A Three-Part Series Featuring Healthcare Leaders
By Navpreet Atwal
Late in my undergraduate career, I began a practice that profoundly shaped my perspective: I started jotting down the names of women who inspired me. These women were strong-willed, intelligent, and passionate—embodying qualities I aspired to cultivate. As I reflected on my growing list, I came across Angela Duckworth’s TED Talk on grit, which offered powerful insights into the nature of success. Duckworth argues that talent alone isn’t enough; the combination of passion and perseverance truly drives achievement. This resonated deeply with me and led me to refer to these remarkable women as “gritty women.”
These gritty women view challenges as opportunities and refuse to let setbacks define their journeys. They exemplify resilience, uplifting others as they navigate their own paths. Recently, I was privileged to interview one such inspiring figure: Flo Di Benedetto. Flo shared her unconventional career path in our three-hour conversation, marked by determination and resilience.
The Unconventional Journey
Flo describes her journey as unconventional, emphasizing that she didn’t have a clear career path when she started. Growing up as the youngest of five in southern New Jersey’s farm country, she learned the value of hard work early on, beginning to work at the age of 13. Neither of her parents attended college; her mother was a music teacher, while her father worked for the Atlantic Richfield Company, known as “ARCO”. Having lived through the depression era, losing everything and coming out on the other end, Flo’s parents instilled in her a strong work ethic.
Flo attended Georgetown University but encountered significant challenges in securing a job after graduation. Faced with the looming reality of undergraduate student loans coming due, she decided to enroll in law school. After two attempts at the LSAT, which yielded the same result, she applied to 13 law schools across the country, ultimately receiving only one acceptance from a school in California. Despite this setback, Flo persevered, relocating and completing her degree in California.
However, her struggles didn’t end with graduation. The competitive job market and the pressure to find a position weighed heavily on her, as she faced a difficult landscape where many of her peers were landing lucrative roles. With limited options, she took on a role as a research attorney during her first year out of law school, a decision that proved pivotal in her career. This experience opened doors, leading to a position at a large law firm in San Francisco.
After several formative years at that large law firm, Flo made a bold choice to join a start-up law firm in Sacramento, taking a calculated risk that would ultimately pay off. By the mid-1990s, her determination was recognized as her name was added to the firm’s title. As 2007 approached, the CEO of a prominent Sacramento health system saw her potential and recruited her for a
leadership role. Flo made history as the second woman to join the system’s C-suite and the second female general counsel, succeeding a male who had held the position for 17 years. Her appointment represented a significant milestone, paving the way for future women in executive roles.
As Flo shared insights from her personal and professional journey, I was reminded of Duckworth’s research on the drivers of success. Duckworth argues that talent alone isn’t enough; commitment to pursuing your goals over time is crucial. For Flo, her years of determined work— often likened to the “10,000 hours” principle—transformed into grit. Where there wasn’t a clear path, Flo forged ahead. Despite uncertainty and fear, she seized opportunities as they arose. “Tenacity is crucial; it’s about putting one foot before the other. I believe hard work often outperforms talent,” she emphasized.
Insights on Resilience and Leadership
As our conversation continued, I asked Flo to reflect on addressing moments of self-doubt. She candidly acknowledged that self-doubt has been a constant companion throughout her life, often rooted in childhood experiences. Her childhood was marked by a father who believed in tough love and instilled a sense of fear, which resurfaced during pivotal career moments.
“The voice in our head, the one that often plays old tapes of self-doubt, anxiety, and a lack of self esteem, usually wields the most influence over us,” Flo explained. She emphasized the need to reprogram our thinking, highlighting the importance of detaching from others’ opinions. “Living our values and acting consistently with them is crucial for becoming an effective and resilient leader,” she said. “When we let the reactions of others dictate our emotions, we essentially give away our power—our power over ourselves.” Similar to Duckworth, her insights underscored the importance of self-awareness and self-empowerment in leadership, encouraging individuals to reclaim their narrative and focus on their intrinsic values.
A book Flo recommends is The Confident Mind, which helped her understand the narratives she told herself. Duckworth’s research also highlights the value of a growth mindset, where individuals believe they can improve through hard work and learning. This mindset fosters resilience in the face of challenges. Individuals can achieve their goals by cultivating resilience and focusing on continuous improvement, regardless of their starting point.
When offering advice to women in leadership roles, Flo stressed the importance of knowing and staying true to one’s core values. “To succeed in life, to grow personally and professionally, you have to get outside your comfort zone and take risks. And you have to accept the fact that you will make mistakes. Mistakes are not failures. They are simply things that did not work out as you had planned and so you need to learn from them and pivot. “Failures” only occur when you stray from your core values and you fail to consistently act in accordance with those values.”
As our conversation drew to a close, Flo shared a poignant thought: “Be careful how you define success; career success is not the sole measure of a successful life. Family, friends, giving back and adding value wherever we can are, to me, even truer measures of success.” Her insights remind us that grit, resilience, and a focus on our values can guide us through the complexities of leadership and life. As we celebrate these gritty women, may we draw inspiration from their journeys and the wisdom they impart.
