“
True confidence is not about what you take from someone to restore yourself, but what you give back to your critics because they need it more than you do.
”
”
Shannon L. Alder
“
Advice to my younger self:
1 Start where you are with what you have
2 Try not to hurt other people
3 Take more chances
4 If you fail, keep trying
”
”
Germany Kent
“
The gender stereotypes introduced in childhood are reinforced throughout our lives and become self-fulfilling prophesies. Most leadership positions are held by men, so women don't expect to achieve them, and that becomes one of the reasons they don't.
”
”
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
“
7 keys to getting more things done:
1 start
2 dont make excuses
3 celebrate small steps
4 ignore critics
5 be consistent
6 be open
7 stay positive
”
”
Germany Kent
“
Someday daughters will be trained just as sons by their parents to assume leadership positions. There are the exceptions today where a daughter assumes leadership over a state or corporation, but those are still exceptions today. A shame since women have overtaken men in being the dominant consumers and decision makers in the family. - Strong by Kailin Gow on Raising a Strong Woman Leader
”
”
Kailin Gow
“
Wisdom is knowing the right thing to do and doing it at the right time to get the desired result. It is also the correct application of knowledge.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Learn to master your thoughts and watch closely what you deposit into your spirit. Speak over your life. Living in peace has transformative power.
”
”
Germany Kent
“
You will never overcome your self righteousness if you continue to believe that God prefers you over other people. The moment you feel entitled is the moment you feel superior and distance yourself from a humble heart that believes God knows what he is doing.
”
”
Shannon L. Alder
“
A man with wisdom will always have a solution no matter how big his challenges may be. Wisdom makes you a problem solver.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Courage is being who you are.
Courage is sacred of thyself.
”
”
Lailah Gifty Akita
“
We weren't born to create excuses, we were born to create excellence.
”
”
Janna Cachola
“
School does not make people, it is learning that makes people great, that is why you see first class students fail and poor. The world is not ruled by those who went to school, it is ruled by those who learn everyday.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
I have said it loud and clear: Beware, men, lest women deprive you of all the leadership positions in the country.
”
”
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Flashes of Thought)
“
Wisdom cannot be bought from the walmart, it can only come from the Holy Spirit of God.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
To become a leader you must have a positive mental attitude, which you can achieve with positive self-talk and looking at what is right with people instead of what is wrong with them.
”
”
Elaine Meryl Brown (The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women)
“
Self-promotion is a leadership and political skill that is critical to master in order to navigate the realities of the workplace and position you for success.
”
”
Bonnie Marcus (The Politics of Promotion: How High-Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead)
“
There are too many stars in the sky and none of them is overshadowing the other. Don't let anybody be a threat to your growth.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Even with fasting and prayers you still need wisdom. At the root of every great accomplishment is wisdom. In all your getting get wisdom first.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
(strange how women in positions of authority so often acquire the sobriquet bossy, while a man holding the same rank is somehow invested with qualities of leadership
”
”
Jeffrey Archer (The Man Who Robbed His Own Post Office: The Year of Short Stories – January)
“
No man's advice can change you unless you speak to yourself. Bible school or seminars can't change you, going to church can't change you except you decide to change.
Psalm 139:23 - 24
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Sure we all need money but what do you really focus on? It is a matter of the heart. If your thoughts are on material and worldly things, no good fruits can come out of it.
Seek the kingdom of God first and the other things shall be added unto you not vice versa.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
If want to become a person with vision, get back and reconnect to your source.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
In politics no permanent friends, no permanent enemies but permanent interest.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
There is no gift of principles, you must apply them if you want to move forward.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Wisdom is the mother of solutions. You cannot upgrade in wisdom and lack solutions and you cannot have a wisdom and be stranded in any challenge you face.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
A lot of people pray for power, house, financial breakthrough, wealth etc. But only few ask God for wisdom. There are so many great power pack man and women of God who lack wisdom.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
You cannot occupy a proper place on earth without wisdom. It is the principal thing you must have.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
In short, women who do not opt out of demanding professional positions are more likely to opt out of demanding family obligations.
”
”
Barbara Kellerman
“
The underlying issue in getting women to top positions is what kind of leadership we value and how we teach, assess, and promote “good” leaders in all organizations.
”
”
Maureen Chiquet (Beyond the Label: Women, Leadership, and Success on Our Own Terms)
“
Asian professionals are frequently held back from senior positions by the perception that they don’t have “executive presence,” a factor that similarly operates against other minority groups in the workplace, including women.39 And what constitutes executive presence? Certainly not modesty:
”
”
Jeffrey Pfeffer (Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time)
“
When women got into positions of power, they calibrated and recalibrated tenderness and strength, modulating and correcting. Power and love didn't often live side by side. If one came in, the other might go.
