Overcoming Adversity and Leadership: Blenda Wilson, Ph.D. story
Overcoming Adversity and Leadership: Profile of Blenda Wilson,
Ph.D., President, Nellie Mae Educational Foundation
By Howard Edward Haller, Ph. D.
This groundbreaking leadership research by has received
extensive endorsements and enthusiastic reviews from well-known
prominent business, political, and academic leaders who either
participated in the study or reviewed the research findings. You
will discover the proven success habits and secrets of people
who, in spite of difficult or life threatening challenges shaped
their own destiny to become successful, effective leaders. The
full results of this research will be presented in the upcoming
book by Dr. Howard Edward Haller which is titled -Leadership:
View from the Shoulders of Giants. The nine initial prominent
successful leaders who overcame adversity that were interviewed
included: Dr. Tony Bonanzino, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, Monzer
Hourani, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, Dr. John Malone, Larry
Pino, U.S. Army Major General Sid Shachnow, Dr. Blenda Wilson,
and Zig Ziglar. The data from these nine research participants
was materially augmented by seven more successful leaders who
overcame adversity interviews including: Jack Canfield, William
Draper III, Mark Victor Hansen, J. Terrence Lanni, Angelo
Mozilo, Dr. Nido Qubein, and Dr. John Sperling. Additionally,
five internationally known and respected leadership scholars
offered their reviews of the leadership research findings
including: Dr. Ken Blanchard, Jim Kouzes, Dr. John Kotter, Dr.
Paul Stoltz, and Dr. Meg Wheatley. This is a short biography of
one of the principal participants who generously contributed
their time and insight for this important research into the
phenomenon of how prominent successful leaders overcome
adversity and obstacles. This Blenda's story: Blenda Wilson grew
up in a small New Jersey town in the 1950s. Most people believed
that the best Blenda could hope for was a low-paying office job,
and that college was unrealistic and beyond her economic reach.
Blenda's family had experienced racial discrimination. Her
mother "was a bright black woman who had graduated from 'normal
school' in the racially segregated deep south" of America,
during the Depression. According to Blenda, her mother was a
"very, very intelligent woman, [with a] powerful mind and
fortitude." She said, "My mother moved from Georgia . . . the
north didn't accept normal school [teaching] credentials, and so
she became, throughout her working career . . . a white-collar
worker, [a] salesperson at Sears, an elevator operator . . .
[and] a girls' supervisor in a juvenile detention home."
Blenda's father "went to technical vocational school . . .
completed the [electrician] certificate, and in those days, to
become an electrician, you had to be apprenticed. He was black
and he could never get an apprenticeship, so he could never be
an electrician." He became a laborer instead of an electrician.
Blenda shared that her mother, who had experienced racial
discrimination, insisted that her children "didn't go out of the
house dirty and slovenly . . . because she [had] lived in a
really segregated south." Her mother shared "stories where, if
they were in town, and a white person was walking down the
street, black people stepped off into the curb." Blenda then
described her own experiences with racial, gender and age
discrimination.
Despite her membership in the National Honor Society at her high
school in Woodbridge, New Jersey, her guidance counselor refused
even to talk to her about going to college. Blenda's comment
was, "God, she was really mean to me. She never, ever gave me
any counseling about college; she never invited me to college
prep stuff." Wilson said that on the contrary, "Actually, she
told me to 'take a typing class' . . . then said, 'You're nice
looking, and you might be able to become a secretary.' Now
that's supposed to be a compliment." Wilson recalled,
"Fortunately, I was riding a bus and heard some women talk about
college opportunities, and how they had heard that women's
colleges were providing scholarships for smart black students. I
thought, 'That'd be me.'" Their conversation convinced Blenda
that she could find such a college for herself and a way to pay
for tuition, books, food, and housing. Wilson wrote many
colleges, seeking more information, applied for admission, and
asked for full scholarships. "I got admitted to all of the
colleges I applied to, and these were the colleges you know,
they were the 'seven sisters.'" She received scholarship offers
from several major colleges, but initially they offered only
one-year scholarships with a series of renewals. Blenda
commented, "I would just write them [the college] back and say,
'I'd really love to come, but you have to give me more money!'"
She continued, "I was determined to get a full four-year
scholarship, to ensure that I could get completely through
college, since I knew my parents could not afford to pay for me
to go." Ultimately, "Cedar Crest guaranteed me four years'
tuition, [a] travel budget, and a job." She graduated from Cedar
Crest College with a major in English and Secondary Education.
She went on to earn a Master's degree in Education from Seton
Hall, and then a Ph.D. in Higher Education from Boston College.
Early in her career she experienced gender and age
discrimination from African American males, both in the
community and within her organization. Though she was more
qualified and more educated than her competition, some people
were vocal in their opposition to her getting the job as
Executive Director of the Middlesex County Economic Opportunity
Corporation. Blenda said, "The African American men in the
community were pissed off that a woman would get this role. . .
. One of the criteria was that they wanted someone with a
Master's degree. I had one. None of the African American men
did." Blenda said she experienced several kinds of prejudice:
"There's prejudice from men, there's prejudice from black men,
there's prejudice from white people." Wilson said taking a leave
from her local high school teaching position to become the
Executive Director of the Middlesex County Economic Opportunity
Corporation "actually changed my life. I started doing the Head
Start program. There was political turmoil. This was all in the
'60s, with the war on poverty, the Office of Economic
Opportunity. I was going to change the world." Blenda "was
youngest Senior Associate Dean in the Graduate School of
Education at Harvard," and once again she encountered age
discrimination. Wilson shared that she had "worked with and was
tutored by Dr. John Gardner" after leaving Harvard. After she
left Harvard she became Chancellor of the University of
Michigan. After that she became the President of California
State University, Northridge for seven years, from 1992 to 1997,
and led the university's recovery from the Northridge earthquake
in January of 1994.
In addition to having served as a Getty Foundation Trustee for
over a decade, Dr. Wilson is the President and CEO of the Nellie
Mae Educational Foundation in Quincy, Massachusetts. She is also
a past chair of the American Association of Higher Education.
Dr. Wilson serves as a trustee of the College Board, and she is
Deputy Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Dr.
Blenda Wilson still takes time out of her busy schedule to
mentor and coach select prospective female prospective leaders.
Copyright 2006