Free advice. (high ranking women state the most valuable counsel they received in their careers)

FREE ADVICE

Thirteen powerhouse women pass on words of professional wisdom

What are the guiding principles that can help you cut a path to the top? We surveyed high-level women in different fields to find out the most valuable words of counsel they had ever received or they'd like to pass on. Some share pearls of wisdom called from sources as varied as grandmother, boss, ballet teacher and husband. Others offer a stockpile of lessons learned on the way up. Many plugged in the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, tailoring their advice to help women on the rise. * Susan Willett Bird, president of S.W. Bird & Company, a New York-based real estate firm "I recently read a quote--I've forgotten the source--that made an impact because it's appropriate to my career right now. It went something like this: The power and validity of an idea can often be measured by the strength by which it is opposed.

As an entrepreneur, I find it extremely frustrating that people will oppose an idea they know is needed in the market-place and that consumers really want. Once, when I was complaining about this, a friend of mine remarked, `That's merely the sound of the dogs barking as the caravan moves on.'

If an idea is really good and is going to cause change--and all great ideas require change--then it usually threatens people who somehow have been able to prosper from the status quo. They are often the ones who will vigorously oppose a new idea because they don't want to have to figure out how to adjust or rethink the way they've been doing things.

Realizing this helps you live with opposition--to know that it is, …