Being a leader can be a lonely experience, especially for women who have smashed through the glass ceiling and find themselves still in a boys’ club. It’s crucial to take inspiration from women who have gone before them and have important guidance and lessons to share.
OnDeck has gathered some of the top lessons about leadership from the world’s most successful and inspirational women, like Mary Barra, CEO at General Motors. Her advice is that “It’s ok to admit what you don’t know. It’s ok to ask for help. And it’s more than ok to listen to the people you lead – in fact it’s essential.”
Listening and asking for help can enable a leader to build and maintain a climate of trust and collaboration within her business and are rated as more effective. Ongoing learning is crucial too, says Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi Co: “Just because you are CEO, don’t think you have landed. You must continually increase your learning, the way you think, and the way you approach the organization.”
Getting into a position of power and influence in the first place requires the ability to identify opportunities, but YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki says that this continues long after you get to the top: “Rarely are opportunities presented to you in a perfect way… Opportunities – the good ones – are messy, confusing, and hard to recognize. They’re risky. They challenge you.”
Being a female leader offers many challenges and opportunities, so why not check out the rest of these inspirational quotes and see where they can take you?
15 Leadership Lessons from Female Founders and CEOs, courtesy of OnDeck