”
”
Meg Wolitzer (The Female Persuasion)
“
When women can decide whether and when to have children; when women can decide whether and when and whom to marry; when women have access to healthcare, do only our fair share of unpaid labor, get the education we want, make the financial decisions we need, are treated with respect at work, enjoy the same rights as men, and rise up with the help of other women and men who train us in leadership and sponsor us for high positions—then women flourish … and our families and communities flourish with us.
”
”
Melinda French Gates (The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World)
“
Bossy was the adjective most often trotted out by the lads whenever Sue’s name came up in conversation (strange how women in positions of authority so often acquire the sobriquet bossy, while a man holding the same rank is somehow invested with qualities of leadership).
”
”
Jeffrey Archer (The Man Who Robbed His Own Post Office: The Year of Short Stories – January)
“
If you want to see the beauty of any fish, throw it into the water, you will see how best it can swim because that is its source. Do you want to see the beauty in you? Don't look in the mirror, don't put on makeups, no jewelleries or expensive designer clothes, just go back and reconnect to your source and I bet, the best of you will show up. Until you return back to God, your best won't come out because He is your source.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Let me say to you sisters that you do not hold a second place in our Father's plan for the eternal happiness and well-being of His children. You are an absolutely essential part of that plan. Without you the plan could not function. Without you the entire program would be frustrated...Each of you is a daughter of God, endowed with a divine birthright. You need no defense of that position...There is strength and great capacity in the women of this Church. There is leadership and direction, a certain spirit of independence, and yet great satisfaction in being a part of the Lord's kingdom..
”
”
Gordon B. Hinckley
“
The higher the position of leadership, the more we can bet on it being held by a man.
”
”
Danny Silk (Powerful and Free: Confronting the Glass Ceiling for Women in the Church)
“
I admire successful men and women who endured and overcome unusual circumstances to fulfill their dreams.
”
”
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
“
The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy and his followers do the same. Be watchful and keep that in mind.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
People with vision sees opportunity where there is problem. They see money not problem.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Blind minds are worst than blind eyes. That you have eyes does not mean that you have vision. Visionaries do not look they see whlie people look.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
You cannot use another man's leg to run your race. Wives stop waiting for your husbands to do everything. For God's sake make an impact. Nobody is a threat to your development.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
I am the most important person to me. I am the most important person in the entire universe to me. I am the centre of my own universe.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Negative prophecies are reversible. The Lord reveals to conquer. You are created to reverse any negative with your prayers and the word of God.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
If knowledge is lacking, your destruction is inevitable.
Hosea 4:6
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
You cannot have a dream and expect someone else's faith to make it a reality for you.
Habakuk 2:4
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
We are so much distracted nowadays. There is so much distractions in the world today call it internet, media, football matches etc. but don't let it consume you.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Every crisis is a wisdom crisis. If you have no peace around you then you lack wisdom.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
The more desperate the situation, the more opportunity for miracle. If you need something from God, you need to be at the right place, the right position and at the right time
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
It’s time that women participate in the management of this pathetic world on terms equal to men. Often women in power behave like hard men because it’s been the only way they could compete and command, but when we reach a critical number of women in positions of power and leadership we will tip the balance toward a more just and egalitarian civilization. More than forty years ago Bella Abzug, the famous activist and congresswoman from New York, summarized the above in one sentence: “In the twenty-first century women will change the nature of power instead of power changing the nature of women.
”
”
Isabel Allende (The Soul of a Woman)
“
Faith is never connected to safe. There is no faith without tension. For a rubber band to function to it's elasticity, it has to experience a tension. Saints of God who has no tension has no function.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Poor means when we lack things in our lives. There are two types of poverty. ...those that need food and shelter and those that need God in their lives. We are called to service to help both group of people as much as we can.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
How odd, then, that so much of the recent debate over getting more women into leadership positions has focused on encouraging them to mimic the maladaptive behaviours of ambitious men. Do you really want to ask women to replicate a broken model?
”
”
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic (Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It))
“
When women display the necessary confidence in their skills and comfort with power, they run the risk of being regarded as ‘competent but cold’: the bitch, the ice queen, the iron maiden, the ballbuster, the battle axe, the dragon lady … The sheer number of synonyms is telling. Put bluntly, we don’t like the look of self-promotion and power on a woman. In experimental studies, women who behave in an agentic fashion experience backlash: they are rated as less socially skilled, and thus less hireable for jobs that require people skills as well as competence than are men who behave in an identical fashion. And yet if women don’t show confidence, ambition and competitiveness then evaluators may use gender stereotypes to fill in the gaps, and assume that these are important qualities she lacks. Thus, the alternative to being competent but cold is to be regarded as ‘nice but incompetent’.15 This catch-22 positions women who seek leadership roles on a ‘tightrope of impression management’.16
”
”
Cordelia Fine (Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences)
“
women are obtaining undergraduate degrees at a far higher rate than men, and women are earning professional and doctorate degrees at a rate greater or nearly equal to that of men, but they are still vastly underrepresented in top leadership positions.
