Take Risks

When she mentors other women, Gina Mastantuono, executive vice president of finance at Ingram Micro, based in Irvine, Calif., said she always advises them to take more risks. To evaluate if a risk is work it, she suggested framing the discussion around why she shouldn’t do something, rather than why she should. While taking risks is scary, Mastantuono said she finds comfort in that it will either pay offor she can return to where she was before.

"We need to be prepared to do something different than what we were doing before if we want to transition to that next level," Mastantuono said. "If you're not afraid to take those risks, you'll have much more likelihood to be successful in the future.