Unapologetic confidence: leading in a male-dominated industry.

A non-engineer among engineers

Abda: For generations, women have been conditioned to downplay their achievements and apologise for their success. Today we're flipping the script. First, tell me about yourself and your journey.

Randa: What I've learned is that it's a learning curve that just keeps curving. It never ends.

I have more than 27 years of experience, most of it in the water sector: water and wastewater treatment, the infrastructure behind what comes out of your tap. One treatment plant in North London alone supplies water to more than 300,000 residents, so imagine the resources behind that. I work with a lot of engineers, but I'm not an engineer. I studied management and built my career in running business operations: account management, supply chain, customer care, finance, dispute resolution, and then project management and team leadership.

I broke into the water industry thanks to a leader who believed that complex capital projects need different personalities, skill sets and perspectives, and that a non-engineer could shake things up a little. Today I work on complex international procurement for water infrastructure, for clients including the World Bank, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the African Development Bank, as well as government and private water projects in Saudi Arabia, where I'm based.

Who lifts women up?

Abda: That sounds like a very male-dominated environment.

Randa: It is, with a handful of women. On the face of it, it might not seem female-friendly. But interestingly, most of the people who helped me elevate my career have been men. Part of that is simply averages: in a male-dominated industry, you're more likely to find men who give you their time.

Abda: Why do you think women don't always lift each other up at work?

Randa: I've asked myself the same question, and wondered what younger women who worked with me experienced, because colleagues won't always tell you the truth. Part of it may be that we try so hard to prove ourselves that we have little energy left to support someone else.

But one of my very first management roles happened because two people pushed me: my male manager, who saw leadership skills I didn't see in myself, and the young woman I reported to, who insisted I give it a go. Sean and Joe, I should call them by their names. If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have pursued this line of work. I wanted to be an artist. Where there are fewer women, maybe we compete for what we think is a small set of opportunities instead of empowering each other. If we turned that on its head, we'd all get further.

“I don't have to compete with you or take you out of the competition in order to succeed.”

From apologising to thick skin

Abda: Have you ever felt the need to apologise for yourself at work, and how did you overcome it?

Randa: I look back at the old me who apologised for things I'd done wrong and things I hadn't. I didn't know why I needed to apologise. Then there's a phase where you stop, go into defence mode, and come across as curt or even aggressive. That phase subsides, and you start to see that businesses are built by human beings. Human psychology matters. A colleague might be dealing with something at home, and all you see is someone facing off with you in a meeting. Take a moment to understand the person.

Working with engineers is where I turned my professional character around. They're very clever, no-nonsense people on high-stakes projects, and I came in without an engineering background. I learned to be less sensitive. If there's a problem, you follow the channels to address it, and once it's addressed you move on. It doesn't become personal. I learned to communicate in a language and behaviours my colleagues understood, and they learned to do the same for me.

When I felt challenged unfairly, I'd lay out what happened as fairly as I could to mentors and trusted colleagues and ask: am I being unfair? Am I being too sensitive? Over time I realised that people who challenge you unfairly often have an issue with their own confidence. They're trying to break down yours. Now I flip it back on them straight away. But it took me 27 years.

Confidence as leadership

Abda: How can women use their confidence not only to advance their careers, but to inspire others?

Randa: I see leadership as different from management. Leadership is no longer about me being at the centre and getting people to do what I want. It's about empowering you to lead your own success, so you can lead the team's success, and mine comes at the end. Once I flipped that around, I didn't have to see colleagues as competition. Your success, as part of my network or team, takes me a step further too. It took a lot of mental and emotional work to reach that inner peace.

And it has to come from inside. You could tell me all day that I'm great, and the moment we part my inner voice would say: you don't have the experience, that job's too difficult for you. Until I fixed that voice, I couldn't see what others saw. I've since realised women often have confidence we don't recognise. We're organised, brave, great multitaskers. Yet we want to know we can do a job 160 percent before we apply. A young male colleague once went for a very senior role and told me, "I'll learn on the job." I was shocked.

Abda: That's another level of confidence. Though integrity matters too: you don't want to bluff your way into a role beyond your skill set.

Randa: Exactly. When I was hiring, I chose the genuine candidate over the one who was blagging, even though others saw his bravado as a strength.

“You're not an imposter. You're in this job because you bring something to the table.”

And find mentors. From every job I've left, I have a manager I now consider a friend. Use the support your organisation offers too. Where a situation needed escalating, I went to HR and it was dealt with through due process. Ask for help in a language the person across the table can connect with, and tell them exactly what you need.

Abda: Final words?

Randa: When I was coming up in my career, no one talked about any of this, so these conversations matter. In recent years I started a social enterprise focused on leadership development for young people in Sudan, where I'm from, and listening to them has helped me on my own journey to confidence. So for every one of us in a position to empower others: think about your leadership style, and how you shape someone else's experience at work and their career.

Abda: Confidence isn't about being loud or perfect. It's about owning your power and showing up as your authentic self. So stop apologising for your confidence. Celebrate it, use it to advocate for yourself, and make your mark.