The privilege of working with exceptional (and emerging) female leaders

As I stood in my daughter’s crowded daycare classroom on Friday afternoon surrounded by a selection of scruffy, tired dads celebrating Father’s Day with their kids, I was awestruck by the promise and potential in the room.

Sam eagerly gave me the class tour (the one she’s given me at least seven times since becoming a preschooler) and spoke with such excitement and detail. Like any other dad, my bias is full fledged. Sam is the brightest star in the sky. She can rhyme off the planets in the solar system and asks me every morning if it’s night time in Tokyo, Japan. Not to mention, I’ve inculcated her in Toronto Maple Leafs fandom and she talks way too much, certainly more than any almost three-year-old should, about retired Leafs captain (and legend), Mats Sundin.

Sam is and almost certainly will be exceptional at anything she chooses to pursue in her life. Like her mother, like her grandmothers (including the great ones), her aunts and the other incredible, hard working and dynamic women in her life.

Her baby sister, Rory, will surely follow suit.

Note: Our son, Max, will be the beneficiary of these role models too. A lucky guy, like his dad.

As I reflected on the inspiring women that Sam (and Rory, and Max) will have to guide them through their lives, I thought about how privileged I’ve been to work with so many exceptional females, both in leadership capacities, and those in their early and mid-careers.

From my early days as a professional working in sports media and public relations, I had the incredible fortune of being mentored by female leaders who showed me, day-to-day, what it meant to work hard, pay attention to the details, operate with integrity and strive for excellence in everything we did.

As I moved into the world of higher education, I was once again granted the opportunity to collaborate with female leaders whose commitment to student success and delivering impactful results inspired me to new heights in my work and career. And still does.

One such higher ed mentor recently announced she’s moving on to a new opportunity, in senior leadership, with another institution. I lamented the loss for our organization but, selfishly, I felt disappointed that I wouldn’t get the chance to work with her, daily, moving forward. She certainly demanded a great deal but also set the bar equally high for herself. She is an advocate, deeply loyal, an unparalleled (in my career) strategic thinker, a city builder, accountable, a champion of her colleagues and her new school is lucky to have her. Like so many of my female mentors and colleagues over the years, she’s an exceptional professional and person.

Male leaders are certainly capable of inspiring a commitment to excellence and driving impactful results. I am merely (and rather obviously) stating that male and female leaders can have different approaches that generate different team dynamics, levels of cohesion, ways of collaborating…and results.

The women, in my personal and professional lives, from grad school, to my mom and mother-in-law, my sisters, my direct reports, my friends, my mentors, my wife, my daughters, they have and continue to show me the way, in many respects. They only expect from me what they demand from themselves. That we offer our best to a given task, project, responsibility or commitment.

Such expectations have certainly permeated into my own leadership approach, even though that approach still requires continual work, refinement and improvement.

Who knows? Maybe someone will write, one day, about the incredible mentorship, counsel and inspiration, Sam and Rory, provided them.

I hope so. It will have meant that like me, those mentees benefited from the incredible privilege of working with exceptional female leaders.

No pressure, Max. You’ve got big sisters to show you the way.