Why So Many Women Leaders Are Former Athletes

From age 10 to age 18, I spent at least twelve hours a week staring at the bottom of a swimming pool. I was a competitive swimmer, which meant regularly waking up for 5:45 a.m. practice, where I would haul my body back and forth, back and forth across the lap lane for hours with the goal of shaving a fraction of a second off my racing time.

When I learned that 94% of C-suite women played sports, it made sense to me. In a Deloitte survey, 85% of women who played sports said that the skills they developed in athletics were important to their success in their professional careers, and that percentage is even larger for women in leadership positions or with high salaries.

My swim coach used to say, “You get out of swimming what you put into it,” and I try to apply this to all areas of my life. At work, I often draw on the lessons I learned from competitive sports — swimming taught me how to handle pressure, gave me the confidence that comes from doing something well, and showed me how dedication and hard work can pay off.

But girls don’t have to wait until adulthood to reap the benefits of being athletes. There are psychological and social benefits to sports participation from a young age. Girls who play sports show lower levels of depression and anxiety. They have better body image, are better able to recover from setbacks, and are less likely to engage in risky behaviors. Their peer relationships are stronger, as are their feelings of meaning and purpose. Sports can set girls up for a happier childhood and more successful adulthood.

Many of the lessons of sports are also built into Lean In Girls, our free leadership development program, recently highlighted by the WNBA. Girls who participate learn to push back on limiting messages and lead with confidence alongside their peers. The programming can run within schools, community organizations — or sports teams, where the benefits compound to foster happier, more confident girls. More than 50K girls have gone through the Lean In Girls leadership program to date. If you know a coach or parent who is interested in learning more, they can join us here.

Here’s to building the next generation of leaders, together.

— Bridget Griswold, CEO, LeanIn.Org