| The primary purpose of this study was to examine how African American women in corporations develop leadership and construct their leadership style through informal and incidental learning experiences. This study explored relationships between informal adult learning and career mapping processes of leadership for African American women.;A qualitative research design using narrative analysis was used to analyze and interpret the six participants' perceptions on developing their leadership style. After collecting data from in-person interviews, the transcripts were compiled and narrative portraits were written for each research participant. Next, a constant comparative analysis of the data was conducted to search for common themes.;Participants of this study had a blended leadership style that includes courage, humor, intuition, perseverance, and faith characteristics. Participants reported formative critical events growing up that influenced them in their professional leadership careers, they had an acquired deeper learning of themselves that came from exploring and experiencing their discomfort zones, they dared to stay the course regardless of the journey or how dim things may have looked, they possessed a belief in self, and they understood their inner power by being authentic to themselves. |
