Ethically Designed

The ethical underpinnings of my work in theorizing matriarchal leadership, prioritize and increase the economic value of maternal roles, women’s leadership, and the generative cycles and thinking patterns of a female species. A year and a half into a global pandemic, the tip of the social, emotional, and economic impacts of a patriarchal society emerged. Nearly 2 million women reported experiences of burnout, stress, and exhaustion from a labor imbalance in managing work, home, and family responsibilities (Burns, Huang, Krivkovich, Rambachan, Trkulja & Yee, 2021). Critical work around employee well-being is reflective of a culture, and within a patriarchal culture, “progress is rarely made on efforts that are undervalued” (p.17). Increasing the value of women and mothers, in cultural settings, increases the health and improves the balance of a diverse society.

Matriarchal leadership identifies the degree to which human flourishing exists within an organization. Its presence disrupts patriarchal norms within the home and the workplace, while also enhancing the presence and partnership of matriarchal women working and thriving within patriarchal systems and cultures. The myth of a “maternal role” in caregiving reveals how instruction and observation can inform anyone as to what works best in caring for other humans (Shrestha, Adachi, Petrini, & Shrestha, 2019). After all this time, it is now understood that time, committment, and full attention are the only differences between a maternal and paternal role. This disruption to normative ideals within patriarchal power systems paints a more accurate portrait of a generative maternal leadership not only proven beneficial in the home but translates as generative power within the workplace. The advantages of a partnership with matriarchal leadership within a patriarchal system host profound opportunities for increasing values of diversity, at the intersections of sex, gender, race, and class, as generative leadership takes all members into account for strategic organizational payoff (Coffey, 2005). 

Traditional models of fixed economic models and organizational flows present a social hurdle, as generative thinking disrupts the comfort and ease to which a few in power have set a pace for coasting. What was originally designed as rational and logical policies within the workplace were mostly created “based on masculine-based organizational cultures and structures” (De-Frank Cole & Tan, 2022, p.121). Matriarchal leadership would identify blocks and impediments to human flourishing that may prove a threat to those who benefit from unpaid labor, gender stereotypes, exclusion, and bias, causing unrest among some stakeholders. With matriarchal leadership hosting development for agency and self-efficacy, a degree of power shifts to that of the people, where exercising values that support thriving holds weight for change. 

A worldview of the term “matriarchy” is often defined through a patriarchal lens, as a similar power structure of authority over people, one where women, and not men, hold ultimate power. Matriarchy is an organized social system governed solely by women, where the definition of matriarchal exists as “the state of being an older, powerful woman in a family or group” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). In this sense, a woman who is free to govern her own sense of self, operating outside the influence of a patriarchal belief or system, engages in a matriarchal leadership.

While the focus of this project is to provide a lens of Appreciative Inquiry into the presence of oppression, inequality, and other counterproductive outcomes of patriarchal leadership (Bareket, Kahalon, Schnabel & Glick, 2018), my challenge is addressing white women regarding the systemic oppression our leadership upholds, the affiliations we participate in, and perpetuate. The language and visuals I use to paint a portrait of matriarchal leadership should be encouraging, but truthful; it must be realistic and also visionary.

The ethical underpinnings of my work in theorizing matriarchal leadership, serve in prioritizing and expanding the social, economic, environmental, and domestic value of maternal roles, women’s leadership, and the generative cycles that impart intelligence within a female species. The objective of creating matriarchal leadership theory is to exemplify the power of generative leadership that is in direct contrast, or complementary to, oppressive, fixed, patriarchal systems. I am also making a distinction between women’s and matriarchal leadership. Not all women leaders are matriarchal, possessing the capacity to counter patriarchal norms and labor in the co-creation of new, healthier, pathways for a diverse society to thrive. And not all men are patriarchal, fixed in believing sex is heirarchal, masculinity is default, or that to be a man is to be a leader.

