Are women leaders driving our digital future?

Insights from the 2025 AlixPartners Disruption Index

How are 3,000 C-level and senior business executives around the world navigating disruption, and how might this differ between women and men leaders? For the second consecutive year, we’ve examined the global findings of AlixPartners' annual Disruption Index through the lens of gender – enabling us to answer that question.

Launched at the FT Live Women in Business Summit, with a foreword by Vivienne Artz, CEO, FTSE Women Leaders Review and AlixPartners Senior Advisor, we share our findings in this report.

Six key findings – Women leaders:

1. Are highly confident in navigating disruption – as confident as men

90% of women leaders say their natural leadership style thrives in a disrupted environment, compared with 89% of men leaders.

2. Anticipate higher levels of disruption than men – and are more likely to embrace technological solutions

47% of women leaders expect significant change to their business model this year, vs. 39% of men leaders. Women leaders are more likely to have an extremely optimistic outlook regarding generative AI’s potential (40% of women leaders vs. 32% of men leaders), and are leaning into AI as a driver of revenue growth, with 67% citing this as a priority vs. 59% of men leaders. Women leaders are also more likely to anticipate humanoid robots at scale within five years (55% of women leaders vs. 50% of men leaders).

3. Are driving greater success with digital transformation

The proportion of women C-suite executives reporting >15% ROI from digital transformation in the past year is almost 3x higher than men C-suite executives (11% vs. 4%).

4. Are more likely to say they set the pace in their industry when it comes to growth

20% of women leaders say their organisations are industry pace-setters when it comes to growth, vs. 15% of men leaders. Women C-suite executives are slightly more likely to report over 10% net profit growth (24% vs. 21% of men C-suite executives).

5. Are less concerned by remote work models

Women leaders are less likely to say that remote work models negatively impact productivity (45% of women leaders vs. 49% of men leaders) or career advancement (44% of women leaders vs. 50% of men leaders).

6. Remain underrepresented

Women leaders accounted for 21% of our sample of more than 3,000 senior executives, up slightly from 19% last year. Women now hold 35% of leadership roles across FTSE 350 companies yet constitute only 7% of CEOs among this group.

“Progress in women’s representation at the highest levels is achingly slow. Even as the numbers inch in the right direction, the fact remains that women are very significantly underrepresented in leadership. This weighs heavily – not because it is new, but because it persists despite our collective efforts and growing evidence that gender balance enhances greater productivity and economic value.”

“AI, machine learning, and rapid advances in digital infrastructure are creating new winners and exposing those who are behind the curve in every industry. The organisations that thrive will embrace diverse leadership to drive better, more holistic decision-making, amplify innovation, and ultimately future-proof themselves.”