Leslie Rohonczy, IMC™, PCC, Executive Coach, Leadership Expert, Speaker, Author
Something strange is happening in leadership circles.
Talented, ambitious women, the ones who exceed their targets, who juggle the complexities, and make it all look seamless, are quietly stepping away. Not in protest. Not amid scandal. They’re just… done. One day they’re leading strategy sessions; the next, they’re posting a warm thank-you on LinkedIn and heading into something “new.”
And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed the quiet that follows. No raised eyebrows. No real post-mortem. Just another departure, tidily wrapped in gratitude and discretion.
But let’s not be fooled. These exits aren’t just personal choices. They’re signals.
Across Canada, women in senior roles are opting out, not because they lack the ambition, but because they’re tired of carrying it alone. They’re stepping back from leadership paths that reward over-functioning, downplay values, and quietly expect women to lead twice as hard for half the recognition.
These departures aren’t dramatic. They’re deliberate. Thoughtful. Carefully curated LinkedIn posts. Optimistic updates. “Grateful-for-the-opportunity” reframings.
But under the polish, something important is happening.
SOMETHING IS SHIFTING
If it feels like more women are quietly disappearing from leadership pipelines, it’s because they are. According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace report (2024), women leaders are exiting their roles at the highest rate ever recorded. Grant Thornton reports that female CEOs in Canada dropped from 28 percent to 19 percent in just one year. A 2023 article in Forbes highlights how misaligned values, persistent bias, and burnout are causing women to step away before they even reach the top.
Yet these stories often go untold. Why? Because most of these women leave well. No drama. No takedowns. Just a respectful goodbye and a professional fade to black.
WHY THEY WALK
Burnout doesn’t always come with a breakdown. Often, it looks like a woman who still shows up, still performs, still keeps the wheels turning, but feels like she’s holding everything together with invisible thread.
She’s the one who gets it done. The one who absorbs the emotional load, smooths the conflict, mentors the junior staff, remembers the context, and catches what others drop. She’s indispensable, until she’s depleted.
And when she finally says, “I can’t keep doing this,” it’s not because she’s weak. It’s because she’s done the mental math and realised the cost.
Sometimes there’s a moment: the promotion that quietly goes to someone else, the boardroom idea she raised that’s applauded when someone else repeats it. But most often, it’s an accumulation. A slow wear-down. One woman I coach described it as “death by a thousand paper cuts.” Another said, “I climbed so far up the ladder, only to realise it was leaning against the wrong wall.”
More and more women are starting to question whether leadership, as it currently stands, is worth the trade-offs. Whether the relentless pace, the narrow metrics of success, and the unspoken expectations are aligned with the life they want to live.
Many are concluding they’re not.
THE COST OF EXITING GRACEFULLY
Because women are trained to leave respectfully, to minimise disruption, to protect relationships, to make things easier for those left behind, their departures rarely spark reflection.
People assume they left for balance, or family, or “something new.” But they didn’t leave to slow down. They left because they weren’t seen. Because they were asked to stretch further and give more, without the authority, voice, or recognition that would make it sustainable.
And when they leave quietly, the system stays the same.
WHAT COACHING CAN OFFER
This is where coaching comes in. Not as a rescue plan, but as a space to think clearly and make deliberate choices. Some women use coaching to stay on their own terms. They set new boundaries, recalibrate how they lead, and reconnect with purpose. Others realise it’s time to move on. Not in defeat, but with clarity and intention. Not just “what’s next,” but “what’s true for me now?”
Coaching also helps leaders inside organisations spot the signs before someone walks. It surfaces the invisible friction points, the patterns that never make it into engagement data or exit interviews. It’s not about retention for the sake of it. It’s about seeing what’s really happening.
IF YOU’RE READING THIS AND WONDERING…
Maybe you’ve had that quiet internal conversation too: “Am I just tired, or am I ready for something else? Do I still believe in what I’m building here, or am I just holding it together out of habit? If I took away the guilt, what would I choose?”
These aren’t surface questions. They go right to the centre of how we lead, and who we are while doing it.
TIME TO TALK
We need to talk about the exodus, not in whispers, but out loud. Because we’re not just losing great women. We’re losing the future they could shape if leadership makes room for their full presence, not just their performance.