Front & Center

Sister Joan Lescinski wants the phrase “women leaders” to disappear
Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD, was recently named the 13th president of St. Ambrose University, Davenport, IA – its first “woman president.” She hopes that someday phrases such as “woman doctor, woman lawyer, woman leader” will disappear. “Do we all not long for the day when those phrases will no longer be needed?”

Q: What is your leadership style?
A: One of my former assistants would tell you that I’m a “friendly tornado.” My style is very upfront. If I have an issue, you’ll hear it from me. I will always be honest even when the honesty is painful, because I believe that’s the most respectful thing in the end.

Part of my style, too, is to take an active interest in people I work with and erase the hierarchical sense in an organization. We need to stop thinking of titles and start thinking about the issues. I place a very high premium on collaboration because I don’t have all the answers, all the wisdom, or all the creativity. I bring a group of four or five together and let them all flower. We get a spectacular outcome from that, far better than I could ever do myself.

Q: How important is mentoring?
A: I have had some of the finest mentoring anyone could have had throughout my life. People were spotting things in me back in grade school that I never knew I could do. I was being trained even then and all through high school and college. And, in my religious congregation I lived intergenerationally, so I had a rich group from whom I learned on a daily basis. After I finished my PhD, I tried to thank one of my mentors but realized I couldn’t find the adequate words. She understood and asked only that I “would go and do likewise.” I have taken that as a guide in my own life and I look with great pride at the number of people in my life that I have been able to assist.

So I say to women today – get out there and find people with talent and mentor them, help them along. That’s what the old-boy network was really all about. We have all the capability to create, not just an old-girl network but really a network of mentoring. Part of our obligation is to spot the next round of leaders and raise them up, teach them how to have confidence, and bring them into situations where they can perform and get some critique from us. Women can sometimes be very sensitive about receiving criticism. We have to develop a way, in our own style as women, to give and receive criticism.

Q: Who influenced you the most?
A: In addition to my parents, my brother and sister had a profound influence on me. I was constantly surrounded by, not only my own friends, but by their friends, too, who were older. Because of that, I moved into more mature thinking sooner than I might have. I was already thinking the way they were thinking when I’d go to the next grade. And, of course, my religious com¬munity and the teachers throughout my life have been a dramatic influence.

Q: Whom do you consider exceptional leaders?
A: I admire Barbara Jordan, the Congresswoman who was renown for her deep understanding of the constitution and what, at its best, it said to us as a nation. She had about her a quiet dignity that always impressed me and said to me that you don’t have to stand on a soapbox to change people’s perceptions. You can go about what you’re doing very well with great dignity and you will change things.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are role models to me. They are people in the public eye, very influential and powerful, and have used their later years to give back in dramatic ways.

Q: Whom would you like to have dinner with?
A: The first person on my list would be Jesus Christ, the single most influential human being in terms of shaping me and that which I hold dear. Then I would populate my table with people who do things I can’t do but that I love – Georgia O’Keeffe, Mozart, Emily Dickinson, Toni Morrison, Nelson Mandela. These are people who have done things that have changed the world. They might not have set out to do that, but they did, and the effects have been extraordinary.

When I die and get to heaven and do whatever it is you do with God, the first person I want to find is Mozart and ask him to play for me everything he’s written since he got there. Then I’ll ask Emily to read the poems she’s written since she got there.

Q: What advice would you give women today?
A: I would say make a deliberate decision to find 15 minutes a day for yourself, without noise, or with nonverbal music that eases your soul. It can be difficult, especially if you have children. But, the key is to make the choice to find the time. For me the day will be better if I’m given some time for quiet contemplation. Give that gift to yourself every day.

And, find a mentor. Look around unapologetically for someone who is really doing “it” well, whatever “it” is that you aspire to. In finding a mentor you learn how to put your needs out in such a way that someone with some wisdom, some¬one you respect can give you some honest feedback.

Do both deliberately. Say “I’m doing this because” and fill in the blanks. Don’t just drift along. Don’t just live. Live your life intentionally.

I took a hot-air balloon ride when I was 40, skydived when I was 50, and plan to get my pilot’s license at 60. When I’m 70? I wouldn’t hesitate for a nano-second if I was offered a seat on the space shuttle.