Advancing Women Through Developmental Relationships: Dialogue with Experts

The Utah Women & Leadership Project invites you to join us for this Spring Women’s Leadership Forum.

Over the past 40 years, research has shown that “developmental relationships” facilitate career success, particularly for leaders. In addition, multiple developers (e.g., mentors, sponsors, or peers) enhance individuals’ learning, growth, and advancement. Globally recognized experts, Drs. Murphy and Kram have studied leadership, identity, and positive relationships at work to provide a foundation for understanding how to advance women through developmental relationships. In an interactive discussion with Dr. Susan R. Madsen, they will talk about five specific types of developmental relationships that are critical for developing women leaders: mentors, sponsors, peers, executive coaches, and learning partners. These relationships provide a range of supportive functions that both challenge and enable women to learn and thrive as they advance. The discussion will also cover strategies for individual women crafting these developmental relationships and ways that organizations can create and sustain a climate that fosters these connections.

Sponsors: Jon M. Huntsman School of Business and Extension at Utah State University & Utah Education Network (UEN)

Presenters

Dr. Wendy M. Murphy is an Associate Dean and Professor of Management at Babson College. Her research is at the intersection of careers, developmental (mentoring) networks, and diversity issues. Murphy publishes in journals such as Human Resource Management, Gender in Management, Journal of Management, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior, among others. She coedited the Handbook of Research Methods in Careers with Jennifer Tosti-Kharas. Her book with Kathy Kram, Strategic Relationships at Work, bridges mentoring scholarship and practice. She has also written for Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Boston Business Journal.

Dr. Kathy E. Kram is the R.C. Shipley Professor in Management Emerita at Boston University. Her primary interests are in the areas of adult development, relational learning, mentoring and developmental networks, gender and leadership development, and change processes in organizations. In addition to her book, Mentoring at Work, she has co-authored Strategic Relationships at Work: Creating your Circle of Mentors, Sponsors and Peers for Success in Business and Life (2014); co-authored Peer Coaching at Work: Principles and Practices (2017). co-edited The Handbook of Mentoring at Work: Theory, Research and Practice (2007). In addition, she has published in many academic and practitioner journals. She is a founding member of the Center for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations (CREIO). From 2000‒2001 and served as a member of the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) Board of Governors from 2002 to 2009.

Dr. Susan R. Madsen is considered one of the top global scholars and thought leaders on the topic of women’s leadership, has authored or edited eight books, and has published hundreds of articles, chapters, and reports. Her research has been cited in the U.S. News and World Report, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Parenting Magazine, Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. She is also a regular contributor to Forbes and other local and state newspapers. Professor Madsen is the Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University and serves on many nonprofit and community boards. She is also the Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project, and her passion is to strengthen the impact of girls and women in Utah and worldwide.