94 % of C‑suite women have played sport

We spoke with Alex Wenyon, our Global Head of Marketing and PR, on her background in elite sport and the correlation it has to the C-Suite:

As someone working closely with C‑suite executives at Friisberg & Partners International I’m curious to find out what makes leaders excel. A recent statistic from EY immediately stood out:

94 % of C‑suite women have played sport. (EY)

It’s no coincidence. Sport develops resilience, teamwork, discipline, and decision-making under pressure all the qualities that make leaders thrive. As EY puts it, while we’re all competing in the war for talent, there’s another battle ongoing: the fight for gender parity. Women gain a crucial advantage when sport becomes a lever to level the playing field.

Yet, too many girls step away from sport early. By the age of 16, 64% of girls have stopped participating, often due to fear of judgment, low confidence, or academic pressures. These numbers show why it’s so important to encourage girls and women to stay active and share the lessons learned along the way.

I’ve seen the impact of this personally. I’ve been rowing since 2009 and, since 2016, have balanced a full-time career with training and competition, including years in GB high-performance programmes, at Molesey Boat Club, Oxford Brookes University, and with The Paralympic British Rowing Team. Managing work alongside rowing taught me lessons in focus, resilience, and leadership that continue to shape how I operate today.

The EY article argues that athletes often become exceptional leaders because of the unique pressures and demands of sport. As a cox, I learned to:

• Steer with clarity: Making split-second decisions while keeping the crew aligned.
• Motivate consistently: Every rower has different strengths, weaknesses, and energy levels. Communication and understanding of your athletes and their limits are crucial.
• Adapt instantly: Wind, fatigue, or competitor moves require immediate strategy shifts.

These are the same skills that make for an effective C‑suite executive: clear decision-making under pressure, motivating diverse teams, and adapting strategy on the fly.

Balancing a career and elite sport

While this was extremely rewarding, it included many hours a day driving to training, family sacrifices and annual leave being used up on competition. The experience taught me lessons about resilience, focus, and balance that I now bring into my work with executives:

• Time management is everything: Early mornings, training camps, and professional deadlines forced me to prioritize ruthlessly.
• Trust and clarity of roles matter: In the boat and the boardroom, everyone must know their role and trust those leading them.
• Sustaining momentum requires energy management: Just as in rowing, business leaders need to balance ambition with sustainability.

Sport teaches you that leadership is not just about personal excellence - it’s about lifting the entire team and sustaining performance under pressure, but my main takeaway is to make sure you enjoy the journey. Otherwise, what's the point?

Lessons for organisations and leaders

Whether you’re in high-performance sport, a professional environment, or both, the crossover is clear:

1. Recognize transferable skills from sport: Resilience, teamwork, discipline, and adaptability are assets at any level.
2. Build trust and clarity: Success comes when people know their roles, understand purpose, and feel supported.
3. Celebrate small wins and maintain momentum: Both boats and businesses thrive when progress is visible and purpose is clear.
4. Support the whole individual: High-performing teams require leaders who value well-being alongside output.

The EY article highlights female athletes as future leaders but the principle applies to all leaders: the lessons learned in sport create exceptional, adaptable, and resilient leaders.

I acknowledge that I sometimes didn't get the balance right along the way which left me burnt out, but the reminder of why I was doing this, always pulled me through.

So how can we close the gender gap? Keep showing up for women's sport. Simple.