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The Importance of Peer Mentoring, Identity Work and Holding Environments: A Study of African American Leadership Development

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  • Audrey J. Murrell

    (Katz School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA)

  • Stacy Blake-Beard

    (Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA)

  • David M. Porter

    (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
    Opinions and conclusions herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.)

Abstract

Mentoring is well-known for its positive impact on diversity and inclusion across a wide variety of organizational contexts. Despite these demonstrated advantages, efforts to develop diverse leaders either through access to informal mentoring relationships or via formal mentoring programs are often complex, expensive, and frequently produce mixed results. We examine the unique impact of peer mentoring to support and develop African American leaders using a formalized program approach. Our findings show that peer mentoring is effective in providing a safe environment for the necessary work of identity to take place among African American leaders. This identity work takes the form of holding behaviors such as enabling perspectives, empathic acknowledgement and containment that are critical for the development, support and validation of diverse leaders. Our findings clearly show the benefit of external identity peer mentors for providing support and validation for African American leaders that can be absent within traditional hierarchical mentoring. By examining the outcomes of an actual leadership development program over time, we provide recommendations on how to enhance diverse leadership development by recognizing and cultivating the positive impact of identity-based peer mentoring.

Suggested Citation

  • Audrey J. Murrell & Stacy Blake-Beard & David M. Porter, 2021. "The Importance of Peer Mentoring, Identity Work and Holding Environments: A Study of African American Leadership Development," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4920-:d:549085
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jeannette E. South-Paul & Kendall M. Campbell & Norma Poll-Hunter & Audrey J. Murrell, 2021. "Mentoring as a Buffer for the Syndemic Impact of Racism and COVID-19 among Diverse Faculty within Academic Medicine," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-10, May.

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