She was the flexible one, the reliable one, the one who could step into difficult situations without creating more tension around them.
If something needed to get done, she figured it out. If personalities became difficult, she adjusted. If deadlines tightened, she absorbed the pressure quietly and kept moving.
People appreciate her for it.
They trusted her. They depended on her. They described her as collaborative, supportive, professional, and calm. And for a long time, those qualities felt like strengths…because they were.
But over time, something else started happening too.
For a long time, leadership was viewed as something deeply individual. You worked hard. You proved yourself. You climbed. And if you succeeded, the story often focused on personal resilience, determination, and the ability to overcome barriers along the way.
That narrative still exists, and parts of it are true. Many women did have to navigate systems that were difficult, competitive, or isolating. Many learned how to lead in environments where support was inconsistent and visibility had to be earned repeatedly.
For a long time, leadership was described as a climb.
You worked your way up. You proved yourself. You took on more responsibility, more visibility, more pressure…until eventually you reached a level that reflected everything you had built.
And for many women, that climb required more than just capability. It required persistence, resilience, and finding ways forward in environments that were not always designed with them in mind.
So when women reached leadership roles, the assumption was simple…they made it.
But something has been quietly changing. Reaching the top is no longer the only measure that matters.
She co-founded Imagine Pediatrics, a value-based care company that serves nearly 100,000 children on Medicaid. She sits on advisory boards for multiple early-stage digital health companies and partners with venture funds and operators on clinical strategy and physician-led innovation. She still works shifts in the pediatric ER — the source of every idea she builds […]
Some of it is exciting. Some of it is overwhelming. And some of it has created a familiar question for women leaders: Are we keeping up?
But that question may be too small.
Because the more interesting story is not whether women are behind in AI. It’s how many women are stepping into the part of the conversation that matters most…how AI is governed, trusted, adopted, and used responsibly.
There’s another shift happening for women in leadership…and it’s showing up in a very different way.
More women are beginning to take their physical strength seriously…and it’s not a side goal or something separate from their work….but it’s part of how they lead.
There’s a moment that many leaders have quietly experienced, even if they’ve never said it out loud.
It’s not dramatic and it doesn’t happen all at once. It shows up slowly, over time, in the middle of doing work they care about. They start to feel the weight of it.
For a long time, value in the workplace was something many people believed would eventually be recognized if they simply did the work well enough. It showed up through raises, promotions, expanded responsibilities, or the quiet acknowledgement that someone had “earned it.” The path felt familiar…work hard, deliver consistently, be dependable, be valuable, and at some point, the system would reflect that value back.
Her 10+ years clinical experience spans building a solo private practice de novo, working in private practice, for private equity and for a large managed care organization. She earned her medical degree from the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine and completed her ophthalmology residency at the Kresge Eye Institute. She finished a glaucoma fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Barte is a published author, national speaker and former key opinion leader. Outside of medicine, she enjoys Pilates, travel, delicious food (especially when paired with wine), karaoke, and weekly dance parties to the K pop demon hunters soundtrack with her daughter.
There’s something happening in leadership right now that doesn’t quite make sense at first glance. The leaders who care the most, the ones who are deeply committed, thoughtful, and consistently present, are often the same ones who feel the most exhausted.
For a long time, ambition was easy to recognize.
It looked like upward movement. A bigger title. A larger team. More responsibility and the next step on the ladder.
If someone stepped back from that path, the assumption was often the same…they must not want it anymore.
But something is shifting. Not loudly and not in a way that makes headlines…but in the quiet decisions women leaders are making every day.
More women are not asking, “How do I move faster?” They’re asking, “Does this next step actually make sense for my life?” And that’s not a loss of ambition. That’s discernment.
For years, leadership was rewarded for speed. Quick decisions, fast pivots and rapid execution. The leader who could move first often appeared strongest. The one who could act without hesitation looked confident and decisive.
But we are entering a moment where speed is no longer the differentiator. AI can generate options faster than any leader. It can summarize, synthesize and model scenarios in seconds. It can surface patterns that once took a team weeks to uncover.
