In the 2012 Catalyst census data, women made up 14.3 percent of Fortune 500 executive officers and 16.6 percent of the board members, a small improvement over 1998. So, the question remains: Is there a better way to identify and advance women who have the desire and skill to rise to the opportunity?

You will face many choices about the amount of effort you'll need to grow yourself. The payoff for doing this self-development work first will continue to pay benefits for yourself, but also the people who work with you. You'll receive positive recognition for your authenticity.

Empathy proved especially difficult for me whenever I felt vulnerable. My instinctive response was to protect myself, most often with aggression. I equated aggression with safety, and vulnerability with weakness. Today, I recognize the opposite is often true.

We have been made to believe that extraverts are the best leaders in the business world. Extraverts generally possess dominant alpha traits that give them leverage and visibility enabling them to get promoted and hired faster than other candidates.

Today, in a world that measures time in Internet seconds, and that fills every moment with potential distractions, the discipline needed to take the time to do a truly great job and to make these deeper connections takes specialized mental training, the training of mindful leadership.

I am encouraging all my students as well as colleagues who are plotting a career change to seriously look at investing in learning essential global leadership skills that will serve both their professional and personal development in the near and long term.

As the San Francisco Giants and the Bay Area celebrate their second World Series victory in three years with a parade just a couple of blocks from our office, I can't help but think of the characteristics that made the Giants great and how they can be applied to business.

Once others see that the CFO challenges the status quo in an effective manner by working through the current management and executive processes, others will appreciate what a high impact and important job it is.

The Iron Lady was recently released in the UK, and I was particularly interested in seeing it in London because I know so little about Margaret Thatch...