$19.95 / Perfectbound
ISBN: 9781608441129
236 pages
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Women’s Ways of Leading invites the reader into a journey of self-discovery informed by a fresh definition of leadership that transcends position, role and hierarchy and proposes leadership as reciprocal learning in purposeful communities. Lambert and Gardner argue convincingly that this century needs women leaders who commit to values, are conscious of their evolving selves, invoke passion and courage, arouse the imagination, create community and mentor the next generation. Based on the findings of a series of studies examining women leaders across multiple fields of endeavors, the latest findings in brain research and psychology, and case studies from the lives of some of the world’s most remarkable women leaders, Women’s Ways of Leading sets forth provocative possibilities for a world led equally by enlightened women and men.

Lambert and Gardner replicated their studies into women’s leadership in the United States, Canada and Malaysia with women representing careers in education, business, science, arts, government, health and sports. Leadership, the authors find, is constructivist in nature; that is, individuals compose or construct meaning and knowledge based on their own values and experiences. Given this understanding of learning, the question becomes: How do we lead others toward purposeful learning that will change our lives and communities for the better? Women’s Ways of Leading answers this compelling question through an examination of the themes that arose from the study and an evolving framework of perspectives that change with growth and maturity. This framework is formed into an instrument featuring the four perspectives: 1) The Denied Self, 2) The Nascent Self, 3) The Emerging Self, and 4) The Integrated Self. These perspectives were drawn both from our study and from the extensive research on human development. Each theme and perspective leads naturally to a cluster of understandings and skills essential to women leaders. Employing the study’s themes as criteria, the authors suggest “Women to Watch,” leaders who embody the new leadership.

The authors are fully aware that these theme areas can apply to men as well, although women tend to negotiate them differently, informed by distinct values, dispositions, neurobiological wiring and histories. The world they envision asks that enlightened men join forces with the new women leaders to create a desired destiny, the markers for which are defined in the book’s Epilogue.