Courtney Cecil Anderson

I think a lot of it's growing up in a small town - Tazeville, Virginia, in the mountains. You learn a lot of life lessons in a small town very early on, and part of that allowed me to just focus on what's important to me, as opposed to focusing on everybody else and what they think is important to them. It allowed me the ability to learn that grit can take you far. I was not the smartest person in the classroom, but I made valedictorian because I worked very, very hard for those grades. I was able to play varsity sports and make it to International Science Fair. Because I lived in a small town, it afforded me the ability to try a bunch of different things and fail fast, and also learn that failing is part of growth. That resiliency and that grit is something that continues to serve me, and that I continue to coach other women on. It's not fun standing in front of your high school trying to run for president and not getting it, but I learned that's not for me. It's not fun dancing on a stage and falling at a rehearsal, but I also learned that's not for me. It allowed me to try all of this different stuff that in cities I wouldn't be able to practically do, and get me to a point where I realize, wow, this is what I am meant to do, and I can do this really well. The grit that comes from being in a small town has served me in so many different ways.

Action brings clarity, probably. A lot of women in professional services tend to spend many years just spinning in circles and wondering, I'm not sure if I love this, but I also am afraid to try something else. Most of us come from consultants, or accountants, or lawyers, where there's natural career progression, and then they find themselves wondering, do I want to make it to the next level? And they very much stew on that idea, but just because it might not be right for you right now doesn't mean it's not right for you forever. But also, just because it doesn't feel right right now, maybe it really isn't - but until you try something else, you're not going to actually find that confidence and clarity in your decision. So just take a leap of faith, trust your gut, try something new, and then know that if that ends up not being the best thing for you, that there's something else out there for you. That'll give you the answers that you need when you do that.

I think the economy is certainly it. I think for most of us, there is a lot of hesitancy to invest. I think there is a lot of friction, too, between specifically what I do regarding leadership being more male-dominated, where those same men, very few of them had dual-income families. So if they had kids, they had the opportunity of having support at home to help raise the kids. I think that there is a major disconnect between what leadership at large wants to happen regarding working norms and what the upper middle to upper management is saying they need from a life balance perspective. It's fighting through the friction of those differing opinions, where one level is saying I need breathing room, and the other level is saying I need more of you, and helping guide through the very emotional vantage points that the two different audiences have.

I think integrity is the thing that matters most to me. It is my biggest - if I lose that, it is the... or if I ever experience something that feels like it is in direct conflict with integrity, I just cannot be a part of it. It is so important to my ability to hold my shoulders back and be at my best, but also know that I can sleep at night and be able to know that what I'm doing, truly, in my heart of hearts, I believe is right. So I think that there's a lot of stuff in the way that I show up, but none of it matters to me more than integrity.