Meg Whitman announced that she will be stepping down as the CEO of E-Bay.
She’s the #3 on the Power List that Fortune puts out every year. More importantly, she was one of the small handful of women that run worldwide, huge companies. The glass ceiling still exists at that level.
It’s hard to blame Ms. Whitman for wanting a change. She’s been with E-Bay for ten years and most people are itching to switch careers after ten years of the same job.
Still, it’s disappointing that there will be one less role model for little girls to look up to and say, “I want to be her when I grow up.”
Hi Derek –
Gosh, wouldn’t that be great if little girls didn’t have to be told that they could do anything and be anything because there were role models out there in large numbers?
The world definitely ought to be that way, I agree. But, for now, it’s not and so as a woman at the helm of a multi-million dollar business, I do my best to point out strong female leaders to hopefully encourage the next generation of female leaders.
Why not teach little girls that the gender of role models is irrelevant rather than perpetuating sexism?
I hope she moves onto another company. She’s probably pretty burned out right now but her talents at growing a company and rolling it out internationally should be useful in other places.
I heard this on NPR this morning. Maybe she’ll take on a position at another company where little girls can still look up to her as a role model?
Maybe one day we’ll all be their role models! =D