Introduction to Leadership Moments

All leaders seem to have seminal moments when they realize they are leaders. In ?Leadership Moments,? the Leadership Section of the Division of Women?s Health Policy and Leadership will share stories of how nurse-midwives experienced these seminal moments and how they formed their identities as leaders. We hope these stories, accompanied by leadership theories, inspire all midwives to recognize similar abilities so that we learn to lead our health care system in embracing the midwifery model of care. These seminal events are powerful, no matter when or where they occur, so please contact the Division of Women?s Health Policy and Leadership to include your story in? Leadership Moments?

This interview is with Joani Slager, CNM, director of Bronson Women?s Health Services in Kalamazoo, Michigan and author of ?Business Concepts for Healthcare Providers: A Quick Reference for Midwives, PAs, NPs, CNSs, and Other Disruptive Innovators.?

When I was driving home from work today I was thinking about your request to tell a story about when I realized that I was a leader. I started thinking about my past and I realized that in whatever job I?ve been in, I somehow became the leader. Whether it was being a charge nurse or leading my church group, I seemed to feel the most comfortable when I was in a position where I was doing what I thought was right. But when I really thought about it, that?s no different from most midwives. Midwifery and leadership go hand in hand. A lot of midwives went from leadership roles to become midwives. A person who joins a profession that not a lot of people know anything about has to be a leader and a risk taker.

But I did have a moment when that realization came to me. It was when I was lecturing at the Midwifery Business Institute and Lisa Kane Low, C.N.M. was introducing me. In her introduction, she listed some very respected leaders in our profession that she admired and suddenly I heard her say my name! I couldn?t believe it! I?m in that group? Suddenly at the MBI that day, I realized people are really listening to what I have to say because they think that I?m important. That moment made me take on a whole new perspective. I realized that I was leading people out there. So, instead of leading in a self serving way because I never liked other people telling me what to do, the focus of my leadership changed. I became more externally focused. That?s what inspired me to write my book: I knew that the information in that book was vital for people to be able to survive.

Leaders who are leading for other people put themselves out for others. For instance, I have a very secure practice ? I could very easily practice happily in my little corner of the world ? however, I still know that unless we make these legal and political changes, the threats will always be there. So, I commit myself to my chapter?s activities so that we can decrease the threats against midwifery and women in general. I believe that when you make that kind of commitment, you develop ownership of the profession.

Within every midwife and every woman, there?s a leader. What sets true leaders apart ? whether they are leaders in their homes, organizational leaders, world leaders, or leaders in science and medicine, is that they did it to make life better for others. That?s where true leadership manifests itself: what?s in it for you becomes secondary.

Comments from Juliana Fehr, CNM, and Elaine Germano, CNM, members, Leadership Section:

Joani articulated an important point of leadership: leading to make life better for others. According to Margaret Wheatley, we don?t exist independent of our relationships. Realizing that it is our relationships that evoke our realities, helps us change those realities by changing the way we approach our relationships. We create the environments we experience. If the energy of leadership is used to nurture others, the quality of our relationships and capacity for change is profoundly improved.

Joani?s story describes how leaders shape, and are shaped by, events around them. Managerial tasks can be taught, learned, enjoyed or disliked. But recognizing oneself as a leader does change how one continues to act, and doesn?t require having a formal leadership position. Joani?s recognized herself as a leader when she heard herself being introduced at a conference. She saw that by sharing special knowledge and expertise, she was exercising leadership. This gave her a sense of responsibility to stay active in her ACNM chapter, and a commitment to share her expertise with wider audiences.

Joani?s defines a leader as Robert Greenleaf defined a ?servant-leader? in 1970. A servant-leader ?begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.? This is different from someone who needs to acquire power or material possessions. A servant-leader asks: ?do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous?? Doesn?t this sound like nurse-midwives?

Greenleaf, Robert. (1982) The Servant as Leader. Indianapolis, Indiana: Robert K Greenleaf Center.
Wheatley, M. J. (1999). Leadership and the new science: discovering order in a chaotic world. San Franscisco: Berret-Koehler Publishers.