“When we talk about on mission at Ceresa, we don’t just say it’s to help grow more women leaders; we say it’s to help women leaders achieve and thrive in positions of leadership. And that’s a really important distinction.” –Anna Robinson
Anna Robinson, CEO and founder of women’s leadership platform Ceresa, discusses her holistic approach to helping women not only lead but thrive as leaders. She also shares how a health scare in her 30s changed her personal relationship to self care.
More About Anna:
Anna launched Ceresa in 2018, with the mission of closing the global leadership gap for women. Anna dedicates her time to shaping the company’s vision and strategy, driving consistent high-quality programming, building a world-class team and culture, and shaping a sustainable social impact business model. Prior to launching Ceresa, Anna was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she led strategy and transformation work for US and global health systems, as well as leading several women’s initiatives. Anna was also COO at an early-stage tech company. She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, MPhil, and BA from the University of Oxford in England. She currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and three daughters.
Highlights
- Anna’s thoughts on balancing the need to be of service to others with the ego necessary to be a successful entrepreneur
- The personal and professional experiences that shaped Anna’s definition of success and helped her grow her career
- Why real world business and leadership skills are critical to creating social change
- Why Anna believes that mentorship of women is a key piece of getting more women into leadership positions
- The shocking feedback Anna received from a male senior executive about why mentoring women was great for them but not for him
- Why Anna doesn’t think you can “disentangle” self care from conversations about leadership development – and how Ceresa’s mentee population is echoing that perspective
- How Anna’s first pregnancy and a health scare in her 30s changed her approach to her own self care
- How Anna creates boundaries at work to make space for things that are important to her – and how she models that to her employees
- Why creating a “scorecard” for your job can help you deliver on key results without putting in 15 hour days
- Anna’s advice to women seeking mentors and three specific steps you can take
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Connect with Anna: Instagram | LinkedIn
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