Lessons From Margaret Thatcher

On Monday the world said goodbye to one of the most iconic women leaders that we had in the 20th century.

Margaret Thatcher is NOT my chosen role model for women’s leadership, certainly not for feminine leadership.

However, no matter what I think, or anyone else in this case, about her style of leadership, the fact remains that she was, one of the pioneers and trail blazer, for us women, in stepping up and taking the lead.

No other woman comes to my mind, when we speak about willing to “lean-in” than Margaret Thatcher. Much before  Sheryl Sandberg used this phrase Margaret Thatcher was doing just that.

A daughter of a grocery owner and a dress maker Thatcher always stressed her roots back to this humble beginnings and kept having the interests of businesses at the top of her economy philosophy. She was the one that coned the term “there is no alternative for free markets and free economy”

Margaret Thatcher might not fit into the new way of looking at leadership – cooperative, listening, working with teams and sensitive. She was definitely none of the above. There is a reason why she was called the Iron Lady.

She was strong-minded, not willing to be flexible and certainly absolutely righteous when it comes to her opinions, even when reality showed her that it’s not working. Maybe that was the reason for her down fall.

I believe she did not have other role models to show her other ways of being a woman leader and she had to do it the way it was done at that time. We women of today have other role models. We still can learn a lot from Margaret Thatcher of what we can do in order to take the lead.

The only reason that we do not see more women in leadership positions in government, business, finance and community is not any more the outside circumstances, it’s only our willing to step forward. WE need to do it.

I’m aware that some of you might be still thinking it’s a “man’s world out there”, but if there is one woman that shows us that it is not true is Margaret Thatcher.

Let’s see what are the lessons that we can learn from her that would allow more women to step forward.

Find Mentors

They say, “Success leaves clues”. More than anything women need not just role models to show them that things are possible, we need mentors that would teach us how to do it and give us advice on the way.

Margaret Thatcher had a tutor in Oxford University that encouraged her to logically work her challenges and turn them into solutions.

Speak Up

Women tend to take the back seat around the table, when discussion take place and wait for others to give them permission to speak.

Thatcher was a genius in knowing when to speak up and in navigating herself to sit at the table at the right time and in the right place. She was a genius at political timing, sensing the moment to grab a power seat when the table was in disarray in the ’70 when the Tories were falling in power.

Take Risks

Most women when they hear the word risk would tend to step backward. But when it comes to leadership you would always have to take the risk and do what is not popular and what are not people expect from you.

Margaret Thatcher had no problem taking those unpopular steps and take risks that others were not willing to take. She was willing to push for budget cuts when her advisers, including influential U.S. supply-siders, advised her to emphasize tax cuts. “Pennies don’t fall from heaven,” Thatcher said in 1979, the year she took office. “They have to be earned here on Earth.”

That is why they called her the Iron Lady. Her party tended to cave and reverse policy under political pressure, but not Thatcher: “This lady’s not for turning,” she famously declared.

Persistence

The one element that keeps coming back as the one that makes the difference between success and mediocrity is persistence and never giving up.

Margaret Thatcher ran twice for office in her 20s and lost in both times, but she didn’t give up she kept going to it until she reached the top.

You can have it all

Even though she was leading her country Margaret Thatcher still had a husband who was supportive to her career and two children. She did not give up on her role as a wife and as a mother. She found a way of combining it all. She wasn’t willing to give up on any of those roles.  Yes, it might not have been the traditional way of being a wife or a mother, but she found a way of doing it all together.

Now it’s your turn…

If you look at all those lessons, what would you pick up and adapt to your business?

Share with us your tips, suggestions or advice how you take the lead?

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Have a magical week! Vered