Marlene Gordon & Fran Hauser On What It Takes To Excel in the Corporate Arena

Last month at the SHE Summit, Take The Lead Co-Founder Gloria Feldt moderated the panel “How Women Can Pave a Path to Corporate Leadership” with Marlene Gordon, VP & General Council Bacardi North America Corporation, and Fran Hauser, Partner at Rothenberg Ventures & former President of Digital at Time Inc.

Do women have the support they need to reach the highest positions of leadership in their organizations? What sacrifices, if any, should women be willing to make for such roles? What takes priority? Watch these three power women discuss all of these questions and more in the video above and read on for highlights.

Gordon and Hauser both believe that women have already paved their way to corporate leadership. The real question, they say, is how women can stay there. With women earning over 57% college degrees, and making the majority of purchasing decisions in the household, we know that women have the knowledge and power we need to lead already. The power truly is in our hands, so why not use elsewhere and everywhere?

“Power unused is power useless. - @GloriaFeldt”

Below are some of the personal experiences Gordon and Hauser shared about their own path to leadership:

Gordon’s founding principle for her career has been, “Don’t just take what you get, create what you want.”
Her advice to ambitious women? Begin by defining who you are, your priorities, goals, and more importantly why you want to achieve them. Having this clarity is what lets you fight for ideas and for yourself.
Hauser says always be ready to pivot. It’s something she’s practiced herself, making a bold move to transition to venture capital after leaving a stable corporate career.
Hauser encourages more women to become investors, something she believes will inevitably create more women entrepreneurs.
Gordon spoke passionately about the Bacardi Women In Leadership initiative and describes Bacardi women as “badass women who make things happen.”
On assertiveness, Gordon reminds us women face implicit biases simply in for speaking up for themselves. She encourages women to go and ahead break all gender stereotypes. “You know what you can do. Go do it.”

Their last thoughts:

Gordon: Be a fighter.

Hauser: Show your support for the greater causes. She personally supports two initiatives, TIA Girl Club, an initiative to support young girls who tend to lose their voice at the early ages of 8-9. The other is a 92 Y initiative, the Women in Power Fellowship, which encourages women to build the C-Suite pipeline.

Watch the live stream video here to gain insights from the full conversation. And revisit this list of 10 things you can do to capitalize on the inspiration and energy from SHE Summit and move to action. And work with us to get yourself, your team, or your organization our signature leadership power tools to embrace your power and use it to get where YOU want to go in your career.

About the Author

Nishita is Take The Lead's blog editor. She is a Marketing Graduate at New York University. She is passionate about writing and expresses her opinions through this medium.