Women’s relationship with failure is often shaped by a narrower margin for error, harsher judgment, and fewer opportunities for developmental feedback. Findings from our global study of 1,100 women across 60 countries show that women experience higher perceived costs for mistakes, internalize setbacks more deeply, and navigate added pressure from cultural expectations, role demands, and systemic bias. For coaches, this reality changes the work. Supporting women effectively requires more than resilience language. It calls for context-aware coaching that addresses both mindset and environment.
In this engaging, research-based, and practical session, executive coach Deborah Grayson Riegel shares insights from her new book, Aim High and Bounce Back: A Successful Woman’s Guide to Rethinking and Rising Up from Failure (Greenleaf, March 2026). Participants will explore how gendered expectations influence risk-taking, confidence, identity, and recovery after setbacks, and how coaching conversations can either reinforce self-blame or expand possibility.
Through case examples, guided reflection, and interactive discussion, coaches will learn how to help women reframe failure from a verdict to valuable data, strengthen self-compassion without lowering standards, and rebuild leadership identity after setbacks. The session also examines how to coach around external realities (feedback gaps, bias, and organizational culture) so clients can navigate systems while sustaining ambition.
Coaches will leave with practical frameworks, language, and tools to help women: • Understand how gendered norms and feedback disparities shape their experience of failure—and how to separate performance data from identity. • Transform setbacks into learning, strategic risk-taking, and renewed purpose. • Build stronger support systems, advocate for developmental feedback, and communicate confidence after mistakes. • This session equips coaches to support women not just in bouncing back, but in rising forward with greater clarity, resilience, and leadership presence. "
