When you hear the word innovation, what comes to mind?  

Ground-breaking ideas.  

Technological breakthroughs.  

Futurism.  

Einstein.  

Big things. Big brains. Usually men.  

Innovation has been positioned as something abstract and elite, reserved for geniuses, founders, and people building products that “change the world.”  

But strip it back, and innovation is actually very simple.  

Innovation is the creation and use of new ideas and methods. It’s useful change that creates value. That’s it.  

And yet, when we look at the ideas and methods reshaping how we live and work right now, especially AI, the conversation is being dominated by men. Not because women aren’t capable, but because they’re not positioned close enough to the decision-making.  

Which raises a real question we should be asking more loudly: how do women influence innovation, instead of just being shaped by it? 

The Innovation Gap  

According to data from the World Economic Forum, the innovation gap between women and men is not a capability gap. It’s an opportunity gap. Janet Hyde’s Gender Similarities Hypothesis also found there's no meaningful difference in creativity, problem-solving, or innovative thinking by gender. Women generate ideas at the same rate and quality as men. 

But here’s an uncomfortable question: have you ever described yourself as innovative? 

Maybe, maybe not. And yet, if you’ve ever redesigned a broken process, found a workaround no one else saw, adapted under pressure, or quietly improved how things work, you have innovated. 

And if you’re an entrepreneur, innovation isn’t optional. It’s survival. Likewise, working within an organisation, means you likely innovate daily to keep things moving. 

But women’s innovation is rarely named as such. It gets absorbed into being “helpful,” “reliable,” or “just doing your job.” And innovation that isn’t named becomes invisible. 

Where The Gap Starts  

Innovation in practice looks like:  

• Permission to experiment  
• Tolerance for failure  
• Openness to uncertainty and change  

Women are socialised to take less risks, avoid failure and aim for perfection, all of which go against what’s needed for innovation to thrive. Time and time again men are rewarded for trying and failing, described as “visionary” when ideas don’t land, and allowed to learn publicly, in real time. Whereas women are judged on outcomes, not intent; penalised for mistakes and expected to be right before being bold.  

If failure is career-limiting for you, you don’t experiment.  

If being wrong costs you credibility, you play it safe.  

If unfinished thinking makes you look incompetent, you wait until your ideas are perfect and bulletproof.  

Innovation doesn’t die because women lack ideas. It dies because those ideas struggle to be seen, heard, and valued. 

Reframing Innovation So You Can Claim It  

What we need is role models; everyday ambitious women who place value on their ideas and make sure they are seen and heard in the right rooms. I proudly put myself in that category. Perhaps you should too?   

If we don’t, we all miss out on determining whose problems get solved, whose labour gets automated, and whose voices shape the future of work. Thereby continuing to widen the gap between getting influenced by innovation and shaping it ourselves.  

To achieve rebalance, we need to start questioning what no longer works, looking to improve systems, not just maintaining them, moving from execution to ownership and turning uncertainty into progress, not paralysis. 

To reiterate: if we don’t take our rightful seat at the table, the future will be designed around us instead of with us and it won’t be in our favour. 

The Mental Shift Required  

There are some simple foundations that help innovation thrive. Here they are in their most simple form:  

• Psychological safety: a culture where people are safe to experiment, speak up, and go against the status quo is an innovative one.  
• Clarity of direction: clear goals, priorities, and success metrics allow innovation to bubble at the edges.  
• Accountability: innovation requires ownership; someone to hold the idea, follow through on it, and delegate its development where necessary.

Without these core pillars innovation becomes more difficult.  

To really build your innovation confidence, use my foolproof signature framework: Lion Theory™. It’s a blueprint for ambition, confidence and sustainable success. It’s changed my life and I know it will change yours too. 

1. Rise Like a Lion: Separate Learning from Your Identity  

Capability and confidence aren’t the same thing.  

