I talked to over 100 women leaders—the top 3 things I learned about what makes them successful

I was inspired to constitute my caller book, "When Women Lead", by the odds-defying stories of phenomenal pistillate leaders I've met and interviewed implicit the years arsenic a newsman astatine CNBC and astatine Fortune Magazine earlier that. The 120-plus premix of CEOs, founders, and VC investors are — by explanation — exceptional successful the male-dominated concern world. I wanted to some stock their stories and besides to find takeaways successful their palmy strategies. 

As I started to report the book, conscionable earlier the pandemic hit, I had an unexpected opportunity: the quality to analyse their approaches and travel their advancement arsenic they navigated the toughest, astir uncertain times since World War II. 

I besides had a peculiar vantage arsenic I scheduled back-to-back zoom interviews: beauteous overmuch everyone was astatine home. Not lone did that mean that radical were much disposable to speech to me, but the monolithic disruption of stay-at-home orders and upheaval to concern forced everyone to measurement backmost and instrumentality stock.

While galore of the CEOs I interviewed were struggling to support their companies afloat, oregon to pivot into caller concern lines, they were besides considering bigger representation questions astir their, and their company's purpose. 

As they worked to motivate (and retain) frustrated and frightened workers and to fig retired their adjacent steps, I felt similar I was watching a maestro people successful enactment crossed sectors. Stock prices fell (and past roseate and past fell again) and CEOs struggled with day-to-day concerns of everything from inventory shortages and proviso concatenation constraints, to worker retention and training. 

Looking distant from the time to time astatine the large picture, I recovered 3 apical enactment traits that look invaluable to anyone, careless of manufacture oregon position.

Though the immense bulk of CEOs are men (women comprise 8% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and pistillate founders drew 2% of VC dollars past year), not lone is determination a wide assortment of CEOs — cheque retired the 60+ women I diagnostic successful my book, including Bumble's Whitney Wolfe Herd and Ellevest's Sallie Krawcheck — but determination are a wide assortment of palmy enactment styles. I was impressed to find these women deploying characteristics that would look similar they could detract from beardown enactment — similar introversion, empathy oregon gratitude — to their advantage. 

Take Jennifer Holmgren, the CEO of Disruptor 50 institution LanzaTech, which uses a microbe to crook contamination into a fuel. She's a self-professed introvert who prefers to perceive alternatively than speak, which would look to beryllium a disadvantage erstwhile it comes to convincing factories and substance buyers to clasp her technology.

But she explained to maine however she made it a superpower: She utilized each that listening to fig retired what her counterparties successful dialog really wanted and utilized her empathy for their presumption to make a compromise that could enactment for everyone.

Holmgren apt wouldn't person succeeded had she tried to unit herself to beryllium a chatty, gregarious salesperson. But by figuring retired however to thin into her ain traits, and marque the astir of them, she turned her introversion and empathy into a superpower.

I heard a batch from the CEOs I interviewed astir however achy it is to marque hard decisions — similar cutting the cord connected favourite projects oregon to enactment employees connected furlough to enactment afloat. Leaders are surely human, not machines, and it's casual to get attached to a plan, particularly 1 that they've poured time, wealth and resources into. 

I recovered that CEOs kept themselves honorable — capable to marque those hard decisions, and not getting caught up successful their ego — by focusing connected data, and moving to cod and analyse much of it. Clear CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker told maine astir the hard determination to propulsion the plug connected her $24 cardinal selling program for the year, successful February 2020, weeks earlier a planetary pandemic was declared.

While immoderate were holding retired anticipation that global travel wouldn't travel to a screeching halt, the information was telling her that she had to enactment rapidly — and she was close to. 

There's nary uncertainty that moving a institution — oregon starring thing — is hard, ne'er caput during a pandemic oregon the economical uncertainty we're facing now. So however did the women I interviewed persist successful the look of each those challenges, positive the further treble standards and higher barroom they had successful fundraising arsenic women? 

The resounding answer: they focused connected their purpose, whether it was changing an manufacture similar retail, oregon creating caller products for fertility and wellness attraction that they needed and knew different radical did too.0

Planet FWD laminitis Julia Collins, is moving to thrust adoption of regenerative agriculture; Tala CEO Shivani Siroya, whose institution offers microloans successful emerging markets; Christine Moseley, the CEO of Full Harvest which is moving to trim nutrient discarded — each of them told maine that whenever they felt discouraged they focused connected the value of their intent to find vigor to persevere. 

They're not alone: women are 20% much apt than men to make companies with a societal oregon biology purpose, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. One happening I heard repeatedly: by focusing connected a company's larger imaginable to assistance humanity, entrepreneurs tin find greater sources of inspiration and determination erstwhile the going gets tough, which it inevitably does.

Plus, there's plentifulness of grounds that having an further intent is invaluable successful appealing to consumers arsenic good arsenic attracting and retaining employees — which is much important present than ever.

Check out:

How this 29-year-old is helping Black women onshore jobs astatine Disney, Amazon—and summation their wage by arsenic overmuch arsenic $60K

Working moms get 58 cents for each dollar dads earn—and the pandemic has made the wage spread worse

Your workplace desperately needs this benignant of boss, researchers say—but lone 1 successful 4 employees person one

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