HerStory Lecture: Centering Black women’s leadership gifts
03-01-2023
Often the last group allowed a seat at leadership tables, Black women and their leadership strengths have been underutilized in both business and religious organizations. At this year’s HerStory Lecture, author, leadership coach and organizational consultant, Rev. Dr. Jeanne Porter King, will share how embracing the leadership gifts of Black women not only affirms Black women’s God-given abilities and identity, but also helps to foster greater flourishing for everyone within our society.
When women become educated, observes an African proverb, so does the nation. Rev. Dr. Jeanne Porter King, MAT’04, is passionate about educating and helping women, especially Black women, identify and use their leadership gifts. The founder and president of TransPorter Group, Inc., a consulting and leadership development and training company, Rev. Dr. Porter King will be the speaker for this year’s HerStory Lecture. Sponsored by the Center for African American Ministries and Black Church Studies, the lecture will be live streamed on McCormick’s Facebook page at noon CST, Tuesday, Mar. 21.
“Leading, for me, is influencing…making an impact and providing guidance and wisdom,” says Rev. Dr. Porter King, who serves as an adjunct professor at McCormick and executive pastor of Christ Community Church in South Holland, Ill. “Leadership is leadership, whether it’s women or men, in a church or corporation. What might be different is the way women guide or influence from the way men might carry out the same responsibilities. Black women, in particular, often bring a community-oriented approach to leadership. We share with many African traditions, an underlying principle or understanding of Ubuntu – I am because we are. I like to add that I am because God has made us.”
Not all men adhere to patriarchal leaderships styles, points out Rev. Dr. Porter King, but what gets privileged in most organizations are more male-centric styles of leading. “Both women and men can move organizations forward, but women who tend to lead in far more collaborative, relational ways can be minimized and not rewarded,” she says. “By the same token, women who lead in more directive, even strategic styles, can be labeled as not relatable in some organizations because she does not lead according to a traditionally female stereotype. In reality, these days, to be effective, women and men must adopt leadership styles that integrate relational and strategic approaches.”
Learning to lead
One of the first steps women can take toward breaking down barriers to leadership roles is to bring their authentic selves to those spaces, underscores Rev. Dr. Porter King. “We have to be very comfortable with who we are…with who God called us to be,” she says. “We must lead from the well of the Holy Spirit within us. Our faith principles…our core values are to inform and drive how we lead. As we tap into our communal collaborative gifts, we enhance relations and build a community of support that can be there when challenges come.”
Another important aspect of moving into areas of greater leadership calls for evaluating feedback from others, she notes. “Pay attention to what people are saying about the impact you are making on their lives and the organization,” says Rev. Dr. Porter King. “In their feedback, there might be a leadership component that hasn’t been considered. Are you speaking up, providing clarity, synthesizing points that help the meeting flow more effectively?” Those are leadership dynamics, she emphasizes, that women need to identify within their interactions.
Called to lead
Very early in her life, Rev. Dr. Porter King recognized that she had a gift for teaching and so did others. Her parents and communities of faith affirmed her abilities and gave her opportunities to teach and lead during her teenage years, she remembers “I’ve always been passionate about teaching leaders and sharing leadership principles,” says the board member for CBE International, the world’s largest organization that challenges biblical and social barriers to equality for women. “That intersection has been a lifelong commitment. I feel that I am following the call of God when I do this work…it gives me great joy and fulfillment.”
A few years after finishing her doctoral degree at Ohio University, Rev. Dr. Porter King decided to look at leadership from theological and spiritual perspectives. “My writings on leadership have always been informed by my theological training,” she says. Her latest book, Leading Well, A Black Women’s Guide to Wholistic Barrier-Breaking Leadership, will be released this summer, and celebrates the leadership of Black women, acknowledging their triumphs and addressing the pressures many Black women face in religious and business environments.
The systems and structures of society can cause Black women to feel as if they are outsiders, notes, Rev. Dr. Porter King, “but it’s our distinct perspective and principles are that needed,” she emphasizes. “We’re not trying to replace someone else’s power with our own; we’re trying to empower everyone.”
Rev. Dr. Jeanne Porter King