Innovating Leadership:
Co-Creating Our Future

Hosted by Maureen Metcalf

Conversations with global thought leaders on leadership, culture, and innovation—designed for executives navigating complexity and building resilient organizations.

The Changing Roles of Women in Leadership, According to a Former Prime Minister

Episode Description

Kim Campbell, Canada’s first and only female prime minister, reflects on how women’s leadership roles have transformed from the early 1990s to today. Drawing on a barrier-breaking career that spans all three levels of Canadian government, a Harvard Kennedy School appointment, and leadership of the Peter Lougheed Leadership College, she examines the gender dynamics of high-level political and organizational leadership. The conversation weighs both the barriers women executives still face and the opportunities ahead for genuine gender equity.

Key Takeaways

Women’s leadership roles have evolved significantly over the past three decades.
Gender dynamics continue to shape access to high-level political and organizational leadership.
Real barriers persist for women executives even as opportunities expand.
Breaking barriers early, as Campbell did, can pave the way for others to follow.
Advancing gender equity in leadership remains an unfinished, forward-looking project.

Why This Episode Matters

Executives come away with a former head of government’s long-view perspective on how far women’s leadership has come and what still stands in the way of full gender equity.

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Featuring

Kim Campbell, First Female Prime Minister of Canada

Episode Topics

Culture Change • Governance & Oversight • Leadership Capability & Maturity

Podcast Air Date

March 3, 2020

Episode Duration

49min

Watch the episode

Season 6

Episode Number 6

Episode Content:

As our world is changing at a rapid pace and our leadership strategies are changing, what does this mean for women in leadership? In this program, we will be discussing the changes of women in leadership with an experienced leader who has had significant worldwide leadership roles. Right Honourable Kim Campbell will share her insights from women in leadership from the early 1990s to now and where women in leadership hope to go in the future.

Produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– Hot Topics: A Prime Minister’s Perspective with Kim Campbell

– You Are Enough, You Are Worthy: Leadership Lessons for Women with Betsy Myers

– Women on the Rise: A Leadership Journey with Reta Jo Lewis

Resources:

You can learn more about Kim Campbell’s work on her website at https://kimcampbell.com. Her memoir, Time and Chance, is available on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3Q8TxDc (Kindle version: https://amzn.to/46D6avJ).

Our host, Maureen Metcalf, posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.

She’s also written several award-winning books on leadership development. You can peruse and purchase them here.

Books we’re reading for fun or personal development right now include:

Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith
The Five Lost Superpowers: Why We Lost Them & How to Get Them Back by John Reid, et al
The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

Other episodes you’ll enjoy

When Women Lead: Courage, Change, and Representation with Congresswoman Joyce Beatty
Top Leadership Lessons for Women from a Senior White House Advisor with Betsy Myers
Women on the Rise: The Leadership Journey of the Export-Import Bank’s President with Reta Jo Lewis

Guest(s):

Kim Campbell, First Female Prime Minister of Canada

Guest(s) Bio:

As Canada’s first and only female Prime Minister, Kim Campbell’s life has been a life of firsts. From the age of 16, when she became the first female student body president of her high school, until 30 years later, as the 19th Prime Minister of Canada, Ms. Campbell has spent much of her life breaking barriers for women. She served at all three levels of government in Canada. After leaving politics, she served as the Canadian Consul General in Los Angeles, then taught at the Harvard Kennedy School, after which she became an international leader of leaders with organizations such as the International Women’s Forum and the Club de Madrid. Drawing on her extraordinary experience as an academic and a leader, she served as the Founding Principal of the Peter Lougheed Leadership College at the University of Alberta from 2014–2018.

Holding audiences since the age of ten, Ms. Campbell speaks widely on issues related to leadership, international politics, democratization, climate change, gender, and Canadian/American relations addressing audiences in places such as Kyiv, Dubai, Cordoba, Toronto, Berlin, Ulaanbaatar, Prague, Brussels, Paris, Vancouver, London, Beijing, Seoul, Washington, DC, and Ottawa.

Transcript