Iron Butterflies Women Transforming Themselves and the World (Paperback)

From the Publisher: This is the inspiring, central message of Iron Butterflies, a compelling narrative that weaves together the stories of sixty successful women from all walks of life and throughout the world. Author Birute Regine spent several years in eight countries interviewing these dynamic female role models: businesswomen, CEOs, a Congresswoman, a governor, an ex-Prime Minister, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a winemaker, artists, doctors, nurses, and many others.||Regine calls these women "Iron Butterflies" because they meld a will of iron with the gentle, nurturing touch of a butterfly. With disarming candor, these women talk about their struggles, their fallibilities, and their strengths in the journey to the top of their professions. Forging their leadership from an amalgam of masculine and feminine skills, all of these Iron Butterflies have transformed themselves and in doing so they are contributing to a larger social transformation.||Critiquing the command-and-control style of leadership, derived from the gladiator concept of male invulnerability, Regine convincingly demonstrates how traditional feminine skills and values--such as inclusion, empathy, a holistic perspective, relational skills, and emotional strength--can be applied to empower more people than ever before. Like the sixty Iron Butterflies profiled, leaders in the 21st century will paradoxically embrace vulnerability and durability, creating better working and living relationships for us all.