For years, senior women have been told that competence speaks for itself.
Work hard.
Stay loyal.
Let the results do the talking.
In 2026, that advice is no longer just outdated — it is dangerous.
Because in a technology-driven, visibility-shaped economy, value that is not articulated, positioned, and owned is easily erased. And women who do not own their narrative remain economically vulnerable — no matter how senior, accomplished, or well paid they are.
This is the uncomfortable truth many high-achieving women are still avoiding.
If your value exists only inside someone else’s organisation, title, or platform, you do not own it.
You are leasing it.
The asset women keep giving away
When women think about ownership, they usually think of property, investments, or financial instruments. Those matter. But there is one asset that underpins every negotiation, opportunity, and long-term outcome, and many women are still giving it away for free.
Their narrative.
Their lived experience.
Their professional judgement.
Their point of view.
Their leadership story.
In today’s economy, these are not soft attributes. They are tradable currency.
A simple test makes this clear.
If your corporate title disappeared tomorrow, would your name still open doors?
Would it earn invitations, advisory roles, paid opportunities, and influence?
If the honest answer is no, then one of your most powerful assets is underdeveloped.
Corporate excellence is not the same as ownership
Some of the most capable women I know sit at the highest levels of corporate Africa and the diaspora. They manage large teams, advise boards, and steward significant capital.
Yet many are heavily restricted in what they can say, write, or build independently. Their organisations regulate their visibility. Their thinking must pass through approval filters. Their voice is shaped to fit brand guidelines rather than lived experience.
Over time, many realise something quietly unsettling:
They have become corporate assets.
Their insight, energy, and intellectual capital are creating enormous value — but the equity belongs elsewhere.
When encouraged to have structured, courageous conversations with their organisations – not confrontational, but clear – several women admitted they had been playing safe for too long. Giving their best thinking to systems that had no intention of future-proofing them.
When the muzzle comes off
One woman shared a different story.
After more than two decades at a multinational, she left and only then recognised how much of her life expression had been muted. Her ideas had been constrained to what was “appropriate”. Her leadership voice was shaped to fit institutional comfort.
Outside that structure, she began writing publicly — integrating life, law, and leadership through her own lens. Not motivational content. Thoughtful, experience-rich analysis.
What followed surprised her.
Advisory roles emerged. Speaking invitations followed. Paid opportunities that offered not just income, but agency.
It was not immediate. It was not viral.
But it was sustainable.
She had begun converting experience into currency.
Narrative ownership is economic power
Carla Harris, vice chair at Morgan Stanley, has long spoken about the importance of brand equity — not as vanity, but as leverage. Her influence did not come from abandoning corporate excellence but from owning her narrative alongside it.
This distinction matters.
Narrative ownership is not about self-promotion.
It is about authority.
It determines:
• how you negotiate
• what you are paid
• which rooms you are invited into
• whether your expertise compounds or evaporates
Visibility without ownership is exposure.
Influence without leverage is fragile.
In a world governed by algorithms, platforms, and attention, women who remain permanently in “private mode” risk disappearing altogether. Silence does not protect value. It erodes it.
Why this matters now
The years ahead will be uneven. Economic shifts, policy changes, and organisational restructuring will continue to expose weak positioning.
Women who rely solely on income and titles will be forced into constant motion — staying busy to remain relevant.
Women who own their narrative will have options.
They will negotiate differently.
Exit differently.
Build differently.
This is not about abandoning corporate careers. It is about owning what you have already earned.
Ownership is the language of power in 2026
Ownership is the language of power in 2026.
If you own nothing else in 2026, own your narrative
Not titles without continuity.
Not income without insulation.
Not excellence without leverage.
The women who will be most secure in the years ahead will not simply be the busiest or highest paid. They will be the women who understand that leadership, wealth, and power are designed — and that one of the most critical assets to design is a leadership brand that endures beyond any single role.
For many women, the work ahead is not about doing more. It is about transitioning well — from performance to positioning, from high potential to high impact.
That transition requires clarity, courage, and structure. It also requires a willingness to stop hiding the very expertise built over decades and to begin stewarding it deliberately.
This is not a short game.
But it is now a necessary one.
That is how Power Women will move in 2026.
With intention.
Udo Okonjo is a board director, investor, and founder of Radiant Collective Capital, a women-led investment platform focused on ownership and long-term wealth creation. She is also Executive Chair of Fine & Country West Africa, the luxury real estate advisory firm, and writes the Women, Wealth & Power column for BusinessDay.
