*3.9. Resilience as Surviving or Leaving the Situation*

Some of the participants were exposed to resilient women, giving them permission to expand their visions for themselves and pursue their professional goals and aspirations. One participant shared that her mother is an activist, and she still gets the opportunity to hear her speak about inequities and injustice and continue to do something about it. With admiration she stated, "She's not a person that gives lip service." This participant went on to say that her mother gave her the tools and strategies to deal with the world that in most cases "is not built for people [African American] like me."

Participants highlighted that they had the ability to recognize that they had choices in every situation and had the option to stay or leave.

I remember thinking, well I don't know what to do about that. I'm not leaving my job, so you just get over it. Well, that's a sassier reply than I would have had then, [even though that is what I did].

But there is always that choice you have to make when you are confronted with certain situations where whatever you try will not work with a person, and it is enabling them to continue to be abusive in some way or disrespectful in some way, and then you make a different choice.

I just really felt like if I cannot be in my own truth in this role and in this organization, then this is not the place for me. And I think being solid in that belief is what helped me recover from that.

When I took the job, I had a boss that could not have been better for me. He was hands off. He gave me a project and let me go. I knew instinctively that once his successor took over, it was not going to work. His successor was completely the opposite. He was micromanaging. He was misogynistic. He was very much a narcissist and a tyrant. An interesting example was one of the first meetings I had with him, he was prepping me to go into a meeting. Which is great guidance from a CEO. But at one point he looked at me and said now here's what I want you to say. Been managing to talk since I was about two. Haven't really needed anyone to instruct me. And I left. Actually, it was at that instant I made my decision to leave.

## *3.10. Personal Resilience as a Skill Set*

The resilient behaviors that the participants exhibited to attain and retain their successes are skills that can be developed through coaching, mentoring, and training. The study revealed six mindsets and strategies underlying their successes as illustrated in Table 4 below.


**Table 4.** Resilience Skills: Mindsets and Strategies.

#### **4. Summary and Implications**

The goal of this study was to explore the factors that impact the resilience of successful women leaders who experience disrespect in the workplace. Factors that emerged included early developmental influences, circumstances they faced in their youth and young adulthood, and experiences that shaped how they responded as adults to disrespect or a lack of respect from their organization's stakeholders (e.g., board members, leaders, peers, subordinates, and clients). The study showed that there are five factors that help women leaders develop resilience, including experiences, beliefs, values, people, and events shaping their lives. This study revealed the complexity and variation in the experiences, beliefs, values, people, and events shaping the lives of women in senior leadership positions who are resilient when faced with disrespect in the workplace, including in a virtual environment. Despite these complexities, the study helped to formulate a clearer understanding of how disrespect and respect in the workplace are experienced and whether they impact performance. The women leaders in the study indicated that they did not allow disrespect to impede their performance and that respect did serve to improve their performance.

Although the study revealed that one's upbringing, caretakers, and the influence of certain individuals in one's life contribute to preparing women leaders to being resilient, the study implies that women leaders can still learn certain strategies and work to master particular mindsets to help them become more resilient in the face of disrespect in

the workplace. The implication of these findings is that resilience can be learned to a large extent.

In addition, the pandemic has led to the withdrawal of millions of women from the workplace and their reinsertion into the workplace is moving slowly [25]. There is recognition that changes will need to be made in the post-pandemic workplace for women to be more engaged and satisfied with their work [26]. The implications of this study for the post-pandemic workplace includes the recognition of the importance of respect and the need for organizations to ensure a respectful work environment.

#### *4.1. Study Significance and Limitations*

The study adds to the growing body of literature regarding the characteristics and importance of resilience to the success of women leaders in senior leadership positions. The study also reinforced the importance of respect in the workplace and the potentially negative impact of disrespect on job engagement and satisfaction.

The study was limited in that study participants were already senior women leadership who had successfully exercised resilience against disrespect in the workplace. In addition, the study sample was relatively small and being a purposeful sample, the findings may be limited to the selected group of participants. Because the study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and all interviews were conducted virtually, narratives may have been somewhat different than they would have been if elaborated in face-to-face interview situations where the relationship between researcher and participant could be more personal.
