Welcome to "Navigating Leadership," an eight-part series of articles and videos by Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), Vice Chair of Global Affairs at Carlyle. Drawing from his 37-year naval career, including his role as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, Admiral Stavridis shares key leadership insights and wisdom for today’s increasingly complex and changing world. Subscribe here to be notified of future editions.

Perhaps it’s the power of movies and TV, but the word leadership often conjures images of a platoon captain charging a hill alongside his troops in a flurry of gunfire, or a sheriff on horseback rounding up a band of criminals in a dusty Old West desert. Historically, the leader in these scenarios is always male, and almost always tall, white, handsome, and physically imposing. This stereotype begs a question: Can those who don’t fit the stereotype be effective—and even outstanding—leaders?

Based on personal experience, the answer is an unqualified yes. And to prove my point, let me share my experience working with Grace Hopper, a leader who had a profound impact, but someone you may never have heard of.

I met Grace Hopper in 1976 when I was a senior at Annapolis Naval Academy. She was then a 70-year-old Navy captain and probably the complete antithesis of someone whom a casting director would pick for the role of a naval leader. She was tiny and looked frail. What’s more, she had spent practically no time on any type of ship since joining the Navy during World War II. She came to the Naval Academy to talk about innovation, and my classmates and I were enthralled.

So, who was Grace Hopper and what did she do? As I explain in my book, Sailing True North, Grace Hopper led the Navy into the computer age. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar who majored in math and physics, Grace received master’s and PhD degrees in math at Yale and was teaching at Vassar when Pearl Harbor was attacked. She was determined to serve directly in the war effort, but the military would not cooperate, citing her size and the importance of her civilian work. But Grace persisted, and after completing Reserve Officer Training was commissioned into the Navy in 1944.

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"Whenever I am reaching out to innovate, I think to myself, how would Admiral Hopper have done that?"

She thought she would work in code-breaking, but instead was assigned to a small Navy team at Harvard wrestling with the world’s first computer. Necessity forced her to create the role of programmer so she could direct the computer to solve equations that significantly increased the accuracy of radar, solve complex weapons programs, and address many other war-critical tasks.

After the war, she entered the private sector and helped develop COBOL, a computer language accessible to non-mathematicians, but remained active in the Navy Reserves. Her work and advocacy led to computer science becoming a part of the Naval Academy curriculum, to the Navy and the entire Defense Department moving toward smaller, distributed networks, and to the use of computers aboard ships. Her efforts also laid the groundwork for universal network standards that permitted the internet to evolve. She retired as full commander in 1967 but was called up to head the Navy’s Programming Language Group, an assignment that turned into 20 additional years of service culminating in a special act of Congress in 1983 that approved her promotion to what is now rear admiral status. She served until 1986 and died on New Year’s Day in 1992.

The leadership skills Grace Hopper embodied are many:

1. Determination

One Grace’s greatest strengths was persistence. She was determined to make a direct contribution to the war effort and persisted in finding a way to enlist. Later, she realized she had to understand a computer’s inner workings in order to program it, and persevered until she created punch tapes to direct the computer’s operations. Like all great leaders, she knew her objective and worked toward it tirelessly.

2. Fearlessness

Grace was never afraid to take a chance. In fact, in her talk to my class at the Academy, she told us that our country was built on taking chances and that we should stick our necks out. Leaders aren’t timid, and Grace set an example for forging ahead.

3. Communication

To promote ideas she believed were essential (and that many at first thought were odd and impractical, such as using advanced computers aboard ships and having networks of computers communicate with each other) Hopper was an enthusiastic and tireless communicator. She never stopped explaining and educating.

4. Mentorship

Grace constantly pushed others to excel. Near the end of her life, she often said her greatest achievement wasn’t working on the first computer or creating programming languages or attaining a high rank, it was teaching, mentoring and helping advance so many young people.

My takeaway is that true leadership comes in the form of human beings who defy Hollywood stereotypes. Fortunately, through the perseverance of pioneers like Grace Hopper and others, society has come to recognize this reality. Today, more doors are open to the complete spectrum of people who embody leadership attributes. Of course, work remains to be done to widen the door, especially by the “leading men” types in positions of authority who are responsible for grooming able successors.

At Carlyle, we believe diverse perspectives drives better decisions. To build better businesses and create value for all our stakeholders, we are committed to expanding opportunities for all. In the US, 63% of employees identify as women or ethnically diverse, as are 45% of senior employees[1][2][3]. In addition, our aspiration is to have diverse executives occupy 40% of all board seats—up from an original aspiration of 30% surpassed ahead of schedule—in our controlled, corporate, and private equity portfolio companies around the world.

In the end, of course, all policies rely on individual action. To quote Grace Hopper: “People are very much waiting for someone to express confidence in them, and once you do it, they’ll take off.”

Until next time, Godspeed and open water in your own leadership voyage.

[1] Representation data as of 11/1/24.

[2] Ethnically diverse definition: Asian, Black, Hispanic or Latinx, Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, American Indian / Alaskan Native, or Two or More Races.

[3] Figures represent senior employees (Principals, Managing Directors, and Partners).

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