"The school made it very clear that women were entitled to positions of authority. That sense of entitlement allowed us to feel that we have a natural place in leadership in the world. That gave me a mental and emotional confidence"
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It’s a quietly radical idea smuggled in through the language of the obvious: entitlement. Linda Vester isn’t praising arrogance; she’s naming a psychological infrastructure most leadership cultures hand to men by default and demand women earn the hard way. By calling it “very clear,” she points to an institutional choice, not a personal miracle. The school didn’t simply “encourage” women to lead (the softer, safer verb); it taught them they were entitled to authority, full stop. That word does real work here, because it reframes confidence as something social systems distribute, not something individuals either possess or lack.
The subtext is about how leadership is felt before it’s performed. “Natural place” signals the battle over belonging: whether a woman in charge reads as an exception, an interloper, a novelty act, or as normal. Vester’s phrasing suggests that the most exhausting part of ambition isn’t the job, it’s the constant internal audition for permission. Remove the question of whether you’re allowed in the room and you free up attention for competence.
Context matters: Vester comes of age in the post-second-wave era, when workplaces were slowly opening but the cultural scripts still cast authority as masculine. As an entertainer, she’s also in an industry that routinely rewards women for being watchable rather than directive. Her “mental and emotional confidence” lands as a counter-programming: a reminder that empowerment isn’t only policy and representation, it’s the daily, embodied assumption that power can look like you.
The subtext is about how leadership is felt before it’s performed. “Natural place” signals the battle over belonging: whether a woman in charge reads as an exception, an interloper, a novelty act, or as normal. Vester’s phrasing suggests that the most exhausting part of ambition isn’t the job, it’s the constant internal audition for permission. Remove the question of whether you’re allowed in the room and you free up attention for competence.
Context matters: Vester comes of age in the post-second-wave era, when workplaces were slowly opening but the cultural scripts still cast authority as masculine. As an entertainer, she’s also in an industry that routinely rewards women for being watchable rather than directive. Her “mental and emotional confidence” lands as a counter-programming: a reminder that empowerment isn’t only policy and representation, it’s the daily, embodied assumption that power can look like you.
Quote Details
| Topic | Leadership |
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