Ironically, the best way to take care of my team is to take care of me. When I unplug for weekends, take my vacations, and remember to spend quality time with friends and family, it gives my team the space to recharge as well. In Your View, What Remains to be Done With Respect to Women’s Leadership? I wish I could say “nothing”--that we have come to a place where we can drop the gendered modifier and just talk about leadership. However, as we look at top jobs in industry, higher education, and public service, it’s pretty clear: women are still not represented at the highest levels in sufficient numbers. We seem to be experiencing a major shift in larger numbers of women running for public office, and it took a concerted effort to make that happen. Where are the similar efforts in higher education and industry? Many talented women are ready to lead at the highest levels in all sectors of society. We need to see a concerted program of effort to prepare and place more women in leadership roles and to support them once they have ascended to those roles. What Wise Words of Wisdom Do You Want to Share With Future Generations? It’s not really for me to say if my words are “wise” or not. I do know that, as a younger me, I probably ignored any “wisdom” shared with me. There really is something special about experiencing a range of life events and reaching a stage of life where important themes come together. I’m not sure these wise words can be passed along; more likely they have to be lived to fully benefit from them. Yet, I will share what I believe to be the wisdom accrued from a life of leadership if only so that I can make sense of it. Leadership is a privilege, not an entitlement. You need to earn that leadership role every day. Never take it for granted. A leader’s main role is to elevate her team. Develop them, support them, challenge them, protect them. They are capable of doing amazing work if they have a safe place to take appropriate risks. Never take yourself as seriously as others seem to. Keep a “court jester”--someone who will remind you of your humanity. A leader is most effective when she knows herself well, embraces her roots as a strength, allows herself to be vulnerable, and never fears to speak up for her team. One of my favorite sayings, attributed to an unknown author, is this: “When in doubt, be yourself.” I keep this taped to my laptop to view it frequently. When I am myself, I am the leader I want and need to be. Marie A. Cini, PhD is President of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL)/A Strada Education Network Affiliate in Chicago. She can be reached at mcini@cael.org.
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