Maryvale hosts expert on leadership

LUTHERVILLE – Maryvale Preparatory School marked the 10th anniversary of its Patricia J. Mitchell ’65 Leadership Institute by welcoming Dr. Linda Ginzel, a clinical professor of managerial psychology at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, March 13.

A specialist in leadership, negotiation and executive development, Ginzel led three workshops for students, faculty and staff at Maryvale’s 100-acre Green Spring Valley campus before delivering a keynote address that evening.

As the evening’s keynote speaker, Ginzel addressed parents, school leaders, alumnae and the public. Before she spoke, special recognition was given to the institute’s attending architects, past and present.

The event honored key figures behind the institute, including its founding director, Mary Ellen Rector Fise, class of 1974, for whom a new award in leadership excellence was announced. Also recognized were current institute director Laura Scott, school President Malika DeLancey and Tracey Ford, Maryvale’s first lay president (2012-23), who oversaw the institute’s evolution. Patricia J. Mitchell, class of 1965, a philanthropist and retired IBM vice president of Global Sales Operations for whom the institute was named in 2023, was also in attendance.

Ginzel, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, said her goal “is to change the global conversation about leadership” and to “go wiser, younger,” helping everyone from high-level executives to high school students.

When Ginzel received Maryvale’s invitation to come speak about what leadership entails, the longtime friend of Fise leaped at the opportunity.

“You see what Maryvale is doing – leadership with a capital ‘L,’” she said. The independent Catholic girls’ school affiliated with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur is the first in the Baltimore region and beyond to offer a specific leadership institute.

Ginzel shared insights from her book “Choosing Leadership, Revised and Expanded” and passed out copies to attendees that she signed. She also gifted everyone with a green pen, having been inspired by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda who always wrote in green, “the color of hope.” This hope, said Ginzel, goes hand-in-hand with “the self-understanding that is essential to leadership development.”

With an engaging presence and self-deprecating humor, Ginzel moved about the stage, emphasizing that leadership is a skill anyone can develop.

This makes leadership a set of skills that anyone regardless of age should practice constantly, she explained.

While Ginzel teaches at Booth, she also has executive MBA students in Hong Kong, London and Chicago, and MBA and Ph.D. students at Northwestern and Stanford. She’s designed educational programs for Fortune 500 companies and is one of the country’s leading consumer advocates whose work on product safety has saved countless lives. In 2000, she was awarded the President’s Service Award, the nation’s highest honor for volunteer service in solving critical social problems.

To start teaching about leadership to the young, thwarting the stereotype that only high achievers can lead, Ginzel has also written a small picture book, “Leadership is …,” for her students to enjoy with the children in their lives. It is free to download at the website choosingleadershipbook.com.

“I’m trying to help people understand that leading is a behavior and there are many ways to lead,” Ginzel said. “It’s the perfect lesson for children. What’s more important, the head or the heart, the sun or the moon? Neither, of course – both are necessary in different ways. …

“Let children tell you why the moon is leading and the sun is managing,” she challenged. “You’ll be surprised by how interesting and creative they are.”

No one has the ultimate definition of leadership on which everyone will agree, Ginzel observed. As such, she urged everyone to “start with what you think leadership is, then inform your understanding with what others – such as practitioners and academics – think about leadership. … But you need to have your own definition of leadership as it will form the basis for your own actions.”

Throughout the process of reflecting on one’s own definition of leadership, Ginzel warned, “If you don’t write it down, it doesn’t exist.” When you write something down, she added, it becomes data that you can study and begin to understand the value of your own experience.

Sloane Weathington, class of 2026, reflected on Ginzel’s message, emphasizing its broad and inclusive approach to leadership. 

“The key message I took from Dr. Ginzel is that anyone can be a leader,” she said. “There is no clear-cut definition of the word ‘leadership.’ It allows you to interpret it however you want. A leader is … someone who inspires others and doesn’t back down from a challenge. Even if you don’t believe you have led, there are moments in everyone’s lives when they have portrayed leadership qualities.”

Emma Murphy, class of 2027, said the presentation taught her the value of writing down ideas. 

“This enhances my view of leadership because I can understand that my ideas could be the start of something amazing,” she said.

Ginzel noted that the Maryvale middle schoolers were the youngest audience to whom she had ever presented a leadership seminar.

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