Sally Helgesen was born in the small Midwestern town of Saint Cloud,
Minnesota. Her mother was a housewife who later taught English, and her
father was a college professor of speech. After attending a local state college,
where she majored in English and comparative religion, Sally spread
her wings and moved to New York, inspired by the classic film Breakfast
at Tiffanys.
Sally found work as a writer, first in advertising and then as an assistant
to a columnist at the then-influential Village Voice. She contributed freelance
articles to magazines such as Harpers, Glamour, Vogue, Fortune, and
Inside Sports. She also returned to school, completing a degree in classics
at Hunter College and taking language courses at the city graduate center
in preparation for a PhD in comparative religion. She envisioned herself
as a college professor, but also enjoyed freelancing. She felt a strong
dichotomy within her, part quiet scholar and part footloose dreamer. The
conflict bothered her, and she wondered how she would resolve it.
Choosing to be a writeractually declaring herself to be oneseemed
scary, grandiose, and fraudulent.
Then one day, while walking on a New York side street in the rain,
Sally saw an adventuresome black cat running beside her. It reminded her
of Holly Golightlys cat in Breakfast at Tiffanys, an emblem in the movie
for Hollys dreamy temperament and rootlessness. It made her realize
how much the freedom and independence offered by her temporary
career as a writer suited her temperament. Sally told the cat she was a
writershed never been able to say the words beforeand decided
she was going to commit to full-time writing, at least for a time. When
she saw the opportunity to cover a prominent murder trial in Fort
Worth, Texas, she took it.
While covering the trial, Sally became intrigued with the culture of
Texas, and decided she wanted to write a book on the role of independent
oil producers in shaping the region. Doing so required a huge expenditure
of time and money, and for almost a year Sally lived out of the trunk of her
car, staying with friends in remote regions all over Texas. It was lonely and
hard and exhilarating, but Sally was determined to see the project through.
When the book, Wildcatters (1981), was published, it achieved little recognition,
but Sally felt an enormous increase in confidence and commitment
as a result of having finished the book. It strengthened her conviction that,
for better or worse, she was a writer.
Sally moved back to New York and continued to write articles and
search around for another book. She also began writing speeches for the
chief executive officer (CEO) at a Fortune 500 company. She loved the
work, and particularly enjoyed being an observer of office politics, even
though she did not perceive herself to be a part of them. Sally viewed her
role as being an outsider looking in, an observer of the culture. She
sometimes felt like an actor in a play about an office, but this detachment
made her feel professional rather than fraudulent.
As a speechwriter, Sally spent a lot of time interviewing people in the
companies she worked for. Doing so made her realize that men and
women often approach their work in fundamentally different ways. She
also became convinced that many of the skills and attitudes women
brought to their work were increasingly appropriate for the ways in
which organizations were changing, and that women had certain advantages
as a result. She also noticed that the unique perspectives of women
were seldom valued by CEOs or other organizational leaders, who could
have benefited if they had better understood and been more attentive to
what women had to offer.
These observations inspired Sally to write another book. In 1988,
she signed a contract with a major publisher to write a book on what
women had to contribute to organizations. Until then, almost everything
written about women at work focused on how they needed to
change and adapt. Sally felt strongly that if women were encouraged to
emphasize the negative, they would miss an historic opportunity to help
lead organizations in a time of change. The time was right for this message,
and The Female Advantage: Womens Ways of Leadership (1990)
became very successful, topping a number of best-seller charts and
remaining steadily in print for nearly 20 years. The books prominence
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Chapter 11 Authentic Leadership 273
resulted in numerous speaking and consulting opportunities, and Sally
began traveling the world delivering seminars and working with a variety
of clients.
This acclaim and visibility were somewhat daunting to Sally. While
she recognized the value of her book, she also knew that she was not
a social scientist with a body of theoretical data on womens issues. She
saw herself as an author rather than an expert, and the old questions
about fraudulence that she had dealt with in her early years in New
York began to reassert themselves in a different form. Was she really
being authentic? Could she take on the mantle of leadership and all it
entailed? In short, she wondered if she could be the leader that people
seemed to expect.
The path Sally took to answer these questions was simply to present
herself for who she was. She was Sally Helgesen, an outsider looking in,
a skilled and imaginative observer of current issues. For Sally, the path to
leadership did not manifest itself in a step-by-step process. Sallys leadership
began with her own journey of finding herself and accepting her
personal authenticity. Through this self-awareness, she grew to trust her
own expertise as a writer with a keen eye for current trends in organizational
life.
Sally continues to be an internationally recognized consultant and
speaker on contemporary issues, and has published five books. She
remains uncertain about whether she will finish her degree in comparative
religion and become a college professor, but always keeps in mind
the career of I. F. Stone, an influential political writer in the 1950s and
1960s who went back to school and got an advanced degree in classics
at the age of 75.
Questions
2. How would you describe the authenticity of Sally Helgesens leadership?
3. At the end of the case, Sally Helgesen is described as taking on the
mantle of leadership. Was this important for her leadership? How is
taking on the mantle of leadership related to a leaders authenticity?
Does every leader reach a point in his or her career where embracing
the leadership role is essential?
Read Case Study 9.1, in your textbook Am I Really a Leader?
Answer the three questions at the end of the case study.
note:
can you please incloud the chapter 11 content and paper will be strengthened if you demonstrate a broader application of the theory.
he need strong analysis and why behind the topic with examples
and please look to a Rubric Detail
