Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Diane von Furstenberg (chief executive of DVF). She suggests that a clear goal is key to effective leadership. If you can explain the goal to yourself first, then to your team, you will be on the path to meeting that goal. To read the complete interview, check out other articles, and obtain subscription information, please click here.

Photo credit: Emily Berl for The New York Times

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You’ve said many times that your mother was your biggest influence. What are the most important lessons you learned from her?

My mother was a Holocaust survivor and, having survived 13 months in the concentration camps, she taught me that fear is not an option. And no matter what happens, never be a victim. Life is a journey, and when you face obstacles the only thing you can do is accept them and embrace the reality. Very often, with things that are bad or not what you wanted, it’s your job to turn them into something positive.

The next big lesson I learned for myself, very early in life, is that I realized that the most important relationship is the one you have with yourself. If you figure that out, every other relationship is a plus and not a must.

How has your leadership style evolved?

I don’t think I have ever learned how to manage people. I was a young girl who came to America and lived an American dream. I became an entrepreneur and a founder and had a big business at a very early age, and so I never learned about it. I always used my instinct, which is probably my biggest quality and my biggest fault.

I am not a good C.E.O., but I have the passion and the force of a founder, and therefore I can make things happen. I can inspire people and motivate people.

How do you get the best work out of creative teams on your staff?

I think the most important thing is to believe in what you do. And identifying a goal, to have clarity, is very important. You cannot fake clarity. When you don’t have clarity, you don’t. And then all of a sudden, the fog lifts and you’re clear. It’s very important to constantly try to look for clarity, like pruning a tree or cleaning the plumbing.

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To read the complete interview as well as Bryant’s interviews of other executives, please click here.

Adam Bryant, deputy national editor of The New York Times, oversees coverage of education issues, military affairs, law, and works with reporters in many of the Times’ domestic bureaus. He also conducts interviews with CEOs and other leaders for Corner Office, a weekly feature in the SundayBusiness section and on nytimes.com that he started in March 2009. In his book, The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed, (Times Books), he analyzes the broader lessons that emerge from his interviews with more than 70 leaders. To read an excerpt, please click here. To contact him, please click here.