Mentoring of Women for Top Positions
Dear friends of women in science,
I was struck by a particular paragraph in the story about the four women who are presidents of Ivy League schools earlier this week. The four didn't feel that their rise to these positions was inevitable.
The article put it this way, "The presidents each acknowledged their relentless ambition, but at the same time said they wound up at the head of four of the world's leading universities almost by accident.
What was not an accident, they said, was that Tilghman, Gutmann and Simmons were all young Princeton administrators groomed by former president Harold Shapiro.
"He would deny credit," Gutmann said. "But, he should get credit."
So three of the four women had been mentored, encouraged, pushed forward by the same man, Harold Shapiro. That implies that if we could bottle what he has to offer, lots more women could break through the glass ceiling in university administration.
I find this easy to believe partly because in graduate school, I knew Joseph Gall, another such mentor whose women students have achieved outstanding success in science, rather than administration. On this forum, we discussed whether becoming a "good guy of science" was a worthy goal, and decided yes, it was. Joe Gall has always been a good guy, and perhaps that's part of Shapiro's secret as well.
Have you ever encountered a man whose mentoring was head-and-shoulders above others for women? What factors do you think lead to the success of such men in encouraging women's success?
cheers,
Laura
Hi Helen,
I think Shapiro was in Claremont at Pitzer before Princeton, perhaps while I was dean at Pomona, and I almost think I remember him, wish I remembered him better! It is indeed great to see the results on one good (excellent) mentor. I'm glad you had one!
best,
Laura
Hi Laura,
I think it's fantastic that Harold Shapiro is being acknowledged like he is. And it is very telling that all his mentees clearly point out the support he has given them. Finding "luck" or attributing success to others is a hallmark of how many women operate for good and for bad.
I do know an outstanding male mentor in my field who treats women with the same kind, supportive advice he gives to anyone he believes in. When I hear too many negative voices around me, I try to call him on the phone just to hear his balanced perspective once again. He is someone I aspire to be like not just professionally but also personally.
It's just too bad there are so few mentors like him!
No, but Laura I wonder if any women ever mentored other women for high positions successfully? I wonder about Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, the two who ran for governor of California last round? Didn't they head up companies? I hope at least some female CEOs foster the upward progress of other women.
