Being a leader today can feel like an endless balancing act. Many are struggling to find the right balance between compassion and accountability, stability and disruption.
But for GoodRx CEO Wendy Barnes, successful leadership today isn’t just about staying calm through chaos—it’s about reclaiming control.
Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C., Barnes noted the Great Resignation–driven push for empathy and flexibility at work, though important, has given employees too much power while undermining bosses.
“I’ve noticed an uncomfortable trend where I feel like the partnership between employer and employee, in some instances, is skewing so heavily toward an employee that the obligation of our colleagues as employees is sometimes being left on the floor,” she told Fortune’s Diane Brady.
“It’s been an interesting challenge for me, because there is an inclination, I think, just given my background, to say, ‘Are you kidding me?’ and ‘Suck it up, buttercup. Let’s go.’ And that’s obviously, that doesn’t work either—that’s not going to be an appropriate response.”
Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Barnes spent nearly a decade in the U.S. Air Force, where she learned an early lesson in leadership: Recognize what you don’t know—and lead through others who do.
“I’ve had to continually ground myself and what I can control, versus what I can’t,” she said. “And I’ve had to continue reminding my team of the same, and to the extent that there are things that are largely uncontrollable.”
Alexis DePree, chief operating officer at Nordstrom, echoed while business pressures can feel increasingly amplified—that’s just the norm: “The challenge is different, but there’s always something. There’s always something that challenges us to lead differently.”
Thinking about leadership change from the perspective of a monkey
For Shideh Bina, founder of the consultancy Insigniam, change is deeply personal. In late 2023, her firm was acquired by Elixirr—turning her from “queen bee” into part of a larger leadership team at a publicly traded company.
That transition forced her to rethink what transformation really requires. Bina’s answer? Think about monkeys.
“How they capture monkeys is they set up a trap where the monkey puts his hand in to get the goodies, but can’t get its hand out unless it lets go of the goodies,” she said. “I often use that with my clients when they’re going through transformations, both in the organization and in their leadership: You have to be willing to let go of whatever it is you’re holding on to.
“I always think of the monkey. I ask myself, ‘Am I willing to let go of all the goodies for what could be?’” Bina said.
And in the end, being willing to embrace transformation is what Bina said spurs success in the long term: “You’ve got to let go of the banana.”