How Expertise and Trust Shape Strong Women Leaders

By: Tarleen Arora, Executive Vice President, Aon

With businesses operating in an increasingly complex risk environment, leadership today demands more than technical expertise. It calls for credibility, informed decision-making, and the ability to build lasting trust with clients and teams alike.

With 18 years of experience in the insurance industry, Tarleen Arora, Executive Vice President, Aon, has built expertise across commercial risk, underwriting, claims, and client advisory while leading high-performing teams and managing complex client portfolios.

In an engaging interaction with Women Entrepreneurs Review Magazine, Tarleen shares how continuous learning, deep subject knowledge, and calculated risk-taking have shaped her leadership journey. She reflects on the importance of stepping beyond comfort zones, earning trust through authenticity, and making informed decisions in uncertain environments.

She also Share her valuable insights for women professionals on building confidence through expertise, embracing new opportunities, and transforming technical knowledge into lasting leadership and influence.

Read the full article below to discover how expertise, resilience, and authenticity can help women build meaningful and enduring leadership careers.

Q1. When you began your career in insurance, what inspired you to build expertise in complex risk solutions instead of choosing a more conventional career path?

A. When I began my career in insurance, I was a fresh postgraduate with limited understanding of industry. At the time, insurance seemed like a stable career choice, and my exposure was similar to that of many people. This was before online aggregators and digital platforms became common. In my early view, insurance was largely associated with trusted agents, often friends or family members, who helped individuals buy important health, motor or life insurance policies. That early exposure shaped my belief that insurance is fundamentally built on trust.

What I did not appreciate then was how sophisticated and nuanced the industry is. After joining the profession, I began to understand the complexity of risk, the critical role insurance plays in protecting businesses and the range of solutions needed to address increasingly complex situations. I was fortunate to work with experienced colleagues and leaders who generously shared their knowledge. Being ambitious and hardworking, I made it a priority to learn deeply and immerse myself in the subject. What started as a career opportunity became a genuine passion for understanding risk, solving problems and helping clients navigate uncertainty with confidence.

Q2. As you worked across underwriting, liability, cyber, and client advisory, how did each experience shape your confidence and prepare you for larger leadership responsibilities?

A. My first role in insurance was as a casualty underwriter. For the first few months, my work felt simple and, at times, frustrating. I spent hours reading and rereading policy wordings when I was eager to move to the more dynamic parts of the role. Looking back, those months built the foundation for everything that followed. They taught me patience, discipline and the value of technical depth. Insurance is a business of promises. Unlike many industries, there is no physical product handed to a client upfront. Clients are buying confidence that, when something goes wrong, their coverage will respond as intended. That is why deep technical knowledge matters.

As I moved across casualty underwriting, financial lines underwriting, claims and client advisory roles, I realised that strong fundamentals make every transition easier. Once you know how to learn deeply, moving from one product line to another becomes less intimidating. Client conversations also become more meaningful because you understand the subject beyond the surface and can advise with conviction. As my career progressed from individual contributor to leading larger teams and businesses, my role evolved. In the early years, success was about building my own expertise. Today, it is equally about helping others build theirs. Those same fundamentals now guide how I develop teams: technical knowledge, curiosity, discipline and a commitment to continuous learning.

Q3. Helping clients make critical decisions requires trust. How did earning that trust also strengthen your own voice and identity as a woman leader?

A. I have always believed that trust is straightforward in principle, but takes time to earn. It starts with showing up consistently, being authentic and treating the person across the table with integrity and respect. The strongest client relationships are built when both sides view each other as equals. While insurance may not be a client's area of expertise, clients understand their businesses far better than anyone else can. My role is not to tell them what to do, but to combine their business knowledge with my understanding of risk to help them make informed decisions.

That also means being willing to have difficult conversations. Good advice is not always the advice a client wants to hear. Sometimes the responsibility is to highlight a risk, challenge an assumption or offer a perspective they may not have considered. Over time, I have found that clients value honesty more than agreement. They appreciate advice that helps them avoid mistakes, understand consequences and make better decisions for their organisations. As I gained experience, I realised that trust is built on credibility, conviction, delivery and consistently acting in clients' best interests.

Q4. Your career has been built around managing uncertainty and risk. How has that influenced the way you approach important decisions in your own leadership journey?

A. People who work in risk management develop a particular way of thinking. If I see a new building being constructed, one of my first thoughts might be, “What happens if there is an earthquake?” Over the years, I have realised that the profession you choose inevitably shapes the way you think. Insurance trains you to assess possibilities, evaluate consequences and consider scenarios others may not immediately see. Over time, that mindset becomes part of how you approach decisions.

It has influenced how I approach important decisions, both professionally and personally. Before making a significant choice, I instinctively consider the best-case and worst-case scenarios. Not because I am risk averse, but because I want to understand the range of possible outcomes before committing to a course of action. Working in risk has also taught me that uncertainty can never be eliminated completely. At some point, you have to decide with the information available and move forward with conviction. The key is not to avoid risk altogether, but to understand it well enough to make informed and deliberate decisions.

