When doing a study on women’s leadership, I found it necessary to conduct extensive interviews with women in leadership positions. To do this, a research survey was designed to ask focused questions on what gives a woman her unique leadership ability.  Still, when the women leaders were asked to answer these questions about their leadership skills, many of them couldn’t find a way to identify exactly what it was that gave her the ability to be a leader.  

Being a leader was so entrenched in these women’s very being that separating out the activities of leadership didn’t seem possible.  They just did what came naturally without thinking about it.  So it was necessary to take a different approach. Instead of asking the women to name the skills that made them a leader, they were asked to simply talk about their story as a leader. Having the chance to talk about their leadership stories was the key to finding the most important lessons from women leaders.  

The lessons were in the story.   

As the women simply talked about their leadership experiences, exciting stories began to emerge. 

One woman told the story of how she had decided to lead the fight for quality education in her community. With a group of other parents, she went to the City Hall to talk to the Councilperson about doing something to bring better educational opportunities to the schools in their community. When the group arrived at City Hall, everyone turned to her to be their spokesperson. That was her moment of becoming a leader.  

Another professional woman related how the leaders in her company needed some innovative ideas to help market a new line of educational products to an adult population. She knew how to work with this target group because she had taught adult education for years in a past job. So even though she was not in a leadership position with the company she decided to offer her suggestions.  As a result, her ideas created strategies that brought in a significant increase in sales for the company. This led to her being promoted to a leadership position in a new division in the company. 

Describing Behaviors is Not Always Easy 

Sometimes it is not easy to describe certain behaviors, such as leadership. But when you hear the stories behind the situation or event, you can find the lessons of the behaviors in that story. 

Finding and sharing lessons in stories can provide a way to mentor others, particularly to mentor other women, something that doesn’t happen enough. Within the words of a story, you can share the steps you taken, the insights gained, and the wisdom you use to put steps into action. 

Women can be great storytellers. Have you thought about how you can use your storytelling ability to share your leadership lessons, or other lessons with others? Think of how effective you could be when you learn how to find the lessons in your story and use them to mentor others.