Three Impactful Practices for Navigating Leadership
Women who arrive at the top should be able to thrive at the top. But instead, they’re judged to be lucky to survive — even more so with pandemic pressures overwhelming their already busy family and professional lives. So what does it take for women to flourish in leadership roles today? These two female CEOs, and one male, demonstrate what impactful leadership looks like today.
1. Leading with Head and Heart
Sandra Fenwick / Former CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital
Fenwick led a team of 20,000 people dedicated to improving and advancing child health through their life-changing work in clinical care, biomedical research, medical education, and community engagement. She retired in March of 2021. Here is her advice for navigating leadership as your best self on what she calls your “journey of significance.”
- Learn to Be a Learner
- Align Best Self with Strategic Priorities
- Don’t Go It Alone — Listen to Trusted Truth-Tellers
- Remember Your Accolades
2. No Time for Fear
Natalie Martinez / CEO, Strong Women Strong Girls (SWSG)
As with any exemplary organization, it starts with an exemplary leader. CEO Natalie Martinez directly ties her courageous actions to the young women who will ultimately benefit from the results. In fact, she doesn’t allow herself to miss an opportunity to exhibit the fortitude she has spent a lifetime molding. Here, she shares tips on how to take courageous actions.
- The Courage to Do Things Differently
- Devise and Protect a Strategic Plan
- Allow Your Personal Experiences to Guide You to a Greater Mission
- Keep Fighting Obstacles
3. Living and Leading Diversity
Dan Helfrich / chairman and CEO of Deloitte Consulting, US
Helfrich leads a team of more than 70,000 professionals who help clients solve their most complex problems. He is also a proponent of creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking. His values and behaviors started young, which he can clearly trace, as he states in this advisory to you.
- Leverage Your Personal Story to Embrace Diversity
- Recognize Where Others Are and Learn Their Stories
- Teach Allyship
- Consciously Develop Your Skills as an Inclusive Leader