Key Points

• Sharks inspire confidence, resilience, focus, and adaptability in leadership.

• Women in tech and nature spaces can learn from shark behaviours to navigate challenges.

• Examples like Eugenie Clark and Reshma Saujani show how to embody these traits.

Confidence and Ownership

Sharks move with purpose, owning their space. Women leaders should confidently assert their ideas, as shown by Eugenie Clark, the "Shark Lady," who defied scepticism to pioneer marine biology, and Reshma Saujani, who founded Girls Who Code to empower women in tech.

Resilience and Adaptability

Sharks travel vast distances, adapting to new environments. Women in tech and nature spaces must be resilient, like Clark overcoming gender barriers or Pati Pecold advocating for menopause support in AI, navigating both professional and personal challenges.

Focus and Instinct

Sharks hunt with intense focus, trusting instincts. Leaders should prioritise goals and trust gut feelings, as Clark did in her shark research, leading to breakthroughs, and as tech leaders do to drive innovation.

Quiet Fierceness

Sharks are powerful yet subtle. Women can lead with quiet strength, like Clark’s impactful conservation work or Sheridan Ash’s efforts with Tech She Can to inspire women in tech without seeking the spotlight.

Swim Like a Shark: Flow, Focus & Fierceness in Female Leadership

Introduction

In the vast ocean of leadership, women in tech and nature spaces often navigate a labyrinth of challenges, from glass ceilings to systemic biases.

Yet, the shark—a creature often misunderstood—offers a powerful metaphor for leadership.

With confidence, resilience, focus, and quiet fierceness, sharks glide through the seas, owning their space.

This article explores how these qualities can inspire women to lead with strength and grace, drawing from real-life examples like Eugenie Clark, the "Shark Lady," and contemporary tech leaders.

By swimming like a shark, women can embrace their instincts, navigate storms, and stay resilient.

The Shark Metaphor for Leadership

Sharks are often seen as solitary, aggressive predators, but research reveals a more nuanced picture.

They are confident, resilient, and adaptable, with behaviours that vary by species—some solitary, others forming schools of over 100 individuals (Animal Corner).

Their acute senses guide precise decisions, balancing energy use with survival needs (PMC).

These traits—confidence, resilience, focus, adaptability, and quiet strength—mirror the qualities needed for effective leadership, especially for women in male-dominated fields like tech and nature conservation.

Unlike traditional metaphors like the "glass ceiling," which suggests a single barrier, or the "labyrinth," which emphasises complexity (Harvard Business Review), the shark metaphor highlights proactive, instinct-driven leadership.

It encourages women to own their space, adapt to challenges, and lead with quiet power, redefining strength in leadership.

Confidence and Ownership

Sharks move with purpose, commanding their environment without hesitation.

This natural confidence is a lesson for women leaders, who often face pressure to prove themselves in tech and nature spaces.

Owning one’s space means speaking up, taking on challenges, and asserting expertise without apology.

Eugenie Clark’s Confidence: Known as the "Shark Lady," Eugenie Clark (1922–2015) defied gender norms in marine biology.

As a young girl, she was captivated by sharks at the New York Aquarium, despite societal beliefs that women couldn’t be scientists. Clark pursued her passion, earning degrees from Hunter College and New York University, and became a pioneer in scuba diving for research (Smithsonian Ocean).

Her confidence led to discoveries like the Moses sole’s shark repellent, challenging myths about sharks as mindless killers (Densho).

Reshma Saujani in Tech: Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, embodies confidence in tech. Facing a male-dominated industry, she launched a nonprofit to teach young women coding, reaching millions and advocating for gender diversity (Women in Tech Network). Her bold vision shows how owning one’s space can drive systemic change.

Practical Application: Women can cultivate confidence by recognising their expertise, as Liz Li of Velocity Global advises: “Own your voice and the room… you have more expertise than almost anyone else in the company” (Forbes).

Simple actions like preparing for meetings, seeking mentorship, or celebrating small wins can build this confidence.

Resilience and Adaptability

Sharks are resilient travellers, with some, like the great white shark “Nicole,” swimming 6,900 miles from South Africa to Australia (Adapt Faster).

They adapt to diverse environments, from deep oceans to coastal reefs, balancing energy use with survival (PMC).

Women leaders need similar resilience to navigate setbacks and adapt to rapid changes in tech and nature spaces.

Eugenie Clark’s Resilience: Clark faced significant barriers, including gender discrimination and scepticism about her shark research.

Yet, she persevered, founding the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory (now Mote Marine Laboratory) and conducting over 70 submersible dives into her nineties (National Geographic).

Her ability to adapt and persist made her a global advocate for marine conservation.

Patrycja Pecold’s Advocacy: In tech, Patrycja Pecold addresses the “menopause taboo in AI,” advocating for policies to support women navigating health challenges alongside professional demands (Patrycja Pecold on X). Her resilience in tackling personal and systemic issues highlights the need for adaptability in leadership.

Challenges in Tech: Women in tech face underrepresentation (only 35% of U.S. STEM employees are women) and bias in hiring (65% of recruiters acknowledge bias) (TechTarget). Resilience involves learning from setbacks, seeking support, and advocating for change, as Pecold does.

