Female Leaders on Their Best Advice
Over the years I have interviewed hundreds of America’s top leaders and a question I love asking is: “What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?” Here are the answers I received to that question from twelve top female leaders:
Joanna Griffiths, Founder and CEO of Knix: Attach yourself to a mission or cause that’s bigger than you, greater than you. Because anytime you have to fight for something or ask for something, you realize you’re not doing it for yourself; you’re doing it for the bigger mission.
Clea O'Hana, Co-Founder and CEO of Wishi: Never postpone something you can do now.
Eva Sadej, Founder and CEO of Floss Bar: Get a hobby. You’re going to love your work as an entrepreneur, but you need some balance in your life. Having that thing that disconnects you from the person you are during the day helps you have a perspective that there is more to life than just your job. It also helps you to stop stressing about the small things.
Jeanne David, Founder and CEO of Outer Aisle: You are only as good as the team you surround yourself with. Build a good team. One of my mentors early on helped me understand that one person cannot possibly have the skills and talents of a team. A team balances each person and adds strength to the group. A single person can only take a company so far, no matter how smart you are or how hard you work.
Harriet Mills, Founder and CEO of Wine & Design: My mom always told me, you only have one reputation—you can’t get it back once it’s out there, so make sure it’s a good one. If I could choose a second, it’d be: Don’t be late. I learned that from my granddad, who taught me to always set my watch a little faster than normal because being late is a huge setback in someone’s mind.
Pam Maynard, CEO of Avanade: I’ve had the privilege of having many great mentors, but my mum gave me a piece of advice that I’ve taken with me throughout my entire career: Walk through the door. I would never have achieved the successes in my career if I had not walked through the doors that were opened for me time and time again. Yes, it can be daunting and downright scary, but think about how you are holding yourself and your teams back if you don’t take hold of the opportunities that present themselves. Focusing on my teams and stakeholder relationships gave me the strength and confidence to take on many new opportunities. Today, as you would expect as CEO, my role is more and more about opening doors for others, which is hugely rewarding.
Alison Moore, CEO of Comic Relief US: The best advice I’ve ever received, from my best friend who is a brilliant business person in her own right, is to focus on the highest impact areas; hit that list first and the rest will fall into place. It may sound basic, but when so many things are rapidly changing, and you’re responding to a multitude of different needs at once, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to focus first. I find that this feeling is exacerbated in today’s world. We’re constantly bombarded from all sides at all hours of the day via multiple platforms, with what seems to be the same level of urgency. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I remember that very simple piece of advice and get to a focused path of work, which often results in a productivity domino effect.
Summer Vasilas, founder of Waxing the City: “Do what you love or what you are passionate about and you’ll be successful.” I followed my heart into the beauty industry. Within the industry I have continued to follow my heart, which has taken me in so many different directions. At first, it was getting my esthetics license and working in a spa from there I opened my own waxing salon to then owning five locations in two states. This ultimately led me to franchising the company and now there are over 100 locations.
Jes Wolfe, CEO of Rebel Girls: “If you try to be everything to everyone, you end up being nothing to no one.” I think this is so important when creating new products. It’s so easy to want to be everything to everyone. This advice is all about focus: be something really special to someone – pick a segment and build a magical product for that segment. Sure, others will be disappointed or left out or not get it, but you’ll have a key group of customers that love what you are doing, and you’ll have a guiding force to help you make product decisions.
Shelly Sun, CEO of BrightStar Care: Starting a business is hard; it takes resilience, but if you’re passionate about what you’re doing and you stay committed, then you can be successful. The best piece of advice that I’ve received was to set realistic expectations. Someone told me that there would be good and bad days, but with hard work and resilience, a positive attitude, and a passion for what we were doing, that would see us through.
Jenna Segal, Tony Award-winning producer: Jeffrey Seller, Hamilton, told me no one knows whether a show is going to be a hit until it’s a hit. It freed me to model my business to Impact Invest and produce shows written or directed by women. If the show’s a hit, I’ve made money and impact. If not, one more woman had a show on Broadway, changing the Tony win dynamic.
Michele Sullivan, former President of the Caterpillar Foundation: The world is waiting for you. Run!
For the full interviews with all twelve 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.