”
”
Peter G. Northouse (Leadership: Theory and Practice)
“
Even though it may look like the wicked is gaining ground, God is still in control. We need to pray for our nations, pray for others, pray for forgiveness and mercy over people. We need to love no matter who we are talking to, whether they are Atheist, Moslems, Lesbians, Homosexuals or Pagans. We need to love them and share the love of God with them and not judge and see if we can rebuild our broken nations.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
I’m done being polite about this bullshit. My list of professional insecurities entirely stems from being a young woman. Big plot twist there! As much as I like to execute equality instead of discussing the blaring inequality, the latter is still necessary. Everything, everywhere, is still necessary. The more women who take on leadership positions, the more representation of women in power will affect and shift the deep-rooted misogyny of our culture—perhaps erasing a lot of these inherent and inward concerns. But whether a woman is a boss or not isn’t even what I’m talking about—I’m talking about when she is, because even when she manages to climb up to the top, there’s much more to do, much more to change. When a woman is in charge, there are still unspoken ideas, presumptions, and judgments being thrown up into the invisible, terribly lit air in any office or workplace. And I’m a white woman in a leadership position—I can only speak from my point of view. The challenges that women of color face in the workforce are even greater, the hurdles even higher, the pay gap even wider. The ingrained, unconscious bias is even stronger against them. It’s overwhelming to think about the amount of restructuring and realigning we have to do, mentally and physically, to create equality, but it starts with acknowledging the difference, the problem, over and over.
”
”
Abbi Jacobson (I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff)
“
Understand something people, we will be hated by many in the name of Christ, ridiculed, mocked, stoned, slaughtered. We will be fined, jailed and killed for our love for Christ. You are supposed to see better with your eyes today, how close this is happening, just prepare your heart and soul to be braver than Peter and not deny Christ in the moment your life might be in jeopardy for Him and what you believe. Apostle Pauls says to live is Christ to die is gain.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
While we were forming mobs to drive an Autherine Lucy [the black woman who integrated the University of Alabama in 1956] from an Alabama campus, the Russians were compelling ALL children to attend the best possible schools,” opined the Chicago Defender. Until the United States cured its “Mississippiitis”—that disease of segregation, violence, and oppression that plagued America like a chronic bout of consumption—the paper declared, it would never merit the position of world leadership.
”
”
Margot Lee Shetterly (Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race)
“
Museum Work and Museum Problems” course, the first academic program specifically designed to cultivate and train men and women to become museum directors and curators. In addition to the connoisseurship of art, the “Museum Course” taught the financial and administrative aspects of running a museum, with a focus on eliciting donations. The students met regularly with major art collectors, bankers, and America’s social elite, often at elegant dinners where they were required to wear formal dress and observe the social protocol of high culture. By 1941, Sachs’s students had begun to fill the leadership positions of American museums, a field they would come to dominate in the postwar years.
”
”
Robert M. Edsel (The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, And The Greatest Treasure Hunt In History)
“
Black newspapers and their readers wasted no time in making the link between America’s inadequacy in space and the dreadful conditions facing many black students in the South. “While we were forming mobs to drive an Autherine Lucy [the black woman who integrated the University of Alabama in 1956] from an Alabama campus, the Russians were compelling ALL children to attend the best possible schools,” opined the Chicago Defender. Until the United States cured its “Mississippiitis”—that disease of segregation, violence, and oppression that plagued America like a chronic bout of consumption—the paper declared, it would never merit the position of world leadership. An editorial in the Cleveland Call and Post
”
”
Margot Lee Shetterly (Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race)
“
There are several explanations offered as to why women have lower aspirations than men, including that women feel there is a lack of fit between themselves (their personal characteristics) and senior leadership positions, which are often characterized in highly masculine terms; women feel there are too many obstacles to overcome; women do not want to prioritize career over family; women place less important than do men on job characteristics common to senior roles, such as high pay, power, and prestige; gender role socialization influences girls' and women's attitudes and choices about occupational achievement; and women are more often located in jobs that lack opportunities for advancement and they lower their aspirations in response to this disadvantageous structural position. (p.191)
”
”
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
“
These are the daily annoyances, the subtle messages of whiteness. But we bear other scars, too. Over and over I have seen white men and women get praise for their gifts and skills while women of color are told only about their potential for leadership. When white people end up being terrible at their jobs, I have seen supervisors move mountains to give them new positions more suited to their talents, while people of color are told to master their positions or be let go. I have been in the room when promises were made to diversify boardrooms, leadership teams, pastoral staff, faculty and staff positions, only to watch committees appoint a white man in the end. It's difficult to express how these incidents accumulate, making you feel undervalued, underappreciated, and ultimately expendable.
