South Africa, Aug. 28 -- Her leadership style has evolved over time. Early in her career, she defaulted to being hard and driven, finding it difficult to claim space in rooms that were not always ready to make space for her. As she has grown into herself, the approach has softened. Empathy, she has found, is not a concession but rather the one thing that makes a difference.

Two mentors shaped her trajectory: one who gave her access to C-suite thinking early; another who walked her through the operational detail until she understood the granular why behind every account. That combination is what makes her a generalist, and generalists, she believes, are what complex businesses need most.

On the question of women supporting women, Brown i...