2025 WOMEN INFLUENCERS – The Art of Being Inspired

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“Inspiration,” said Mary Hart, “is what can make me a better person in my personal and professional life.” Hart, head of the U.S. commercial channel print at HP, thinks inspiration can come from many sources. Depending on the individual, this may be an experience, a book, a work of art, a film, a work colleague, a person you hear about in casual conversations or even see online. Hart is echoed by another of our 2025 women influencers: Ricoh’s Jennifer Healy, vice president for development and experience in the dealer channel. Healy adds that inspiration can be a driving force that supports personal and professional efforts to reach and even exceed one’s goals.

More elemental, inspiration can foster motivation. Leveraging this combination is Nexera and MPS Monitor’s Regional Director Sarah Henderson, who energizes her team with inspiration, sometimes citing the NASA mantra that “Failure is not an option.” While inspiration and motivation may seem joined at the hip, motivation is different, often helping drive a person forward. It can be the driver of specific actions: hitting a drive off the tee straighter, identifying new product needs, returning a serve more strongly, or increasing sales. Motivation drives one to do what these objectives require, be it developing new strategies, getting instruction, more diligent practice, stronger communications, or more training.

Inspiration, on the other hand, can be the part of the persona that accompanies one to work every day. It can empower people to be and do more, leaving an example for those who will follow. A form of legacy.

Stoking the Women Influencers’ Fire

These leaders said inspiration can be a daily part of how they do their job, striving to always measure up to—and even exceed—the hopes and standards of those further up and down the business food chain. What stokes this inspirational fire may be something that moves a person to act in a way they normally wouldn’t. It could be seeing someone suggesting or doing something original or out of the ordinary, thereby providing an inspiration to do something differently.

In talking about inspiration with these three leaders we also asked about women in the office technology industry. Once a realm inhabited almost exclusively by men, office tech has become a segment of printing where women are increasingly accepted and welcomed in leadership roles. What we found interesting is how vendors and dealers alike regard women as leaders who inspire and empower others to excel in all they do. Some are in leadership roles at OEMs while others are running dealerships. Even though often employing a different management style from their male counterparts, they lead from the front and aspire to ensuring success for their products, teams, and companies.

Inspiration can be an important success for these leaders, their companies and teams. In fact, a consistent benefit of inspiration for them was seeing the success of their team of those they may mentor. While hardly uncommon among successful leaders, inspiration, however you may define it, can be a key to effective leadership. Let’s take a look.

Mary Hart, HP

“I was fortunate to find leaders who inspired, guided and educated me,” said Mary Hart. “This was inspiring in helping me to inspire and encourage my team to be positive, honest, and candid.” As we all know, there can be tough days at work,” noted Hart, head of U.S. Commercial Channel Print at HP. “Pay attention to what you’re going through but remember that whatever is making your day or week go sideways is probably temporary. Focus on moving forward.”

She described HP as a company that always tries to understand dealers’ needs and those of their customers so it can provide what each is looking for to be successful.

She cited inspiration from both customers and the people on her team. “I work with great people. Inspiration comes at me from all directions!” she said enthusiastically. Moreover, she noted, “Getting inspiration from multiple places allows me to look at things in context, solve problems, or take on challenges differently than I would without inspiration.”

“The thing is, you can’t get complacent. It’s vital to keep challenging yourself,” Hart continued. This notion drives a question/response within her, a ‘Can I do this? Yes, I can,’ mindset that helps drive success. She then imbues her team with the same sense.

The constants in her 28 years at HP have been print and the people, both at the company and the customers. “We believe that we are going to help customers be better prepared for the future of work—be happier at work and be more productive. We have a strong commitment to the dealer community because we know the importance of delivering for them and their customers.”

‘Inspiration is what drives you to be a better person,” said Hart. “It’s what makes me want to do and to be better every day. I’ve been fortunate to work with several positive leaders, all of whom had a personal spark that to me is a key part of inspiration. Without it, leading would be more difficult.”

Like Healy at Ricoh, Hart used the term spark to define an attitude, a way of thinking, an approach to work and leadership that seems intrinsic to inspiration. Look deeper and you may find that many of the best leaders have personal spark that keeps going when the odds seem stacked against them. This not only helps them persevere but pass along inspiration others.

