05 Apr 2011
by Lavernein entrepreneurship, Lead by Example, Uncategorized Tags: Courage, credibility, dreams, Harriet Tubman, Leadership, leadership qualities, notable women in history, successful escape, woman leader
Welcome and keep coming back to learn how to become an effective leader using examples by great women of history. You can find your inspiration for becoming an authentic, servant leader while honoring your commitment to your family, friends and community. Please click the Subcribe Here button to stay informed.
Image by Paul Lowry via Flickr
Leaders, how determined are you to accomplish the goals that you ask others to embrace? Are you willing to go it alone, just you and your dream until you are able to lead others down the same path?
Often leaders start out alone, a leader of no one aside from herself. The leader lives and breathes the singular kernel of an ideal, a belief, or a necessity that must be accomplished, no matter the odds. The odds might be life or death, as was the case with Harriet Tubman, a fine example of a historical woman leader. Only her escape to freedom would bring her an opportunity to fulfill her dreams.
In 1849 … the slaves were to be sold, though previously set free by an old will. Harriet resolved not to be sold, and so, with no knowledge of the North … she walked away one night alone (Sanborn, 1863).
The odds for you as a leader may not be life or death, but it could mean your livelihood, or even our credibility. How do you ensure success of your venture or goal? More
20 Feb 2011
by Lavernein Harriet Tubman Tags: Harriet Tubman, Leadership, leadership lessons, leading a team, self respect
Image via Wikipedia
One of the many leadership lessons that Harriet Tubman exemplified was enabling self-respect within the slaves she helped free. She realized that it was not sufficient to simply free slaves. This would have left them no better off, and perhaps worse off than they were before they were freed.
This leadership lesson was best demonstrated after she helped free slaves while on a mission along the Combahee River as the leader of a Union Army expedition to:
“… take up the torpedoes placed by the rebels in the river, to destroy railroads and bridges, and to cut off supplies from the rebel troops.”
The expedition included Colonel Montgomery, who was an auxilliary leader of the mission, though officially appointed to lead the mission and several hundred black soldiers.
The Commonwealth, a Boston newspaper, noted this in 1863 about Harriet Tubman’s leadership during the raid:
“It is significant as the only military engagement in American history wherein a woman black or white, “led the raid and under whose inspiration it was originated and conducted”. Keep reading
08 Feb 2011
by Lavernein Coaching, Courage, Harriet Tubman Tags: Courage, courageous leader, Harriet Tubman, inspiration, notable women in history, timeless lessons, women in history
Could you imagine asking a new employee to write a computer program even though he has never even seen a computer? Would you think that verbally abusing the employee will motivate the employee to write the expected program?
That’s essentially what happened to Harriet Tubman over one hundred eighty years ago as a young child. Of course, she wasn’t asked to write a computer program, but Harriet was ordered by a woman to Keep reading
26 Nov 2010
by Lavernein Inspiration, Mary Lou Williams, Resilience Tags: dreamer, inspiration, Mary Lou Williams, timeless lessons, women in history
Cover via Amazon
Mary Lou Williams, in her lifetime, not only reached the pinnacle of her profession, she redefined what the pinnacle could be. As her biographer, Linda Dahl wrote, Mary Lou Williams was a
tenacious dreamer of dreams, a spinner of gold from flax, a most impractical person who lived her dream against great odds.
From the cruelty of a childhood mired in poverty, her life filled with accent notes of gender discrimination as a female musician and composer, Mary Lou persisted in her dreams when dreams were all she had to nurture herself.
At the end she was able to reflect upon the challenges she overcame and the goals she accomplished. She asked this question: Read more
19 Sep 2010
by Lavernein Mary Lou Williams Tags: Mary Lou Williams, Religious Jazz
Image by John*Ell via Flickr
Have you heard of Mary Lou Williams? Pianist, composer, world renowned band leader, record company owner?
Well if you haven’t heard of her, it’s understandable, 2010 is the centennial of Mary Lou William’s birth as Mary Elfrieda Scruggs in Atlanta, Georgia. She quickly emerged as a talented pianist, starting as a six-year old performer to raise money for her family. Over a nearly six decade career, she mastered the realms of jazz, blues, gospel, swing and stride. She even wrote and performed in a genre of religious jazz, composing hyms and masses including the Black Christ of the Andes.
As her career and skills developed, she became an arranger for More
18 Sep 2010
by Lavernein Madam C. J. Walker Tags: Indiana Historical Society, Madam CJ Walker
One of my most exciting moments as a teenager was going to my first Jackson Five concert. After listening to their albums and copies I mad on a cheap cassette tape recorder (decades before iPods and Sony Walkmans were created), the excitement of seeing them live was a dream come true.
And so it was today, as I entered the library research room at the Indiana Historical Society. I was handed folder after folder of delicate documents, some written by the hand of Madam C. J. Walker, and her business manager, W. Ransom, among others.
Many of the documents were 95 to 100 years old.
My strongest realization that Madam Walker would still be a highly successful businesswoman if she ran her business today. She pioneered and demonstrated a number of qualities that success companies today still practice. I’ll blog about them in upcoming posts but take my word, she was a very innovative and decisive businesswoman.
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