Women Who Lead Commit to Values

Values, as I suggested yesterday in the post on Steinbeck, are the genesis of leadership. We believe that values form each person’s identity. Today, Mary Gardner and I are sitting in my living room examining the role that values play in the lives of women leaders.  We thought we’d start by reviewing our thoughts from Chapter 2 of Women’s Ways of Leading:

Values can be as nebulous and as mystical as leadership itself. Yet it is values that describe who women are and what women stand for in the world. By defining Leadership as “reciprocal, purposeful learning in community,” purpose or values form the heart of leading, as they are the heart of learning. The notion of universal values—principles or strongly held beliefs—turns attention toward human rights ideals such as peace, caring, equality, universal literacy, women’s and children’s rights, democratic citizenship and environmental care.

Linda: Mary, isn’t this as true for men?

Mary: Certainly, men such as Steinbeck, lead lives shaped by values; however, our research—you will recall—on the neurobiology of women indicate that women are uniquely suited to claim values such as empathy, caring, equity…

Linda: In other words, women negotiate the value journey somewhat differently?

Mary: Exactly. Nel Noddings suggested that the value of caring is a significant lens through which women, particularly, attribute meaning to experiences, build relationships and frame action.

Linda: Yes, for instance, she encouraged teachers to give themselves permission to care about their students and other teachers, and to develop strategies for building reciprocal caring among students.

Mary: And, Carol Gilligan pointed out that caring is the key value in the moral development of women.

Linda: So, the trick is to figure out how those fires get lit for women to translate caring into the leadership actions.

Mary: And in Women’s Ways of Leading stories exemplify how these fires get lit…

Linda: And our reflective questions engage women in the exploration of their own lives and how values give them strength, direction and focus.

‘Til tomorrow.

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