Lessons From the Front Lines

Marta Vieira da Silva, Football
Now All the Girls Want to Play, And There's Always a Game
When i was growing up in Dois Riachos, a small town in the poor, backlands of Alagoas, in northeast Brazil, girls didn't have a lot of choices. Most studied to be teachers or to work for the town government. My dream was a little different. I wanted to play professional football. And because I come from a very simple family, I dreamed a little harder.

My family was very poor then and still is today. I help them as much as I can, but women's football doesn't exactly earn you millions. My father separated from my mother when I was around 1. To make ends meet, my mother left the house early for work, as super at the town hall, and came back only at night. I have one sister and two brothers. (An older sister died when I was young.) And we were pretty much on our own. I played ball whenever I could. Sometimes I'd skip classes to play. I was 7, 8 years old, and had no idea what else I might do but play football.

But football was for boys. So I started out in the boy's league. The coach helped, buying me gear and paying my bus fare. My mother had enough money for food and clothes, but not much more. Some of the boys got pissed. "Why do we need a girl on our team? Aren't we man enough to win?" they'd ask. I got into a few fights, but mostly I let them talk. And I played with the best of them.

One day a friend who used to organize local matches asked me if I wanted to go to Rio de Janeiro and try out with a major-league team. I said yes and later was picked by the Vasco da Gama club. I was 14 and doing well, but a year later Vasco dissolved the women's team. I had no club and no place to live. But I set my mind to staying on. Fortunately, my friends helped me out. I was drafted by a club in Belo Horizonte, and my career took off.

I don't remember having any idols as a kid, except perhaps my mother. She never had the opportunity to go to school. We kids taught her to write her name. But she raised four kids on her own. I really admire that.

I am proud to represent women in a way. Of course, we don't earn nearly as much as men. That's especially disappointing when I think of how much I could do to help my family and the people in my hometown. To this day there is no gymnasium in Dois Riachos. What's gratifying is to see how things have changed. When I began playing, almost no girls played football. Now all the girls want to play football. And there's always a street game when I go back home.

Mireille Giuliano, author"French Women Don't Get Fat"
Life is lived in phases and episodes. for me, the leap [from CEO of Clicquot Inc. to author] came about quite naturally. I was never all that interested in the raw numbers, processes and bureaucracy, but believed the art of living—food, wine, travel, entertaining—was important to building our brand. So when the opportunity to put my philosophy of life on paper came about, I grabbed it, and entered a new phase in my life.

To me, being a leader is like being a head coach: you are here to help, give directions and advice when needed, set the course, be the spokesperson for the vision, mission and goals, and empower one's staff to be responsible for their own actions. Generosity is also an important ingredient in leadership, as is honesty and a sense of humor. Working harder and smarter is something that works, and women will need to continue doing it to show the world that gender should not be such an issue. Taking risks, being fearless but realistic, meeting objectives, recruiting appropriate top talent and having a great team all helped our company to be successful.

Don't forget the "you" in the equation so there is a balance between work and life. The last point is perhaps the most important in the 21st century, as it seems that working hours could be endless with cell phones, e-mail and so on. Taking what the French call une plage de temps—beach time—is more necessary than ever and actually helps us be better human beings and professionals.

Being a successful career woman is a double-edged sword. As you rise on the ladder, you create both respect and admiration, but also jealousy and envy. You often are confronted with meanness—the "I can do her job" type of remark, snarky comments and much worse, which you learn to dismiss as part of the territory. But it still saddens me coming more from women than men at a time when women should work together, help each other and give support to the younger generation via mentoring. On the other hand, you and only you can truly measure what you have accomplished, and that is something nobody can take away, and a source of great joy.

Zaha Hadid, Architect
I've never really thought of myself as a woman architect. I'm an architect. There's always been a bit of misogyny in certain architectural circles. They can't deal with a woman. They think you're second fiddle.

The way I've dealt with it was to work harder than anybody else. During my early career I literally worked day and night. It was like a tonic—we were always on the cusp of a new discovery. I have kept my own style. I don't have to be more of a man than the guys themselves. That's why they can't deal with me.