”
”
Austin Channing Brown (I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness)
“
Endorsement of the ordination of women is not the final step in the process, however. If we look at the denominations that approved women’s ordination from 1956–1976, we find that several of them, such as the United Methodist Church and the United Presbyterian Church (now called the Presbyterian Church–USA), have large contingents pressing for (a) the endorsement of homosexual conduct as morally valid and (b) the approval of homosexual ordination. In fact, the Episcopal Church on August 5, 2003, approved the appointment of an openly homosexual bishop.16 In more liberal denominations such as these, a predictable sequence has been seen (though so far only the Episcopal Church has followed the sequence to point 7): 1. abandoning biblical inerrancy 2. endorsing the ordination of women 3. abandoning the Bible’s teaching on male headship in marriage 4. excluding clergy who are opposed to women’s ordination 5. approving homosexual conduct as morally valid in some cases 6. approving homosexual ordination 7. ordaining homosexuals to high leadership positions in the denomination17 I am not arguing that all egalitarians are liberals. Some denominations have approved women’s ordination for other reasons, such as a long historical tradition and a strong emphasis on gifting by the Holy Spirit as the primary requirement for ministry (as in the Assemblies of God), or because of the dominant influence of an egalitarian leader and a high priority on relating effectively to the culture (as in the Willow Creek Association). But it is unquestionable that theological liberalism leads to the endorsement of women’s ordination. While not all egalitarians are liberals, all liberals are egalitarians. There is no theologically liberal denomination or seminary in the United States today that opposes women’s ordination. Liberalism and the approval of women’s ordination go hand in hand.
”
”
Wayne Grudem (Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism?)
“
It’s not always so easy, it turns out, to identify your core personal projects. And it can be especially tough for introverts, who have spent so much of their lives conforming to extroverted norms that by the time they choose a career, or a calling, it feels perfectly normal to ignore their own preferences. They may be uncomfortable in law school or nursing school or in the marketing department, but no more so than they were back in middle school or summer camp.
I, too, was once in this position. I enjoyed practicing corporate law, and for a while I convinced myself that I was an attorney at heart. I badly wanted to believe it, since I had already invested years in law school and on-the-job training, and much about Wall Street law was alluring. My colleagues were intellectual, kind, and considerate (mostly). I made a good living. I had an office on the forty-second floor of a skyscraper with views of the Statue of Liberty. I enjoyed the idea that I could flourish in such a high-powered environment. And I was pretty good at asking the “but” and “what if” questions that are central to the thought processes of most lawyers.
It took me almost a decade to understand that the law was never my personal project, not even close. Today I can tell you unhesitatingly what is: my husband and sons; writing; promoting the values of this book. Once I realized this, I had to make a change. I look back on my years as a Wall Street lawyer as time spent in a foreign country. It was absorbing, it was exciting, and I got to meet a lot of interesting people whom I never would have known otherwise. But I was always an expatriate.
Having spent so much time navigating my own career transition and counseling others through theirs, I have found that there are three key steps to identifying your own core personal projects.
First, think back to what you loved to do when you were a child. How did you answer the question of what you wanted to be when you grew up? The specific answer you gave may have been off the mark, but the underlying impulse was not. If you wanted to be a fireman, what did a fireman mean to you? A good man who rescued people in distress? A daredevil? Or the simple pleasure of operating a truck? If you wanted to be a dancer, was it because you got to wear a costume, or because you craved applause, or was it the pure joy of twirling around at lightning speed? You may have known more about who you were then than you do now.
Second, pay attention to the work you gravitate to. At my law firm I never once volunteered to take on an extra corporate legal assignment, but I did spend a lot of time doing pro bono work for a nonprofit women’s leadership organization. I also sat on several law firm committees dedicated to mentoring, training, and personal development for young lawyers in the firm. Now, as you can probably tell from this book, I am not the committee type. But the goals of those committees lit me up, so that’s what I did.
Finally, pay attention to what you envy. Jealousy is an ugly emotion, but it tells the truth. You mostly envy those who have what you desire. I met my own envy after some of my former law school classmates got together and compared notes on alumni career tracks. They spoke with admiration and, yes, jealousy, of a classmate who argued regularly before the Supreme Court. At first I felt critical. More power to that classmate! I thought, congratulating myself on my magnanimity. Then I realized that my largesse came cheap, because I didn’t aspire to argue a case before the Supreme Court, or to any of the other accolades of lawyering. When I asked myself whom I did envy, the answer came back instantly. My college classmates who’d grown up to be writers or psychologists. Today I’m pursuing my own version of both those roles.
