“I have been considering loads about management fashions,” Sarah O’Leary, CEO of femtech firm Willow, tells Entrepreneur. “ There’s been loads of noise and information round, ‘We’d like extra masculine vitality within the office.’ It makes you query as a frontrunner: What’s my model? How efficient is my model? I do not imagine that we’d like extra masculine vitality.”
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 throughout the office. Based on the CEO, groups which have belief in one another — and of their leaders — usually tend to operate in a method 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 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 dad and mom face, and she or he desires to assist them in any method potential.
“ If my youngsters’ elementary faculty live performance is going on at 10 a.m., I’ll log out,” 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 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 dad and mom. 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 moving into the CEO position at Willow, O’Leary served as the corporate’s chief industrial officer and “liked” the work. O’Leary has mirrored loads over the previous 12 months on her resolution to turn out to be CEO, and she or he says that ambition wasn’t her main motivator; as a substitute, she acknowledged that she was the fitting particular person 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 industrial 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 sort 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 that their motivation is genuine to them — as a result of that is what’s 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 actually about being keen to take duty for the individuals, merchandise and prospects. It isn’t all glitz and glamor. You are the primary one who will get all of the robust questions.”
“I have been considering loads about management fashions,” Sarah O’Leary, CEO of femtech firm Willow, tells Entrepreneur. “ There’s been loads of noise and information round, ‘We’d like extra masculine vitality within the office.’ It makes you query as a frontrunner: What’s my model? How efficient is my model? I do not imagine that we’d like extra masculine vitality.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Willow
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