When Penny Herscher stepped into her first chief executive role, at the tech firm Simplex Solutions, she felt sure she was prepared. After all, she had held marketing, business development, and general manager positions at her previous company, Synopsys, and she was comfortable taking on difficult challenges. Even so, her confidence quickly evaporated. “I had no clue how to be a CEO,” she says. “I kept finding myself in situations where I didn’t feel I had the experience and the tool set to know what to do, and I kept waiting for permission to make decisions.” Then one of the company’s directors took her aside. “You’re looking to the board for permission,” he told her. “We’ll give you advice, but you have to make your own decisions.” With that nudge she found her footing and went on to lead her company to a successful IPO. Read this great HBR article to find out more