”
”
Susan Cain (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)
“
Adventists urged to study women’s ordination for themselves Adventist Church President Ted N. C. Wilson appealed to members to study the Bible regarding the theology of ordination as the Church continues to examine the matter at Annual Council next month and at General Conference Session next year. Above, Wilson delivers the Sabbath sermon at Annual Council last year. [ANN file photo] President Wilson and TOSC chair Stele also ask for prayers for Holy Spirit to guide proceedings September 24, 2014 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Andrew McChesney/Adventist Review Ted N. C. Wilson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, appealed to church members worldwide to earnestly read what the Bible says about women’s ordination and to pray that he and other church leaders humbly follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance on the matter. Church members wishing to understand what the Bible teaches on women’s ordination have no reason to worry about where to start, said Artur A. Stele, who oversaw an unprecedented, two-year study on women’s ordination as chair of the church-commissioned Theology of Ordination Study Committee. Stele, who echoed Wilson’s call for church members to read the Bible and pray on the issue, recommended reading the study’s three brief “Way Forward Statements,” which cite Bible texts and Adventist Church co-founder Ellen G. White to support each of the three positions on women’s ordination that emerged during the committee’s research. The results of the study will be discussed in October at the Annual Council, a major business meeting of church leaders. The Annual Council will then decide whether to ask the nearly 2,600 delegates of the world church to make a final call on women’s ordination in a vote at the General Conference Session next July. Wilson, speaking in an interview, urged each of the church’s 18 million members to prayerfully read the study materials, available on the website of the church’s Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research. "Look to see how the papers and presentations were based on an understanding of a clear reading of Scripture,” Wilson said in his office at General Conference headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. “The Spirit of Prophecy tells us that we are to take the Bible just as it reads,” he said. “And I would encourage each church member, and certainly each representative at the Annual Council and those who will be delegates to the General Conference Session, to prayerfully review those presentations and then ask the Holy Spirit to help them know God’s will.” The Spirit of Prophecy refers to the writings of White, who among her statements on how to read the Bible wrote in The Great Controversy (p. 598), “The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or figure is employed.” “We don’t have the luxury of having the Urim and the Thummim,” Wilson said, in a nod to the stones that the Israelite high priest used in Old Testament times to learn God’s will. “Nor do we have a living prophet with us. So we must rely upon the Holy Spirit’s leading in our own Bible study as we review the plain teachings of Scripture.” He said world church leadership was committed to “a very open, fair, and careful process” on the issue of women’s ordination. Wilson added that the crucial question facing the church wasn’t whether women should be ordained but whether church members who disagreed with the final decision on ordination, whatever it might be, would be willing to set aside their differences to focus on the church’s 151-year mission: proclaiming Revelation 14 and the three angels’ messages that Jesus is coming soon. 3 Views on Women’s Ordination In an effort to better understand the Bible’s teaching on ordination, the church established the Theology of Ordination Study Committee, a group of 106 members commonly referred to by church leaders as TOSC. It was not organized
”
”
Anonymous
“
God uses the obstacles in our lives to prepare us for leadership, building courage, character, and confidence.
”
”
Karol Ladd (Positive Leadership Principles for Women)
“
6. CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Nor is this movement confined to liberal denominations. The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) is still thought to be largely evangelical, and it was only in 1995 that the CRC approved the ordination of women. But now the First Christian Reformed Church in Toronto has “opened church leadership to practicing homosexual members ‘living in committed relationships,’ a move that the denomination expressly prohibits.”24 In addition, Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the college of the Christian Reformed Church, has increasingly allowed expressions of support for homosexuals to be evident on its campus. World magazine reports: Calvin has since 2002 observed something called “Ribbon Week,” during which heterosexual students wear ribbons to show their support for those who desire to sleep with people of the same sex. Calvin President Gaylen Byker . . . [said], “. . . homosexuality is qualitatively different from other sexual sin. It is a disorder,” not chosen by the person. Having Ribbon Week, he said, “is like having cerebral palsy week.” Pro-homosexuality material has crept into Calvin’s curriculum. . . . At least some Calvin students have internalized the school’s thinking on homosexuality. . . . In January, campus newspaper editor Christian Bell crossed swords with Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association’s Michigan chapter, and an ardent foe of legislation that gives special rights to homosexuals. . . . In an e-mail exchange with Mr. Glenn before his visit, Mr. Bell called him “a hate-mongering, homophobic bigot . . . from a documented hate group.” Mr. Bell later issued a public apology.25 This article on Calvin College in World generated a barrage of pro and con letters to the editor in the following weeks, all of which can still be read online.26 Many writers expressed appreciation for a college like Calvin that is open to the expression of different viewpoints but