start questioning whether it should become much smaller than I originally planned,” she recalls. What steadied her was Margaret’s ability to see the vision clearly even when Moumi could not. “She encouraged me to think bigger.” The guidance was practical — sometimes as simple as “Just reach out to this person” — but always impactful.

Beyond the project, Moumi was wrestling imposter syndrome and the guilt of asserting boundaries in leadership. Margaret’s affirmation changed that. “She is incredibly down to earth, and what stands out most is how sincerely she takes people’s ideas seriously. When she supports something, it feels real.” That has inspired Moumi to show up the same way for other women — to open doors, encourage boldly, and take their visions seriously.

Margaret Akullo has spent over three decades working across Africa, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, strengthening justice systems with global institutions including the United Nations. But her reason for mentoring is personal. “I know how powerful it is when someone recognises your potential before you fully see it yourself,” she says. “I navigated spaces where African women were routinely underrepresented — those experiences were formative.” Through her Mindset-to-Output Mentorship Programme, she has seen what becomes possible when women are given the tools to lead. “Lived experience only becomes meaningful when shared,” she says, “and that is where my purpose lives.”

For Margaret, the exchange has always been mutual. “Each mentee brings perspectives that challenge me to keep evolving — they mentor me too,” she reflects. “The gain is generational. The discipline and courage are entirely theirs — I simply helped them see what was already there.”

A surprise nomination that said everything

What Margaret did not know — until the announcement was made — was that Moumi had quietly submitted her nomination for the Leading Ladies Africa feature, which had received applications from across Africa. From a competitive pool of nominations, Margaret and Moumi were selected alongside others for the International Women’s Day 2026 feature. It was a gift given in silence — a quiet act that perfectly embodied the values their mentorship had been built upon.

“What an incredible honour to be part of this powerful feature alongside such remarkable women. To every mentor and mentee featured — your stories are a testament to the transformative power of women investing in one another. I am deeply inspired by each of you.

Moumi, I am deeply moved and truly honoured by your kind and surprise nomination. What you may not fully realise is that you have given me just as much as I have given you. Your dedication, your courage in pushing through doubt, and the boldness with which you stepped into your own leadership have been a source of inspiration for me too. Watching you grow from a moment of uncertainty into the confident, visionary leader you are today is the very ‘gain’ I speak about in my Mindset-to-Output Programme. I am so proud of you — not just for what you have built, but for who you have become. Thank you for trusting me, for showing up with openness, and for now doing the same for other women. That ripple effect is everything. Thank you, dear Moumi.” — Margaret Akullo

This story was originally featured in “What Women Gain by Giving to Women: Five Stories of Mentorship and Legacy” — a special feature by Leading Ladies Africa in commemoration of International Women’s Day 2026.

Video credit: Moon Ting Li

Leadership does not begin with a title. It begins with what you decide to build from your experience.

Before you understand a leader, you must understand the child.

More than fifty years ago, I was a little girl in Uganda living through conflict. Soldiers patrolled the streets. Executions were broadcast on television. Schools were closed. There was no water, no electricity, no certainty. At night, my siblings and I would hide in a dark corridor or under the bed when we heard gunfire. We were told to be quiet — not as guidance, but as protection.

In that darkness, I asked myself three questions:

Who knows we are here? Who will hear us? Who will rescue us?

Those questions shaped me more than I realised at the time.

Even then, something quiet was forming. Not strength in the heroic sense. Something steadier. A refusal to accept fear as normal. A belief that life could be better than survival.

In 1976, our family moved to Ghana. For the first time in years, I slept without listening for gunfire. Peace felt unfamiliar, but it also felt possible. I did not yet have the language of leadership, but I carried a vision. I wanted to help shape a world that was safer for children.

That vision guided me from Uganda to Ghana, then to the UK, and eventually to the global stage with the United Nations, working across four continents. I believed in the organisations I served because they spoke directly to the child who once lay awake in the dark, wondering who would hear her. Yet the hardest challenges in my professional life were not operational. They were institutional. Invisible barriers. Closed networks. Expectations of conformity.

