With all the challenges women face in leadership—bias, cultural expectations, self-doubt, what does it really take for a woman to rise to the top? Is it about working harder, being more confident, or knowing the right people? And do women really have to be louder, tougher, or more aggressive to get ahead—or is there another way?

Coach Sheila Tan studied how the most successful executives lead their organizations towards success in “The X-Factor of C-Suite Executives,” her thesis for her Master’s of Science In Organization Development at Pepperdine University published in the Transdisciplinary Journal Management. She is a Neuro-Semantics trainer, NLP Master Practitioner, Meta-Coach, executive coach, and organizational development consultant.