Critical work around employee well-being is reflective of the culture, and within a patriarchal culture, “progress is rarely made on efforts that are undervalued” (Burns, Huang, Krivkovich, Rambachan, Trkulja & Yee, 2021, p.17). Increasing the value of maternal responsibility and femme leadership may also lower the value of patriarchal norms, creating space for the restoration of organizational health and social equity.

I intend to define a leadership style and process that stands on its own within a patriarchal system, while also working to advance the agency of all those within a home and a brand house. Where humans experience relational dead-ends, stagnancy, and toxicity, at work and in personal relationships, matriarchal leadership illuminates opportunities for transcendence. My hope is for women leaders to stand in a posture of self-authority, sending a clear message that she is paying close attention to what is going on around them. My hope is for men and women, entry-level or C-suite, to experience leadership that invites greater agency in their career trajectory; it is also for organizations to adopt more future-minded systems and human-centric processes that are intentionally designed to support human flourishing.

Melinda

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Matriarchal Leadership Theory

Melinda Cadwallader knows Matriarchal Leadership

Nearly two decades ago I began wrestling with the phenomena of matriarchal leadership. A lived experience of solo parenting offered the opportunity to operate as head of the house and chief of well-being; with no patriarchy to submit to, no adherence to a hierarchy, and no masculine defaults to align with, I led our family unit as both mom and pop. Breaking these rigid gendered norms produced a grit that refined my character and strengthened my resilience for living out an organic and holistic leadership attuned to human flourishing. 

In my work with trades education, I was introduced to Kolb’s experiential learning model. Applying this process of moving information through a cycle of feeling, watching, thinking, and doing, baked sensemaking into the landscape of my leadership. Through this ‘experiential sensemaking’, I advanced beyond fear, frustration, loneliness, and hopelessness into greater dignity, clarity, self-respect, and autonomy. I changed my role from ‘single mother’ to ‘solo parent.’

As agency increased, so did my vision and version of leadership. The invisible systems of anti-feminism that planted seeds of misogyny, began to weaken and fall away. Internalized patriarchy became compost for the burgeoning of a leadership balanced with love and logic - practicality and imagination. This yes, and… leadership bolstered my stability to stand on my own two feet even while operating under the leadership of patriarchal systems. 

I had found a thriving within the cancer of patriarchy.

When Leukemia came knocking at my child’s door, I left my career to provide full-time caretaking. While living in the hospital, I applied this same ‘experiential sensemaking’ to help me move beyond the spirals and cycles of grief. Personal leadership became a tool of survival and influenced the daily choices of a child attuned to her own measure of human flourishing.

Together, we discovered a thriving within the experience of cancer itself. 

Building upon my undergrad research, where I portrayed how women and mothers are impacted by limitations within patriarchal workplace culture, I took this capstone opportunity to begin theorizing and designing the infrastructure for a women’s leadership style that harnesses the dynamic power of communications attuned to human flourishing. 

 Applying the framework of the communicative constitution of an organization (McPhee, 2015), the four flows ‘ecosystem’ of communication initiates a membership to the leadership of self, exercises strategic intention, appreciates what works well, and embraces continuous adaptation and advancement. In this sense, ‘matriarchal’ is strategic for decentering patriarchy and recentering human dignity by increasing the value and agency of femme, or liberated, leadership.  

This project helped me form ‘the bones’ of matriarchal leadership by laying down the theory-building research necessary for a solid architecture capable of protecting what is truly at the heart of this theory: human flourishing. 

As words create worlds, and given this historical moment of great human suffering and deep societal ills - a leadership that is both protective and nurturing is just the prescription for establishing personal balance and restoring organizational health.

Attuned to human flourishing, Matriarchal Leadership takes its shape. 

What could that shape look like for you?