As a woman in the diaspora, I often felt the tension of navigating systems that did not always recognise the value of lived experience.

Over time, I came to see that lived experience is not something to minimise. It is an asset. It sharpens judgement. It deepens empathy. It strengthens cultural intelligence. For women in the diaspora especially, our layered identities equip us to lead across difference with insight and credibility.

At 55, I chose early retirement from the United Nations. It was not simply a career decision; it was an identity shift. Walking away from a title and institutional authority was confronting. Without the structure of an organisation behind me, I had to ask: who am I now? In that uncertainty, I found clarity.

That decision became the foundation of my Mindset-to-Output Mentorship programme — leadership shaped from the inside out. After decades working within bureaucratic systems, I realised that sustainable leadership does not begin with position. It begins with internal alignment. Clarity of values. Emotional discipline. The courage to act with discernment.

The theme of EmpowerHer2026, ‘From Resilience to Renaissance’ that took place in Vienna, Austria, resonated deeply with me. I shared that resilience kept me alive. It helped me navigate complexity and endure pressure. But renaissance required something more. It required choice. Resilience is survival. Renaissance is creation. Renaissance is choosing what you become after the storm. It is knowing when to stay and contribute, and when to step away with integrity. It is understanding that leadership is not about endurance alone, but about impact.

Through my mentorship, I have watched young women — and some men — move from hesitation to action. I have seen doubt turn into decision. The transformation is rarely dramatic. It is built through small, deliberate choices made consistently. Leadership shaped from the inside out begins with a single question:

Who are you choosing to become?

As Carl Jung wrote, “I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” For me, that has meant this:

I am not what happened to me. I am what I chose to build from my lived experience.

That choice remains ours — at every stage of life.

Video credit: Moon Ting Li

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Margaret Akullo
EmpowerHer 2026, Women Powerhouse Hour
Palais Wenkheim, Webster University
Vienna, Austria
27 February 2026

Leadership reflections:

- Mentorship is presence: Being there for others (even the quiet check-ins).

- Empowerment is trust: Believing in their abilities.

- Networks are key: Surrounding mentees with a community that lifts them up.

When we invest in others, we are also shaping individual success stories, strengthening communities, inspiring courage, and building bridges across borders. That, to me, is visionary leadership in action.

Margaret emphasized that it is important to:

• Lead with cultural intelligence and empathy

• Embrace adaptability and learn from challenges

• Foster inclusivity by making space for all voices

• Commit to continuous growth

Through these reflections, Margaret shares insights on courage, collaboration, cultural humility, and purposeful action — offering emerging leaders tools to grow, lead with empathy, and create meaningful impact. Her writing honours the communities and experiences that have shaped her while inviting others to lead with intention, connection, and purpose.

Her series is a practice of intention: pausing, noticing, learning, and offering insights back to a wider community. It encourages reflection, relational connection, and the act of uplifting others as the foundation for meaningful, lasting leadership. Leadership, she reminds us, is not about influence over others but stewardship with others — and everyone deserves a seat at the table.

Margaret weaves lived experience, cultural identity, and global perspectives into a tapestry of insights that explore how leaders grow — not through perfection, but through reflection, courage, and purposeful action. Her reflections encourage emerging leaders to lead with empathy, cultural humility, and integrity.

Ultimately, Margaret’s series speaks to leaders grounded in purpose, shaped by community, and committed to growth. If this resonates with your own leadership journey, consider subscribing to the Leadership Reflections series. You’ll receive new essays directly in your inbox — thoughtful, grounded, and designed to support your growth as a purposeful, culturally aware, and community-rooted leader.

In this Fem Renaissance Podcast episode, I join host Moon Ting Li for an honest conversation about courage, purpose, and redefining leadership beyond traditional institutions. I share the personal journey behind my early retirement from the United Nations, the vulnerability of stepping into the unknown, and how that transition opened the door to empower the next generation of ethical, impactful young leaders. Inspired by Lao Tzu’s wisdom on self-mastery, our discussion highlights the power of self-discovery in shaping meaningful change. Tune in for an inspiring and heartfelt dialogue.