Female CEOs: What It Takes To Climb The Corporate Ladder

Friends,


we'll look at 10 businesswomen (US) who accomplished this great feat and see what they have in common.


Who They Are :-


Among these powerful executives is one doctor, one lawyer, two entrepreneurs and several globally-acclaimed professionals. So what traits allowed these women to climb all the way up the corporate ladder? Read on to find out.


1) These women are very well-educated.

The first common thread these women share is a college education. Six of the executives went on to complete post-undergraduate education. Our list includes four executives with MBAs and two executives with graduate degrees in management.

• Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld obtained her MBA and a doctoral degree in marketing and statistics from Cornell University.
• Angela Braly, CEO of WellPoint, earned her Juris Doctor (JD) from Southern Methodist University School of Law.
• eBay's Meg Whitman earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Princeton and went on to receive an MBA from Harvard Business School.
• Citigroup's Sallie Krawcheck earned an MBA from Columbia University.
• Both Indra Nooyi and Carly Fiorina earned graduate degrees in management from MIT.

2) They reinforced their education with varied experience.A strong educational background can serve as a good foundation for executive leadership, but education must be reinforced with experience. Each executive on our list served in multiple capacities within their firm or industry before making it to the role of chief executive officer.

Starting at the Bottom of the Ladder
Anne Mulcahy joined Xerox in 1976, as a field representative, and staged a progressive climb to the executive suite. In 1992, she became vice president of human resources, and in 1997 she became chief staffing officer. Mulcahy served as corporate senior vice president before she was selected as the CEO in 2001.

Moving Into Roles with Higher Responsibility
Carly Fiorina spent the bulk of her career at AT&T (NYSE:T) before assuming the high-profile position of CEO at Hewlett-Packard. She began her career at AT&T in 1980 as a management trainee. Sixteen years later, she was appointed president of the consumer products business at Lucent Technologies, an AT&T spinoff. In 1999, Fiorina left Lucent to return to Hewlett-Packard, a company that once employed her as a temporary worker. This time, she joined HP in the role of CEO. She reigned atop Fortune's list of the "50 Most Powerful Women in American Business" from 1998-2004.


Mastering a Line of Business
Before joining Avon, Andrea Jung served in several roles involving women's apparel and cosmetics. She worked as senior vice president at high-end retailer I. Magnin for four years before moving to Neiman Marcus in 1991 as executive vice president. Jung joined Avon in 1994 as president of the Avon U.S. Product Marketing Group. She was then promoted to president and chief operating officer (COO) prior to becoming CEO in 1999.


3) They got on the path to success and kept on walking.

Aspiring executives should look for leadership roles, such as managing a division or a product line. Management experience shows willingness to accept increasing responsibility and can foster leadership skills. Only two members of our list, Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, assumed chief executive roles as the result of an external hiring decision. Since many officers are hired from within, it is extremely important to keep moving up. Oprah Winfrey was quoted as saying, "Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work."


Conclusion
The above mentioned female executives have shown us that the road to the executive suite can be a long one paved with education, experience and knowledge. Aspiring female executives should seek progressive responsibility, hone their communication skills and be mindful that gaps in representation and compensation are being tackled.

Extracted from an article by Tisa Silver , on Investopedia.


Cherrio's,
Vimal