still maintains a clear Christian commitment. No one claimed the quotes in the article were inaccurate, but some claimed they did not give a balanced view. Some letters from current and recent students confirmed the essential accuracy of the World article, such as this one: I commend Lynn Vincent for writing “Shifting sand?” (May 10). As a sophomore at Calvin, I have been exposed firsthand to the changing of Calvin’s foundation. Being a transfer student, I was not fully aware of the special events like “Ribbon Week.” I asked a classmate what her purple ribbon meant and she said it’s a sign of acceptance of all people. I later found out that “all people” meant gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. I have been appalled by posters advertising a support group for GLBs (as they are called) around campus. God condemned the practice, so why cannot God’s judgment against GLB be proclaimed at Calvin? I am glad Calvin’s lack of the morals it was founded on is being made known to the Christian community outside of Calvin. Much prayer and action is needed if a change is to take place.—Katie Wagenmaker, Coopersville, Mich.27 Then in June 2004, the Christian Reformed Church named as the editor of Banner, its denominational magazine, the Rev. Robert De Moor, who had earlier written an editorial supporting legal recognition for homosexuals as “domestic partners.” The CRC’s position paper on homosexuality states, “Christian homosexuals, like all Christians, are called to discipleship, to holy obedience, and to the use of their gifts in the cause of the kingdom. Opportunities to serve within the offices and the life of the congregation should be afforded to them as they are to heterosexual Christians.”28 This does not indicate that the Christian Reformed Church has approved of homosexual activity (it has not), but it does indicate the existence of a significant struggle within the denomination, and the likelihood of more to come.
”
”
Wayne Grudem (Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism?)
“
It works...conditioning your mind to see something positive in anything! Anything that happens to you, anything said to you, anything said about you.I have the choice to INTERPRET it in a way that is positive.Surefire way to imbibe Pollyana attitude !
”
”
Abha Maryada Banerjee (Nucleus - Power Women: Lead from the Core)
“
The pipeline that supplies the educated workforce is clock-full of women at the entry level, but by the time that same pipeline is filling leadership positions, it is overwhelmingly stocked with men.
”
”
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
“
Grudem highlights a key difference between the specific instructions to which complementarians appeal for their position, and the general principles to which egalitarians appeal. On the one hand, “The passages that prohibit women from being elders and from teaching or having authority over men in the assembled church are not isolated passages. They occur in the heart of the main New Testament teachings about church office and about conduct in public worship.”540 On the other hand, “egalitarian claims that all church leadership roles should be open to women are based not on any direct teaching of Scripture but on doubtful inferences from passages where this topic is not even under discussion.”541
”
”
Benjamin Reaoch (Women, Slaves, and the Gender Debate: A Complementarian Response to the Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic)
“
truly believe that the single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is. I don’t know of one woman in a leadership position whose life partner is not fully—and I mean fully—supportive of her career. No exceptions. And contrary to the popular notion that only unmarried women can make it to the top, the majority of the most successful female business leaders have partners. Of the twenty-eight women who have served as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, twenty-six were married, one was divorced, and only one had never married.12 Many of these CEOs said they “could not have succeeded without the support of their husbands, helping with the children, the household chores, and showing a willingness to move.”13 Not surprisingly,
”
”
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
“
Insecurity is gender neutral. Insecurity comes at various levels with power and position.
”
”
Aparna Jain (Own It: Leadership Lessons from Women Who Do)
“
Women can enter (...) negotiations with the knowledge that showing concern for the common good, even as they negotiate for themselves, will strengthen their position.
”
”
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
“
I truly believe that the single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is. I don’t know of one woman in a leadership position whose life partner is not fully—and I mean fully—supportive of her career. No exceptions.
”
”
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
“
The evangelical position, represented by the personal stories in this book, including my own, understands that a fully authoritative Bible supports the freedom of women under Christ without male supervision to follow their God-given callings and special gifts of the Spirit, including full leadership ministries. This view can be called the “inclusive” view of ministry
”
”
Alan F. Johnson (How I Changed My Mind about Women in Leadership: Compelling Stories from Prominent Evangelicals)
“
In addition to the external barriers erected by society, women are hindered by barriers that exist within ourselves. We hold ourselves back in ways both big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in. We internalize the negative messages we get throughout our lives - the messages that say it's wrong to be outspoken, aggressive, more powerful than men. We lower our own expectations of what we can achieve. We continue to do the majority of the housework and child care. We compromise our career goals to make room for partners and children who may not even exist yet. Compared to our male colleagues, fewer of us aspire to senior positions. This is not a list of things other women have done. I have made every mistake on this list. At times, I still do.
