We all have someone we admire – someone we look up to.

In researching this column in honor of Women’s History Month, I think I was reminded of the importance of having a hero – or heroine, in this case.

While I’ve got many women whom I admire – with my mother at the top of my list – in starting my business, I have been inspired by two women in history.

The first is Joan of Arc, known as the “Virgin Warrior.” She was centuries ahead of her time not only in military service, but in military strategy.

While it’s still debated to this day whether she was truly inspired by God to save France from Britain or whether she was a lunatic and a heretic, I’ve always admired her passion and conviction.

The second woman is Queen Elizabeth I. Several years ago, I was spending a girls’ afternoon with my sister and one of my cousins. For the afternoon’s entertainment, we had some junk food and went on a movie binge – with the fare including the movie, “Elizabeth.” Based on Queen Elizabeth’s life, the movie makes for great entertainment – though it’s not always factually accurate.

After watching the movie, I decided I wanted to learn more about the former queen of England, and did some research on the internet.

In so doing, I found a book that has turned into one of my favorites – “Elizabeth I CEO: Strategic Lessons from the Leader who Built an Empire” by Alan Axelrod.

While the title is more than a mouthful, the book is one I’d call a must for women in management or women who own their own businesses.

Whether you like history or not, hers is a story that’s definitely of interest.

She was born in 1533 as the daughter of Henry VII and Anne Boleyn – one of Henry’s many wives. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate shortly before her father had her mother executed in 1536.

She was later reestablished as an heir to the thrown – something that put her life in danger on more than one occasion.

During this period in her life prior to her crowning as queen, she learned many valuable leadership lessons, according to Axelrod’s book. The first section of the book is entitled “A leader’s first lesson: Survival.”

This holds true whether speaking of Elizabeth or any business owner or manager. In Elizabeth’s day, it meant pretending to conform to the Catholic church supported by her half-sister Mary, then queen. One of the chapters in the section is “Survival is never about panic: Keeping your head.”

Elizabeth literally had to worry about keeping her head before her ascent to power, and even later when the Catholic church plotted her death. These concepts have proven valuable to me over and over again through the beginning phases of a business.

When she inherited the kingdom of England, the country was nearly broke, was wrought with religious strife, had recently experienced wartime failures and had a huge government debt.

In Axelrod’s book, he uses excerpts of letters and other writings by Queen Elizabeth to illustrate his points on leadership. In the chapter titled “Pledge 100 Percent,” the queen’s writing shows her devotion to the cause of England, but to her people – her charge – as well.

“And persuade yourselves that for the safety and quietness of you all, I will not spare if need be to spend my blood,” she wrote. “God thank you all.”

How many leaders pledge that much devotion to the cause and to their people?

Elizabeth, before and as queen, was fully aware that she operated in a man’s world. She used that to her advantage when she could – sometimes using the promise of marriage as a negotiating tool. But she also proclaimed herself boldly as the leader of the English people – especially when its interests were threatened.

“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman,” she wrote, “but I have the heart and the stomach of a King, and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain or any Prince of Europe should dare invade the borders of my Realm to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your General, Judge, and Rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field …”

Talk about guts.

And what I enjoyed most about the movie – and through reading the book – was learning that Queen Elizabeth thanked God not only for her position but for everything she had. In one very dramatic moment in the movie, a young Elizabeth triumphantly proclaims to all who can hear, “This is the Lord’s doing.”

I can’t think of a way to be better fortified as a leader, as a manager, as a business owner than by seeking God’s will and God’s blessings. Elizabeth knew this, and through Elizabeth’s leadership, the country saw some of its greatest days during her 45 years of reign – known still as the Elizabethan age.

While I think it’s important for each of us to have a heroine year-round, I’d encourage each of you to take 30 minutes or an hour this month and do a little research or reading on a woman who inspires you.