The revelation came after Lockheed Martin Corp. CEO Marillyn Hewson was asked this by a young professional: If there is one piece of advice she wished she had earlier in her career, what would it be?
Her answer, detailed in her latest LinkedIn Influencer blog, surprised me.
"I remembered the times I'd second-guessed myself, or questioned my own ability. The times when a little voice in my head worried that I didn't have the know-how or the experience to reach for an exciting opportunity," she wrote.
And what did that voice say exactly?
"You haven't been in the business long enough."
"You didn't attend an Ivy League school."
"You've never done anything like that before."
Summing it up, Hewson wrote this: "Sometimes, my self-doubt became self-limiting."
Her wish then was that someone had told her to quiet that inner voice. She obviously did it on her own eventually, which explains how she managed to conquer 19 leadership roles in the company before being named CEO.
So Hewson was insecure? The CEO of the biggest defense contractor on the globe? Well, of course. It's probably fair to say that most everybody is at some point in their careers, particularly women in a male-dominated industry like defense and aerospace. But Hewson's blog showed the degree of that insecurity for one of the most influential executives in Washington. That's pretty rare. It's also refreshingly candid — something that Hewson typically is not.
And maybe that's a sign that she's getting the hang of this blogging thing — something else I suspect she had never done anything like before August 2013.