Not having a life-changing idea or not knowing the answer immediately does not mean you aren’t capable of innovation. Always remember your voice matters and so do your ideas.  

Don’t boo yourself off the stage before you’ve even performed. Innovation starts by giving yourself a chance.  

And when things don’t go to plan, don’t make failure personal. Treat it as an event, it happens to you, it’s not who you are.  

Progress happens when mistakes are treated as data not as judgments on self-worth.  

Try this reframe: “This didn’t work. Here’s what it taught us.” 

Even without all the answers, you are always capable of figuring it out. Like a lion, wake up to that power within you and move with the confidence that you belong.  

1. Roar Like a Lion: Give Your Ideas a Voice  

Ideas can’t drive change if they never leave your head. Lion cubs don’t wait until they’re full-grown to roar. They start with the voice they have. The more they practice the better they become.  

The same goes for innovation: it isn’t judged by polish. Even better, it’s rarely the most perfect idea that changes the world. Don’t wait till you’ve ticked all the boxes before you start moving forward. Start first and then improve the process as you go along.  

And, just as important, if you don’t take ownership of your ideas, they get lost in the graveyard of unfulfilled dreams.  

Use language that goes beyond being “helpful” to being innovative such as:  

• “I noticed this bottleneck, so I tested X.” 
• “I tried two approaches, this one worked better.” 
• “I redesigned this process to reduce turnaround time by 30%.” 

That shift reframes you from executor to problem-solver.  

3) Hunt Like a Lion: Run Small, Low-Risk Reversible Experiments  

Lions are bold, they’re strategic. 

If failure feels too costly, start small. Focus on low-risk, reversible experiments: quiet tests, incremental changes, improvements that don’t require formal sign-off. Think calculated risk instead of “doing what you’ve always done” because you’re too afraid of change.  

Small experiments work because the stakes are lower. As we’ve already discussed, learning is the goal, not perfection. Experiments give you an opportunity to try new things, develop your skills, and make progress all whilst keeping you safe. 

And when you take the risk remember you don’t need certainty of outcomes, just clarity of direction. 

4) Gather Like a Lion: Borrow Safety through Alliances  

If psychological safety isn’t guaranteed, don’t innovate alone. Find one supportive peer, one trusted manager, or one cross-functional ally to support your idea. Innovation spreads more safely when it’s shared. As lions move in tribes, find protection in shared ownership.  

5)  Rest Like a Lion: Create “White Space”  

Yes, I’m talking to the woman with a hundred mental tabs open. Innovation needs room to breathe.  

Rest isn’t laziness, it’s leverage for innovation and until you reduce the mental load you’re carrying you’re not going to have the space to think and create solutions.  

Companies like Google famously allowed employees time for unstructured thinking because breakthroughs don’t come from busyness. They come from space for the brain to explore.  

For lions, rest is a power move, it sharpens strength and agility for the next hunt.  

Your best ideas often arrive when you can quiet your mind and practice stillness. 

Final Thoughts  

Innovation decides who has power, who gets replaced, and whose ideas get scaled. That makes it too important to sit out. If we underestimate our role in shaping change, the future will be designed without us in mind. 

The world is already deciding whose work matters, whose labour gets automated, and whose voices shape what comes next. If we don’t take a seat at the table of innovation, we won’t just be excluded from the conversation…we’ll end up on the menu.  

And the truth is this: the future doesn’t just need more innovation. 

It needs your way of thinking inside it. You have something special to bring to the world. There’s a piece of the puzzle that only you can fill, it’s time to step forward and claim your space.  

Tiwalola Adebayo is an award-winning confidence coach, TEDx speaker, founder and author of Confident and Killing It. She writes and speaks about ambition, power, confidence, visibility, and what it really takes for women to shape their careers on their own terms. As a specialist in positive psychology, her work explores the intersection of confidence, leadership, identity and mindset. Expect reflective, thought-provoking yet practical pieces that challenge and encourage you at the same time.