Leadership & Acceptance

Bennis starts off chapter 2 saying “leaders come in every size, shape, and disposition– short, tall, neat, sloppy, young, old, male, and female.”  While we may all read this and agree, I can’t help but question its authenticity. Are all leaders accepted despite the very things that make them who they are?  I would have to argue no.  The most prevalent case being the presidency.  Since the US independence from England there has been not one single female president to date, or vice president for that matter.  If anyone can be a leader, given that they’ve acquired the basic ingredients of a guiding vision, passion, integrity, trust, curiosity, and daring, as mentioned in the text… why are we still questioning our readiness for a female president now in 2012 where women have come a long way from the stereotypical housewife.  Women have become CEO’s, Oprah has her own television network, and many more are venturing into entrepreneurial start ups. I wonder how long it will be before the nation is ready for a female leader.  I guess it is “as Norman Lear puts it ‘on the one hand, we’re a society that seems to be proud of individuality.  On the other hand, we don’t really tolerate real individuality.  We want to homogenize it,'” as quoted by Bennis.