REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
Mary Barra, CEO of GM, says she's never asked for a raise or a promotion.
FORTUNE just named Barra number one on its list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.
In an interview that accompanied the list, Barra explained how she made it to the top without asking to be bumped up:
What I always say is, "Do every job you're in like you're going to do it for the rest of your life and demonstrate that ownership of it."
You deliver and produce results and you do it with high integrity and teamwork, and it'll all work out. You don't have to ask for different jobs, and you don't have to ask for raises.
That's the opposite of the tactic promoted by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who argues that women often hold themselves back from leadership positions by not asking for raises and promotions.
"Women attribute their success to working hard, luck and help from other people," she told 60 Minutes last year. "Men will attribute that same success to their own core skills."