Success According to Denise Morrison

SHE grew up in supportive, businessoriented family that encouraged her to succeed, found strong mentors and learned to prioritise conflicting demands between work and family.

"I knew I wanted to be a CEO, ultimately. I had that goal very early on," Denise Morrison said. "I think an idea just formed that I really wanted to be in business. And then, if I was going to be there, I would want to be on the top."

Ms Morrison grew up in South Belmar, Avon-by-the-Sea in New Jersey, the eldest of four daughters in what she describes as a "high-achieving" home.   Her mother, a stay-at-home mom and later a real estate agent, taught her that, "ambition is a part of femininity." Her father, a high-level executive for AT&T and several regional telephone companies, decided that since he did not have any boys, he would raise his daughters as sons. He took   them to his office in the summer and arranged field trips to the New York Stock Exchange. The can-do upbringing groomed Ms Morrison for success as a woman in a man's world. "I was born in 1954, so that was really a different   orientation for a man to say, 'I think the world is going to open up for women and I'm going to make sure you're ready for it,'" Ms Morrison said.

Strategies and Serendipity

Ms Morrison earned a degree in psychology, plus a bachelor of science in economics from Boston College in 1975. The economy was in a recession, but through a friend she found a job at Procter & Gamble, becoming the first woman to join the company's sales force.

As a woman in a male-dominated industry, she often had to sell herself before  she could sell the company's products. Ms Morrison recalled one buyer who  literally turned his back on her and said, "I don't do business with women. " She countered with "'Well, I work for Procter & Gamble, I have $11 million of your business, so if you want to do business with Procter &  Gamble, I guess you'll have to do business with me.' He turned right around   and did business with me."

Ms Morrison decided to view the obstacles as opportunities, and developed detailed plans for how to surmount them and build her career. "Don't just  let your career happen to you," she advised. "You need to be strategic about how you define your leadership journey and where that takes you."

That penchant for planning clearly stems from Ms Morrison's parents, who pushed their girls hard and turned family activities into lessons on advancement. Chores, for example, were doled out in "job jars." The four sisters could barter for certain tasks, but had to complete all of them by week's end. "It taught us that the family is a team, that it is important  to have goals, and that it's important to achieve those goals by a certain timeline," Ms Morrison noted.

All four sisters took the lessons to heart, and Ms Morrison's younger siblings also rose to high-level management positions: Maggie Wilderotter is chairman and CEO of Frontier Communications; Colleen Bastkowski is regional vice president of sales at Expedia Corporate Travel; and Andrea Doelling, now   a champion horse jumper, formerly worked as senior vice president of sales  at AT&T Wireless. In news articles and public statements, the sisters reflect   the belief that planning is a key element to success. "Hope is not a strategy," Ms Doelling, her youngest sister, is quoted as saying in a profile on the Women's Conference website. "Plan your every move in both your business and personal life, and be accountable for your choices."

Midway through her career, after working at Pepsi for two years aArtículos deportivos para ni?os