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A Matter of Serendipity
Judith Shapiro - President - Barnard
College
by WorkingWomen2000.com
For Judith Shapiro, life has been an
exciting voyage filled with unexpected
turns—and that experience has led her to
believe that women's career paths should be
less rigid. Judith did not have a
thirty-year plan that included becoming the
President of a leading women's institution;
she began her career as an anthropologist,
working with a group of relatively isolated
indigenous people in South America. In fact,
Judith's transition from academician to
administrator came only when she was asked
to create the position of Provost at Bryn
Mawr College after serving for a year as
Acting Dean of the undergraduate college.
Yet, she is more than content with how her
life has unfolded.
"A lot of things that happen in our lives
are a matter of serendipity. People often
say, 'be prepared to walk through a door
when it opens.' You want to recognize an
opportunity when it comes to you and take
advantage of it."
Judith's leadership strategies:
Be direct.
"I really believe the more honest and direct
you can be about what you're doing and why
you're doing it, the better. It's been
important for me to try and share as much
information as possible, without giving
people more information than they can
absorb. The challenge is finding the most
effective way of communicating what you need
to get across."
Embrace humor.
"With my staff, I like people to work
intensely, but to have a great time. We all
need to see the humor in almost every
situation; it can help our ability to
analyze. Humor can distance us a bit so that
we're not taking ourselves too seriously."
Feel a connection.
"It's important to feel a close connection
with the mission of a particular
institution. I'm not the type of person
who's interested in
being president of just
anything; Barnard means a lot to me. If you
feel a strong sense of identification, if
you are singing the song you really want to
sing—inspiring others then comes from
within."
