--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: women, when describing their roles in…" description: "\"women, when describing their roles in their organizations, usually referred to themselves as being in the middle of things. Not at the top, but in the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/sally-helgesen-38942_describing_women-when-describing-their-roles-in-the_789965.jpg" --- # women, when describing their roles in their organizations… ![“women, when describing their roles in their organizations, usually referred to themselves as being in the middle of things. Not at the top, but in the center; not reaching down, but reaching out.” quote by Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/sally-helgesen-38942_describing_women-when-describing-their-roles-in-the_789965.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/sally-helgesen-38942_describing_women-when-describing-their-roles-in-the_789965.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/sally-helgesen-38942_describing_women-when-describing-their-roles-in-the_789965.jpg) > “women, when describing their roles in their organizations, usually referred to themselves as being in the middle of things. Not at the top, but in the center; not reaching down, but reaching out.” [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Women often describe their organizational roles as central rather than top-level, highlighting a focus on connectivity and influence. **In simple terms:** Women see themselves as central connectors. Key Takeaway Embrace central influence in teams. Themes gender leadership organizational dynamics Mood analytical empowering Type leadership insightful When to use this quote - career development - team building Key Concepts middle management collaborative influence Questions to Reflect On - How does central positioning affect impact? - What strategies increase influence from the middle? A Different Perspective Central roles may lack authority. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Feminism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feminism/) [Organization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organization/) ## Related quotes > [“God also puts His people in the middle of things for the same reason that He put the tree of temptation in the middle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-austin/god-also-puts-his-people-in-the-middle-of-things-for-the-same-reason/) [Lynn Austin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynn-austin/) > [“This is the middle. Things have had time to get complicated, messy, really. Nothing is simple anymore... This is the thick of things. 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There is usually a group over in one corner charged with innovation rather than making…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-doughtie/innovation-tends-to-be-quite-siloed-in-most-organizations-there-is/) [Lynne Doughtie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-doughtie/) > [Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/failing-organizations-are-usually-over-managed-and-under-led/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If I had to choose between the two ways of approaching the deity, I should prefer the existential relational way, to the abstract philosophical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-moore-cross/if-i-had-to-choose-between-the-two-ways-of-approaching-the-deity-i/) [Frank Moore Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-moore-cross/) > [Some people as a result of adversity are sadder, wiser, kinder, more human. Most of us are better, though, when things go better. Knowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-forbes/some-people-as-a-result-of-adversity-are-sadder-wiser-kinder-more/) [Malcolm Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-forbes/) > [In describing someone's character, I reveal my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/in-describing-someone-s-character-i-reveal-my-own/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Murder is a crime. Describing Murder is not. Sex is not a crime. Describing sex is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gershon-legman/murder-is-a-crime-describing-murder-is-not-sex-is-not-a-crime/) Gershon Legman > [Writing is not describing, painting is not depicting. Verisimilitude is merely an illusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-braque/writing-is-not-describing-painting-is-not-depicting-verisimilitude-is/) [Georges Braque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-braque/) > [With Gnaw I was thinking about traditional sculpture, about carving. I was also interested in figurative sculpture. I put those two ideas together and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janine-antoni/with-gnaw-i-was-thinking-about-traditional-sculpture-about-carving-i/) Janine Antoni > [Describing comic sensibility is near impossible. It's sort of an abstract silliness, that sometimes the joke isn't the star.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-carvey/describing-comic-sensibility-is-near-impossible-it-s-sort-of-an/) [Dana Carvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-carvey/) > [There was a special challenge in describing the awful childhood of a person who happens to be my own husband. It was very painful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-stephenson/there-was-a-special-challenge-in-describing-the-awful-childhood-of-a/) [Pamela Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-stephenson/) > [Without sounding overly sentimental about the process, I'd say trying to describe how you tend to conceive of a book is like describing how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/without-sounding-overly-sentimental-about-the-process-i-d-say-trying/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [In a general way, the literature of the twentieth century is essentially psychological; and psychology consists of describing states of the soul by displaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/in-a-general-way-the-literature-of-the-twentieth-century-is/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) ## More by Sally Helgesen > [What business needs now is exactly what women are able to provide, and at the very time when women are surging into the work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/what-business-needs-now-is-exactly-what-women-are-able-to-provide-and/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [work is elevated by our daily environment into something that is appropriately done everywhere and at every conceivable moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/work-is-elevated-by-our-daily-environment-into-something-that-is/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [Top-down leaders, by withholding power from those in the ranks, deprive them of the ability to use the expertise and information vested in them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/top-down-leaders-by-withholding-power-from-those-in-the-ranks-deprive/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [most of us persist in regarding