“No matter how senior you get in an organization, no matter how well you’re perceived to be doing, your job is never done. Every day, you get up and the world is changing; your customers are expecting more from you. Your competitors are putting pressure on you by doing more and trying to beat you here and beat you there.”
Abigail Johnson is an influential businesswoman and billionaire, currently holding the position of CEO at Fidelity Investments. Johnson graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School and since then has made a heavy impact in the business industry. Johnson not only has been ranked continuously by Forbes as one of the most powerful women in the world, but is also in charge of 45,000 employees within the investment company. She provides an outlet of hope for millions of young girls worldwide who believe they can become future leaders in various industries like Johnson.
Nationality: American
Industry: Finance
Q: What’s been your most rewarding moment as CEO? Your most challenging? Glassdoor
A: “My biggest challenge has been to push Fidelity to increase our pace of innovation and to not be afraid to make the occasional mistake. Since our founding more than 70 years ago, we have always been a leader in the use of technology and in offering new products and services. But being a customer-obsessed company, we are very focused on delivering a great customer experience. And this means that we can sometimes be cautious in introducing new things. To be successful in a rapidly evolving world, we need to take smart risks and value pace over perfection… another one of Fidelity leadership principles. The risk of competitive disruption in financial services has never been higher than it is today. I would rather disrupt ourselves than let us become complacent and get surprised by new ideas and innovations from a competitor.”
Congratulations to you.
