How senior decisions actually get made, and how to make your work count before the credit goes elsewhere.
Women hold 29 percent of C-suite roles in corporate America, according to the 2025 Women in the Workplace study, and the figure did not move from the year before. For Latinas it is one percent.
Former U.S. Ambassador Maria Brewer does not think the gap comes down to talent or ambition. Too many accomplished women, she argues, still rely on a familiar formula: work hard, deliver excellent results, and trust that the right people will eventually notice.
She followed that formula herself early on. Over 29 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, rising to Deputy Chief of Mission at one of the largest U.S. embassies in the world, serving twice as a Senate-confirmed U.S. Ambassador, and closing her career as Acting Director of the Foreign Service Institute, she learned that excellence establishes credibility, and that advancement also takes strategy, visibility, influential relationships, and a clear understanding of how power operates.
Today she brings those lessons to accomplished leaders positioning themselves for senior roles, greater influence, and increased visibility. “Excellence gives you credibility; strategy helps ensure that your excellence leads to influence and opportunity.”
The Lesson Women Resist Most
Ask Brewer which leadership lesson meets the most resistance, and her answer begins with a belief many women have carried through their whole careers.
The hardest lesson for many women to accept is that hard work and excellence alone rarely determine who advances. We are taught to keep our heads down, deliver exceptional results, and trust that someone will eventually notice. Organizations do not always work that way. You must understand how decisions are made, build influential relationships, make your contributions visible, and advocate for yourself.
Research on sponsorship supports her. Over the past two years, employees with a sponsor were promoted at nearly twice the rate of those without one, according to LeanIn.Org and McKinsey, and women remain less likely than men to have a sponsor advocating for them.
Brewer draws the distinction sharply. Mentors offer advice, perspective, and encouragement. Sponsors spend their own credibility and influence to recommend someone for a promotion, an important assignment, or a seat at the decision-making table. Leaders who want to advance need both, and need to cultivate each one deliberately.
When the Credit Goes Elsewhere
Brewer learned the importance of visibility early in her diplomatic career.
I learned this lesson early in my career, sitting in meetings where senior leaders praised my boss for a project I had carried almost entirely on my own, often with little support from him. He accepted the compliments without acknowledging my contribution. That experience taught me that I could not assume my work would speak for itself. I had to make sure the right people understood what I had contributed, or both the recognition and the opportunities that followed would go elsewhere.
Visibility, in her account, does not mean taking credit from others or dominating every conversation. It means communicating your contributions clearly and making sure the organizational record reflects your role. Many women find that uncomfortable. Brewer asks them to treat it as a leadership responsibility: when decision-makers understand what you have accomplished, they can judge your readiness for more. When they do not, even exceptional work stays disconnected from the person who delivered it.
She had met another version of the problem before she joined the Foreign Service, when someone told her she probably could not pass the entrance examination. She took it anyway and passed. The lesson, she says, was “not to become my own gatekeeper.”
The stakes are highest for Latinas. Lean In’s analysis found that for every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, only 74 Latinas were promoted, the steepest drop of any group on the way to the C-suite.
Because This Time I Was the Ambassador
On October 5, 2017, Brewer sat in an armored vehicle in Freetown, Sierra Leone, waiting to present her credentials to the country’s president. The ceremony was choreographed to the minute: a red-carpet arrival, a military honor guard, formal speeches, and the handing over of the documents naming her the official representative of the United States. She had watched ceremonies like it before. This one carried a different weight.
She had spent years as an adviser, a deputy, and a senior diplomat. She had lived through bombings, flown in armed helicopters over conflict zones, and worked through dangerous insurgencies. Yet the moment before she stepped out of the vehicle brought a deep, shaky breath. “Because this time,” she says, “I was the Ambassador.”
The decisions would now reach her desk. The mission would look to her for direction. And she would do it as the first Latina to hold the post, the descendant of immigrants who had risen through an institution where senior leaders rarely looked like her.
That moment illustrates one of the central lessons of The Ambassador’s Leadership Edge: power begins when you stop waiting for someone else to decide that you are ready. A title confers authority. The leader still has to inhabit it. Brewer stepped out, walked the red carpet, and presented her credentials. She had earned the appointment. Now she had to claim the authority that came with it.
The “Ask Mom, Ask Dad” Problem
By the time Brewer became Deputy Chief of Mission in Abuja, the number two position at one of America’s largest embassies in Africa, she had learned how quickly authority weakens when senior leaders appear divided.
