Author and former Duke University President Nan Keohane returned to campus to discuss "What Makes a Good Leader" at the Sanford School of Public Policy on Feb. 4. The event was a conversation between Keohane, Assistant Professor of Public Policy Kristin Goss, and public policy senior Mike Lefevre, president of Duke Student Government, before a full house in the Fleishman Commons.
Keohane, Duke's first woman president from 1993 to 2004, wrote "Thinking About Leadership" (Princeton Press, 2011) to offer perspectives on "leadership from the inside." She began thinking about writing the book in the 1980s, while president of Wellesley College. As a political theorist, she wanted to write about power from both theoretical and personal perspectives. Keohane is currently a professor of public affairs at Princeton University.
In response to a question by Lefevre about what makes a good leader, Keohane said it requires good judgment, courage, experience and luck. "Politics as a vocation requires passion and perspective, empathy and detachment," she said.
Reflecting on her experience at Duke, Keohane said that she didn't arrive with a grand vision for the university.
"It is a mistake to have a big vision when you don't know a place," she said. Instead, she took time to understand Duke first and then the vision evolved. To gain that understanding, she began talking to people outside of the Allen Building. "I went to their offices and cubbies, I wanted to where they worked." The Dean of the Law School at the time told her she had never before been visited in her own office by a college president.
Goss asked whether it is possible to discuss the role of gender in leadership without reinforcing stereotypes. Keohane replied that not all women lead differently from men, contrasting former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with Mother Teresa.
"Margaret Thatcher was un-nurturing and proud of it," she said. "Yet women and men are socialized differently and that affects how you live as an adult." External expectations related to gender also have an impact. Most women create a leadership style that blends traits from both genders, she said.
After a Q&A session with the audience, Keohane signed copies of her books in the Sanford lobby. The event was a Terry Sanford Distinguished Lecture, co-sponsored by Hart Leadership Program and Kenan Institute for Ethics.
Video of the event is online at: http://ondemand.duke.edu/video/25919/thinking-about-leadership-with.
Photos by Megan Morr
