“I have been pondering lots about management fashions,” Sarah O’Leary, CEO of femtech firm Willow, tells Entrepreneur. “ There’s been plenty of noise and information round, ‘We want extra masculine power within the office.’ It makes you query as a pacesetter: What’s my fashion? How efficient is my fashion? I do not imagine that we’d like extra masculine power.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Willow
O’Leary characterizes her management fashion 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 throughout the office. In response to the CEO, groups which have belief in one another — and of their leaders — usually tend to perform in a approach that is conducive to success.
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“I imagine [flexibility in the workplace] makes us extra productive.”
Instilling belief inside crew members means emphasizing a degree of autonomy, O’Leary says. Willow is a “very versatile office,” O’Leary explains, noting that the corporate has by no means given its workers return-to-office mandates. As a mom of two herself, O’Leary is especially cognizant of the on a regular basis hurdles crew members who’re additionally mother and father face, and she or he desires to help them in any approach doable.
“ If my children’ elementary faculty live performance is going on at 10 a.m., I’ll log off,” O’Leary says. “I’ll 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 will construct a tremendously profitable enterprise whereas additionally working in ways in which really feel genuine to our management and crew.”
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Willow is navigating its subsequent development chapter with O’Leary on the helm. The corporate 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 help mother and father. To kick off its Mom’s Day marketing campaign this 12 months, the corporate introduced a partnership with Canopie, a preventive maternal well being care platform, to donate a million hours of maternal psychological well being help.
“[Being CEO is] a accountability as a lot as it’s a cool title.”
Previous to getting into the CEO position at Willow, O’Leary served as the corporate’s chief business officer and “liked” the work. O’Leary has mirrored lots over the previous 12 months on her determination to turn into CEO, and she or he says that ambition wasn’t her main motivator; as an alternative, she acknowledged that she was the best individual 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 carry that along with our product groups. In some sense, [becoming CEO] has put me in a servant chief type of position — 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 be certain that their motivation is genuine to them — as a result of that is what is going to assist them lead via 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 you and says, ‘What are we going to do?’ This position is admittedly about being prepared to take accountability for the folks, merchandise and prospects. It is not all glitz and glamor. You are the primary one who will get all of the powerful questions.”
“I have been pondering lots about management fashions,” Sarah O’Leary, CEO of femtech firm Willow, tells Entrepreneur. “ There’s been plenty of noise and information round, ‘We want extra masculine power within the office.’ It makes you query as a pacesetter: What’s my fashion? How efficient is my fashion? I do not imagine that we’d like extra masculine power.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Willow
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