TL;DR
- Women represent about 50% of the biotech workforce but only hold 30% of executive roles—fewer still are working mothers.
- Leen Kawas challenges outdated norms, showing how caregiving skills like emotional intelligence and resilience boost leadership.
- Caregiving teaches collaboration, adaptability, and strategic empathy—all vital traits for modern executive success.
- Kawas advocates for authentic leadership and inclusive environments that value wellness and real human connection.
- Diversity isn’t just ethical—it drives stronger performance, innovation, and participation in biotech and beyond.
Here’s a statistic that might surprise you: women make up about half of the biotechnology workforce, but they hold only 30 percent of executive positions. For working mothers? The numbers get even more discouraging.
Leen Kawas knows this reality firsthand. As Managing General Partner at Propel Bio Partners, she’s building a biotech-focused venture capital fund while raising three young children in Los Angeles with her husband. Her path to the C-suite wasn’t typical—she came to the U.S. from Jordan in 2008, and became one of just 22 women founders in the U.S. to take their company public.
But what strikes you when you hear Leen Kawas talk about leadership isn’t just her impressive resume. It’s her perspective on how caregiving shapes the very skills that make great executives.
The Problem Companies Don’t Want to Admit
Most companies still operate under an outdated assumption: that serious leadership requires total professional dedication, and caregiving responsibilities are obstacles to overcome. Leen Kawas puts it bluntly when she talks about traditionally male-dominated industries—men in these sectors typically handle large workloads requiring significant time investments, and women juggling job and caregiving tasks often struggle to meet those expectations.
It’s a setup that makes no sense when you look at the data. Leen Kawas points to substantial research showing that companies with women in executive roles see higher returns, more inclusive cultures, and innovation that has “a different, unique flavor.” She’s seen this pattern repeatedly: women-led companies demonstrate 60 percent better performance than similar businesses led by men.
Yet the promotion pipeline tells a different story. As Leen Kawas observes, “Women don’t get promoted as much as men. If it’s a man who’s promoting another person, they relate to the experience of the males, not the woman.”
What If We’ve Been Looking at This Backwards?
There’s something fascinating about how Leen Kawas approaches leadership, and it connects directly to her experience as a mother. Rather than viewing caregiving as a barrier to executive success, her career suggests these experiences actually enhance leadership capabilities.
Take emotional intelligence, for instance. Leen Kawas notes that female leaders often possess high emotional intelligence—they understand and value others’ feelings while picking up on non-verbal cues. This enables them to empathize with team members and create supportive workplaces. Sound familiar? It should, because these are exactly the skills that effective parenting demands every single day.
Then there’s resilience. Leen Kawas describes how female leaders frequently demonstrate exceptional resilience, having navigated both professional and personal challenges. They tend to view setbacks as minor inconveniences rather than insurmountable obstacles, which helps inspire their teams to keep pushing forward.
Any parent will tell you that managing a household requires this exact kind of resilience. You learn to adapt quickly, solve problems creatively, and keep moving forward even when everything seems to be falling apart at once.
The Collaboration Connection
Here’s where it gets really interesting. Many female leaders, according to Leen Kawas, gravitate toward collaborative workplaces rather than highly competitive environments. This collaborative approach promotes innovation and makes problem-solving easier. Women also tend to focus on networking and creating cooperative groups designed to benefit everyone involved.
This isn’t just a leadership style—it’s a survival skill that caregiving teaches you. When you’re managing family dynamics, coordinating schedules, and trying to keep everyone happy and functional, you learn that success depends on considering multiple stakeholders’ needs simultaneously. You become really good at building coalitions and finding solutions that work for everyone.
A Different Kind of Motivation
For Kawas, motherhood doesn’t compete with professional ambition—it amplifies it. She describes her daughter as her biggest inspiration, saying, “I want her to be the first person to do something—not the first woman.”
This perspective reveals something crucial about how caregiving can enhance professional drive. When you’re responsible for shaping the next generation, breaking barriers becomes about more than personal achievement. It becomes about creating a better world for the people you care about most.
