Sarah Key

This exploratory study surveyed approximately 370 women leaders in industry, education, and government about factors that contributed to their success.Results indicate that most successful women come from, and live in, supportive and stable family circumstances. The biggest obstacle that most women leaders faced in achieving success was their gender, and for black women the additional obstacle encountered was their race.

This study builds on research that suggests socialization-defined as the learning of important organizational values and norms—is influenced by demographic characteristics of organizational members. Socialization experiences vary among newcomers depending upon their demographic similarity to current members, and this variation affects the turnover of demographically dissimilar newcomers.