Three women’s journey to the top

This International Women’s Day, we shine the spotlight on our newest female leaders—this season, Grant Thornton Baltic’s Estonian office welcomed three new women partners. How did Gaily Kuusik, Terje Liiv, and Anni Vaiksaar reach senior management, and what unique values do they believe women can bring to leadership?

Why does gender matter in leadership, anyway? After all, the necessary skillsets are universal. For one thing, men and women naturally bring different perspectives to the table, and having both represented in leadership fosters diversity and balance. ‟Male and female leaders complement and balance each other. If a management team consists solely of men or women, the equilibrium is lost,” says Terje, Client Experience Manager. Senior Audit Manager Anni adds that since most organizations consist of both men and women, decision-making teams should reflect that diversity. ‟This ensures that both perspectives are represented at the decision-making level, allowing us to draw on the best of both worlds,” she explains. Furthermore, Anni emphasizes the importance of representation: ‟It also sends a strong message to our female colleagues that the path to leadership is open to them if they choose to follow it.”

Gaily, Head of Business Process Solutions, says people have somewhat different expectations of men and women. “Male leaders are gauged on the basis of charisma and the ability to lead others. Women are expected to give 110%, to be able to multitask without being any less productive.” She adds that often women are their own greatest critics and set high bars for themselves. 

The road to the top

A study conducted by Praxis in 2024, ‟Tippjuhiks saamise teed: mehed juhtuvad juhiks, naised juhivad end juhiks” ("The way to becoming an executive: men happen to become leaders, women become leaders through leadership”) pointed up a tendency that in general, women vie for management positions at competitions while men receive direct offers. What path did Anni, Gaily and Terje follow to get there?

Terje, who has been the Client Experience Manager at Grant Thornton Baltic since 2015, says she has experienced both in her professional life – she has received invitations to be a team leader and also applied for positions herself. “Looking at the bigger picture, the path to an executive position for men and women also depends on the specific company and its leadership culture. In our company, diligent people get noticed, and their development is supported regardless of gender. Women and men have equal opportunity to become managers. The fact that we have so many women in our senior management (close to half – Ed.) shows the consistent development that has taken place in our organization,” says Terje.

Gaily, who has a longer history behind her at Grant Thornton Baltic, says that a number of changes have taken place over the years in organizational culture and human resources policy. “When I joined Grant Thornton Baltic in 2006, managers were working in offices. Today they are, in the direct sense, co-workers at the next desk over – there are no more private offices and closed doors. I can proudly say that due to my journey at Grant Thornton Baltic, I have made good loyal friends in addition to having fun and enthusiastic colleagues. Another bigger change, and the most important one for me, is that employees are involved in decision-making processes. We have a deeply ingrained attitude that if you have a worthy idea, come and talk to us about it, get hands-on and we’ll get it done,” says Gaily. Her predecessor and superior Anastasia Borovaja noticed that Gaily had that desire to clear the bar. “She saw something in me that I didn’t see yet,” says Gaily. Trust from her supervisor and colleagues and fulfilment of increasingly responsibility-laden duties are what got her to her current position on the career ladder.

An internal change implemented years ago – first in accounting and then in audit – has helped to make it possible to grow organically into a leader. Larger departments, each with one head, were divided into smaller teams. Each team of about 10 accountants and auditors got its own manager. “We call this the group system. It has brought more mid-level managers to accounting and audit and gave many more people an opportunity to gain leadership experience,” says Anni. She herself is a “product” of the group system – after starting as a sworn auditor in 2019, she soon received an offer to take on more responsibility and take the helm of the team as an audit manager.

Various kinds of training supports leadership development. “That means not only giving an opportunity but also handing you the tools,” says Anni. Newly minted leaders can participate in the young leader development programme, and there is also a managers’ club where they can share experience. Every year, one or two managers from Estonia have taken part in Grant Thornton International’s one-year-long Advanced Leaders Programme – around 100 managers from Grant Thornton member firms around the world attend it each year. In 2023/2024 training year, Gaily and Head of Legal Advisory and Partner Kristel Tiits were accepted by the programme. In 2024/2025, it was Terje’s turn.

A manager’s hardest task

Managerial and leadership training undoubtedly benefit coping at work, but inevitably tricky situations come up in managers’ everyday activities. Perhaps they have a grasp of how to resolve something theoretically, but it’s hard to apply know-how in practice, above all in the emotional sense. What’s the hardest thing that the three women of the story have to do as leaders of people?

Terje, who doesn’t have any subordinates as Client Experience Manager, and works with colleagues from across different departments, says that for her being patient is difficult. “I’m full of initiative by nature and I want things to happen fast. That makes it hard for me sometimes to keep my patience in check. I also remember that as a young manager, I was reluctant to give feedback, especially of the negative kind. Giving partners and clients feedback was more difficult than for my coworkers, but now I’ve learned how to do it,” Terje smiles.

Anni, who has a team of eight, recalls that when she first became a manager, the hardest situation was getting her first letter of resignation. “When a person who we have invested in and who I see as having very good potential decides to leave, that takes an emotional toll. But over time, I’ve learned to see the upside in negative situations: that the person found work that was better suited for them.”

Gaily, too, who is in charge of a department with close to 60 employees, says departures are painful. “You start second-guessing yourself, as to did I do everything I could have done, did I let anyone down? But if coworkers tell you, we can still handle this, that keeps you going!” Based on her career path so far, she says that a good manager can’t be afraid of seeming vulnerable: you don’t have to go around acting confident and invincible all the time. Gaily says that a good leader is sincere, honest and a collaborative thinker (someone who thinks along but doesn’t just nod along!) and their actions have to align with their words. As they say, be the person you want others to be. “And then there is some je ne sais quoi that can’t be learned – some people just have that quality that speaks to people and instils confidence and the desire to go their way,” says Gaily.

The qualities that Terje would list are empathy, an open mind and ability to stay calm in complicated situations. Also important, she says, are courage and the ability to delegate responsibility to one’s team and ability to motivate people. Anni also says that a good leader is someone who is understanding and empathetic and cares about their coworkers. “Humanity and understanding are the most important.”

In closing, Terje mentions that being a man or woman doesn’t confer advantages for leadership, but women do set restrictions on themselves. “I’ve done it all while raising three kids! So I would say to women, don’t set limits on yourselves! Dream, big and be ambitious.” 

Grant Thornton has been focusing on the progress of women in business for 21 years. This year, we have also produced a global report, “Women in Business,” which focuses on the movement of women from specialists to leaders. The results of the study show that women can grow into leaders, but a young woman starting her career today will work for more than a quarter of a century before she has the opportunity to work in senior management.

Download the report and read more!