The 9th Muslim Mental Health Conference, hosted by Mission of Hope Australia at Western Sydney University, delivered a deeply successful two-day program where psychologists, counsellors, clinicians and community leaders shared practical insights on Islamophobia, mental health, collective healing and Islamic psychology.
I was honoured to present on something close to my heart: cracking the crescent ceiling.
Like the glass and bamboo ceilings, it’s an invisible roof with layers: systemic, sociocultural and self-imposed. The system often squeezes spirituality out, so many of us feel like square pegs in round holes.
Sociocultural norms shape a prototype of leadership that doesn’t reflect us. Then, over time, we talk ourselves out of the game.
Together, these layers hold Muslims back from flourishing in corporate life. In my Master of Islamic Studies research, 57% of survey respondents reported that practising their faith had a negative impact on career progression.
That’s not a skills gap. That’s an environment gap.
This isn’t only about careers. It’s about mental wellbeing and leadership emergence.
If a flower isn’t flourishing, something’s off. People are the same. When we’re not flourishing, we’re often languishing. Mental health suffers. And when flourishing drops, leadership emergence stalls. The cycle repeats.
From a coaching lens, cracking that ceiling starts within by closing the Knowing–Becoming gap.
Most leadership talk asks, What is leadership? That’s knowing. The better question is, How do people become leaders? That’s becoming.
Close that gap and more leaders emerge.
Focus on emergence before performance. Nurture emergence and excellence follows. Do that consistently and every ceiling, whether glass, bamboo or crescent, becomes irrelevant.
If you’ve seen a ceiling in your world, or you’re working to crack them for you and/or other, I’m keen to connect.
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