4: REFLECTIVE RESPONSE 2 ■ 137In my years of designing and leading professional development programs, I have
noted that doctoral nursing students are not the only ones in need of more compre-
hensive leadership training, but leadership skills are especially critical in nursing, a
field still dominated by women, most of whom have been socialized to cede leadership
authority to men. To be sure, male DNPs need leadership skills too, but as more and
more women earn DNPs, their ability to lead will have an outsized effect on the profes-
sion as a whole— how it is viewed by other health care professionals and by the general
public.
I have had the privilege of working with Drexel DNP students to enhance their
leadership abilities. Like Professors Smith Glasgow and Lachman, I have observed that
the typical female student does not see a “disconnect” between her own personality
preferences— such as the desire to be liked and avoid confrontation— and the more
active role requirements of a leader. Effective leadership depends on a variety of factors,
from vision and assembling the right team of people, to the integrity of personal actions
and behaviors. However, developing leadership skills has to begin with self- image. We
need to think of ourselves as leaders in order to have others see us as leaders.
Impression management (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2010) is the term our firm uses to
describe the distinctions and tools for building and expanding the key relationships
required to meet complex leadership challenges. It is the art and science of making a
favorable, role- appropriate impression on others, both personally and professionally.
In our work at Drexel, we discuss and dissect these tools in a classroom setting. We are
confident that much more could be accomplished with one- on- one consultations.
Our recommendation for all forward- thinking DNP programs— is to treat DNP
candidates as we do our executive coaching clients. To help prepare these students for
leadership roles, DNP programs would do well to offer a few individualized sessions in
which each candidate is profiled according to his or her unique combination of percep-
tual, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional traits. That analysis can then become the foun-
dation of a customized development plan in which students identify and optimize their
strengths while also focusing on areas of improvement to maximize role performance.
DNP programs would benefit by including impression management for nursing
leadership into the curriculum. This will provide a proactive approach toward trans-
forming nursing practitioners who are enrolled in DNP programs into health care lead-
ers through detailed analysis and behavioral focus. Such an approach, when consistent
with the student’s professional goals and advanced knowledge, is the best possible way
of transforming nursing practitioners into the leaders that our health care system so
urgently needs.
■ REFERENCES
Kaufman, K. D., & Kaufman, D. R. (2010). The Kaufman Impression Management System ®. Unpublished
manuscript. Philadelphia, PA.
Smith Glasgow, M. E., & Lachman, V. D. (2010). Impression management: A key leadership skill in
DrNP graduates from Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions. Poster pre-
sentation before the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Doctoral Education Conference , Captiva
Island, FL, January 2010.