Whether we're questioning women's confidence at work, banning bossy or calling for female boardroom quotas, the clamour for more to be done to help girls and women realise their leadership potential in school, business, politics and other areas of life is gaining force. Powerful women like Sheryl Sandberg, Beyoncé and Whistles chief executive Jane Shepherdson are leading the campaign against barriers that prevent women from reaching the top.

On one level it is heartwarming to see women like Sandberg, Beyoncé and Shepherdson fronting campaigns or calling for quotas on boards. These clearly aren't women who are pulling the ladder up after them.

So why do these campaigns and the ongoing call for boardroom quotas make me, a female chief executive of a multimillion pound business, feel so uncomfortable?

While I'm a huge advocate of women reaching the highest echelons of power, my concern is that far from empowering women, campaigns such as these risk creating a cotton-wool culture, the underlying theme of which is that girls and women need special treatment because we are in some way fragile and/or victimised by societal or corporate attitudes.

I happen to think we are better than that. It's a well known-fact that here in the UK at GCSE and A levels girls outperform boys to the point that boys' under-performance in GCSEs is becoming a matter of serious concern. No sign here that the bossy tag is holding anyone back, or that these girls are lacking in confidence.

Women on boards is more worrying – everyone agrees that the present representation of women in the boardrooms of FTSE 250 companies is shockingly low. It's hardly surprising therefore that women are opting to start their own businesses rather than play by the (largely) man-made rules dreamt up by big corporations. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), for example, recently revealed that female entrepreneurs are increasingly driving high street growth with 49.5% of small firms established in the past two years in retail, hotels, catering and leisure owned primarily by women – a higher proportion than at any other time.

So what initiatives can help girls and women fulfil their career potential and forge ahead in business?

I am a big fan of schemes that come at the issue of female success in business – and other walks of life – from a position of strength by enabling women to develop and build on their existing talents and expertise.

The 30% Club is a good example of the sort of project I am talking about. Launched in 2010, the club is a group of chairs and CEOs committed to an aspirational goal of 30% women on FTSE-100 boards by next year. The aim is to reach this goal via business-led change rather than quotas. This can be achieved by improving the pipeline below board level and by inspiring company leaders to appoint more women to executive and non-executive directorships. Members include Lloyds Bank, which has stated its goal to reach 40% female representation at all levels of management by 2020, and City law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, which has set a 30% target for the proportion of women in its global partnership.

Mentoring is also a great way of encouraging girls and women to fulfil their career ambitions and boost female talent in traditionally male-dominated areas such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Million Women Mentors is a high-profile US campaign that pulls together corporations, government entities, non-profit and higher education groups, with the aim of mentoring girls and young women in STEM fields. It is a great blueprint for the sort of project that could work in other male-dominated sectors such as politics and finance. WISE here in the UK has a similar aim: its mission is to push female talent in STEM sectors from classroom to boardroom, with the aim of increasing the presence of female employees in STEM sectors from 13% to 30% by 2020.

While big business is deservedly under attack for the lack of female representation at board level, some large corporations are doing their bit to champion female executive talent. Take American Express/OPEN forum CEO bootcamp in the US which offers an online forum, training sessions and advice specifically aimed at women, covering issues such as confidence, competence and connections.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sach's 10,000 women project aims to provide 10,000 "under-served" female entrepreneurs in developing countries with business expertise, access to mentors and links to capital. Now that is the sort of quota I can get behind.

Frances Dickens is chief executive and co-founder of Astus Group, the UK's biggest media barter company.