For a long time, I couldn’t quite name the tension. In boardrooms. In conversations with senior women who were visibly capable — but quietly exhausted. It wasn’t performance. It wasn’t ambition. It was something subtler. I decided to formally research what I had been observing informally for years: leadership identity conflict among leaders from underrepresented groups. More than 150 leaders and emerging leaders across 21 countries contributed to the study. The question was