Leading with Heart: Angela Devlen Of AMD Enterprise Management On the Power of Authentic Women’s Leadership

The concept of leadership is continuously evolving today. While traditional leadership models have often been male-dominated, there is a growing recognition of the unique strengths and perspectives that women bring to these roles. This series aims to explore how women can become more effective leaders by authentically embracing their femininity and innate strengths, rather than conforming to traditional male leadership styles. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Angela Devlen.

Angela is a multi-passionate entrepreneur and the author of Grit + Grace | a journey towards resilience and Passion + Zen [to be released in October 2025]. Her 30-year career has taken her around the globe where she has established social enterprises in developing countries promoting sustainable development, disaster risk reduction, and women’s health. She served as CEO for 15 years at Wakefield Brunswick, a consulting firm she founded that advises healthcare organizations on risk and resiliency. Today, she advises founders, executives, and their boards on strategy and resilient leadership.

From her work alongside grassroots community groups who faced insurmountable odds after disasters to advising leaders of the most extraordinary healthcare organizations in the world, Angela offers a cross-section of experiences that informs her unique perspective on global risk, healthcare, leadership, and resilience. She is regularly sought out as a speaker and educator for her stories of real-life experiences that translate into actionable guidance. Learn more at www.angeladevlen.com

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about authentic, feminine leadership, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

In addition to the background I shared in my previous Authority Magazine article about leading during turbulent times, I started AMD Enterprise Management just prior to exiting as CEO of Wakefield Brunswick in January 2024. After stepping down and transitioning leadership to our new CEO, I knew I wanted to take the next step in my career where I could draw on what I learned during my 30 years of experience in healthcare, disaster management, and entrepreneurship.

I wanted to apply what I learned about resilience to strategy and leadership in a different way. Very quickly, I started being referred to organizations looking for someone who understood the role of being a CEO and the unique challenges that come with that — but bringing a different perspective rooted in resilience principles.

That inspiration led me to commit to advising executives, founders, and boards in cultivating resilience in their teams and organizations, drawing on both my field work supporting communities during disaster recovery and what I’ve learned about what allows us to not only endure and persevere during crisis, but thrive in its aftermath.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I have so many stories from the last 30 years, but what stands out most is what I learned about community and women’s leadership through my work with rural women in sustainable development projects throughout my career.

When working with women at the grassroots level — particularly in social entrepreneurship initiatives and post-disaster recovery — what was remarkable to me was the criticality of bringing women together in community and meeting them where they’re at.

I’ll never forget working in Haiti after the earthquake. There was this extraordinary woman who had lost her daughter and granddaughter in the earthquake, yet she was taking a leadership role facilitating advocacy for women experiencing violence in the tent cities where people were displaced. Women and girls were particularly at risk of violent crimes when going for food at aid distribution locations or to latrines at night when they might be vulnerable and alone.

She was actively working with human rights advocates and leading that work in her immediate community with other women. The way they reached women directly was through song and music — dancing and singing together, providing materials that were culturally appropriate and written in Haitian Creole with imagery so those who couldn’t read could still understand the message.

I saw this pattern again and again in India, Nepal, Costa Rica, and here in the US throughout my career — women working in the most challenging circumstances yet still engaging in principles of leadership and community that were inclusive, understanding actual needs, and responding to them.

This is what informs how I lead today and how I advise other leaders.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Authenticity: When we show up as who we truly are, it serves as an invitation for other people to do the same. It also attracts people to who we really are rather than a persona we’re presenting. This determines the types of people, employees, and leaders drawn to joining your team.

I experienced this recently when doing one-on-one board member interviews for a client. The CEO told me she was getting calls after these interviews with board members saying it was completely different than anything they’d participated in before. The truth is, I showed up exactly as who I am. I wasn’t there to put on a buttoned-up, board-like persona. I wanted to get to the humanity of the situation this board was facing.

Accountability: Everything rests with the CEO — the risk, responsibilities, culture, and finances. I learned this from my father, who was an officer in the fire department, and later from the leaders who mentored me. I believe it makes a difference to my team knowing I am accountable, and they have my support.