You can see this philosophy in action throughout Leen’s career. Her patient-centric approach to business—putting patients first rather than focusing solely on company goals—reflects the nurturing perspective that caregiving develops. Her innovative solutions like arranging onsite meals for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers during clinical trials.
The Trust Factor
Companies talk a lot about building trust, but Leen Kawas’s approach to leadership suggests that caregiving experience provides a unique advantage here. She advocates for authentic leadership and transparency—leaders who integrate their professional and personal attributes rather than compartmentalizing them.
This authenticity often comes naturally to working mothers. When you’re managing the genuine connections that caregiving requires, you develop an honest communication style that can translate directly to more effective leadership. You learn to be real with people because pretending doesn’t work when you’re dealing with the daily challenges of family life.
Leen Kawas also emphasizes creating positive work environments that support team members’ well-being. Her focus on stress management resources and mental health support reflects an understanding that employee wellness directly impacts organizational success—a perspective that caregiving experience naturally develops.
The Business Case is Already There
The data supporting this argument isn’t hard to find. Leen Kawas references research from As You Sow and Whistle Stop Capital showing that companies with diverse management teams see better financial outcomes. More representation of black, indigenous, and people of color in management roles positively impacts cash flow, net profit, and stock performance.
But the industry still hasn’t caught up. During her time leading clinical trials, Leen Kawas noticed that potential participants were often disappointed to find that white men most often serve as clinical trial managers. This visible lack of diversity discouraged many prospects from signing up for trials they might otherwise have joined.
The solution seems obvious: hire more women and minority clinical trial managers to increase patient participation. But it requires companies to see diversity as a strategic advantage rather than a compliance requirement.
What Needs to Change
Leen Kawas’s success story—taking a company public while raising young children—shows what’s possible when we stop viewing caregiving as a professional liability. But individual success stories aren’t enough. The industry needs systemic change.
She emphasizes that companies should invest in diversity not just for ethical reasons, but because it drives better innovation and superior returns. The key is finding mentors and advocates who will push for women’s professional growth, recognizing that traditional networking and advancement opportunities may not be as accessible to working mothers.
This means creating pathways for advancement that don’t require the traditional “always available” model. It means recognizing that the skills developed through caregiving—crisis management, emotional intelligence, collaborative problem-solving—are exactly what companies need in an increasingly complex business environment.
The Path Forward
The biotechnology industry’s need for innovative solutions and patient-focused approaches aligns perfectly with the perspective that caregiving experience provides. Leen Kawas continues to demonstrate through her work at Propel Bio Partners that mothers bring valuable skills and perspectives that drive both business success and meaningful social impact.
Companies that recognize and leverage these capabilities—rather than viewing them as limitations—position themselves for superior performance and more innovative solutions. The future of executive leadership may well depend on embracing the leadership accelerator that caregiving experience provides.
As Leen Kawas’s career shows, the question isn’t whether working mothers can succeed in the C-suite. It’s whether companies are smart enough to recognize that they already have the leadership skills that modern business demands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is caregiving experience valuable for leadership roles?
Caregiving cultivates emotional intelligence, resilience, and collaboration—skills that are essential for effective, people-centered leadership.
What challenges do working mothers face in biotech leadership?
Despite making up half the biotech workforce, women—especially working mothers—face limited promotion opportunities and outdated workplace expectations that overlook their capabilities.
How does Leen Kawas view the connection between motherhood and leadership?
She sees motherhood not as a hindrance but as a leadership accelerator, helping develop empathy, grit, and a broader motivation to lead with purpose.
What changes does the biotech industry need to make?
Companies must create advancement paths that recognize caregiving strengths, promote diversity intentionally, and move beyond the “always-on” leadership model.
Is there data supporting the business value of female leadership?
Yes. Research shows companies with diverse leadership outperform peers, see higher profits, and foster better innovation and workplace culture.