American Red Cross CEO Shares 5 Tough Lessons She Learned on Her Way to the Top

Forty years ago, she was a struggling computer programmer for AT&T in Philadelphia.

Today, she is the only woman on the President's Management Advisory Board. How did Gail McGovern, CEO of American Red Cross, manage to get there? And what can we learn from her?

Here are five of the watershed moments that helped her reach the top, edited from "Before I Was CEO," my upcoming book on lessons from leaders.

1. The moment she got rid of her fear of public speaking
McGovern's first job was as a computer programmer with AT&T (then Bell) in Philadelphia. As she was rising through the ranks, one of her bosses told her she'd be in charge of a training program, her first public role.