My argument is that getting rid of these internal barriers is critical to gaining power. Others have argued that women can get to the top only when the institutional barriers are gone. This is the ultimate chicken-and-egg situation. The chicken: Women will tear down the external barriers once we achieve leadership roles. We will march into our bosses' offices and demand what we need, including pregnancy parking. Or better yet, we'll become bosses and make sure all women have what they need. The egg: We need to eliminate the external barriers to get women into those roles in the first place. Both sides are right. So rather than engage in philosophical arguments over which comes first, let's agree to wage battles on both fronts. They are equally important. I am encouraging women to address the chicken, but I fully support those who are focusing on the egg.
Internal obstacles are rarely discussed and often underplayed. Throughout my life, I was told over and over about inequalities in the workplace and how hard it would be to have a career and a family. I rarely heard anything, however, about the ways I might hold myself back. These internal obstacles deserve a lot more attention, in part because they are under our own control. We can dismantle the hurdles in ourselves today. We can start this very moment.
”
”
Sheryl Sandberg
“
Akbar's Rajput policy, however, did not result from any grand, premeditated strategy. Rather, it began as a response to the internal politics of one of the Rajput lineages, the Kachwaha clan, based in the state of Amber in northern Rajasthan. In 1534 the clan's head, Puran Man, died with no adult heir and was succeeded by his younger brother, Bharmal. Puran Mal, however, did have a son who by the early 1560s had come of age and challenged Bharmal's right to rule Amber. Feeling this pressure from within his own clan, Bharmal approached Akbar for material support, offering in exchange his daughter in marriage. The king agreed to the proposal. In 1562 the Kachwaha chieftain entered Mughal service, with Akbar assuring him of support in maintaining his position in the Kachwaha political order, while his family entered the royal household. Besides his daughter, Bharmal also sent his son Bhagwant Das and his grandson Man Singh (1550-1614) to the court in Agra. For several generations thereafter, the ruling clan continued to give its daughters to the Mughal court, thereby making the chiefs of these clans the uncles, cousins or even father-in-laws of Mughal emperors. The intimate connection between the two courts had far-reaching results. Not only did Kachwaha rulers quickly rise in rank and stature in the Mughal court, but their position within their own clan was greatly enhanced by Akbar's confirmation of their political leadership. Akbar's support also enhanced the position of the Kachwahas as a whole -- and hence Amber state -- in the hierarchy of Rajasthan's other Rajput lineages.
Neighbouring clans soon realised the political wisdom of attaching themselves to the expanding Mughal state, a visibly rising star in North Indian politics. [...] Driving these arrangements, though, was not just the incentive of courtly patronage. The clans of Rajasthan well understood that refusal to engage with the Mughals would bring the stick of military confrontation. Alone among the Rajput clans, the Sisodiyas of Mewar in southern Rajasthan, north India's pre-eminent warrior lineages, obstinately refused to negotiate with the Mughals. In response, Akbar in 1568 led a four-month siege of the Sisodiyas' principal stronghold of Chittor, which ultimately fell to the Mughals, but only after a spectacular 'jauhar' in which the fort's defenders, foreseeing their doom, killed their women and gallantly sallied forth to meet their deaths. In all, some 30,000 defenders of the fort were killed, although its ruler, Rana Pratap, managed to escape. For decades, he and the Sisodiya house would continue to resist Mughal domination, whereas nearly every other Rajput lineage had acknowledged Mughal overlordship.
”
”
Richard M. Eaton (India in the Persianate Age, 1000–1765)
“
even in leadership positions, many women are still treated as less-worthy peers. They are expected to be grateful for their inclusion, as though they did not work even harder than their male counterparts to get there. They are spoken to as subordinates by less qualified colleagues. Their ideas are discredited until those same ideas are articulated by a male colleague and then, suddenly, they are seen as the best ideas.
”
”
Lucy Quist (The Bold New Normal: Creating The Africa Where Everyone Prospers)
“
The removal of Nicola de la Haye might also affect the outcome of the siege.’ In the dark days when most women went unnoticed and were barred from education or public office, Nicola de la Haye shone like a star. Inheriting the position of Constable of Lincoln Castle from her father, she so impressed King John that he made her Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1216. It would be very fair to say that without her leadership, Lincoln Castle would have fallen. And England, too.
”
”
Jodi Taylor (A Catalogue of Catastrophe (Chronicles of St. Mary's #13))
“
a sufficient number of people believe that men make better leaders than women, they will behave towards men in ways that make it easier for them to lead, and to women in ways that hamper their chances of doing likewise. Men will therefore find it easier to excel in leadership positions, while women will have to work hard to overcome the false beliefs about their lack of leadership abilities.53 Expectations drive behaviour.
”
”
Alison Goldsworthy (Poles Apart: Why People Turn Against Each Other, and How to Bring Them Together)
“
God is shaking his daughters awake and summoning us to engage. His vision for us is affirming and raises the bar for all of us. We cannot settle for less. We have work to do. There's a kingdom to build, and what we do truly matters. Our compass is fixed on Jesus. We can no longer listen to those who call us to love him with less than all our heart and soul and strength and mind. We may not have titles, position, or power in the eyes of others, but leadership is in our DNA. The call to rule and subdue places kingdom responsibility on our shoulders.
