Management Advice From Seven Female Leaders

Over the years I have interviewed hundreds of America’s top leaders and a question I love asking is: “What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?” Here are the answers I received to that question from seven top female leaders:

Michelle Terry, CEO of Movember: I encourage my teams to think of feedback as a gift. Compassionate, clear feedback is extremely valuable, and it’s important that teams are encouraged to share their thoughts without fear of retribution. I also believe that strengthening social connection is critical, particularly during this pandemic. I think this applies to men struggling with mental health issues just as much as it does to working teams looking to build camaraderie and trust in uncertain times. We need to stay connected and communicate. Leverage technology, pick up the phone, and talk often with your friends, loved ones and colleagues. 

Jes Wolfe, CEO of Rebel Girls: Hire the smartest people out there. Focus on hiring people who are different from you, people who bring new strengths to the table. Identify the missing pieces in your organization, and hire people who fill the gap. Then, trust them to do good work and focus your time on unblocking them.

Pam Maynard, CEO of Avanade: Anchoring everyone around a common purpose is one of the best ways to build, lead and manage a team. One of the first things I did as CEO was to formally introduce our company’s purpose, which is to make a genuine human impact. It’s why we do what we do. In the technology industry, it’s easy to get lost in what innovation can do for our clients and their customers. We can make their business processes faster, more effective and accurate. We can help deliver ambitious business goals. But our purpose inspires all of us to look beyond the technology to the actual human impact of the work we do.

Natalye Paquin, CEO of Points of Light: First, know yourself and get to know and understand others on your team. Clarity is important. Leaders must understand their objective, provide clear goals and purpose, and build the most talented team to achieve the objective. Focus on gaps and redundancies in skills and perspectives of team members. Diversity matters. As the leader, be respectful, uplifting and hold yourself and others accountable. . . It’s critical for teams to develop synergy and want to work together. Each team member must recognize and value the benefit of being a part of something greater. And finally, beware of the talented, yet energy vampires. They stall or take teams backwards, deplete them of vital resources required for success.

Clea O'Hana, Co-Founder and CEO of Wishi: Make sure you are hiring “soldiers” that are ready to go through thick and thin with you. Especially the first hires. Make sure you are hiring “experts” in their own domain. Make sure you hire people that can take feedback – easier said than done.

Alison Moore, CEO of Comic Relief US: An effective leader must understand the diversity of needs and personalities within their teams. Every executive has their own management style, but leaders must also be willing to be flexible by striking a balance between showing people the “right way” and providing enough autonomy so those under them can really contribute to all aspects of the work. This engenders trust and is perhaps the most important building block to a truly collaborative and dedicated team. For leaders at the head of multiple teams or an entire organization, how they manage across those teams may differ. However, the ability of a leader to create synergies between various teams is of paramount importance. I’d say my most successful (and proud) work days are when two very different teams feel as if they were given the support necessary to effectively collaborate and achieve something of material impact together for the organization. 

Bess Freedman, CEO of Brown Harris Stevens: I think there needs to be a careful balance of experience, talent, and potential in order to create the best possible team. The real estate industry, like most industries, is constantly evolving at a fast pace. You need to have people with institutional knowledge who you can lean on, but also people who bring fresh perspectives, and those who genuinely want to grow with the company. Of course, building the right team is a process and does not happen quickly, but once it clicks, the results will speak for themselves. A team with diversity of thought, backgrounds, and experiences is key to staying relevant.

For the full interviews with all seven of these leaders, visit my Lessons in Leadership series in Thrive Global. For my podcast interviews with Fortune 500 CEOs, founders and CEOs of household name companies, celebrities, athletes, generals, admirals, etc., visit Thirty Minute Mentors.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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