( CNN ) When other women ask Christine Lagarde about coping with failure -- and they often do -- the head of the International Monetary Fund does n't mince her words . `` Oh get over it . Get over it and move on , '' says the fifth most powerful women in the world according to Forbes . `` I 've failed myself . Twice I tried to enter the National School of Administration in the French system and I failed . '' Legarde might have failed twice , but the 59-year-old is a woman of firsts . She is the first woman to chair the global law firm Baker and McKenzie . The first female finance minister of France . And since 2011 , the first woman to lead the IMF . The mother-of-two 's philosophy is to learn from her failures , adding : `` and then you move on . '' `` Moving on '' is something Lagarde is trying to do now . Last year magistrates placed Lagarde under formal investigation in regards to a political fraud case , dating back to her days as a French finance minister . Lagarde is appealing the decision . But how does she cope with the weight of these allegations ? `` With strength , with my sense of duty to my country , with the certainty that I made the right choice at the time independently , '' she said . We asked other women at the top of their fields about the biggest failures of their careers . Like Lagarde , many said set backs can later become sources of great strength . `` My mother would tell me from a very young age never to be afraid of failing , '' Huffington told CNN 's Leading Women . `` I was absolutely fine taking risks . Trying to get into Cambridge when everybody said you 'll never get in , or writing my first book when I was 23 . `` A lot of things were likely to fail and many did fail . I mean my first book did well , my second book was rejected by 36 publishers . '' The 64-year-old has now written 14 books . Huffington 's advice has been to embrace failure . `` You can recognize very often that out of these projects that may not have succeeded themselves that other successes are built , '' she said . One of the Iranian-born Briton 's greatest professional disappointments was her rejected design for the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales , in 1995 . Hadid won the commission twice , but her building never saw the light of day after it was thwarted by local politicians . `` I know a lot of people thought I would give up , because it was such an awful , painful experience . I remember the day it happened I thought , ' I will not let this finish me , ' '' she said . `` In a way , it saved me . I think it did make me stronger . '' She 's the self-made Chinese billionaire who 's richer than Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey . But it was n't an easy rise to the top for 49-year-old property mogul Xin , who as a teenager worked in a factory before raising enough money to study in Britain . Did she come across a lot of failures ? `` Every day . I mean , I think that 's just life , '' says the mother-of-two with an estimated worth of $ 2 billion . `` You will always bump into difficulties , challenges and problems . It appears to be that we seem to be doing quite well , but as it is now , we 're still having challenges every day . So I think that 's just nothing unique . That 's just life . '' Described as the `` Oprah of Africa , '' Nigerian talk show host Mosunmola Abudu has interviewed such high profile guests as IMF chief Christine Lagarde and former U.S. secretary of State Hillary Clinton . However , one interviewee Abudu still dreams of having on her program , `` Moments with Mo , '' is American talk show queen Oprah Winfrey . So far , Abudu has been unable to make contact with Winfrey . But rather than knock the wind out of her sails , it 's made her all the more determined to change the face of African television . `` Of course , there were many knock backs along the way , many people telling me 'you ca n't do these things , ' '' said Abudu . `` But I think what 's important in life is that you believe in yourself and the things you can do . '' Insight : Why women run banks differently . Interview : Nasa 's chief scientist wants humans on Mars .
Five leading women reveal their greatest career failures . IMF boss , Christine Lagarde , says : 'Learn and move on ' Arianna Huffington and Zaha Hadid say challenges made them stronger .