Florida 500: Snapshots of influential Tampa Bay area women

The Tampa area is home to some of Florida’s most impactful business leaders. A select few make the annual Florida 500 list, which highlights influential executives among different economic sectors. These individuals are identified by Florida Trend magazine through extensive research. Below, select women who earned the most recent honor share advice and direction.

Joy Randels

Founder & CEO

New Market Partners

 

How do you define influence?

Influence comes through emotional connections. It doesn’t come instantaneously. It grows as we purposefully take action by extending honor, and receiving respect, from others in return. As the saying goes, “I don’t care how much you know until I know how much you care.”

 

The process of connecting with your team starts by getting to know them as individuals. Understand their goals, and passions, in, and beyond, the workplace. Helping people grow, lifting their vision to higher sights and inspiring them to raise their performance to a higher standard, often even beyond what they see for themselves. That is real influence.

 

What advice do you have for would-be influential business leaders?

Be authentic. Know yourself and understand your personal strengths and weaknesses.

  • Truly connect with people.
  • Create an environment that allows your people to achieve small wins that magnify their potential.
  • Understand that you will never please everyone and that is okay.
  • Strive for respect, versus popularity.
  • Give trust so that you can earn trust.
  • Think bigger for others—even bigger than they think of themselves.

 

Nancy Tower

President & CEO

Tampa Electric

(Tower announced plans to retire from this post in 2020)

 

What advice do you have for would-be influential business leaders?

There is no one style of leadership that works. Be a student of leaders and take from those whom you admire and learn from those that you don’t. Find your own style and be true to yourself and your values.

 

How do you define influence?

Influence means the ability to achieve your goals without making all the decisions yourself. A leader must influence, guide and, maybe even, course correct the team to achieve the strategy.

 

Rhea Law

Former Chair, Florida Offices

Of Counsel

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, Tampa

 

Please explain your leadership strategy.

My leadership strategy is to inspire others to succeed in things they never thought possible and thereby develop an “army” of empowered people to work towards the success of the organization. This strategy works best when applied to individuals at all levels. Clearly communicating mission, and goals, encouraging independent thought, and accountability, providing coaching, and leadership training, as well as specifically identifying opportunities for growth are the tactics necessary to achieve the strategy.

 

What advice do you have for would-be influential business leaders?

There are thousands of books on the characteristics of a leader, however, in my view, the most important single attribute is to always maintain one’s credibility and integrity. An entire lifetime of positive actions can be undone in a moment of lapsed judgment. Trust your instincts – if something doesn’t feel quite right – don’t do it.

 

View the entire list of Florida 500 honorees here.

You May Also Like

Power Design surpasses $1 billion in revenue

Power Design, a national multi-trade contractor and one of the largest private employers in St. Petersburg, has surpassed $1 billion in revenue, for the first time in the company’s history.

Tampa’s CoreX Legal joins with New York firm

Tampa’s CoreX Legal has joined with Bochner, an international law firm based in New York City. Bochner serves startups to Fortune 500 companies, both nationally and globally. This move expands

Thomas Financial and Johnson, Kendall & Johnson announce partnership

Thomas Financial and Johnson, Kendall & Johnson have entered into partnership to bring personal and commercial property and casualty services to the Tampa Bay area under the umbrella of Thomas

Richard Gonzmart and Andrea Gonzmart Williams to be honored as 2024 Persons of Vision

Preserve Vision Florida will honor Richard Gonzmart and Andrea Gonzmart Williams as its 2024 Persons of Vision, in recognition of their leadership in Tampa Bay. The 45th Annual Person of

Other Posts

The Cake Girl to begin franchising in the New Year

For Kristina Lavallee, life keeps getting sweeter. Founder and namesake of local dessert company, The Cake Girl, Lavallee’s rise to success is already a sweet tale. Well-known, around the Tampa

St. Petersburg’s Studio620 announces leadership transition

Studio@620 has named Erica Sutherlin as the incoming artistic executive director, as a part of the planned transition for when founder Bob Devin Jones steps down from the role, in

A St. Petersburg woman is Leaping with love for cancer patients

It was the lamp with the frog that caught her attention, first, as Vanessa Bernard sat in the waiting room for her first oncology appointment. A frog picture awaited her,

B2 Communications co-founder Missy Hurley named agency’s CEO

Missy Hurley, a co-founder of the public relations agency B2 Communications, has acquired co-founder Kyle Parks’ shares of the company, becoming the sole owner and chief executive officer of the