Self-awareness: The leaders I admire most are incredibly self-aware. They’re comfortable being vulnerable and aware of their choices — whether the impact is positive or even unintentionally negative. Combined with authenticity and accountability, this makes an incredible difference. It’s why I use self-awareness as the first pillar of resilience.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader? I’m curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.

During COVID, when I was still CEO of Wakefield Brunswick, we faced a situation most people didn’t realize we were facing. The perception was that all healthcare companies were making money hand over fist during COVID, but that wasn’t true.

Many hospitals needed to terminate or pause non-critical contracts to prioritize resources and funding for the pandemic response. Supply chain costs in some hospitals were seven times what they were pre-COVID, and labor costs also increased significantly.

I elected to grow and scale our team during that time, putting together a COVID task force that supported hospitals around the US, Canada, and other parts of the world — without charging for those services. This was at a time when we weren’t receiving revenue for months until things stabilized.

When my finance team stressed the consequences of the risks I was taking, including the possibility we wouldn’t recover financially, I remained steadfast. I told them, “I have lost everything before, so I know I can come back from that. I have spent my career preparing hospitals for the possibility of a pandemic, so even if I lose the company over this, I will be able to look back and believe I did the right thing.”

Ultimately, it paid off. All but one client was able to resume their work with us, we received significant referral work, and most of the team we brought on is still with us today. But whether I would have ended up losing the business or not, because of my personal experiences, I knew that even if I lost the company, I would look in the mirror and know I did the right thing. That’s the litmus test I use.

Can you share a personal experience where embracing your unique leadership style, which might not align with traditional expectations, led to a significant positive impact in your organization or team?

Starting Wakefield Brunswick as a solo parent during the 2008–2009 recession, I was supported by leaders who helped me integrate my work commitments with my commitments to my daughter. I wanted to carry that forward in the kind of business I built.

From the very beginning in 2009, my team was built on a remote work model with work-life integration as a core philosophy. It remains today, and when we onboard new team members, I still join orientation calls because my experience as a single parent is important to communicating that this isn’t just a mission on the wall — it’s something we actually live.

Most of our team members are actively serving as caregivers to children, parents, or others. The ability to align excellence at work with their commitment to their families and achieve integration has had a profound impact on the type of team members we’ve attracted and our ability to retain them.

In your journey as a leader, how have you balanced demonstrating resilience, often seen as a masculine trait, with showing vulnerability, which is equally powerful, but typically feminine? Can you give an example where this balance created a meaningful difference?

I’ve spent much of my career surrounded by men — starting in EMS, then emergency management in healthcare, which was rooted in fire service and military principles. That environment sees itself as strong and resilient, and while resilience may be perceived as a masculine trait, I don’t see it dominated by one gender.

Vulnerability actually requires strength. But strength and resilience are complementary, not the same. Strength can sometimes be collapsed with self-sacrifice to endure difficult things. My argument is that to cultivate resilience, it’s not self-sacrifice — it’s building personal and professional scaffolding that allows us to not only persevere during difficult times but thrive in the aftermath.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been able to soften those edges. I don’t see resilience as exhibited through dominance. Soft leadership often serves as an invitation to men who’ve never had that opportunity before, where they can reconcile heart-centered, values-driven leadership without sacrificing their masculine energy — but without dominance or hard edges.

As a woman in leadership, how have you navigated and challenged gender stereotypes, especially in situations where traditional male-dominated approaches are the norm? What strategies have you employed to remain authentic to your style?

Early in my career, moving into leadership roles in multi-hospital health systems, I would wear suits and lead with dominance. I joke about still being a New York City street kid at my core — and that side of me can come out if I’m challenged in a boardroom where I’m one of the only women.

But the best strong masculine leadership I’ve seen comes from authenticity and heart-led, values-driven leadership. The last three men I worked for before starting Wakefield Brunswick were phenomenal leaders who modeled impact-driven, heart-centered leadership styles. It took me a long time to truly integrate what I observed from them but aim every day to do so.

How do you utilize emotional intelligence and active listening to create an inclusive environment in your team or organization? Could you share a specific instance where these qualities particularly enhanced team dynamics or performance?”

