To my mind, leadership is not quite synonymous with simply being in charge: Anyone can be a boss, but being a leader takes so much more — more time, more introspection, more patience, more empathy, more understanding. Frankly, it seems to me that we have far too few leaders today, those who embody the ability to be a teammate and a coach, a student and a teacher, a sibling and a parent.

Or perhaps, at the risk of overgeneralizing, I could say “a mother.” Roles differ within individual families, obviously — businesses too — but women are often called upon to develop those skills of empathy and time management and multitasking to a substantial degree. Having mastered their skills of juggling life at home, raising kids, dealing with teachers and principals and school plays and recitals and homework and feedings and soccer practice and club meetings and swim practice … mothers can go to work and know how to keep the project on its timeframe and prevent team members from elevating their differences to the next level. I wouldn’t say one gender is more effective or “better” in business or in life, but it’s certainly worth incorporating male and female perspectives.

That’s even true for predominantly male-centric industries. In “Breaking Gender Barriers in Business” on page 26, Melanie Pagan talks to women who have found roles in local construction, engineering and transportation businesses. They’re emblematic of an overall shift in focus to an individual’s general capabilities rather than gender stereotypes, one that hopefully can be encouraged to become a long-term trend. There’s something of a natural snowball effect at work — as more women join these fields, they tend to provide encouragement for others to do the same — but it’s also the result of conscious efforts to increase awareness of opportunities and reach out to potential employees on the part of local businesses from Scotlynn to Suffolk. Assembling the optimal team by finding the right employees is a substantial part of leadership, and recruiting for skilled labor is difficult under any circumstances; why not expand the parameters to find the best possible candidate, whoever he or she is? Sometimes a perfect addition may be surprisingly close to home.

Speaking of pleasant surprises in local business, when Brian Rist founded hurricane protection purveyor Storm Smart in Fort Myers in 1996, he knew it would require a lot of work to get it started, but he couldn’t have anticipated how big it would get following Hurricane Charley. The demand and growth were such that Rist was quickly forced to consider leadership from a different perspective, hiring more staff and sharing more responsibility rather than trying to do everything himself. David Dorsey tracks the company’s expansion from three employees to 500, and examines how both founder Rist and current CEO Scot Burris have steered its path and corporate character, in “Storm Smart’s Surge” on page 34.

The blank calendar is always a challenge, and an inspiration — I hope you’re as excited as I am to see what 2025 has in store, and to set your own course over the year ahead. Here’s to a good start.