“I have been pondering quite a bit about management fashions,” Sarah O’Leary, CEO of femtech firm Willow, tells Entrepreneur. “ There’s been a whole lot of noise and information round, ‘We want extra masculine power within the office.’ It makes you query as a pacesetter: What’s my model? How efficient is my model? I do not consider that we want extra masculine power.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Willow
O’Leary characterizes her management model 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 line with the CEO, groups which have belief in one another — and of their leaders — usually tend to operate in a means that is conducive to success.
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“I consider [flexibility in the workplace] makes us extra productive.”
Instilling belief inside crew members means emphasizing a stage of autonomy, O’Leary says. Willow is a “very versatile office,” 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 crew members who’re additionally mother and father face, and she or he needs to assist them in any means attainable.
“ 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 consider that makes us any much less productive. I consider 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 management and crew.”
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Willow is navigating its subsequent development chapter with O’Leary on the helm. The corporate not too long ago introduced its acquisition of UK-based femtech innovator Elvie, which is anticipated to spice up income by 50%. Willow additionally continues to accomplice with organizations that assist 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 assist.
“[Being CEO is] a duty as a lot as it’s a cool title.”
Previous to entering into the CEO position at Willow, O’Leary served as the corporate’s chief business officer and “liked” the work. O’Leary has mirrored quite a bit over the previous 12 months on her resolution to develop into CEO, and she or he says that ambition wasn’t her major motivator; as a substitute, she acknowledged that she was the correct 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 might 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 chief form of position — It is a duty 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’s going to assist them lead by means of essentially the most tough instances.
“New tariffs are introduced, and you have to determine that out,” O’Leary says. “It’s problem after problem, and the group seems to be to you and says, ‘What are we going to do?’ This position is absolutely about being prepared to take duty for the folks, merchandise and clients. It is not all glitz and glamor. You are the primary one that will get all of the robust questions.”
“I have been pondering quite a bit about management fashions,” Sarah O’Leary, CEO of femtech firm Willow, tells Entrepreneur. “ There’s been a whole lot of noise and information round, ‘We want extra masculine power within the office.’ It makes you query as a pacesetter: What’s my model? How efficient is my model? I do not consider that we want extra masculine power.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Willow
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