Ellen D’Amato | THE CENTRAL EXCHANGE

For women just starting their careers, Ellen D’Amato has some counter-intuitive advice: Sometimes, the best way to get to the top is to go … sideways. “Young people entering business today will work for several companies during their careers,” says D’Amato, CEO of The Central Exchange. “To be prepared for change, it is important to continually add new skill sets and knowledge. Look not only for opportunities to move vertically in your organization and career, but to move horizontally to add to your capabilities.”

Look no farther than her own career as an example of flexibility in action: Corporate attorney with a Sprint subsidiary, vice president of a corporate law department, and since 2002, chief executive for the Central Exchange, a group dedicated to promoting leadership skills for women in the workplace.

D’Amato relishes the workplace changes she’s witnessed over the past three decades. “Today’s workplace norms were established based on a work force that was overwhelmingly male, with stay-at-home wives raising the children. This has not been the case for some time, and more and more women in the work force will accelerate necessary changes,” she said.

What will that bring us? “I think we’ll see less focus on face time at the office, and more emphasis on results. This change is facilitated by technology that makes all of us available to colleagues and customers 24x7, no matter where we are.”

Katie Steele Danner | MISSOURI DIVISION OF TOURISM

Whether in public policy (state or federal), small business ownership or philanthropy, Katie Steele Danner’s work can be synthesized into one word: Leadership. Leaders have vision. This is how Danner describes her own: “I try to keep my eye on the doughnut, not on the hole.” Now the state’s tourism director, she has an impressive resume: Three terms in the Missouri House. Director of Missouri operations for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, followed by seven years in his administration. (She still cites Hillary Clinton as her most influential mentor.) Danner took an executive role with Swope Community Foundation in 2001, then became founding director of the Skaggs Foundation in Branson. Gov. Jay Nixon called on her in 2009 to become deputy director of the Department of Economic Development, duties that include her tourism oversight. And she’s served as president of Athena Consulting, in Hollister, Mo., since 2001. A track like that can teach you a lot.

“Each experience has taught me to nurture and advance my strengths, and to admit my weakness,” Danner candidly confesses. “I am most satisfied when problem-solving, I make decisions quickly, and when I can provide direction to team members, provide them the tools to accomplish the mission, and then get out of the way.” To women who would follow her path, her advice: Decide if you are going to be a generalist or a specialist. Cultivate the different techniques needed to excel in each track. Apply your life experiences—and never stop learning.

Annie Hurlbut | PERUVIAN CONNECTION

Legions of successful women can point to mentors who made a difference for them. But how many women can say their mentor who backed up their belief by going into business with them?

Annie Hurlbut can. Her mother, Biddy, helped her launch Peruvian Connection in 1976, inspired—as was Biddy’s then-19-year-old daughter doing anthropological research in Peru—by the look and feel of alpaca fibers woven into clothing by Andean artisans. A chance encounter with a reporter for The New York Times at a boutique show led to a story that helped kick-start sales, and the company was off and running.

Biddy died in 2007 at the age of 80, and Annie today oversees a company that ranks among the three largest owned by women in the Kansas City region, with annual revenues topping $52 million. “My mom used to have one of those old English slogan ware pieces that read ‘Good cheer breaks ill luck,’ Hurlbut says. “One can survive most anything by just taking it a day at a time.”

That’s why, she says, the best response to any setback is perseverance. “Overcoming it usually involves outlasting it,” Hurlbut said. “Eventually, with enough energy and optimism, even the biggest challenges seem to dissipate. The moral of the story: You’ll rarely get out of a huge mess by yourself. That’s when you especially need to be able to count on others. People are much more likely to help out when positive energy is involved.”