LOYOLA LINKS

• January 3, 2011
• 12:01 am
• Steve Christensen
• one comment

Janet Sisler on leadership

The diverse members of the Loyola University Chicago community, from alumni to faculty and from staff to students, are people of action. They live and work in every sector of society in communities around the globe. Perhaps what most binds these people together is an enthusiasm for helping those who need it.

Whether it is on Loyola’s campuses, in Chicago, or in regions afar, Loyolans find work that needs doing, and they do it. They raise money for schools where there are none or where they need improvement. They deliver babies. They promote the leadership of women. They work to create just policy and to combat inequalities of resource distribution on our planet. Over the course of the next few weeks, you will read about a handful of Loyolans and the ways they make their mark. Their work does not encompass all that Loyolans do—not by a long shot. But it does represent what Loyolans stand for. And that is to use their talents to be persons for others.

Today’s feature is a Q&A with Janet Sisler (MUND ’74, ’82), the director of the Gannon Center for Women and Leadership.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I’m a Mundelein alumna, and I’ve been involved in Catholic organizations all my life. My most recent position was as the president of the Franciscan Community Benefit Services, working for the Franciscan sisters to organize and manage all of their charity programs for women and children. Before that I worked in the Office of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago. I was superintendent for my last year.

What are some of your plans for the Gannon Center?
I think we have some major areas that we need to address in the short term and the long term for the Gannon Center. First of all, we need to address the search for the Carolyn Farrell Endowed Chair.We would like to see a search team and process in place so that the endowed chair position will be filled by an extraordinary person for the beginning of the 2011-2012 academic year.

Second, we would like to substantially increase the scholarship award for our Gannon Scholars. The program was instituted nearly 20 years ago, and, though the leadership development program for undergraduates has been continually improved, the dollar amount of the scholarship has remained almost stagnant. I would like to see the dollar amount reflect the importance of the program.

Third, we need to formalize a strategic planning process for the Gannon Center, so that we can move the program from being a great program on a limited scale to a great program focused on the development of leadership for women at Loyola and at Jesuit universities throughout the United States and world.

Why, in 2010, is it necessary or beneficial to have a center for women?
We don’t have to look far to see why we still have to work on developing leadership roles for and leadership skills of women. Take Fortune 1000 companies: the percentage of women as CEOs has not really grown over the last two decades. We need to ensure that our graduates look at how they can be supported in those positions. We want women to have the savvy and creativity and interpersonal and systemic skills that allow them to rise to leadership positions. Last year 51 percent of the labor force was women. But are they in the highest-paying sectors? No, they’re in the lowest quadrant of salaries. The Gannon Center is here to maximize women’s potential for leadership.

Do you find our Catholic identity and our feminist identity ever to be at odds?
I hope not. There are extremes in both. What we are trying to do is to move forward in a way that will enable women to continue to shape the church and continue to open up the church to women’s gifts and contributions. However we approach the ordained priesthood, which is not an option for women, we have many other options to be in leadership positions. I had the opportunity to serve on the cardinal’s cabinet, and almost half of the positions on that cabinet are filled by women. The best way to move forward in leadership is to do the very best job in whatever position you’re in, so that people can see your value. When you work within an organization and you know how to collaborate and be productive, when you know not only how to read the trends but how to create them, then you have an opportunity for growth. I think the same is true in the church. We look for ways in which we can be of service and ways in which we can continue to ensure that the ministries that people crave and hunger for are what we are providing.

How do you navigate the idea that a person who does good work will be valued at her organization, when the numbers don’t necessarily show that to be true?
We’re in a horrible point in our economy. Five years ago we were in a different place. In business circles, people were, at that point, looking at their employees as associates, as assets to their success. Now, unfortunately, we’re in an economy in which people are looked at as liabilities. Turnover wizards are eliminating positions in companies to where organizational development is no longer crucial.

I am concerned about our graduates that are newly out of school in this economy. We need to create volunteer opportunities for them so that their skills don’t get rusty—so that their enthusiasm for social change doesn’t get tired in the day-to-day grind in which they must participate just to make a living. It’s hard for these young people, because many are in low-wage positions, and they have to pay their rent. The career development folks are working hard on this. We’re concerned about what happens to our grads once they leave us. We want to provide the infrastructure to support them in finding occupations in which their skills are best put to use.

Now take the graduates 10, 15, or 20 years out of school, who are getting to a certain point in their careers. Few of the top-paid people are women, and, as you say, that number has not grown much in the past 20 years, which happens to be the 20 years that the Gannon Center has been in existence. Is there any effect we can have on the people who are running these companies? Can we do anything to effect change from the top down?
Dawn Harris, who was the interim director here, worked with colleagues from two other universities to do a systemic review of businesses. We didn’t have a national database on CEOs and positions of responsibility leading up to the CEO position. Dawn and her colleagues looked at VP and CIO positions to find out where women are in the pipeline, at what size companies, in what industry, and she’s now doing a follow-up study. What are the best practices to develop the pipeline for women? How can our center help solidify that pipeline? Can we develop a network of organizations across the country that will support women in terms of continued professional development and keep them revved up so that they will meet the responsibilities of CEOs?

And we need to look at the services that support young families. There are lots of young professional women who reach a point in their family life or career where they have to make a decision between one and the other. And then, if they want to go back to work when their children are grown, is there a place for them? I heard recently that for every year that a woman takes off to take care of family responsibilities, it’s equivalent to five years of salary increases she misses out on. Why should people have to make that kind of choice? Shouldn’t we look at a society that really values children and really values mothers and fathers? That’s the kind of advocacy our center can focus on. We can help shape governmental and social practices that would enhance the quality of life for all people.

How do you see the Gannon Center in relation to Loyola and to Mundelein?
I like to look at the Gannon Center as carrying on the legacy of Mundelein College through our programs, through our interactions, and through the development of the leadership of women. I see in the Gannon Center the legacy of holistic knowledge and service we had at Mundelein. Ann Ida Gannon has been one of my personal mentors ever since I met her when I was 18 years old. Or take Sister Carol Frances, who led work with Cesar Chavez and with the United Farm Worker movement. We weren’t just boycotting lettuce and grapes, but asking ourselves, “How are we going to work on behalf of migrant farm workers who deserve to have human rights and workers rights?”

It’s the holistic, transformative education we had at Mundelein that we now have through the Gannon Center. We get to work for the common good every single day. We get to shape young people and organizations so that we can really be of service to the world, and so that people can see the presence of God in our actions.

Story courtesy of Loyola magazine (Fall/Winter 2010).