Within two months of Dr. Judith Rodin arriving at the University of Pennsylvania as the college's president, she was faced with the aftermath of a murder close to the school's campus. However, her reaction to this challenge proved her resilience as a leader, and inspired the rest of the community to follow suit. She joined HuffPost Live host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani to discuss the importance of such resilience, especially as a female leader.
"My awareness at the outset was going to be a critical part of how resilient I was, how resilient we made the university and, importantly, how resilient we made the community around us," said Rodin. "In that instance, rather than merely increasing our police force, we completely transformed our relationship with a very disadvantaged community around us ... Often the first step in making yourself or your community or your business or your society more resilient is to really make sure that you're defining the right problem before you immediately look for what the solution should be."
As the first woman president of an Ivy League school, Rodin faced an uphill battle in proving herself to others but enjoyed every minute of the scrutiny.
"I relished that, and it energized me, and I hope that the impact I had at the University of Pennsylvania made it easier for many of the women leading Ivy League universities who followed me," she said.
To hear more about Rodin's journey to becoming a resilient, female leader, watch the full HuffPost Live clip in the vide above.
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