I’ve observed how many other founders struggle with letting go and not undermining the leader they put in place when they step down from their business. The challenge is that if they don’t let go, they risk undermining them even when they don’t mean to.

Having emotional intelligence and active listening — whether at the grassroots level or in the C-suite — means listening to where people are at and being responsive to that, rather than where we think they should be. Even with strong opinions of my own, if I listen, I’ll often learn what’s actually needed.

When our new CEO needed to make decisions about building his new leadership team, he knew what he wanted to do. I could have easily omitted listening to him assuming I already knew what was best. It was the company I had built after all. Thankfully, by listening to him and supporting the vision he had for his team, the positive team dynamics and performance has continued to grow.

What role has mentorship played in developing your authentic leadership style, and how do you communicate authentically to inspire and empower both your mentors and mentees?

Here we are in 2025, and I have a 24-year-old daughter, yet the workplace still doesn’t fully embrace family needs. I’m not sure we’ve made much progress in corporate America around allowing people to integrate family and work needs.

Prior to going fully on my own in 2009, I happened to work for men who not only allowed that integration but modeled it in their own lives. When people feel supported in what’s most important to them, they’re equally devoted to the environments that support them. I experienced this early in my career when it wasn’t a popular HR strategy.

When you have teams that back each other up — providing coverage when someone needs school pickup, or air cover when someone needs to take their father to surgery — you see how this really works. I witness it every day and believe in it.

Based on your experience and research, can you please share “5 Ways Leading Authentically As A Woman Will Affect Your Leadership”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

1. Be Authentic and Accountable — I’ve spoken to both of these already. They’re foundational.

2. Recognize How Vulnerability Enables Innovation — Building on Brené Brown’s work, allowing vulnerability enables innovation because risk brings fear and failure can lead to shame. When we create culture that invites people to take risks, be vulnerable, innovate, and bring new ideas, there’s freedom to fail. You need to be an accountable leader because they need to know they’re not in a punitive environment.

3. Model Empathy — This is different from sympathy. Empathy means developing the capacity for holding space for team members during vulnerable moments and helping develop faith in themselves.

I had a client meeting recently where I spoke to her the day after. She shared how much my faith in her inspired her to have faith in herself again. I reflected back that the goals she was setting were very achievable — stretching her, yes, but absolutely achievable. That simple act of having faith, combined with empathy that allowed her to express emotion about not being seen that way before, really elevated her.

4. Establish Healthy Boundaries — Not rigid boundaries or ultimatums, but healthy ability to set bookends for safety in relationships. When someone asks you to do something where they’re deflecting responsibility, you can use what I call a “yes and” approach: “Yes, I’d love to help. However, I have a commitment at 5 o’clock, so I’ll be unable to stay late. In the future, if you give me 48 hours’ notice, I’ll be glad to arrange my schedule to accommodate that.”

5. Ensure Words and Actions are Aligned — When we make commitments, our words and actions align in every area of life. I’ve seen how integrity in our word elevates relationships because people know they can count on us.

Are there potential pitfalls or challenges associated with being an empathetic leader? How can these be addressed?

The only pitfall I associate with empathy is when we think empathy means feeling, absorbing, or being directly impacted by everyone’s energy around us. As I say, “empathy without boundaries is self-sabotage.”

If empathy is triggering unhealed experiences in our own life, wearing us down, or we don’t have capacity to hold space in that moment — that’s not empathy, that’s self-sabotage. True empathy requires healthy boundaries, not porous boundaries that lead to self-sabotage or rigid boundaries that create ultimatums.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’d want to amplify movements already bringing good to people. I think about people like Shiloh Richards, who recently released the book “Civil Unity” and discusses the role of kindness in business. This builds on empathy — not being nice as a persona to be liked or to avoid conflict, but rather true respect and kindness from an authentic place.

Respectful, difficult discourse should still happen in our lives and boardrooms. Empathy, kindness, and respect serve us in every area of life.

I’ve started movements in women’s health and international development that have transformed access to opportunity and education for girls and women worldwide. Now, I’d say I’m creating resilient leadership using the five pillars of resilience — rooted in all the principles I’ve shared today.

How can our readers further follow you online?

At angeladevlen.com or @angeladevlen on all social platforms.

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!