Confidently You: Women in Leadership · Rebecca Malotke-Meslin & Lynne Macziewski

Powerful Women & Real Friendships

·36 min·2 clips

Authentic friendships get harder to form with age, and these leaders say that matters.

1. Confidently You: Women in Leadership focuses on women heads of school and the friendships that support their leadership work. 2. Rebecca Malotke-Messlin and Lynn Macheskey host Dr. Laura Hotchkiss, Sally Keidel, and Dr. Karen Warren Coleman, who lead Academy of Notre Dame, Agnes Irwin, and Penn Charter. 3. The episode asks what women’s leadership looks like when three school heads in the same region choose support over competition. 4. Sally Keidel says she hosted an early dinner for new heads in 2021, when everyone was masked and distanced. 5. Laura Hotchkiss says her first meeting with Sally happened at Bruno Brothers after a recommendation from Megan Cover. 6. Karen Warren Coleman describes Penn Charter as a pre-K through 12 Quaker school with just over 1,000 students. 7. The group says their smaller circle gives them space for “vulnerable” and “crazy” questions that larger association meetings do not. 8. They say the relationship matters because the headship can be “isolating,” “lonely,” and “solitary.” 9. Lynn notes that the four women text, dine, and check in regularly through their shared network. 10. The conversation names Club 14, a group of more than 35 schools in the area. 11. Sally says the bond creates a “safe space” for authentic leadership and makes the job more sustainable. 12. Karen says she can ask anything in the group, including school situations that need “open and honest” reflection. 13. Laura says the group helps her test ideas, ask if she is “crazy,” and find that the answer is often inside herself. 14. The guests say their schools avoid pulling apart families during admissions because they know one another’s missions and faculty practices. 15. They cite a shared no-cell-phone policy as an example of schools moving together on a common standard. 16. The guests describe supporting personal hardships as well as professional dilemmas, including lunch with a new team member and other outside-school connections. 17. The tone is conversational and collaborative, with frequent interruptions, agreement, and direct back-and-forth reflection. 18. The format is a roundtable interview that moves from origin story to books to confidence to contact information. 19. Listeners in independent-school leadership or women’s leadership roles. 20. Listeners looking for policy debate without relationship-focused detail.

As heard by us

A frank, collegial look at women in school leadership, competition, and the work of staying aboveboard.

Three heads of school use the conversation to examine women in leadership, competition, and the work of keeping trust intact inside a close independent-school circle.

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Why you'd press play

Three heads of school talk candidly about leadership, competition, and the collegial bonds that help the work hold together.

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