Women Who Lead
Written by Dr. Holly Ward, PhD
The lasting influence of the strong women who raised me.
My grandmother was not your typical “leader”— she held no official titles, sat in no executive suites. But still she led. As the eldest daughter, she became the leader of her household at the tender age of ten after her mother’s passing. With only a fourth-grade education, she stepped in to her mother’s role in caring for her siblings, working to provide for them, and setting an example for them with hard work and kindness. After bringing up her siblings, she went on to rear nine children of her own, managing her home with very limited resources and a generous spirit. Her resourcefulness was apparently genetic: my own mother, one of those nine children, persevered through the limits of her upbringing to complete her college education, become a teacher, and pass on the lessons her mother taught her in her own roles as a mother, a choir director, a community leader, and more. Again, no big titles, no fancy office, and still a leader in every sense of the word, giving of herself to her three children, her students, and her neighbors. The models these women set showed how to live a life of fulfillment and purpose, how to be open to other people and treat all with respect and kindness, and how to inspire others around them to be the best versions of themselves.
Outside of these exceptional women to whom I am honored to be related, there were many other women who crossed my path throughout my childhood and early career and likewise imparted leadership lessons of their own. I may not have recognized these lessons at the time, but thanks in part to the work that I do and the time I have spent in reflection on what I value, I have come to appreciate more fully the leadership qualities all those women showed me:
Hard work
Determination
Making a difference
Treating others with respect
These are the tenets to which I aspire every day as a leader.
Hard work, or work ethic, has been modeled throughout my life by the women in my family who overcame such odds to build loving homes and give back to their communities. They taught me that I could work hard to excel at anything I chose. Determination goes hand in hand with hard work, demanding focus and purpose. I both observed and learned through my own experiences that determination is something deep within that drives you to keep going, whatever the obstacles.
Making a difference has been a guiding force in everything that I do. It is my gauge for all the decisions in my career: how can I leave this place better than I found it? Treating others with respect is a key part of making that positive difference, and it was modeled by the important women in my life in how they treated all people with respect and kindness, regardless of how similar or different their life experiences may be. This quality is foundational for growing as a leader, and all great leaders must possess it.
The women in my family laid the bedrock for my image of a leader, and my own experiences have filled in the rest of the picture for what it means to me. When I have encountered confusing messages about women in leadership, I turn again to this inner guidepost to help me feel what is right and imagine what could be. Women have made progress toward equality, but sometimes at great cost. I saw that women who got opportunities to enter the workforce were expected to be all to all and look great doing it, whereas the expectations on men were far less demanding outside of the office. Women are expected to spin all the plates and never break a sweat. As I myself entered the arena as a mother, a business woman, and a community volunteer, I recognized that I would have to forge my own path and define my own leadership roles. The linear trajectory so many men have trod was not meant for me. I had to build upon the examples of my grandmother and my mother, find my voice, and lead from my own unique perspective. One that sees strength in vulnerability, values the voices of others, and thinks creatively about what it means to lead. In pursuing my own leadership journey, I was able to recognize the leaders that those women were for me and everyone who’s lives they touched. They helped me expand the definition of leadership, and grow into a woman who works every day to inspire others to be great, just as they inspired me.