Five Tips For Female Executives
by Cheryl Rosen /
I did some research this week looking for a good article to share in honor of Women’s History Month, and this one was my favorite. It’s by a really smart and successful woman (Suzy Welch, wife of former GE CEO Jack Welch, and a noted speaker and consultant on management themes), in a magazine by a really smart and successful woman (Oprah Winfrey). So they should know, right?
I won’t say which ones hit home with me personally. But it never hurts to have Suzy Welch and Oprah as your mentors, right?
1. Find the right emotional leadership style.
You don’t want to be the Ice Queen who stands aloof from all personal contact—but don’t play the Good Mother, either. “The remedy lies in striking the right intimacy balance—close enough to know your people, distant enough to lead them.”
2. Avoid a culture of entitlement.
“There is nothing inherently wrong with trying to meet the professional and personal needs of employees, but such a dynamic can spiral. Soon enough, employees start to think the organization is primarily about them—not customers, not the competition, not new market opportunities, not productivity. Needless to say, work suffers. And the boss suffers with it.”
3. When you make a hiring mistake, fess up and fix it.
Every new hire is a risk, and every executive has been there. But women more than men hesitate to fire people who just don’t fit as expected. “Few hiring mistakes are a secret, and a leader's reputation in an organization only improves when she has the insight and guts to face a problem and fix it quickly.”
4. The traditional advice that everyone should find a good mentor is wrong.
It takes a village. So seek—and find—as many mentors as you can.
5. Remember that “something critical changes when you become a boss.
The most important thing in the world is no longer your success—it's the success of your people. You will do well—if they do. You will win—but only by basking in the reflected glory of their winning.”