The most important step a woman can take in her career is to accept responsibility for her own life and happiness, according to Susan Mayfield, president of the Greater Chicago Women’s Leadership Network.
Mayfield spoke at a presentation on Women’s Leadership Transitions sponsored by Rho Lambda, a Panhellenic honor society, Wednesday night.
She also encouraged students to create a life plan that is “fluid and flexible” and to pace themselves in their career and personal goals.
“As an aspiring leader, failure experiences will be inevitable,” she said.
While male-dominant workplaces may pose obstacles for females, Mayfield stressed that women must break through their internal glass ceiling as well.
This “ceiling” is the conglomeration of old-fashioned values and traditional notions of femininity, she added.
Although many students’ grandparents were encouraged to find leadership positions in the community or to stay home to raise their children, current analyses suggest that today’s college students may have as many as five distinct careers in their lives, Mayfield said.
One of the major difficulties women who recently graduated from college are facing is balancing career and family, she added.
“For women, early career choices are critically important,” Mayfield said. One of these choices, she said, is whether to start a family early. Mayfield said having a child during graduate school presents new problems in maintaining this balance.
Roseanna Castillo, a Weinberg senior, said that part of the speech interested her because the balance between family and career is “something everyone in college, particularly women, thinks about at some time.”
But Mayfield’s advice is not only for women in the workplace. There are many steps even underclassmen can take to prepare themselves to be future leaders, she said.
“Knowing what your passions are makes taking leadership of yourself possible,” Mayfield said.
She added that women can only inspire others as leaders when they have self-validation, a quality that often develops in college.
Furthermore, the love and support of family and friends is essential. Mayfield also emphasized the importance of a best friend or partner who can pull one out of stressful situations.
However, even if students are leaders on campus, that does not mean they automatically will be strong leaders in their careers, Mayfield warned.
Rho Lambda President Laura Mallory, a Medill senior, cited this as a reason for bringing Mayfield to speak at NU.
“Being a sorority president isn’t the same as being a manager, but there are many skills that transfer over,” she said.
Mayfield urged the women to explore their interests and take advantage of what they had to offer.
“Your generation of leaders will have unprecedented opportunities,” she said. “The sooner you recognize what your chosen pursuit is, the sooner you can start moving in that direction.”