“I knew we had to be closely aligned on our policy goals, our management approach, and the messages we gave the team,” she says of her relationship with the Ambassador. “Any visible gap between us could invite what I call ‘ask mom, ask dad,’ with people shopping between the two of us for the answer they preferred.”
“We communicated frequently, worked through disagreements privately, and presented clear direction to the mission.” Senior leaders will disagree, and handled directly, disagreement can strengthen a decision. Once it is made, the organization needs clarity. “The principle was the same as in any organization: understand the dynamics, build trust, and use authority strategically and intentionally.”
Brewer credits Colin Powell with one more piece of it. In his book It Worked for Me, Powell wrote that “perpetual optimism is a force multiplier,” a line that stayed with her through difficult assignments. A leader’s outlook shapes how a team meets uncertainty, and clear-eyed optimism gives people the confidence to keep moving when circumstances turn hard.
Executive Presence Without Assimilation
Brewer challenges advice that encourages women to adopt traditionally masculine behaviors in order to appear more promotable.
Yes, organizations have established leadership norms, and women who fit into those norms may be judged as more promotable. The problem comes when women are told to change their clothing, stance, gestures, or voices to appear more traditionally masculine. I believe there is tremendous power in the feminine. Aspiring women leaders should understand the environment and make intentional choices, while remaining authentic and drawing on the strengths they already possess.
Brewer spent much of her career as the only Latina at her level. She knows the pressure to assimilate, soften ambition, or follow an unwritten leadership model built around someone else’s identity. Her advice is to study the environment without letting it erase you. “You can adapt without assimilating.” A leader should understand how she is perceived and communicate in a way that serves her objectives, and she can do that without abandoning her cultural identity or imitating someone else’s style.
That philosophy sits inside the three-part framework the book is built on. Power means understanding how influence operates, how decisions are made, and how to use authority responsibly. Presence means communicating confidence, credibility, and authenticity, especially when the pressure is high. Purpose means staying grounded in whom you serve, what you value, and why your leadership matters. The three work together, and each strengthens a leader’s ability to act with clarity and conviction.
Why Maria Brewer
Brewer served 29 years in the U.S. Foreign Service across Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, with assignments in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, and Morocco. She served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Abuja, Chargé d’Affaires in Morocco, and twice as a Senate-confirmed U.S. Ambassador. Her final assignment was the Foreign Service Institute, where as Deputy Director and later Acting Director she helped lead an institution of more than 1,500 employees, a $174 million budget, and responsibility for preparing U.S. foreign affairs professionals to serve around the world.
She speaks candidly about what the career cost. “Juggling motherhood and diplomacy, especially as an Ambassador, required me to accept that I could not give both roles 100 percent every day, and to rely on others to help me fill the gaps.” That lesson informs her work with leaders who feel pressure to carry everything alone.
She never expected to become an author. “I realized I could create the leadership guide I once needed, using stories from diplomacy to illuminate practical lessons.” The coaching has a longer root. Throughout her government career, junior colleagues sought her guidance and often began by apologizing for taking her time. She would tell them the conversation was “like dessert compared to the other tasks I have all day today.” Those conversations became part of the foundation for Brewer Coaching Services and the book.
Where Maria Is Now
Brewer lives in Vienna, Virginia, where she runs Brewer Coaching Services as an executive coach, keynote speaker, and corporate leadership trainer, helping accomplished leaders prepare for senior positions, build strategic authority, and strengthen their executive presence without sacrificing authenticity. She is also building the Leadership Edge Ambassadors, a network of women committed to lifting as they climb and leaving the door open for those coming behind them. Her goal is to reach 250,000 women.
She says she might have become a teacher had she chosen a life outside diplomacy. In many ways that is the work she has chosen now: helping others expand their leadership with lessons from nearly three decades of public service.
The Maria Brewer Playbook
- Understand how decisions are made. Learn who influences the process, what criteria matter, and when the key conversations happen. Then use the authority you hold strategically and responsibly.
- Make your contributions visible. Communicate your impact clearly so decision-makers can connect your work with your leadership.
- Build relationships before you need them. Mentors provide guidance. Sponsors advocate for your advancement. Leaders need both.
- Claim the authority you have earned. A title grants responsibility. Your actions show that you are prepared to carry it.
- Lead with presence and purpose. Understand the environment, make intentional choices, lead from your authentic strengths, and stay clear about whom you serve and why your leadership matters.
Maria Brewer is the author of The Ambassador’s Leadership Edge: For Latina Leaders Ready to Rise to the Top. She offers executive coaching, keynote addresses, and corporate leadership training through Brewer Coaching Services. Learn more at TheAmbassadorsLeadershipEdge.com and connect with her on LinkedIn.
