Leadership Tuesdays: Ambition With Wisdom...Maya Angelou

"The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise."

--Maya Angelou

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. This week, Leadership Tuesdays presents a blog written by John T. Delaney, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Business and Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Dr. Delaney's blog, "Hidden In Plain Sight" grew out of a discussion he and I had about the current state of women in the business world. The dismal statistics of women obtaining senior leadership, Chief Executive Officer, and Board of Director positions are well known. (See the introduction to the Leadership Tuesdays section at womenatliberty.com.) However in order for women to be hired and promoted into these positions, they must be prepared through education and experiences.

Dr. Delaney discusses in his blog some of the reasons why women are not choosing to further their education in business at the same rate they are choosing advanced degrees in, for example, law and medicine. Could their decision by influenced by the "glass ceiling" that caps advancement opportunities for women in corporate America, or the reported pay gap that exist between men and women who are doing the same job? (See Wage differences between men and women - sexist or functional? by Freek Vanmeulen, Forbes, 2/28/11) Could it also be a lack of ambition, called the "ambition gap", that has been talked about by Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook? (See Sheryl Sandberg’s Ambition Gap: Are Women Really Less Ambitious than Men? by Morra Mele, Bostinno, 2/13/12)

Dean Delaney looks at these issues as well as some other factors, like entrepreneurialship, that could lead women to choose an advanced business education. Women are becoming entrepreneurs at a higher rate than men.

John Delaney earned his B.S. degree in industrial relations from LeMoyne College and A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in labor and industrial relations from the University of Illinois. Before coming to the University of Pittsburgh in 2006, he held teaching and management positions at the University of Iowa and Michigan State University.

To read his blog, click here. For more information on Leadership Tuesdays, see here.