Dec 01, 2022
"If I reacted to every external factor that can potentially hinder me, I would not be where I am today." - Rita Gurevich
Rita Gurevich is the award winning Founder & CEO of SPHERE Technology Solutions. She launched SPHERE at the age of 25, during the financial crisis of 2008, and has since developed an identity hygiene product that helps companies achieve access control across their organizations. Episode six of Electrifying Growth, Bootstrapping and Breaking Down Barriers, unpacks three key questions:
How can CEOs and business leaders create success in challenging times?
The COVID-19 pandemic taught a lot of lessons and, for Rita, those lessons can be summed up in three words: empathy, positivity, and transparency. Whether it’s with your team or clients, maintaining empathy and positivity are key to a positive relationship and atmosphere. It’s what helps people do their best work. Transparency holds everyone accountable, keeps communication lines honest and open, and creates the possibility of finding and solving problems early on.
How does a young CEO gain credibility?
When it comes to being a young female CEO in a male-dominant field, Rita has found that simply remembering who she is and what she brings to the table is the most important piece to building confidence and credibility. “Remember that whether you're older, younger, male or female, whatever background you may have, you don't know everything. Leave your ego at the door, and absorb everything that you possibly can.”
Another mantra she lives by is “build while you're driving." In other words, 'continue to learn as you grow.' Don’t hamper your growth by feeling unprepared, that’s where learning opportunities and mentors come into play.
Where should young business leaders look for advice?
“I feel very strongly about being a sponge…continued learning is so important.” For Rita, this takes its shape in the form of multiple mentors. Young, old, in the same industry, in very different industries, doesn’t matter. Very often, business leaders’ problems are not industry-specific, they are business strategy issues, personnel questions, or even mindset challenges. By having a diverse group of successful mentors, their varying answers give way to helpful problem-solving methods.
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