Great advice from women founders in this Inc article. Embrace who you are, ladies!

The women on Inc.’s 2022 Female Founders 100 are full of wisdom on how to, in all things, be bold. Here, a few of our honorees share how that boldness translates to great leadership.

1. Don’t forget the power of the human touch.

Having earned a PhD in English at the University of California, Berkeley, Sophia Wang might have seemed an unlikely choice to co-found the biotech startup MycoWorks in 2013. The company had developed a proprietary, leather-like material called Fine Mycelium, made from the root structure of mushrooms. But co-founder and friend Philip Ross says Wang was precisely the storyteller he needed to help the venture make the leap from biotech to fashion. Indeed: MycoWorks’ Fine Mycelium has since become a coveted, sustainable fabric for brands such as Hermès and lux­ury hatmaker Nick Fouquet. And Wang, now chief of culture, says her liberal arts education influences how she ­nurtures the ever-expanding 175-person team. She’s behind the MycoWorks weekly speaker series, in which artists and scientists present their work; the company’s free counseling services for employees; and an internal newsletter. “We want people to know one another’s names and faces — the everyday human touch points of being collaborators and teammates,” she says. —Hannah Wallace

2. Take up space.

“Our perfectionism and our self-talk are what hold us back,” says Suneera Madhani, founder of payment processing platform Stax. “As women, we’re trained to be minimal and apologetic. We minimize ourselves. All we do is play it small, and I see that all the time. When you actually reflect, are you really trusting your gut? Just trust it a bit more. Use your voice 100 percent, and take up space.”

3. Stop trying to do everything.

“Focus on what you’re really good at. That’s incredibly important,” says Daniela Corrente, founder of personal finance app Reel. “Understand what you’re good at and delegate what you’re not good at. Sometimes, founders try to do everything. There is a huge strength in saying this is where I shine, and these things that are perhaps not my strength, that’s where I’m going to find support.”

4. Ask questions.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or to admit you don’t understand something,” says Miranda Kerr, founder of skin care company KORA Organics. “While my strengths lean more into the creative elements, marketing, and product development, P&L isn’t my forte. In the past, I was resistant to ask for help because I didn’t want to put anyone out or have people think I didn’t understand. But people love helping out, and being honest and transparent is important to understand all aspects of your business.”

5. Delegate decision making.

“Often, your greatest strength as a founder can become your greatest weakness as a CEO,” says Melissa Bridgeford of A.I. e-commerce platform Wizard. “At early-stage startups, founders who thrive wear so many different hats and make all the decisions. But as a CEO, if you’re trying to make all the decisions, you’ll kill your company.”

6. Learn to detach.

“Leadership is really a practice of nonattachment — freeing yourself from the idea of how something should be and inspiring the team to rethink everything,” says Ara Katz, founder of microbiome science company Seed Health. “For me, minimizing confirmation bias and embracing first principles is really how I like to lead.”

7. Put people first.