What I Learned

It is because of those experiences that I was able to move from working at the PGA Tour, the center of male professional sports, to the WNBA, which really is the iconic brand for women's professional sports. I had the strength of my convictions and I knew what was right for me—much as when I was a young girl, I felt I deserved to compete.

As a professional athlete, I always felt that I was part of a unique group of individuals on this planet who get paid to play a sport. I knew that the experience of competing on that high level would take me wherever I wanted to go. I also knew that it allowed me to compete in a male world. Many of these guys were sports wanna-bes. Well, I wasn't a wanna-be.

As a leader, you have to recognize that you are a touchstone for people around you. They look to you for so many different cues about how they should be feeling about issues. You have to have the ability to convey that you have command of a situation (even if you don't).

I do think there are gender differences in leadership. In general, what you find is that women are much more collegial and team-builders, not as hierarchal. That's a good thing. We are wired differently. We are socialized differently. Why do companies prize diversity? It's that healthy mix that gives you a broader spectrum of what's important.

Ethel Person
Psychiatrist and author

I think the journey is always interesting if it's taking us somewhere, although you may have to navigate around some dead ends—jobs where bosses don't support or encourage you. At each stage of my life, I have been very lucky to have special mentors. It is important to have a mentor—a relationship in which a more experienced person treats a younger person with respect. If the person you work for is interested in what you think, that means they believe you have potential. I think the best managers want people who will be straightforward, who will tell them the truth. But there are some bosses with whom you have to agree because they're not interested in what you think. It's best to stay with them for a while, but then move on.