Introduction
Sallie L. Krawcheck is “chairman and CEO of Citigroup’s Global Wealth Management division” though she started her career at a small company (Sanford C. Bernstein) as a research analyst (Wharton University of Pennsylvania 8-9). She has been regarded as one of the most successful and Most Powerful Women by Fortune. Krawcheck notes that being a leader presupposes a lot of hard work, a lot of stressful situations. It also presupposes being lonely.
Main body
When going up the ladder, Krawcheck had to cope with many constraints. In the first place, she was often rejected. The businesswoman states that the ability to take rejections made her stronger and enabled her to succeed. She had to face hostility. Employees did not want to obey as they did not believe that a woman can be successful and far-seeing. Krawcheck also notes that she was often alone as many people thought her decisions and her ideas were ineffective and even “crazy” (Wharton University of Pennsylvania 8).
The businesswoman admits that being lonely is really hard. She states that she had to count on her decisions only and she did not have any support. This was one of the hardest obstacles she had to face. She also admits that it was really hard to lead people somewhere they did not want to go. She states that she managed to feel comfortable when she was uncomfortable and this was one of the keys to her success. She says she is accustomed to the situation when everyone disagrees.
However, Krawcheck was determined to succeed and she managed to become successful. It is necessary to note that some female qualities helped her to become successful. In the first place, she was not arrogant. Krawcheck states that when one comes to a new company, it is important to learn and keep quiet. One cannot start telling everyone about past achievements, and start telling others what to do. She has never tried to seem better than she is. She has never tried to focus on her previous achievements. More so, she claims that it is important to praise other people’s achievements.
Krawcheck also states that when coming to a new company, it is important to learn to understand what is what. The businesswoman once mentioned that being “a leader is not necessarily [about] shining a spotlight on yourself but going into the spotlight when it’s important to get your message across” (qt. in Wharton University of Pennsylvania 9). Therefore, this female modesty helped Krawcheck to go up the ladder.
Apart from ‘healthy ego’, Krawcheck used another female feature. She points out that she had to use her communication skills at some point. She stated that it was important to be something more than a leader as she had to be a psychiatrist as well. She had to support other analysts and encourage them. She had to support her employees to make them work hard. Admittedly, this ability to communicate with people and support them contributed greatly to her success.
Conclusion
Therefore, it is possible to point out that Krawcheck is one of the most successful leaders. At that, she managed to achieve success due to her hard world and some female qualities. Her modesty as well as her ability to support employees and colleagues enabled her to go up the ladder and become successful.
Works Cited
Wharton University of Pennsylvania. Wharton on … Women in Leadership, 2008. Web.