When it comes to performing well under pressure, Barnard College President Sian Beilock, PhD, literally wrote the book: "Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To" (2010), which details her research on how to succeed in high-stakes situations. It's just one example of the achievements of this cognitive psychologist, who earned her doctorate in 2003 at Michigan State University and who at age 42 became one of the youngest psychologists ever to serve as a college or university president when she was inaugurated in February.
Now Beilock, whose ongoing research also explores math anxiety and how adults and children learn best, is using her expertise to shape how Barnard prepares students for tomorrow's careers. A priority is ensuring that graduates of the all-women, 2,360-student Ivy League college in Manhattan associated with Columbia University have what she views as the essential skills for leadership roles: excellent writing, communication and critical-thinking skills and the ability to use empirical reasoning to inform their work.
"That's what is so powerful about being here—we can really think about how to do that on a level that will allow our students to go out and deal with unexpected challenges and opportunities," says Beilock.
She spoke to the Monitor about the challenges of leadership and what the future holds for the generation of women she's shaping.
What is the biggest challenge for the generation now enrolled at Barnard?
They are going to have lots of opportunities to choose from and should understand that there's not one linear path to be happy and successful. We want our graduates to be able to be flexible so they can embrace unexpected circumstances and jump in when they come up.
There is this false dichotomy that students need one set of skills for graduate and professional school and another for industry, nonprofit or government. But I [believe] that being an effective writer, communicator, researcher or critical thinker—as well as someone who can work with data and think from a historical perspective—are all vital, regardless of where one ends up. The experience of acquiring fluency in a variety of skill sets, especially skills one doesn't think they will be able to master at the outset, builds resilience that will help students grab unexpected opportunities and weather challenges they won't be able to foresee in life.
What's your advice for an assistant professor who would like to be where you are in 10 or 15 years?
Anything you can do to get a better sense of how universities operate will help you. For example, by sitting on committees outside my department I learned how academic institutions run and that was eye-opening. I realized that as a faculty member, you are not only in a department but in a division or school within the larger institution. There are priorities at all different levels and thinking about how these priorities line up across departments can lead to opportunities and resources that aren't at your disposal otherwise. The university is a complex ecosystem, and I don't think I really appreciated that until I sat on a committee outside my department.
I also talked to a lot of leaders to understand what leadership at this level is like. For the most part, academic leaders are happy to talk to faculty interested in administrative possibilities. I often fretted about sending an email or asking for coffee to talk to high-level administrators about their experiences, but every time I did, people were so eager to provide advice and insight.
Are there any leaders you try to emulate?
I think the goal is to take the best from different people and learn from it. I did that even as a graduate student; I looked at how different labs were run to figure out how I was going to run my own lab. The more that you can approach every situation in terms of what you are going to learn from it, the better.
As for my own leadership style, I try to create an environment where people can voice their opinions. I think that's how you get to the best ideas. When you only talk with people who agree with you, you're not developing the best ideas. Being able to make your point to those who might have a different perspective makes your own ideas better—you are forced to sharpen your ideas.
How can your psychological background help further Barnard's goals?
My research focus is particularly helpful for leading an academic institution because I'm interested in understanding how people can perform at their best. I'm thrilled to be able to use my training to help support the high-level teaching and research that goes on at Barnard, while at the same time helping to ensure that we equip our students with the attitudes, motivations and resiliency that will enable them to pursue their passions.
What are you curious about exploring next?
I am still working with my former graduate students at the University of Chicago and collaborators to explore questions such as how parents and teachers influence what young kids—especially young girls—learn in math and science and how we can create environments to help students succeed to the best of their abilities. As we explore those questions, I am starting to think about them with respect to the students at Barnard. I think that will always be part of what I do.
