Success Factors for Women

Success Factors in the Career of the First Female Fortune 500 CEO

“If we cannot choose who we are, we can always choose to become something more.”--Carly Fiorina

In her book, “Tough Choices,” Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard and the first woman to run a Fortune 500 company, describes her childhood, education, early career, mentors and her ascent to the level no other businesswoman had yet achieved. What was it about Fiorina’s upbringing and early career that helped her overcome gender bias and evolve into one of the most powerful people in the world?

Fiorina describes how her parents wanted all three of their children to be educated and cultured. She stated, “The quality of one’s mind and character was success, not fame and fortune.” The middle child of a homemaker and professor of law, her mother and father set high expectations and demanded her best. “There was no question of going to college and grad school. It was assumed.” Fiorina experienced the power of high expectations and later used that as a management tool.

After dropping out of law school, Fiorina began her career as the proverbial Kelly Girl with the Kelly temporary staffing agency and moved to a commercial real estate company. By focusing on the possibilities and learning opportunities of each job, she increased her scope of knowledge and became a respected part of the team. She found her boss’ confidence in her to be a powerful motivator for even greater achievements and continued to engage numerous mentors throughout her climb to the top.  She acknowledged, “Believing in someone else so that they can believe in themselves is a small but hugely significant act of leadership.” It was a gift that she also gave to others when she entered management.

Fiorina also recognized that she was in the right place at the right time, gaining experience from AT&T when it was an icon of technology, moving to Lucent Technologies and then to Hewlett Packard as mainframe computers and then personal computers changed the world forever. Most importantly, Fiorina knew how to hard harder and smarter. She took calculated risks and devised new solutions. Fiorina recognized a multitude of factors that led to her success.