When Michelle Howard, a vice admiral, was summoned last year by the head of the Navy, she thought he'd be discussing a new assignment. Instead, he wanted to nominate her to the rank of four-star admiral—a position no woman in U.S. naval history had ever achieved.
Stunned, Howard, now 54, went home to think about whether she had the right skills "to move the Navy forward," she recalls. Her husband of 25 years, Wayne Cowles, a retired Marine and fellow Desert Storm veteran, encouraged her to accept. Her 81-year-old mother, who lives with them, said, "You need to do this."
And so Howard got ready to break a gender barrier. When she called to order her women's four-star shoulder boards, the receptionist told her, "Uh, there aren't any," she recalls. "I go, 'Yeah, I thought that might be the case.'
Source: 
October 2014 issue.
When Doing It All Won't Do: A Self-Coaching Guide for Career Women
Women, Know Thyself: The most important knowledge is self-knowledge.