Jennifer Healy, Ricoh

Healy rolled out a new term, teamship: building transparency and trust as a leader in ways that encourage other to follow you. This invoked another new word, followship: developing a following, which can ease the load of being a leader, said the vice president of business development and experience for the dealer channel at Ricoh. She noted that rolling up one’s sleeves is critical, as is listening to each person, and working together to accomplish the task at hand. Healy said this makes everyone successful.

Inspiration, she explained, lies at the core of teamship, containing the spark that can ignite change, uplift others, and provide resilience in a world of omnipresent change. Inspiration, said Healy, is about authenticity, courage, and persistence, even when the odds may be against you. It sometimes means leaving your comfort zone, she noted, but doing so can help you move forward because you find that you can do something you may have thought impossible.

“Sometimes personal and professional inspiration can bleed into one another,” she said. For Healy, a 31-year veteran at Ricoh, both can begin with the footprint—the impact— an individual or a team is having. “I am inspired by others who lead with integrity, innovation, and a pure passion for what they do. She describes what she terms, “a ripple effect of meaningful work—that one idea, one act of courage, or one breakthrough can inspire others to rise, lead, and create.”

To Healy, inspiration is more than a feeling. “it’s a responsibility,” she said. “It’s about showing up with purpose, lifting others, and leaving behind a legacy —a footprint—that reflects not just that something was built, but how it was built. I think those who inspire others sometimes do it without knowing,” she continued. “Inspiration can even be the spark that changes a company’s culture and connects people in meaningful ways.”

Yet things don’t always work as planned. She noted that while inspiration can empower others to believe in themselves, take ownership, try something new, it also shows that that innovation sometimes comes with failure. This is where persistence comes in and why it should be integral to inspiration.”

“True leadership,” said Healy, “is selfless.” Layering inspiration with it, it is about lifting others up rather than standing above them, listening more than speaking, and making sure every voice is heard. “By leading with inspiration, humility and heart,” concluded Healy, “we don’t just build strong teams—we build a culture where everyone thrives.”

Sarah Henderson, Nexera and MPS Monitor

“People who work with me will tell you that what inspires me most at work is overcoming challenges,” said Henderson. “If somebody doubts me or says I can’t do something I just refuse to fail. I think that’s been a driver of my career.”

For Henderson, regional director at Nexera and MPS Monitor, inspiration has been another driver, some of it beginning with a book she read in college. More on this in a moment. [the book is never mentioned in the article] When facing a challenging time at work, for instance, she noted there can be something that inspires you. It can show up in unexpected ways.

She noted how skills often come not from formal education but practical experience. In the workplace “It’s building the people around you and working on what you are not good at. It’s sometimes easy to do stuff you’re not good at because you can often improve as you go.”

“It’s harder do things you haven’t done at all. When I sold office technology at Kyocera, I had to start from the ground up. I’d never done that before. How do I price this device? How do I configure it? I had great people around me and working with them raised my competency in an area I hadn’t tackled before. Today, that customer-level experience helps in my role at Nexera.”

Henderson explained how one of the things important to her was learning to ask better questions. This let other people show off their expertise (which they appreciated) while building her own knowledge. As Henderson found, this helps make one more informed and competent, which colleagues and customers find assuring and encouraging.

“When I think of this channel and about the people we work with, I think about legacy. It’s very inspiring to see first, second, and third generation all continuing their legacy. It’s something about our American culture; that independent spirit of business owners that I enjoy the most, and helping those people be successful.”

She thought a moment. “Someone once said to me, ‘Sarah you really have a servant’s heart.’ I guess I do. Serving and helping others makes me feel proud of the work I do.”

She shares this approach in working with her team and emphasized the importance of sharing the vision of where you want to go. “This helps define what we are, where we want to go next, and how we can bring more value.”

Unlike Hart and Healy, each with about three decades of experience at one firm, Henderson has worked with several companies before her current role at Nexera. She finds this range of experience helps empower her team and herself. “It can be good to be the oddball (outsider) or at least have that person in the room. He or she asks different questions, ones that may make you think. As the leader, rich with input from everyone, it’s important to ask what else can be brought to the table? Then you must be open for whatever comes next.”

Henderson turned back to the list she had made in college. “I’ve done a lot of different things. The further down any path you go the better prepared you are for what comes next. But I still have that list from college of things I wanted to do. Hold public office. Check. Be a successful business executive. Check.” She pauses. “I’m not done yet.”

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