Leading-Following Perspectives

When I think of my own leadership journey, I credit philosopher Simone De Beauvoir with having shaped my thinking in fundamental ways. Not only did her groundbreaking book The Second Sex (1952) provide the theoretical underpinnings for my book The Growth and Development of Mothers (1973), the first well-regarded analysis of motherhood in light of the women's movement, but her critique of masculine-feminine universals has proven useful in a continuing way to my development as a leader. She was the first person I read to question the notion that the man is destined to be the head of the family and the woman the heart. Her reflections on how this kind of dualistic thinking gets in the way of fully realizing one's potential got me to thinking early in my career about nurse leadership (McBride, 1972).