Rania Masri knows the power of idea-sharing — and she relishes the opportunity to learn from other strong businesswomen.
“It’s so inspiring when you’re a motivated woman who’s trying to achieve to see other women do it,” said Masri, GM of Level Shoe District, the world’s largest shoe store.
In turn, Masri also is dedicated to mentoring her teams at Level and sharing her insights on different topics.
Here, the exec shares some of her leadership lessons:
Female empowerment in different parts of the world: “I was so happy to see so many women on [the FN CEO Summit] stage. I was at the World Department Store Forum in Rome three weeks ago, and after three days, there was only one woman speaker. She was a consultant for KPMG. As a retailer, it was disappointing. In North America, it’s interesting to see that there are so many female entrepreneurs.”
Why mentoring is so fulfilling: “When I’m building and mentoring teams, male or female, I think of them as a big family. I’m not saying I’m hugging everybody, but I get the same sense of pride from seeing the team grow and evolve as I would when I see my daughter go through her milestones.”
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Learning from others: “It’s so inspiring when you’re a motivated woman who’s trying to achieve to see other women do it. When I hear about female empowerment and mentorship, I look for other women who have succeeded for me to learn from them as a person rather than a leader of a corporation. Sheryl Sandberg blew up the universe with her book, “Lean In.” I gave the book to [another woman in our office] and told her it was time for her to read it.”
Navigating work-life balance: “It’s quite relative. It’s about the quality of time you have [with your family]. I once heard a very big entrepreneur speak, and she said she had told her teenage daughter she was sorry she wasn’t there for her more. Her daughter told her, ‘Mom, you were there plenty.’ It’s also important not to just talk about women [when you’re talking about balance]. When you have a partner, it’s important to give the other person the space to have an hour of breathing time, too.”