leadership as synonymous with - indeed solely derived from - high position. Perhaps the notion of grass-roots leadership…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/most-of-us-persist-in-regarding-leadership-as-synonymous-with-indeed/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [women's entry into the public sphere can be seen not merely as the result of contemporary economic pressures, the high rate of divorce, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/women-s-entry-into-the-public-sphere-can-be-seen-not-merely-as-the/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [our domestic lives reflect the major trend that dominates the consumer marketplace today: an ever-increasing emphasis on variety and choice. ... we find ourselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/our-domestic-lives-reflect-the-major-trend-that-dominates-the/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [the female view that one strengthens oneself by strengthening others is finding greater acceptance, and female values of inclusion and connection are emerging as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/the-female-view-that-one-strengthens-oneself-by-strengthening-others/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [As women's leadership qualities come to play a more dominant role in the public sphere, their particular aptitudes for long-term negotiating, analytic listening, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/as-women-s-leadership-qualities-come-to-play-a-more-dominant-role-in/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [The very technologies that were supposed to free up our time seem instead to be consuming it, tacking hours onto our already extended days.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/the-very-technologies-that-were-supposed-to-free-up-our-time-seem/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) > [in the past, having a life while earning a living didn't seem like too much to ask. Today, even this basic goal has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-helgesen/in-the-past-having-a-life-while-earning-a-living-didn-t-seem-like-too/) [Sally Helgesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) [Explore all 11 Sally Helgesen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-helgesen/) ## More Describing quotes > [In a general way, the literature of the twentieth century is essentially psychological; and psychology consists of describing states of the soul by displaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/in-a-general-way-the-literature-of-the-twentieth-century-is/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [Without sounding overly sentimental about the process, I'd say trying to describe how you tend to conceive of a book is like describing how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/without-sounding-overly-sentimental-about-the-process-i-d-say-trying/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [There was a special challenge in describing the awful childhood of a person who happens to be my own husband. It was very painful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-stephenson/there-was-a-special-challenge-in-describing-the-awful-childhood-of-a/) [Pamela Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-stephenson/) > [Describing comic sensibility is near impossible. It's sort of an abstract silliness, that sometimes the joke isn't the star.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-carvey/describing-comic-sensibility-is-near-impossible-it-s-sort-of-an/) [Dana Carvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-carvey/) > [With Gnaw I was thinking about traditional sculpture, about carving. I was also interested in figurative sculpture. I put those two ideas together and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janine-antoni/with-gnaw-i-was-thinking-about-traditional-sculpture-about-carving-i/) Janine Antoni > [Writing is not describing, painting is not depicting. Verisimilitude is merely an illusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-braque/writing-is-not-describing-painting-is-not-depicting-verisimilitude-is/) [Georges Braque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-braque/) > [Murder is a crime. Describing Murder is not. Sex is not a crime. Describing sex is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gershon-legman/murder-is-a-crime-describing-murder-is-not-sex-is-not-a-crime/) Gershon Legman > [In describing someone's character, I reveal my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/in-describing-someone-s-character-i-reveal-my-own/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Some people as a result of adversity are sadder, wiser, kinder, more human. Most of us are better, though, when things go better. Knowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-forbes/some-people-as-a-result-of-adversity-are-sadder-wiser-kinder-more/) [Malcolm Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-forbes/) > [If I had to choose between the two ways of approaching the deity, I should prefer the existential relational way, to the abstract philosophical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-moore-cross/if-i-had-to-choose-between-the-two-ways-of-approaching-the-deity-i/) [Frank Moore Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-moore-cross/) > [When I returned to short stories, I'd started working on what is still central to much of what I try to do: putting myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karin-tidbeck/when-i-returned-to-short-stories-i-d-started-working-on-what-is-still/) [Karin Tidbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karin-tidbeck/) > [When in doubt, the rule of threes is a rule that plays well with all of storytelling. When describing a thing? No more than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-wendig/when-in-doubt-the-rule-of-threes-is-a-rule-that-plays-well-with-all/) [Chuck Wendig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-wendig/) > [ I certainly don't feel like I have a monopoly on \[opinions\] because I have the job at FOX - any one of a thousand… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-buck/i-certainly-don-t-feel-like-i-have-a-monopoly-on-opinions-because-i/) [Joe Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-buck/) > [“When describing nature, a writer should seize upon small details, arranging them so that the reader will see an image in his mind after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/when-describing-nature-a-writer-should-seize-upon-small-details/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [When I write about "realizations," I am describing a state in which a practitioner has wisdom of who she or he is, and has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-targ/when-i-write-about-realizations-i-am-describing-a-state-in-which-a/) Russell Targ Browse all 375 Describing quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "women, when describing their roles in their organizations, usually referred to themselves as being in the middle of things. 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