GoodRx CEO says successful leadership is about more than just staying calm during chaos: it’s about bosses taking back control

But for GoodRx CEO Wendy BarnesSuccessful leadership today is not just about staying calm through chaos, it is about taking back control.

Speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C., Barnes noted that the huge trend driven by resignation for empathy and flexibility at work, while important, has given employees too much power while undermining their bosses.

“I have noticed an uncomfortable trend where I feel that the employer-employee partnership, in some cases, is so skewed towards the employee that the commitment of our colleagues as employees is sometimes left on the floor,” she said. luck’Q Diane Brady.

It was an interesting challenge for me, because there’s a tendency, I think, given my background, to say: Are you kidding me? and “Suck it up, buttercup.” Let’s go. Obviously that wouldn’t work either, and that wouldn’t be an appropriate response.

Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Barnes spent nearly a decade in the U.S. Air Force, where she learned an early lesson in leadership: recognizing what you don’t know — and leading through others who do.

“I had to constantly set myself and what I could control versus what I couldn’t,” she said. “And I had to keep reminding my team of the same thing, and to the point there are things that are pretty much uncontrollable.”

Alexis Debre, Chief Operating Officer at Nordstromresonates while business pressures can seem increasingly magnified — and that’s quite the norm: “The challenge is different, but there’s always something. There’s always something that challenges us to lead differently.”

Photography by Stuart Isett/Fortune

Thinking about leadership change from a monkey’s perspective

to Build it between usfounder of consulting firm Insigniam, change is a very personal thing. In late 2023, her company was acquired by Elixir– Transforming her from “Queen Bee” to part of a larger leadership team in a publicly traded company.

This transformation forced her to rethink what transformation truly requires. An answer between us? Think about monkeys.

“The way they catch monkeys is they set a trap where the monkey puts his hand out to get the good stuff, but he can’t put his hand out unless he lets go of the good stuff,” she said. “I often use this with my clients when they’re going through a transformation, either in the organization or in their leadership: You have to be willing to let go of everything you’re holding on to.

“I always think about the monkey,” Pena said. “I ask myself: Am I willing to give up all the good things for what could be?”

Ultimately, the willingness to embrace transformation is what Pena said drives long-term success: “You have to give up the bananas.”