”
”
Carolyn Custis James (Half the Church: Recapturing God's Global Vision for Women)
“
The need for women to be in positions of leadership at levels equal to men has never been more urgent.
”
”
Jane Finette
“
Leaders who listen twice as much as they talk are the most successful.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
Dear Woman, when you are in position of power, it becomes your moral obligation to help rise other women around you. Do not become the oppressor because you were oppressed at some point. That’s worse than a man oppressing. - Pavithra Urs
”
”
Pavithra Urs
“
Esteemed Woman, once you hold a position of power, it becomes your ethical duty to uplift and empower other women in your vicinity. Do not succumb to the temptation of becoming a tyrant simply because you were once subjugated. Such conduct is far more egregious than that of a man who oppresses.
”
”
Pavithra Urs
“
Leaders are forward-thinking, confident individuals who identify what needs to be done, put in the hard work, and actively seek solutions instead of pointing fingers.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
As Eagly and her colleagues write, “On a less positive note, most leadership roles require more agency than communion. Therefore, the lesser agency ascribed to women than men is a disadvantage in relation to leadership positions.
”
”
Vanessa Patrick (The Power of Saying No: The New Science of How to Say No that Puts You in Charge of Your Life)
“
Success is not dependent on luck - it starts with personal leadership and the power of intention.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
Being a leader is not easy. It's a delicate balance between humility and self-confidence. It takes immense courage to lead others but also requires an honest awareness of our own limitations.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
True leadership is not about commanding authority; it's about earning respect.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
The problem is not isolated to Southern Baptist churches; it is rampant. Unbalanced power in the church—caused by strict gender roles and a dearth of women leaders—is widespread and firmly rooted in most evangelical churches. The unsettling irony of complementarians favoring a male-dominated structure for church and society is that Jesus worked against such a structure during his ministry. In the story of the woman who crashed the Pharisee’s dinner party to anoint Jesus, Luke highlights how Jesus reverses the positions of the powerful, religious man and the shamed, sinful woman. He lifts up the faith and worth of the woman and demotes the leader from his position of honor and power. This, of course, was not the only time Jesus set men and women on equal footing. When he delayed a healing request from Jairus to speak and restore dignity to the bleeding woman of faith (Mark 5, Matt 9, Luke 8), Jesus gave a religious, male leader and a poor, female outcast equal attention in the kingdom (and equal access to health care). When he commended Mary as a disciple/rabbi in training (Luke 10), Jesus opened religious education and leadership to women. When he revealed his messianic identity first to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4, a story we will study later), Jesus confirmed that women have equal access to the truth. When he entrusted the message of the resurrection to Mary Magdalene (John 20), Jesus demonstrated that the gospel message of the kingdom should be preached by women and men. In these and many other teaching moments, Jesus dismantles the idea that men should have the sole claim to authority and leadership in society.
”
”
Jennifer Garcia Bashaw (Scapegoats: The Gospel through the Eyes of Victims)
“
They found that women were indeed more likely than men to be in leadership positions at distressed companies, but they also found that the problems were not the women’s fault.
”
”
Ijeoma Oluo (Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America)
“
Leadership is service, not a throne to seize
Empowering and uplifting those you lead with ease
Each day, ask yourself how you can lend a hand
Supporting others, not yourself, is what makes a true command
The Queen’s example, a shining light
Acknowledging and elevating others, always in her sight
Breaking through barriers, supporting good causes
Making everyone feel valued, she’s a true leader who never paused
Let us all follow in her regal path
Celebrating each other’s achievements, no aftermath
Age and gender, never to be a limitation
We can all make a positive impact on this nation
Remember, true leadership is not about fame
It’s measured by the success and well-being of your game
So lead with service, and watch your people thrive
For a true leader empowers, and helps their people to survive.
”
”
Maheshika Halbeisen (The Job Well Done: The Queen's Way to Successful Leadership)
“
Leadership is about unlocking the potential of those around you, so they can shine and achieve greatness in their own unique way.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
Leading with vulnerability is tough, but it’s essential to establishing a strong team dynamic.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
Leadership is not the absence of doubt but the courage to take risks and embrace ambiguity.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
Leadership is an ongoing journey — have courage, stay humble, and always strive to be the best version of yourself
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
Leadership is not just about achieving success for yourself, it's about helping others achieve success as well.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
True leadership is not about commanding authority, it's about earning respect.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
Successful leaders don't just think outside the box; they create new boxes to paint their vision of the future. They make themselves and their belief system so contagious that others can't help but to follow them along on the journey.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)