As the most famous of the “conductors” on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman represents the quintessential leader for women, according to Dr. Juliette Martin-Thomas. Born into slavery and abused by her masters, Tubman overcame her birth legacy and a severe head injury that caused her to suffer repeated bouts of “malaise” to free many of her family and friends. Despite later being in danger as a nurse and a scout for the Union Army, she lived to be 93 years old. Martin-Thomas, a licensed clinical psychologist in Milwaukee, sees Tubman as a role model for women because of her power and self-efficacy. If you set goals and allow nothing to stand in your way, you can do anything, she said. “As a clinician, that has always intrigued me. This woman had an amazing level of hardiness that contributed to her being a consummate leader.” Despite hardships, Tubman overcame real danger to do what she thought was right. She understood it was important to identify, access and utilize her allies. Her life, as well as the lives of those she led, depended on it. “Harriet was only 5′ 2″ but monumental in the shadow she cast,” said Martin-Thomas. Martin-Thomas, who retired from the adjunct faculty in psychology at Alverno College WI in May 2012, delivered the closing keynote “When Leaders Weep: A Message from Harriet Tubman for Your Leadership Toolbox,” at the Wisconsin Women in Higher Education Leadership conference. It was held at Carroll University in Waukesha WI in October 2012. A widow of 15 years, Martin-Thomas is of Bahamian ancestry and grew up in Key West. Her first job as a clinical psychologist was in corrections in the 1970s, at a Wisconsin maximum security prisons for men. She was its first African American psychologist. She spent 13 years in corrections while building a private practice, which she's run for 30 years. Approached by a faculty member at Alverno, Martin-Thomas began teaching abnormal psychology as an adjunct there, gradually developing her signature course on the theories of personality, which she taught for 12 years. Calling herself a “precocious child,” she recalls her mother working two jobs as a maid to send her daughter to a Catholic boarding school for girls in Virginia; back then Key West had no Catholic high schools for black students. Her mother wanted her daughter to receive a “full” Catholic education. She attended St. Francis de Sales, founded by St. Katharine Drexel, a great aunt of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Now closed, the school was located along the historic James River where many slave transactions took place, which piqued her interest in Tubman. Enrolled during the Kennedy assassination in 1963, she said its aftermath shaped her worldview. “When Kennedy died, we were called outside to say the Angelus,” said Martin-Thomas, referring to a Catholic prayer. “The principal stood stone faced.” That evening, when she was working her “evening charge,” telephone duty, Martin-Thomas overheard the principal talking to a colleague saying, “My heart broke, but I would not shed a tear. I wanted to be strong for the girls.” Martin-Thomas still remembers the pain she overheard in the nun's voice. In another incident, a friend took Martin-Thomas to hear a woman preacher at a Baptist church revival. The preacher spoke about the “midnight hour” when an individual's back is against the wall. “Harriet Tubman needed to be strong for the people she was leading, even during the midnight hour,” she said. Martin-Thomas has focused her career on those who are underserved in part because of an incident that took place at her high school graduation. She tells the story of her classmates laughing at her mother for wearing stockings with seams, a fashion faux pas at the time. As a result, “I abhor anything that's elitist,” she said, knowing how hard her mother had worked to get her a quality education. At her 35th high school reunion, Martin-Thomas returned with a PhD earned at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and read a poem. Writing poetry is her soul work. Through her various life experiences, Martin-Thomas has reflected on leadership, its rewards and consequences. No stranger to metaphor, she linked the weeping in her presentation title to both grief and gratitude. For many of her clients, tears represent both sadness and joy. She sits with people in leadership roles who have wept over various mistakes or disappointments. Some clients have even wept without tears. Tubman shed only tears of gratitude. Even after returning from a trip to find her husband unwilling to flee with her to freedom because he was involved with another woman, Tubman refused to cry. People depend on leaders, and those leaders need to be very clear in how they lead. “When you're in process toward your goal, the incidents that can cause you pain do not have to limit you,” said Martin-Thomas. For Tubman, Martin-Thomas thinks it must have been a collaborative leadership model that helped her and her “passengers” to survive. Her head injury that resulted in “malaise” may have actually caused periods of narcolepsy, the sudden falling asleep during daily activities. “As a clinician that really jumped out at me,” she said. Trust had to be there, especially reciprocal trust with those she was leading. When Tubman was ill, others in the group had to be trusted to keep the group safe. Leaders must model forgiveness and gratitude. “Forgiveness helps us in identifying and accessing our allies,” she said. “Forgiveness allows us to not be blinded by emotion, particularly when clarity of vision is most important.” Gratitude studies have shown that by changing your attitude, you can affect how you process setbacks. “I believe a leader must bow in gratitude daily for the sake of her own self-empowerment,” she said. In her view, Tubman exhibited an “extraordinary level of social intelligence coupled with a unique capacity to spawn collective agency; she didn't rely on only aggression to negotiate the horrific nature of slavery.” Being a leader is dangerous—not only figuratively, but in Tubman's case literally. She had to constantly thwart dangers of many types. She knew if she were captured, her passengers would be returned to their owners and she would face beatings or worse. “Harriet Tubman chose to be a leader,” said Martin-Thomas. “She chose the life of danger.” Exemplary leaders make a full commitment to their cause despite the danger. For Tubman, that commitment was her life and she knew it. For others, the risk may be more subtle, like character assassination. Leaders must have passion, a fervent commitment to what they're doing. The passion will differ for everyone, but it must be intrinsic to you. “It will carry you through when nothing else will,” she said. Leadership often brings periods of pleasure. Those moments when a plan comes together can be exquisite. For Tubman, becoming a scout and a nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War must have brought her a great deal of satisfaction, after what she had seen and endured. When a plan comes together, it creates feelings of self-mastery, a key part of a leader's vision. The more self-mastery you have, the less you need others' approval. Martin-Thomas contends that nature imbues us with a unique capacity for change, and the ability to scan for resources. Those processes are a major part of survival and attaining goals. The better we are able to identify and access our resources, the more efficient we become at seeing dangerous situations as challenges. We can then overcome them and achieve our goals, leading to increased self-efficacy. A leader's allies are a major part of her resource repertoire. It's important to use them effectively. In Tubman's case, her life taught us that lesson in a literal sense because her life depended upon accessing allies in the form of the Free Blacks and Quakers who helped her. Although retired from teaching, Martin-Thomas continues to see 22–25 clients a week in her clinical practice. A spiritual woman, she has collected some 400 turtles. Legend has it that the world was formed on the back of a turtle. “They represent the ease of moving towards one's goals,” she said. “I don't need to win. I just need to reach my goal,” she said. With her daughter, she's now writing poetry and working on a love story novel for seniors. Reach Martin-Thomas at 414.365.9444