--- title: Linda McMahon on Building the WWE Step-By-Step description: Former WWE CEO opens up at the Real Simple/TIME Women & Success Panel in New York City canonical: https://time.com/3453979/linda-mcmahon-on-building-the-wwe-step-by-step/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-02T01:31:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:56:06.028Z og:title: Linda McMahon on Building the WWE Step-By-Step og:description: Former WWE CEO opens up at the Real Simple/TIME Women & Success Panel in New York City og:url: https://time.com/3453979/linda-mcmahon-on-building-the-wwe-step-by-step/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Linda McMahon on Building the WWE Step-By-Step twitter:description: Former WWE CEO opens up at the Real Simple/TIME Women & Success Panel in New York City twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Linda McMahon on Building the WWE Step-By-Step  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2014 1:31 AM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2014 1:31 AM UTC Former CEO of WWE Linda McMahon spoke with television host Tamron Hall, _Frozen_ songwriter Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Real Simple editor Kristen van Ogtrop about her path to success and the advice she’d give to young women. Here’s what she said: **On the first moment she felt successful:** --- > “” --- **On how she built the WWE with her husband:** --- > “” --- **On how she measures success:** --- > “” --- **On fearing failure:** --- > “” --- Linda McMahon on Building the WWE Step-By-Step ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3453979/linda-mcmahon-on-building-the-wwe-step-by-step/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3453979/linda-mcmahon-on-building-the-wwe-step-by-step/"},"headline":"Linda McMahon on Building the WWE Step-By-Step","datePublished":"2014-10-02T01:31:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:06.028Z","description":"Former WWE CEO opens up at the Real Simple/TIME Women & Success Panel in New York City","url":"https://time.com/3453979/linda-mcmahon-on-building-the-wwe-step-by-step/","keywords":["Living","advice"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3453979/linda-mcmahon-on-building-the-wwe-step-by-step/","name":"Linda McMahon on Building the WWE Step-By-Step"}}]}] ```