On Becoming a Woman Leader: Learning from the Experiences of University Presidents (review)

On Becoming a Woman Leader is a fascinating qualitative study of 10 university presidents, now in their 50s or 60s, and their lifelong accumulation of skills and life lessons that prepared them to be leaders. Susan Madsen conducted extended, open-ended interviews in which the women talk about their experiences, starting with childhood, moving through their education and early professional jobs, and then finally focusing on their work as a president.

Instead of telling each woman’s story in its entirety, the author chooses key themes or developmental stages and discusses all 10 subjects’ experiences within that theme or stage. The book is divided into three large sections: “Youth,” “Adulthood,” and “Leadership.” The “Youth” section includes the presidents’ demographic background, schooling experiences, and college careers. “Adulthood” discusses their career paths, mentors, important experiences, and other life roles, such as being in committed relationships and raising children. The section on “Leadership” has a different tone: leadership styles and philosophies and what advice they would give other female presidents.

Although there is a substantial literature on women in higher education leadership, Madsen’s work has three qualities that make it a worthy contribution to the field. The first is the author’s lifetime perspective. Madsen treats all the experiences of the women in an holistic fashion rather than the atomized accounts that seem more common in other works. The book’s second strength is the integration of the leadership literature. Madsen includes a substantive bibliography, but instead of presenting a separate literature review, she weaves the relevant points from the scholarship throughout the text.

The third strength is her use of extensive quotations from the subjects, giving her portraits of the presidents a great deal of depth. This depth is then often preceded or followed by a rather succinct discussion of the key themes or ideas that flow from the presidents’s words. In fact, it is in the subjects’ words and Madsen’s comments on them that the best nuggets of the book appear. One such nugget that rang true for me was Madsen saying that the women often gave credit to others for their development, but unlike women who cannot accept praise, these presidents “were influenced because of who they were. They had self-respect, and because of that they could hear what others were saying to them” (p. 158; emphasis Madsen’s).

One very important theme in the lives of all 10 presidents, appropriately enough, was learning. Madsen spoke frequently about how the women sought out learning opportunities—a habit that began in childhood where all reported liking school and which continued with good experiences in college. The presidents particularly appreciated activities that taught competition, cooperation, and autonomy. Especially important were the intellectual skills of thinking in complex ways, seeing multiple points of view, and having a systems perspective. Madsen described their willingness to listen and learn from others as a form of humility that served the women well.

Perhaps more important than learning was the presidents’ willingness to engage regularly in the art of self-reflection. They learned from all their experiences, especially the setbacks and even outright failures.

The presidents had other personality traits and background characteristics in common. Generally, they had comfortable childhoods with support from family and teachers; as adults they all had mentors. Most reported that they were obedient children, that their mothers were very influential, and that the other important adults in their young lives were also women. Most described themselves as “moderately” competitive (I was amused that a few commented on the stupidity of “girls’” half-court basketball). However, what truly drove them was the need to “finish” things and the pleasure they found in doing so.

Most of the women used the word “passion” to describe many aspects of their personal and professional lives. Interestingly, none of the women described her career path to the presidency as structured or targeted; instead they took advantage...