$19.95 / Perfectbound
ISBN: 9781608441129
236 pages
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An Introduction

Empowering women today is perhaps the greatest legacy we can bestow upon our children. Our daughters, watch­ing in admiration, will be inspired to emulate our initia­tives and excel in their chosen fields. Our sons, proud of the positive changes they see not only in their families but also in society, will recognize the value of empowering women. Ultimately, we will all benefit from a more cohe­sive and active global community renowned for respect­ing each other and proud of the strong foundations we have built together.

- Queen Abdullah of Jordan

We were compelled to write this book. The voices of our moth­ers haunted us; our more than a century of lived experience informed us; our research left open no other door. So here we are, two women whose journeys have instilled us with passion, whose values have defined us, whose evolution bound us to this question. The questions before us are: What are women’s ways of leading? And why does that matter? It has been a journey of discovery.

In our professions and in our writing, we have pursued leader­ship in all its forms. We have served in multiple leadership positions, written several books on the topic and mentored the next generation as role models and personal mentors. Our original mentors were our mothers, separated by state, religion and experience…yet strikingly similar. Both mothers were artists…artists from whom we learned to appreciate beauty and understand imagination. Linda’s mother, Lucretia Todd, would wake her in the early morning, wrap her in a warm blanket and carry her out to a sacred, secret place in the dew-soaked grass to watch the sunrise. Lucretia’s paintings, poetry and stories enriched life in her small Kansas town...a life that may have otherwise been circumscribed by the ordinariness of women’s lives in the 1950s. Among Lucretia’s poems to Linda that signified the reci­procity of their relationship is the following:

We’ve laughed together, cried together Had many good times too. I think I would be safe to say, I grew up with you.

As a child, Mary was enthralled by her mother’s natural ability to write stories and plays, draw landscapes and flowers, recite poetry, and play the piano by ear. Although Eloise Jones, like Lucretia Todd, never finished high school, many rural women in Wyoming admired her wisdom and talents. Eloise was called upon to produce pageants for the Mormon Church, play the piano for congregational singing and paint scenery in windows for various celebrations.

Both of us have been educators who served in multiple roles: teacher, administrator, professor and consultant. As researchers, we have talked with hundreds of women throughout the United States, Canada, and around the world. During the last three decades, our writings set forth our changing notions of leadership that irretriev­ably and deeply connected leading and learning. Between us, we bring more than 80 years of experience to this endeavor. We have continually searched for a deeper understanding of women’s ways of leading.

Yet leadership, especially women’s leadership, remains both a provocative and an elusive idea to many. For generations, leadership referred to the person in power, the person in charge, the person in a particular authority role or designated position. Such roles included president and priest, chief executive officer and director, superinten­dent and principal, and, yes, father and brother. The insistence on attaching leadership to a specific person often excluded those who were not readily invited in, who were excluded by tradition, mythol­ogy, bigotry or fear. In the United States, those individuals were most often women and people of color.