The making of a successful woman executive in business or government isn't a unique thing. What makes such women noticeable is that they've learned to master a career game that's been dominated by men for decades. Since the 1980s, such women have been earning more master's degrees in business, rising to higher positions, and becoming more and more visible to the general public and news media, some through great careers, others because they crashed and burned. Their stories in many cases are no different from their male counterparts' except for gender, and in many cases that one fact has made the challenges they faced much harder and these executives much stronger.

At some point in your career, you probably made a decision about what success looked like for you and how you were going to reach it. This is quite possibly one of the most important decisions affecting your future, however, if you are having issues reaching your goal, you may want to take a step back and re-analyze your process of attaining success.

When you begin to lose confidence about what you want, it does not necessarily mean that you aren’t going to get there. If you have made a plan that works and after reconsideration you still believe in it, you may need to practice some patience. A good plan for success, whether it is personal or professional, always takes time to implement and some goals take longer to reach than others.

You might not think that what goes on in your personal life has any bearing on your successes or failures at work, but in fact, the two are closely linked.  For all that people talk about separating business and pleasure, it is almost impossible to truly compartmentalize your life in this way.  The things that upset you at work are going to follow you home and vice versa.  So while implementing a healthy diet and exercise plan as part of your personal life is most likely based on reasons that have nothing to do with your job, you might be surprised to learn that such action can have a dramatic and positive effect on your professional life as well.

Everyone dreams of their kids becoming the great leaders of the future.  Whether that is President of the United States or CEO of a corporation, seeing your child grow up to become important and successful in their career is something every parent wants.

Raising tomorrow's leaders means instilling certain skills in your children.  Here are the skills every future leader needs, and how you as a parent can help them achieve them.

A successful woman is one who is “CEO of Me, Inc.”

She has a vision of who she wants to be and is a woman who makes things happen for her rather than lets things happen to her.

In order to be the CEO, she has to take responsibility for the following:

1) What do you want to have achieved in 5 years?  Write what you will be doing, beginning with “I am…”

2) Who needs to be on your board of advisors to “help you achieve your goals?”

3) What is your plan for the next 12 months, with your goals and expected results?

4) Plan each day to actively move towards meeting your goals.