Like Charles Barkley, I never thought of myself as a role model. Maybe it was because I was a little older than my peers. Maybe it was because there were so few women in the senior ranks of premier management consulting firms. Who knows?

Point is, being seen as a role model is a big responsibility, and it can be draining and misleading. Difficult choices made for personal reasons – like my husband dropping his career in PR to stay home after the birth of our first child – was mistaken for a black and white recommendation. Time shifting to allow me to be present before bedtime was misinterpreted as “the way” for working moms to cope with demanding careers.

I’m not sure why I took such a hard road – only 6 weeks of maternity leave after the birth of our second child, intensive travel, long hours, high stakes, all for high comp and flexibility. I never advised anyone to do as I did.

I always felt no one person embodied all I aspired to become. My own role model was more an amalgamation of traits from a variety of people I knew and respected. Like so many other aspects of my life, I kept my choice of a role model flexible and open to new information.