Can you name the first female CEO in the U.S.? Most people are surprised to learn it was a woman named Anna Bissell back in 1889. She advanced to CEO of Bissell Inc., the vacuum cleaner and floor care manufacturing company, almost 130 years ago, when most of the modern advancement opportunities and initiatives for women didn't even exist.
She was a woman who had no college degree; no mentor or executive coach; no organization with diversity initiatives or leadership training programs. How did she succeed, not only as a business woman, but as a leader and CEO of a thriving business which is still going strong today?
What Anna Bissell had back in 1889 was what my research points to as "executive traits," including passion, drive, ambition, assertiveness, courage, and confidence.
In 1889, Bissell's husband and business partner passed away and left her with a large business and five small children to support. Through drive, passion, ambition, confidence, and business savvy, she was able to support her family, keep her business operational, and lead through difficult personal and economic times.
Today there is still a persistent gender gap in the C-Suite preventing qualified women from making it through the executive pipeline. Less than 20% of American corporations today are led by women in C-Suite roles.
My mission is to identify solutions to bridge this gap, and my research over the past 10 years has been focused on what we can learn from women who have made it to the C-Suite. My findings point to four major elements that make executives successful including: Preparation, Building Strategic Relationships, Engaging Organizational Cultures, and Executive Traits.
The most important finding from my research on successful women in the C-Suite is that they have developed and demonstrated these powerful key Executive Traits:
Confidence
Assertiveness
Courage
Passion
Visibility
Leadership
Emotional Intelligence
In 1889, Anna Bissell was an innovative leader who aggressively marketed and sold her company's products. She was instrumental in defending the company's patents and trademarks. She took the company internationally. She was a philanthropist. She was the first shining example of a female CEO leader that embodied these fundamental executive traits of successful CEOs.
We can learn a lot from Anna Bissell and the other strong female leaders who have followed in her footsteps to the C-Suite, like Mary T. Barra at General Motors and Indra Nooyi at PepsiCo. These are women that became leaders in male-dominated industries, and CEOs in male-dominated C-Suites. These are women that exemplify these executive traits and have developed these tools as they advance in their careers as leaders.
As a thought leader and social advocate for gender diversity, I have produced a series of workshops and programs to teach women how to develop their own executive traits, beginning with the foundational trait of confidence. I believe these executive traits can be learned and my passion is helping women leaders develop these necessary skills to advance to their seat in the C-Suite.
To learn more, visit my website at Diversity Woman and our annual Business Leadership Conference in October.