“Growth rarely feels comfortable in the beginning”

By Luísa Geão, Head of Regional Marketing for English at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, on joy, female mentorship, and finding meaning in your work.

Every meaningful step in my career has come from giving first: giving energy before recognition, giving clarity before certainty, and giving belief to others before expecting it back. Today, I lead Regional Marketing for West Europe, Iberia and Italy at Cambridge English.

My role is commercial, strategic, and complex, but at its heart it is very simple. It is about helping people believe in what they are building. When people believe, results follow.

I have led teams through growth and through uncertainty. Over time I understood that performance is never only about targets. It is about energy and meaning. It is about how people feel when they show up to work.

How do you define leadership in today’s workplace, and what role do women play in shaping inclusive organisational culture?

For me, leadership today is humility with confidence. Humility means accepting that you do not have all the answers. Markets are complex. Organisations are complex. People are complex. You need different perspectives to make good decisions.

But there is another element that I think we do not talk about enough. Joy. If we remove all sense of enjoyment and purpose, work becomes mechanical. I believe leaders are responsible for protecting energy inside their teams. Not in a superficial way, but in a real way. When people enjoy working together, they are more creative and more resilient.

Women often contribute strongly to inclusive cultures because many of us have learned to lead through influence rather than authority. We connect people. We build bridges across functions. We create space for different voices. Inclusive culture is not about being soft. It is about making sure the best ideas can surface, no matter where they come from. I have always believed, in this way, that ambition and empathy are not opposites.

Can you share an experience where guidance or mentorship made a real difference in your career, and how that influences the way you support others now?

One of the most important leadership lessons in my life did not come from a mentor at work. It came from my mother.

When I was a student, I took a job promoting frozen fish in a supermarket. I stood for twelve hours trying to convince people to buy something they had not planned to buy. I came home tired and frustrated. I remember telling her that I did not see the point.

She listened and then said something that stayed with me forever:

“You think your job is to sell fish. You are not thinking about the families who will sit around the table and share a healthy meal. You are not thinking about the joy of eating something good together. You are not the job you do. But you can give purpose to what you do. No task is small if you decide it matters.”

The next day, nothing around me had changed. The freezer was the same. The product was the same. But I was different. I spoke to people with more attention. The role did not change. My mindset did.

I developed deep respect for every job and every person. It opened my mind to what I now understand as a truly customer-centred approach. It is never about the product: it is about what the product makes possible in someone’s life.

Today, when leading others, I carry this lesson with me. I try to help people see the meaning in their work, even when it feels small. I give them responsibility before they feel completely prepared. And I treat every role with respect, because I know how it feels to question your impact.

What strategies or habits have helped you succeed as a leader, and what steps can organisations take to nurture female talent at all levels?

Growth rarely feels comfortable at the beginning. Knowing how to accept feedback is not easy, but it is one of the easiest ways to grow. Once you stop taking it personally, it becomes a gift. Working closely with other leaders and observing how they make decisions has also shaped me deeply. Growth does not happen by accident. It requires intention. It is a muscle we can strengthen if we use it.

And then there is something that sounds simple but is, in fact, powerful: protecting joy. We underestimate how important it is to enjoy what we do. What we enjoy, we invest in. What we invest in, grows. Joy creates energy. Energy creates creativity. When people feel safe enough to laugh, to experiment and even to fail, they learn faster. Fear of making mistakes creates defensiveness. Defensiveness blocks innovation. I want the people in my team to take their work seriously, but not themselves too seriously. When joy is present, performance is stronger and more sustainable.

For organisations that want to nurture female talent, exposure is essential. Women need to be part of financial conversations, strategic debates and difficult decisions early in their careers. They need sponsors who speak about them when they are not in the room. They need clarity about what progression requires. And they need cultures where confidence in a woman is recognised as leadership, not arrogance. When expectation and belief come together, talent flourishes.

If I could leave one thought, it would be this: you are not defined by your current role. You are defined by how you show up in it. Give purpose to what you do, even when it feels small. Give belief to others before they see it in themselves. Give energy and generosity in how you lead.

What you gain is not only progression. You gain influence. You gain resilience. And you create spaces where other people can grow beyond who they are today. Leadership does not start when you reach the top: it starts the moment you decide that what you do matters.

About Luísa

Luísa Geão is Head of Regional Marketing for West Europe, Iberia, and Italy at Cambridge University Press & Assessment. She has built her career across commercial and regional leadership roles, working closely with diverse markets to align strategy, growth, and long-term impact in education.

Through her work and reflections, Luísa aims to contribute thoughtfully to conversations around leadership, learning, and professional growth, especially in contexts where education has the power to expand access and open doors.