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WOMEN AND POWER

New Perspectives on Old Challenges

Evangelina Holvino

A few years ago I conducted a training program for high-potential managers on leadership and power at a Fortune 500 company. A workshop activity involved a panel of top-level executives of the corporation providing their perspectives on this theme. One of the invited vice presidents started her presentation by acknowledging that she had never thought about power until this occasion. “Is she serious?” I asked myself then. Today, she is one of the few women of color who have held the title of CEO at a major U.S. company. How can it be that a CEO of a corporation has never thought about power?

In this chapter I explore the complexity of the phrase “women, power, and leadership” ...

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