Barriers as Opportunities: A Deeply Personal Reflection
By Lyn Hawkins | Founder and National Director
When we gathered recently at our Virtual Members Connect, women from every corner of Australia, business owners, directors, executives, consultants, came together for a powerful, conscious conversation on barriers as opportunities. In that circle, I felt the familiar hum of connection: a safe space where we could speak honestly, listen deeply, and hold one another in genuine care.
As I opened the session, I spoke about BWA’s purpose: to be the most influential and inclusive community of women leaders in this country. A community where leadership isn’t just about titles, but about connection; where success isn’t simply climbing the ladder, but expanding our sense of presence, purpose, and possibility.
I acknowledged our wonderful partners, Advisory Board, and members whose generosity and vision help us create such safe, intentional spaces.
This meeting was not only about what we do, but how we are together. It felt like a microcosm of what I imagine workplaces and organisations could become, places where leadership and care are held together.
Conscious Care in Leadership
“Conscious care” has become a North Star for BWA. Conscious care in leadership is not soft sentimentality; it’s a hard-earned awareness, a desire to show up with empathy, and the courage to be real. It’s the decision to lead not just by what you do, but by how you are.
Vida Carlino, one of the wisest members in BWA, introduced four guiding parameters for our group conversations:
- Be present.
- Respect others’ realities.
- Practice radical listening.
- Speak from personal experience.
These aren’t mere guidelines; they create the container where trust, authenticity, and transformation can occur. I’ve used these parameters with my own team, not to direct them, but to accompany them, and witnessed remarkable shifts in how we relate, collaborate, and lead.
At this Connect, I realised something deeply personal: that the same principles we bring into the boardroom or team meetings, presence, empathy, and listening, are needed in both professional and personal lives.
My Awakening: Love, Care & Letting Go
While we spoke about barriers, external and internal, I felt a stirring within me. I had been quietly carrying worry for a family member. In the safety of the BWA circle, as women shared their vulnerabilities and breakthroughs, I allowed myself to really see my own story.
I can continue wrestling with something outside my control, or redirect my energy to what is within my control: my presence, my truth, my love.
It was in that moment I realised: the deepest bridge I could build was not through fixing another person, but through acceptance. My barrier, the fear, the worry, the need to sort stuff out, became an opportunity. An opportunity to listen without an agenda and to receive without needing to change the person I care for.
In the warmth and authenticity of our BWA conversation, I felt that shift. My barrier didn’t vanish, but it softened.
Research-Backed Insight: Women, Leadership & Transformation
These reflections align with what the research tells us about women’s leadership and how barriers can become opportunities for growth and innovation.
- Decades of psychological and organisational studies show that women leaders enhance productivity, collaboration, and fairness within organisations.
- Research from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency in Australia shows women remain under-represented in key decision-making roles: for example, only about 19.4% of CEOs and 32.5% of key management positions are held by women.
- A recent study found that women leaders are rated higher not only on communal behaviours (collaboration, empathy) but also on traditionally assertive leadership behaviours (clear structure, contingent rewards).
What this research reinforces is the truth I felt in the circle: women’s leadership is powerful when we leverage not only external skills but also inner wisdom; when we turn barriers into sites of growth; and when we shift from survival-mode into conscious-mode.
From Barrier to Bridge: What We Can Create
Imagine a workplace where the principles of our BWA Connect were the everyday norm: where everyone engages with presence, respect, listening and speaking honestly; where internal barriers such as imposter syndrome or fear of failure are openly acknowledged; where external barriers like inflexible systems or limited representation are treated as invitations to redesign; where the only thing we try to control is how we show up.
Here’s what that can look like in practice:
- Leaders introduce a “check-in” that acknowledges not just task completion but how people are showing up — tired, excited, cautious, hopeful.
- A meeting begins with one person speaking from “I” — their experience, their truth — then the group listens without interruption, then asks open-ended questions.
- Teams build rituals of radical listening: what did you hear? What surprised you? What will you carry forward?
- Organisations build policies not just to reduce barriers superficially, but to enable authenticity: mentoring, flexible work, inner-leadership development, values-aligned communities.
In the community of BWA, in the places where wise women show up, I glimpsed what this could be. And I’m more committed than ever to live into it.
Looking Forward: Together We Move
To all the women who join our in-person Roundtables and online Connects, thank you. Your stories, your courage, and your willingness to share make visible the possibility that occurs when we meet barriers with conscious care.
As I step forward in my own role, both professionally and personally, I carry with me that awakening: that my deepest influence arises from presence, clarity, and love. I am not less of a leader because I choose connection. I am more.
Barriers will always appear. But when we meet them with conscious care and community, they aren’t roadblocks; they are the very path.
About Lyn Hawkins
Lyn Hawkins is the National Director of Business Women Australia and a strategic advisor to Boards, Leaders, CEOs and founders. With over 25 years of experience in leadership, business growth, and professional development, she is dedicated to advancing women’s influence and impact across Australia.
About Business Women Australia
BWA brings together talented business women and female leaders from all sectors, industries and states;
business owners and entrepreneurs
executives and managers
professionals
women on boards
emerging leaders
women who desire growth and high-level connections
Business Women Australia is focused on key areas of development;
Leadership
Business Improvement
Personal and Professional Growth
Connections and Friendship