Last Friday, I organized a leadership circles in the university and invited two former leaders to talk about their experiences in leading amidst pressures. There was Tonette Angeles who was academic vice president for 11 years and Miren Intal who was the first VP for Loyola Schools for 6 years. They shared a lot of insights but what I remember most from Tonette's talk was her advice to keep learning and to read everything and anything outside your field so you can relate to people from different disciplines. One memorable advice from Miren was so simple yet profound - choose to be happy and nothing will be too stressful.
During the Q&A, they were asked "all the past VPs were women and mothers - did this help them in their role?" Their response? Of course! Miren said that motherhood gave her the patience she needed in dealing with difficult people. Tonette said that using charm is always better than using force.
Some years back, I published a research suggesting that in the Philippines, leadership is still associated with male characteristics. So the feminist in me was happy to see that women have really come of age in what used to be a male-dominated university. Even better is knowing that we women don't necessarily need to be masculine in order to lead men :-)
During the Q&A, they were asked "all the past VPs were women and mothers - did this help them in their role?" Their response? Of course! Miren said that motherhood gave her the patience she needed in dealing with difficult people. Tonette said that using charm is always better than using force.
Some years back, I published a research suggesting that in the Philippines, leadership is still associated with male characteristics. So the feminist in me was happy to see that women have really come of age in what used to be a male-dominated university. Even better is knowing that we women don't necessarily need to be masculine in order to lead men :-)