Stepping Out On
Faith| Bonnie St. John
"Darcy . . .”
“Yeah, Mom?”
I momentarily held the undivided attention of my teenage
daughter. Her thumbs, free of their ubiquitous texting keypad, quietly dangled
by her side. Her computer and its omnipresent Facebook page were completely out
of sight. I had almost forgotten what she looked like without all these
adolescent accoutrements. As we sat down together on the burgundy leather sofa
in our living room, I realized this fleeting state of electronic dislocation
was my chance to hatch a plan I had been formu- lating for the past several
weeks. Carpe diem.
“How would you like to write a book together?”
“About what?” I asked my mom. Write a book? This was a real
surprise. I felt a bit suspicious, but still curious. I love to write, and Mom kept telling me I
was really good at it. I like writing poetry, fantasy, and sci-fi, though. The books Mom wrote were all nonfiction. I wondered what we could possibly do
together.
“Well . . .” I hesitated. If I wanted her to commit to any
extra work out- side her busy schedule at school—not to mention work alongside
her mother—I had to make this really great. “It would be about women as
leaders,” I continued, “a mother-daughter investigation into leadership styles
and structures.”
“Leadership?” I blurted. It came out as if I had a bad taste
in my mouth—which I did. I couldn’t
imagine a more boring topic to write about. What is there to say about
leadership anyway? When you’re in charge, you just get things done, right? Who
wants to talk about that?
Her furrowed brow told me I was losing her fast. “Um . . .
we could find women leaders all around the world!” I said impulsively,
frantically casting the ultimate bait.
“Really? Would we get to travel a lot?” I hadn’t thought about that. Heck, I’d write
about the mating habits of tsetse flies
if I got to go to Africa to do it!
But this project wasn’t just about the influence it would
have on Darcy. I wanted to do something that could have a potent impact on an
alarming trend I had witnessed in workplaces across the country: far too many
women appeared to be making a choice not to apply for top leadership positions
when presented with the opportunities to do so.
This project, then, was a bit of a Trojan horse. On the one
hand, the saga of a mother-daughter journey could seduce female readers, who
might never bother to read the Harvard Business School dissertations on the
subject, into a meaningful conversation about leadership. At the same time, if
Darcy met a series of brilliant, accomplished women— people even a cynical teen
would be in awe of—perhaps they could tell her all the things I’d like her to
know—and more.
And she just might listen.
But where to start? How would we make it work? I suggested
we do most of our research by phone, as I did for How Strong Women Pray. My
telephone interviews with a governor, some CEOs, actors, sports figures, a
college president, and others yielded great stories and information. I promised
my intrepid co-author, though, that we could punctuate these conversations with
a few visits in person to exciting and exotic places—all with reasonably priced
airfares.
“Why don’t we follow each subject as she goes about her
daily life? That way our readers get to come along with us and get a behind-
the-scenes look at what happens to them. Instead of just a boring interview,
we—and our readers—get to hang around with these women, see them in their
natural habitat, and even see how other people treat them.”
Although I agreed it was a wonderful approach, this idea of
“job- shadowing” each featured subject wasn’t going to be easy. Would these
high-powered, important women deign to allow us that kind of access? Would they
be able to impart the kind of wisdom that would resonate with our readers and
truly make a difference in their lives?
We looked at each other, both of us hooked on a crazy idea that we
weren’t sure we could pull off.
“It sounds impossible, Darcy,” I said. “We might as well get
started.”
And so, we stepped out . . . on faith.
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