“I have been pondering quite a bit about leadership models,” Sarah O’Leary, CEO of femtech firm Willow, tells Entrepreneur. “ There’s been quite a lot of noise and information round, ‘We’d like extra masculine energy within the office.’ It makes you query as a frontrunner: What’s my fashion? How efficient is my fashion? I do not imagine that we’d like extra masculine vitality.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Willow
O’Leary characterizes her leadership style and the tradition at Willow, the model behind “patented leak-proof” wearable breast pumps and their equipment, as one which facilities transparency and empathy to construct belief inside the office. In accordance with the CEO, groups which have belief in one another — and of their leaders — usually tend to operate in a method that is conducive to success.
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“I imagine [flexibility in the workplace] makes us extra productive.”
Instilling belief inside group members means emphasizing a stage of autonomy, O’Leary says. Willow is a “very flexible workplace,” O’Leary explains, noting that the corporate has by no means given its staff return-to-office mandates. As a mom of two herself, O’Leary is especially cognizant of the on a regular basis hurdles group members who’re additionally dad and mom face, and he or she needs to assist them in any method attainable.
“ If my children’ elementary faculty live performance is going on at 10 a.m., I will log out,” O’Leary says. “I will go to that, then come again and preserve going with my day. I do not imagine that makes us any much less productive. I imagine it makes us extra productive. I really feel very passionately that we are able to construct a tremendously profitable enterprise whereas additionally working in ways in which really feel genuine to our leadership and group.”
Willow is navigating its subsequent development chapter with O’Leary on the helm. The corporate just lately introduced its acquisition of UK-based femtech innovator Elvie, which is predicted to spice up income by 50%. Willow additionally continues to associate with organizations that assist dad and mom. To kick off its Mother’s Day marketing campaign this yr, the corporate announced a partnership with Canopie, a preventive maternal well being care platform, to donate a million hours of maternal psychological well being assist.
“[Being CEO is] a accountability as a lot as it’s a cool title.”
Previous to entering into the CEO function at Willow, O’Leary served as the corporate’s chief business officer and “cherished” the work. O’Leary has mirrored quite a bit over the previous yr on her choice to become CEO, and he or she says that ambition wasn’t her main motivator; as an alternative, she acknowledged that she was the best particular person for the job at this second.
“I cared deeply about our mission,” O’Leary explains. “I had a imaginative and prescient for the place we may go. I understood the business operations of the enterprise and will convey that along with our product groups. In some sense, [becoming CEO] has put me in a servant leader form of function — It is a accountability as a lot as it’s a cool title.”
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On the finish of the day, O’Leary means that leaders ensure their motivation is genuine to them — as a result of that is what is going to assist them lead by way of probably the most tough occasions.
“New tariffs are introduced, and you have to determine that out,” O’Leary says. “It’s problem after problem, and the group appears to be like to you and says, ‘What are we going to do?’ This function is basically about being keen to take accountability for the folks, merchandise and customers. It isn’t all glitz and glamor. You are the primary one who will get all of the robust questions.”
“I have been pondering quite a bit about leadership models,” Sarah O’Leary, CEO of femtech firm Willow, tells Entrepreneur. “ There’s been quite a lot of noise and information round, ‘We’d like extra masculine energy within the office.’ It makes you query as a frontrunner: What’s my fashion? How efficient is my fashion? I do not imagine that we’d like extra masculine vitality.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Willow
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