Why one UK CEO turned down the top job twice before she finally said yes

Vicky Bullen turned down the CEO role at branding and design agency Coley Porter Bell twice – but not because she didn’t want the job.

“I really just felt that I didn’t know enough,” Bullen admitted to CNBC’s Make It. “I felt as if I needed to know absolutely everything.”

Bullen did eventually say yes to the offer and was promoted to the top role in 2005.

“I recognized that being a leader isn’t all about me,” she said. “I realized that I needed to hire people who are experts in their roles. I needed to empower them, to promote them, to encourage them, as the expert that I am not. As CEO, my role was to pull the right people together around me and to give the right direction.”

Bullen has also learned to take counsel on big decisions:

“I don’t have to have all the answers on my own. So, I have learned to always talk through my bigger decisions with my senior leadership team. Not only does it bring a diversity of thinking, insights and perspectives, but often makes the decision or the thinking better.”

This is just one of five of Vicky Bullen’s biggest lessons. Watch the video above for more.