Q5. Moving from technical expertise to leading large client portfolios is a significant shift. What helped you make that transition without losing your authentic leadership style?

A. For me, the transition was gradual and deliberate. One of the most important career decisions I made was moving from an insurance company, where I had built deep specialist expertise, to a broking organisation, where I could broaden my perspective. I realised that while technical knowledge is critical, a larger leadership role would require me to look beyond a single product or line of business. To become a more effective leader, I wanted exposure to different industries, client challenges, risk solutions and business conversations.

I was also fortunate to join an organisation at a relatively early stage. While everyone had defined roles, there was no sense of being limited by title. The organisation encouraged stepping outside our comfort zones, taking responsibilities beyond our job descriptions and do what was needed to help the business grow. That environment gave me opportunities to learn, contribute and develop in ways that may not have been possible in every organization. At that time what seemed like a risky move, paid off in more ways I can count. I grew with the organisation. As the organisation grew, new opportunities emerged, and I made it a point to raise my hand for them. Some were offered to me, while others were opportunities I actively sought because I believed they would help me grow. Looking back, that willingness to move across roles and beyond my comfort zone accelerated my development.

One lesson I often share, particularly with women professionals, is that opportunities do not always arrive perfectly packaged. Sometimes you have to raise your hand and ask for them. The worst outcome is that you do not get the opportunity, but you still gain valuable feedback on what it may take to get there. If you do get the opportunity, it is then up to you to make the most of it and deliver. That mindset has helped me grow while staying true to the values, authenticity and leadership style that matter to me.

Q6. Many women are encouraged to prove themselves repeatedly. How did your deep subject knowledge help you build credibility without feeling the need to constantly justify yourself?

A. The corporate world is competitive, and all of us have to keep proving ourselves, irrespective of gender. At the same time, the world is volatile and uncertain, we can only control how we respond. For me, the answer has always been to focus on expertise, resilience and credibility earned through consistent performance. Subject matter knowledge gave me confidence because it allowed me to contribute meaningfully, have informed discussions and stand behind my recommendations.

We are also seeing more women enter specialised fields, excel academically, take on leadership roles and create opportunities for those who follow. Progress may not always happen as quickly as we would like, but it is happening. Many organisations are making a genuine effort to build more diverse and inclusive workplaces, which is helping create broader pathways for talent to succeed.

My approach has been to do the work to the best of my ability, keep learning and let the quality of my contribution speak for itself. Recognition may not always come immediately, but sustained effort, competence and integrity rarely go unnoticed for long. I also believe perseverance does not mean staying in an environment where you constantly have to justify your worth despite delivering results. Sometimes the answer is to be strategic: have confidence in your abilities, seek environments that value what you bring and do not be afraid to make a change when needed. Growth is often as much about choosing the right opportunities as it is about proving yourself within them.

Q7. As you have spent years advising businesses on managing risk, what has your own career taught you about taking bold risks as a woman leader?

A. Taking bold risks does not mean taking uninformed ones. It means assessing the potential upside and downside, understanding what is within your control and turning a bold decision into a calculated one. Some of the most rewarding opportunities in my career came from stepping outside my comfort zone, raising my hand for roles that stretched me and investing the time to build the expertise needed to succeed. Growth is often a cycle of recognising opportunities, taking calculated risks and continuously learning from them.

Q8. Looking back, what career decision seemed uncertain at the time but ultimately became one of the most defining moments in your leadership journey?
 

A. Looking back, the most defining career decision I made was moving from a specialist role in an insurance company to a broader role in a broking organisation. At the time, it felt uncertain, and I received plenty of well-intentioned advice against making the move. It meant stepping away from a path that was more structured, specialised and predictable. Even today, I sometimes wonder what my career would have looked like had I stayed on that path.

However, while that journey may have been more defined, I would have missed the breadth of experience and perspective that shaped me as a leader. The move exposed me to different industries, clients, risks, business challenges and leadership opportunities. It pushed me beyond my comfort zone and broadened my understanding of both business and people. That one decision changed not just the roles I held, but the way I think, lead and approach opportunities. It reinforced an important lesson: some of the most rewarding career moves are the ones that feel slightly uncomfortable at the time.

LAST WORD: For women building careers in specialised and technical fields, what advice would you share about turning expertise into lasting leadership and influence?

My advice is simple: know your subject, then know it a little more, and then a little more after that. There are few substitutes for genuine expertise. Deep knowledge gives you confidence and helps others trust your judgment because they know it comes from substance rather than opinion. Leadership and influence can seem like separate goals, but in my experience, they are often the natural outcome of credibility. Focus on mastering your craft, stay curious, keep learning and share what you know. Influence follows when people seek your perspective, and leadership follows when they trust your judgment.