Kate Lee, CEO of Alzheimer’s Society speaks about what it means to be a female leader and how it’s possible for women in leadership positions to ‘have it all’.
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How has it been for you as a woman in a leadership role of a national charity? What challenges have you faced along the way?

Kate: Let’s be honest, no industry or sector is completely perfect but my experience of the voluntary sector has overall been a positive one. Every day I’m surrounded by brilliant and formidable colleagues – male and female – who provide me with wise guidance and challenge. These networks are something I value incredibly and invest in heavily.

As both white and now living a relatively affluent lifestyle, I find it hard to consider myself to be someone who has been discriminated against. However, there have been times that I have felt that both being a woman and having a working-class background have changed peoples’ behaviour towards me and I have felt weary about what I say publicly as a result. For example, as a single mum, I find the number of evening events hard to juggle but have never felt I could say “why couldn’t this have been in the day?”.

On the whole though, the challenges I have fallen most strongly into are those felt by both male and female colleagues across the sector – the total lack of understanding about the complexity of voluntary sector roles and the belief that these jobs are for the ‘almost rans’. I have more than once been told, “you’re a really amazing chief executive, you would have done so well in the real world”. Comments like these, while grotesquely patronising, show a residual, deep held lack of understanding of what the voluntary sector is and what it entails from those ‘in the real world’ (!) not only in the corporate sector but also across government and statutory bodies.

This view has sadly changed very little during my 30 years working for a charity. I often push back by pointing out that as CEO of Alzheimer’s Society, I am trying to address the UK’s biggest killer. 900,000 people currently have a dementia diagnosis and number that is rapidly growing. Almost all, along with their carers, will eventually face the toughest of times and this is something that our Government has failed to address. I do it with funding that comes almost entirely from good will and trust that is hard earnt and easily lost. My outstanding and dedicated staff work for less than what they could earn in any other sector; our loyal volunteers need to be nurtured and supported with very little staff resource to do it and some people think I shouldn’t be paid. I feel passionately that we need to keep this debate going - if we don’t stand up for us, no one else will.

Do you think the charity sector is more open to women in leadership roles than those in corporate settings? Is there more that needs to be done?

Kate: In my own experience working with chief executives of our corporate partners or major donors, I rarely ever work with female leaders. There are exceptions to that of course, such as Yorkshire Building Society chief executive, the brilliant Susan Allen, who is also on Alzheimer’s Society’s board of trustees.

I do suspect that in our own sector there is far more opportunity for women to develop into leadership roles in comparison to other sectors. But that doesn’t mean we’re the gold standard and there is still more that could – and should – be done. For this to happen we must focus on breaking down stereotypes and redefining what it means to be a female leader. There is an expectation for female CEOs to be everything to everyone. To be hardhitting and extroverted, to be able to charm your way around the room. But to be a good and effective leader of a voluntary organisation, you’ve got to have deep values around compassion and understanding your workforce, high levels of empathy with your beneficiary groups and not just the traditional values associated with being chief executive. I’ve mentored outstanding women who will go onto make excellent CEOs, but are naturally introverted, softly spoken, caring and reflective. Women, who by conventional ‘standards’, may not fit the mould of a good CEO.

All of this has implications for women of colour and for women who belong to other minority communities. If we hold onto this stereotype, we will be ostracising and holding back many talented and aspirational women.

When women reach the top, there’s often talk of the sacrifices that have been made. Do you feel like you’ve sacrificed things, or felt like you should have?

Kate: Well, yes, obviously. Hasn’t everyone? The question I ask myself is “Do I have any regrets about those sacrifices?” Over the years, I missed school nativity plays; my kids never took home-baked cakes to the Christmas sale (probably a blessing); and they never went to school during book week dressed in an amazing fictional costume. I kind of did a deal with myself that this wasn’t going to be the most important things to me. They were trade-offs I was going to make and I’d live with the consequences but that wasn’t easy - isn’t easy. But my job is an important part of me, what makes me happy and whole – I’m not embarrassed to say that.

There have also been times I didn’t speak at international conferences, go to high profile events or put myself forward to chair government committees, because my family, including my Mum going through her own Alzheimer’s journey, needed to come first. Yes, my career has probably faltered at times as a result, but I can sleep at night with the decisions I’ve made.

My advice to young female leaders is always that you can ‘have it all’, you just need a very tight and realistic grip on what ‘all’ is.

How do you and other leaders encourage other women to do what you’ve done? How do you develop these women to become the next leaders?

Kate: I try really hard to role model imperfection. I’m very candid that my mental health hasn’t always been great and I have experienced periods of anxiety. I’ve openly talked about some of the mistakes I’ve made throughout my career, periods of self-doubt and the wrestles I have with myself about how to manage my confidence.

By being transparent about all of that, I hope to demonstrate to other women that it is ok not to be ok. I’d love to think that I’d encouraged authenticity and inspired confidence in aspiring women leaders that being a good person, trying their best, is the most any of us can really hope to achieve and that that is enough.

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