Page 3 - The Leadership Line: March 2024

Leslie Taylor on Women at Work

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ve asked one of our outstanding female leaders to offer her unique and
unvarnished perspective on the personal struggles and professional challenges women in the workforce face to
succeed. Is progress still being made for women? What lessons can we learn from each other? Is mentorship the key?
Are there advantages to being a woman at work? Let’s ask Leslie!

Barriers in the workplace.
The most significant barriers I encountered were outright misogyny, unconscious bias, and
microaggressions. Misogyny speaks for itself. I encountered that, and still do. Thankfully it’s not too
prevalent, and the misogynistic guy makes himself look bad, so I don’t worry about it. On the front of
unconscious bias, I encountered what is referred to as “differential evaluation of equivalent behavior
and skill” between men and women. I saw this not only applied to me but to my highly capable
female colleagues. My approach was to power through, stand up for myself, and prove them wrong.
For microaggressions, things like getting interrupted, talked over in meetings, or subtle eye-rolling
and other discounting body language, I would call it out in a direct, but professional way, when it
was egregious by saying things like, “I know you’re trying to help, but I can finish my sentences.”
Or talk to the person after the meeting, trying to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were
unaware of what they were doing. I never encountered some of the more overt and damaging things
other women have faced, for which I am grateful.

Her role model
Hands down, on the personal front, my mom! I tell people I could write a book about her, and I have
the beginnings of that underway. She led our family through adversity many times. She still inspires
me to this day as she has rejoined the workforce at 81-years young teaching reading to kindergarten
through 3rd grade. I was blessed with a fantastic dad as well, who is my “second” role model. My
parents paved the way for all I’ve ever done from their example, their guidance, their support, and
their experiences.

Paying it forward
My way of inspiring and empowering women (and anyone else who wants my input or advice) is
to be a considerate, thoughtful mentor. Sharing experiences, good and bad, with others has become
something I do routinely. To the best of my ability, I mentor anyone who wants that relationship. I
recently taught an Integrated Product Team Leadership course and have met with multiple women
afterward for one-on-one discussions regarding the challenges they are facing now. After each
encounter, I felt uplifted by how they felt leaving the discussion. I also met with one of my long-
standing white male mentees, who has impressed me for years as a leader. He had a critical career
decision to make and wished for a sounding board. Meeting him gave me great joy as well. I try to be
an “equal opportunity” mentor, but many more minorities reach out for my help.

A piece of advice, be you. There are no cookie-cutter people, so be the best you can be at who you
are. It’s good to see other people you admire as role models and pick up on some of their techniques
but approach them with your own authenticity.

Professional advancement
One way for me was getting my master’s degree in the field of Engineering Management. Another
way was taking advice from mentors wiser than I was when it came to taking opportunities that were
presented to me. All these mentors were men who saw promise in my capabilities. Finally, I taught
at night for over 15 years. As people who teach know, you learn more by teaching than by being a
student. I continue to teach as an adjunct instructor at St. Mary’s College and do a few of my own
courses for adult learning on “Leadership Matters.”