Practical Application: Building resilience can involve setting achievable goals, seeking feedback, and finding mentors. Programs like Resilient Women Leaders offer tools to help women navigate challenges and grow as leaders (Resilient Women Leaders).

Focus and Instinct

Sharks hunt with laser-like focus, using acute senses to detect prey from miles away (Animal Corner).

Their instincts guide strategic decisions, balancing energy and opportunity (PMC).

Women leaders can emulate this by trusting their instincts and prioritising goals, especially in fast-paced fields like tech and conservation.

Eugenie Clark’s Focus: Clark’s focus on shark behaviour led to groundbreaking discoveries, such as the intelligence and social complexity of sharks (NOAA). Her trust in her observations, even when they contradicted popular beliefs, drove scientific progress.

Tech Leadership: In tech, focus is critical for innovation. Leaders must prioritise key projects and trust their instincts to navigate uncertainty.

For example, women leaders often face microaggressions or doubts about their judgment, yet staying focused on their vision can lead to breakthroughs (CIO).

Practical Application: To enhance focus, women can practice mindfulness, set clear priorities, and trust their gut when making decisions. Regular reflection, as Clark did during her solitary dives, can sharpen this instinct.

Solitude and Collaboration

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While many sharks are solitary, species like Scalloped Hammerheads form schools of over 100 individuals (Animal Corner).

This balance of solitude and collaboration is key for leadership. Women in tech and nature spaces must know when to work independently and when to leverage teamwork.

Eugenie Clark’s Balance: Clark often conducted solitary dives to study sharks but also collaborated with scientists, students, and institutions like the New York Zoological Society. Her founding of Mote Marine Laboratory fostered collaboration, expanding research and education (Mote Marine Laboratory).

Tech Collaboration: In tech, collaboration drives innovation, as seen in teams developing new software or AI systems. Women leaders must foster inclusive environments while also carving out time for independent strategic thinking.

Practical Application: Leaders can balance solitude and collaboration by scheduling time for reflection and fostering team synergy through open communication and shared goals.

Quiet Fierceness

Sharks are powerful yet often subtle, striking only when necessary. This quiet fierceness is a powerful trait for women leaders, who can make an impact without being the loudest voice. It’s about standing firm in one’s values with grace and determination.

Eugenie Clark’s Fierceness: Clark’s quiet fierceness shone through her persistent advocacy for sharks, despite public fear fueled by media like Jaws (Medium).

Her calm resolve changed perceptions and advanced conservation.

Sheridan Ash in Tech: Sheridan Ash, founder of Tech She Can, demonstrates quiet fierceness by working to inspire and empower women in tech through education and advocacy, without seeking personal acclaim (TechTarget).

Practical Application: Women can cultivate quiet fierceness by standing up for their beliefs, mentoring others, and leading by example, as Clark and Ash did.

Real-Life Examples

Conclusion

The shark metaphor offers a fresh perspective on leadership for women in tech and nature spaces.

By embracing confidence, resilience, focus, the balance of solitude and collaboration, and quiet fierceness, women can navigate challenges and lead with impact. Like Eugenie Clark, Reshma Saujani, Sheridan Ash, and Patrycja Pecold, women can swim like sharks—owning their space, adapting to storms, and inspiring others with quiet strength.

 You don’t need to be loud to be powerful. Be the shark.

References

• Adapt Faster: What Sharks Can Teach Us About Resilient Leadership

• Your Thought Partner: Leadership Styles—Do You Lead Like a Shark or a Whale?

• Animal Corner: Shark Behaviour Facts

• Wikipedia: Eugenie Clark

• Smithsonian Ocean: Eugenie Clark—The Shark Lady

• Amazon: Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist

• NOAA: Dr. Eugenie Clark (1922-2015)

• Mote Marine Laboratory: Dr. Eugenie Clark

• NYC Schools: Eugenie Clark, The 'Shark Lady' Who Took a Bite Out of Marine Biology

• National Geographic: 'Shark Lady' Eugenie Clark, Famed Marine Biologist, Has Died

• RIF.org: Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist

• Maryland State Archives: Eugenie Clark, Ph.D.

• Densho: Eugenie Clark Swam with Sharks and Blazed a Path for Women in Science

• Medium: Top 5 Inspiring Women in Tech

• Women in Tech Network: 100 Top Women in Tech to Watch in 2025

• TechTarget: Top 10 Most Influential Women in Technology

• Global App Testing: The Women Who Changed The Tech World

• CIO: Women in Tech Statistics

• The Financial Technology Report: The Top 50 Women Leaders in Financial Technology of 2024

• Champions Speakers: The Top 14 Inspirational Women in Tech Speakers to Hire in 2025

• Resilient Women Leaders

• Forbes: 20 Women Tech Leaders On The Principles That Guide Their Leadership

• Harvard Business Review: Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership

• Frontiers: An Exploration of the Metaphors and Images Used to Describe Leadership

• Solutions: Metaphors Describing Women’s Paths to Leadership

• Patrycja Pecold on X: Menopause in Tech

• Leadership

• Women in Tech

• Nature Conservation

• Motivation

• Resilience

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