The purpose of this study is to identify the competitive factors that contribute to leadership effectiveness for women. I posed two research questions: How do women lead? And what are their competitive factors and leadership qualities? I used an instrumental cases approach to investigate the top 10 women CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies in 2021 and better understand how competitive factors and subjective and objective leadership qualities may drive women leadership effectiveness. Using an explanatory mixed-method design, I analyzed quantitative data about the profitability of these leaders’ organizations and secondary qualitative data of their own words regarding their competitive factors. Study results highlight women leaders’ competitive factors, which are grouped into soft and hard competitive advantages, as well as the subjective and objective qualities that contribute to the effectiveness of women’s leadership.

This study is a critical review of literature to develop a conceptual framework that offers new insights on the complicated interaction between the millennial workforce and leadership competencies. The current study applies contingency approach as a theoretical foundation to answer the question of which leadership practice is suitable for leading the millennial workforce. The study contributes to research on leadership by developing a theoretical framework in which the contingency approach becomes a theoretical basis for the analysis. The analysis investigates the contingent style of leadership needed in different situations. The framework is built on two suggested factors (the millennial workforce and leadership competencies) as a critical means to answer to the question raised. Literature that shows the theoretical interaction between the two factors was used to build this framework, which in turn develops three complementary parallel leadership practices (ethical–tournament, servant–tolerant, and authentic–stringent). The three practices provide a foundation for theoretical development in the field of leadership in order to actively engage, retain, and develop millennials within their current organizations. While the current study provides a theoretical framework, there is a need for empirical work to examine the three proposed practices and examine the relationship between the two suggested factors: the millennial workforce and leadership competencies.

In order to improve leadership effectiveness, it is critical to highlight leadership approaches and practices that contribute to improving situations of uncertainty and instability. This paper investigates and reviews Canada’s leadership at the federal level during the COVID-19 pandemic to propose a new leadership model that explains what leadership looks like and how it can make a difference in a time dominated by uncertainty and instability. The primary benefit of this new model is identifying leadership practices for coping and surviving unpredicted crises through four stages: Gathering, Protecting, Challenging, and Integrating. This novel focus on the specific situation of the COVID-19 crisis has important implications for leadership effectiveness and development.