Megan Baker
My grandmother was the matriarch of the family; she was a great leader who left a legacy in the hearts of her grandchildren. She lived and spent most of her life in Pennsylvania. When she was young she worked on her parents’ farm in Pennsylvania; she was the youngest of twelve children. The Great Depression, WWII, a divorce, single parenting, working in a steel mill, and having her sons die before her are just a few events that have shaped her life.
She told me a story about her family’s pastor who came to their home on Saturdays for dinner during the Great Depression. Her mother made hotdogs and beans for everyone. Before their guest arrived, her mother told the children that they could only have one hotdog because food was tight that week. As the pastor reached for a second hotdog at the table, my grandmother yelled, ‘Momma said one per person.’ She could remember how embarrassed her mother felt by the look on her face, but her mother did not scold her. My grandmother’s outspokenness and assertiveness were character traits that she held onto throughout her life.
As a teenager during WWII, she spent summers in Atlantic City; she worked as a waitress with her sister. After WWII, she married my grandfather who had come back from war. She went to work outside of the home, when her sons began school; she worked in a factory. She and my grandfather divorced when their sons were young. She raised them alone. She worked in the factory, had her Tuppersomething business, and cleaned peoples’ homes. She said that she got a lot of community support raising her two teen sons from their coaches and teachers. They helped to shape them, she often said.
In the seventies, she was one of the first women to get a job in the local unionized steel mill. She shoveled steel borings and did physical labor. She also cooked big turkeys and made meals for the guys in her shop. This is how she got the men to accept her and stop harassing her. They would give her money for groceries, and she would cook before work and bring food. She was able to build a camaraderie; eventually, they saw that she could do the physical work. When she was harassed, there was always a guy from her shop to take her side.
This women led by example. She was hard working, determined, trustworthy and sensitive. She did not make six figures or lead groups in a company, but her most of her grandchildren now do. Her values and character traits were her legacy. Some may argue that she was just a grandmother, but I believe that she was a transformational leader who influenced generations of individuals.
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publication.
ynj101 says
Megan, I think this was an incredible homage to your grandmother and the lessons that she has imparted on you and your family. What an excellent profile of a woman who embodied many of the major traits that are indicative of successful leadership (Northouse, 2013). She was clearly determined to succeed in life as evidenced by her drive to take care of her family despite the adversity she experienced in the workplace and within her personal circumstances. Determination is said to be demonstrated by showing that a person is willing “to assert themselves…and persevere in the face of obstacles.” (Northouse, 2013, p. 25). Your grandmother certainly did that and she is a great example of what successful leadership looks like.
Work cited:
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (Sixth Edition ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA, United States: Sage Publications, Inc.
Brooke Ashley Furlong says
I enjoyed reading your post. It is often that leadership is thought of as something that belongs in the workplace but everyone needs a leader in other areas of their life as well. Your grandmother sounds like a wonderful, hardworking lady. She does, indeed, sound like a transformational leader. Transformational leaders “move followers to accomplish more than is usually expected of them,” (Northouse, 2013, p.2). It is a style of leadership that makes followers want to be better than they are and achieve more than they imagined. I feel like this is an important style of leadership and it is one of the most inspirational. To have a leader move a follower to go farther than they imagined is a powerful situation. It deals with “emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals,” (PSU WC, 2014, L.1, p. 7). In your post, you mentioned that the grandchildren in your family have achieved a success your grandmother never had but you achieved it because her character traits were her legacy. These character traits and her transformational leadership style likely impacted this success.
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, Inc.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014). Lesson 1: Introduction to Leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su14/psych485/001/content/01_lesson/01.page.html
cad5440 says
I would have loved to have met your Grandmother. She sounds/ed like a remarkable lady. Also, you proved the point that a leader does have to be involved with work, school, or community projects. Your grandmother taught you and your family leadership skills by just getting the work done and not making a production of it. In transforming and influencing your family, that influence can be taught not only to future generations of your family, but also, outside leadership opportunities. “Just a grandmother” is the furthest thing from the truth – she proved that women can do the same work at men in a time when women did not have many employment choices.