![]() ![]() ![]() As district attorney in San Francisco, Harris earned a reputation as a legal bulldog, a tough-on-crime prosecutor, but also as a critic of the criminal justice system. Toughness is implied in grit, but there’s more. Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, after a campaign event with Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Aug. Years of studying female managers and executives confirm that these characteristics are especially critical to a woman’s success. Rather than traditional characteristics grounded in authoritarian, militaristic, top-down models, many of these future leaders prefer characteristics of "servant leadership," such as authenticity, integrity and the ability to collaborate and inspire. In the course "Leadership Out of the Box," second-year MBA students are asked to list top criteria for leaders. Harris may acquaint us all with a new vision of female leadership that is taking shape in business schools, board rooms and classrooms like those at the Tuck School of Business, where one of us teaches. In Kamala Harris, we see hope for a new cultural model. Less racial stereotype and more expansive archetype: courageous and charismatic, visionary with a voice - a fighter, yes, but one who does battle for the underdog. His “bitch,” was crude and sexist his adjective “f-” added vulgarity. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by her Republican colleague Ted Yoho reminds us that vicious biases against all women leaders persist. The recent verbal assault leveled at Rep. (Think Angela Davis with her Afro, or Michelle Obama in fatigues on the cover of The New Yorker.) The stereotypical version is often angry, even militant. Unfortunately, the strong Black woman often lodges herself in the cultural imagination as invincible but overbearing, fearless but suffocating, female but exhibiting “masculine” behaviors. But Harris also summons many nameless Black women who have been pillars of their communities. Kamala Harris is the most recent of a long line of Black heroines, from historical figures like Harriet Tubman, Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan to contemporary women like Johnnetta Cole, Condoleezza Rice and Oprah Winfrey. Those of us who study female leadership read even more into Biden’s choice: that American culture is finally beginning to recognize the dignity and respect of strong, Black women, long a stereotype but not always positive. We also see in Harris an example of qualities that research tells us are prerequisites for all successful female leaders: grit, influence and grace. He views his potential vice president not as a political pawn - bringing certain skills, states or constituencies - but as a leadership powerhouse. Kamala Harris, Joe Biden has shown that he considers both the ability to govern and the capacity for collaboration to be crucial qualities in a running mate. Kamala Harris speaks after Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden introduced her as his running mate during a campaign event in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Aug. ![]()
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