This story is part of our March 2025 issue. To subscribe, click here.

I always look forward to our annual Women in Leadership issue, where we’re able to shine a spotlight on the best and brightest women in our region. There are many! I’m also pleased that this is one of our most popular issues each year.  

What makes women leaders special? First, women leaders are great communicators. Maybe it has something to do with women having spent so long not having a voice or serious position in business or government, and now they feel more inclined to express themselves.
You’d think as the publisher of a magazine for the past 35 years (and in magazine advertising sales for a decade-and-a-half prior), communicating would come easy for me. When I was starting out, sometimes it did, and sometimes it didn’t. As far back as I can remember, I was always a bit of an introvert — and in many ways, I may still be. When I became a business owner, publisher and employer, I happily learned that some things were irrefutable; I really liked people — I liked talking to them, and for a publisher this may be most important — I particularly liked listening to them.   

Listening is a skill most of us are born with — and, unfortunately, many of us lose as we age. I’m not talking about the literal hearing loss that can come with aging; I’m talking about our willingness and even our eagerness to pay attention to what others are saying instead of just nodding while they speak because we’re thinking of what we’ll say in response. 

I’ve found that whenever I listen intently to someone — which I’ve tried to do all my life — it’s also an instant bridge-building gesture. You’re showing that you don’t have all the answers and that you value other people’s opinions. (Personally, I’m always looking for great story ideas, so I ask a lot of questions and hope for great answers.) Stephen Covey backs me up on that. The best-selling author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” says, “The most effective communicators are great listeners. Often, we listen with the intent to reply, when we should really listen with the intent to understand.”

I also think it’s indicative of all successful leaders that they keep that all-important “image of success” in their minds to achieve their goals. In sports, this is called keeping one’s “eyes on the prize.” And why shouldn’t we? A vision I had many years ago of creating this very magazine even included the number 15 as the cover graphic. I didn’t understand it at the time, but years later, I realized that was the year we started becoming profitable. It took a long time to realize my dream, which brings me to another important needed asset for success: a hefty dose of stick-to-itiveness.

Another great quality women leaders have is that they sincerely enjoy “giving back” — not just with charitable donations but just as likely by pulling someone else up the ladder. Women leaders are natural-born mentors.

Sometimes, women have a harder time accepting defeat and loss in business than men might because they’re still relatively new to the culture of accomplishment. Arianna Huffington, an author and businesswoman, said, “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes — understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” 

It’s often said that women as leaders have been proven to be more compassionate, detail-oriented and collaborative than their male counterparts. I sense that this is true, but for very much the same reason that the youngest child and the faithful employee benefit from having observed their siblings, parents or supervisors wage their own struggles — and have made note of what it took for them to prevail.  

Women are succeeding in so many industries these days, industries that didn’t even exist for women a decade or two ago. As we move into the future, there will be countless other industries that will come about where women will succeed even more.  

I congratulate all of our honorees in this issue and all the women profiled in this issue. They’ve all climbed that ladder of success.  But what is success, really? It means to remain true to your deeper sense of purpose, even if it’s not a traditional, expected way of doing things. It means discovering the upside of even suffering and being brave enough to chase your own impossible dream when you face doubt or uncertainty.  

More than those, though, I believe it means being able to incorporate that special work/life balance that keeps us whole by including all the categories of life in our routines: work, family, exercise, nature, social engagement, hobbies, spiritual growth and just a little bit of down time.
I’m so proud of all our Women in Leadership and so hopeful for those just beginning to find their path. Trust me, you will. And when you become a leader, remember to help those who’ll follow. They’re part of that prize you’ve set your eyes on.

What do you think? 

Winnie Comstock-Carlson
President and Publisher

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