| This applied dissertation was designed to evaluate the profiles of African American women executives in leadership. Empirical studies indicated that the traditional and hierarchical forms of leadership, which served as the primary modes of organizational management, were transitioning into collaborative and relational styles of leadership to accommodate global business trends. Researchers contended that such attributes, which are commonly associated with women, underpin the transformative leadership paradigm for 21st-century organizations. Thus, to support existing research that examined leadership characteristics exhibited by African American women and their contributions to organizations, collected research data were (a) categorized through assessment of diverse personalities, backgrounds, and shared experiences attributing to African American women within an executive role and (b) compiled into structural descriptions that identified common themes associated with their leadership framework.;A qualitative study was conducted of six African American women participants who were selected via a purposive, criterion-sampling technique and supported by community nomination. Participants held executive leadership positions within the public, private, and entrepreneurial sectors, and they were between the ages of 35 and 60 years old. Through a phenomenology inquiry, interview protocols served as the primary mode of data collection to identify commonalities and themes of the phenomenon or essence of leadership experiences for African American women. Each semistructured interview was audio recorded and transcribed with journal logs used as an additional data-collection method.;From eight descriptive categories, the following clusters of common themes and subcategories emerged from the data: (a) perseverance (e.g., resilience and resourcefulness, self-efficacy, motivation, and community encouragement), (b) exclusion (e.g., perceptions, suppression, isolation, and discouragement), (c) leadership (e.g., transforming leadership, leader core competency, and leadership development), and (d) relationship management (e.g., relational connectivity, mentoring relationships, cultural competency, and reciprocity). Results concluded that, although participants shared similar background and leadership experiences, they exhibited varied core values and influences that (a) contributed to exhaustive leader identities and (b) augmented their executive leadership. In examining the profiles of African American women executives, the findings will serve to underpin existing leadership programs that support leader capacities for this demographic. Further integration of profiles would enhance the ability of organizational cultures to meet global and economic demands. |
