ICEDRSpecialReport-TakingCharge_000

Taking Charge
OVERVIEW
4
Overview
A Call to Arms for Rising
Women Leaders - Take Charge!
We live in a world where less than five
percent of CEOs around the globe are
women. If more women are going to
rise to the top, we need to understand
the secrets of the few that made it. Are
you a young, high potential woman
leader trying to map out your road to a
successful career and a meaningful life?
Have you ever wanted to sit down with
the exceptional women executives that
have climbed the ranks and ask them
how they approach work and life? Do
you want to know what their journeys
have been like? Has their success been
worth the price? Is there something
different about who they are or how
they deal with the world? In essence,
do you want to get inside their heads
and understand how they think? We
interviewed the women who made it,
and, here, we tell you about their roads
to success. The result is a candid report
written exclusively for next-generation
women leaders. This report explores
how top women executives think, what
they value, and it outlines strategies
that you, the high potential woman
leader, can learn from.
CEOs, senior executives and HR
directors need to know how to
advance their high potential women
leaders into senior-level roles. While
companies are responsible for putting
the right practices in place and having
an environment that enables women
to advance, the responsibility rests on
you, the next-generation woman leader,
to take charge of your career. You have
the opportunity to step up and make
things happen. This report reveals how
the women executives that made it have
crafted meaningful work and personal
lives. Their insight will help you, the
rising woman leader, achieve your full
potential and develop the career path
and build the life that is right for you.
Our research, interviewing sixty top
women executives, provides advice that
will help you step up and take control
of your journey through work and life.
Here, sixty leading women executives
from twenty organizations share their
stories, insights and experiences.
Some of these women are rising stars,
the majority are senior executives,
including: Adele Gulfo, who led
the launch of Lipitor, the bestselling
medicine in the history of
the pharmaceutical industry, Rana
Ghandour Salhab, the first woman
partner at Deloitte in the Middle
East and Beatriz Araujo, who sits on
the executive committee of Baker &
McKenzie, one of the world’s largest
law firms.
During our research, one thing soon
became apparent: the diversity of the
women involved. There is no single
profile of the woman that makes it to
the top of a large, global organization.
The women we spoke with currently
work in nineteen countries and range in
age from late 20s to early 60s. They are
straight, gay, married, single, partnered,
divorced; some have children, others do
not. Some grew up rich, others poor.
On the surface, it seemed that there
were no rules to achieving success. Yet,
looking deeper, some common features
became clear. You will find that these
women take charge of their work and
personal lives in three common ways:
they explore, own and repay.
Explore
Top women executives know their
own strengths, weaknesses, likes and
dislikes. They have deep insights
into the organizations within which
they practice. They have developed
a leadership style and a definition of
success that works for them. They have
ventured into a career journey full of
twists and turns, and acknowledge
that being a senior executive – male or
female – is not for everyone. But, it was
also clear that they were happy with
their career and life choices. In large
part, this was because they had taken
the time to EXPLORE who they are
and what they want.