Melinda

Matriarchal Leadership Theory

Organizational Health: it's in the culture

Have you ever bought an orange that looked nice and bright on the outside, but the juice was too sour to enjoy? Have you ever seen the model, picture-perfect, family, only to learn their life is filled with turmoil? Maybe you’ve heard “I love you” from someone carelessly causing you pain? Maybe you know someone who’s a really good liar? We never really know what’s on the inside of a person, place, or even a system, until it’s under pressure. Whether a devastating medical diagnosis, the ending of a valued relationship, or the letting go of a treasured job, the health of a relationship often remains hidden until things go south. In reflection, the signs may magically appear – like blazing torches – asking ourselves “how could I have missed those cues!”

Culture is the silent language, the unspoken message, the devil in the details. It hides out until it is named. It spreads effortlessly until identified and consumes until contained. A culture of dysfunctional communication, much like cancer, kills. Energy. Ambition. Success. Connection. What if instead of allowing dysfunction to hide out, like cancer within the marrow of a bone, we paid closer attention to signs and symptoms of organizational dis-ease? What if embracing tensions, identifying symptoms, and responding more quickly to treat the side effects of communication challenges, we strengthened our organizational health? As any survivor will tell you, cancer has a way of changing us for the better, if we let it.

As an outside hire for a leadership role many years ago, I immediately witnessed multiple personnel dysfunctions. I was charged to identify "cancer" within the team - specific behaviors decaying productivity, clogging organizational flow, and impeding company growth. Like a good steward, deeply concerned with the health of his ecosystem, the CEO sought a fresh perspective. And like a good mother, my experience and passion for the industry supported efforts of constructive criticism while listening for social cries for help. Peering through a lens of maternal leadership and responsibility, I spotted some carcinogens. Hidden within safe harbors and quietly overlooked corners were passive aggressions, tolerated bullying, and social assassinations. With connections weak, toxicity spreading, and wounds festering, this was a job for courage and hope. Spackling our holes, we declared the power to improve simply by diagnosing our dysfunctions. We named them, identified their presence, and made plans to work them out. Within a year, we were speaking openly about conflict without taking offense, we were celebrating growth with the fruit of our painful labors. We had increased organizational strength and gained momentum.

Shortly after recognizing our success, my young child was diagnosed with Leukemia, a blood cancer. Cancer, just as our organizational cancer, had been hiding out from recognition, slowly zapping her life-energy, and was leading our entire family down a devastating path. This diagnosis metaphor that I was using to unite teams now became personal. It was my turn to face a disease. It was my turn to accept the maternal responsibility and leadership of laboring to improve the health of not just one person, but an entire family ecosystem.

Diagnosis has a way of blossoming a willingness to do whatever it takes to fight for something. Diagnosis surges an eagerness to shave our heads in solidarity for the afflicted. Faced with the stages of grief, I sat in denial, stood in anger, and looked for someone to blame. Then, I remembered what I asked of my team, and decided to open communication flows. First with myself, then on to my daughter, my partner, and the nurses and doctors working on all our behalf. From the inside out, the comfort of denial was disrupted, the callousness of anger softened, and the letting go of blame freed my attitude to shift perspective. I paid closer attention to the language I used when speaking to myself and others. Proactively, I designed frameworks for intentional communication to flow, allowing frustration to find its way up, and out, of our life.

As my daughter progressed through remission, I returned to work with a gift from cancer: something of an x-ray vision. I look for what’s neglected. I listen for the pains of onboarding, and I'm on high alert for the faint sounds of a system causing humanity harm. I search for unintentional practices, I dig for unclear language, and I peel back the stickers covering up the sight of a dead-end job. I can smell the stench of stagnant communications from miles away. Equipped with experience, data, and case studies, I carry this experience, into my work in strategic communications at Gonzaga University. Grappling with dysfunctions in a cultural context fascinates me and communication theories stand as pillars of knowledge that serve to treat wounds caused by company cogs.

What do communication and cancer have in common? They both rely on hope.

Not all dysfunctions are salvageable, just as not all cancers are survivable, but if we remain willing to fight – for something - hope will also fight for us.