Readings and inspirations

Inspirational reading and other resources for female academics

Anne-Wil Harzing - Sat 31 Dec 2016 15:36 (updated Thu 8 Oct 2026 17:56)

On this page you'll find a curated collection of videos, inspirational interviews, books, articles, and stories. On behalf of the CYGNA team: enjoy! See also our 70+ blogposts documenting our CYGNA meetings. Finally, newsletters are availabe for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.

CYGNA videos

We do not typically record CYGNA meeting to preserve an intimate and safe setting. However, we occasionally make an exception for more formal presentations on "neutral" topics. Here is a playlist of all nine recorded CYGNA videos. You can watch the playlist on YouTube here.

Frontline IB interviews with female academics

Since January 2021 Ilgaz Arikan has been conducting online interviews with senior scholars in the field of International Business in the Frontline IB Conversations series. The interviews are also available as podcasts on all services, including Spotify, Amazon, Google, Apple, Tune In, and iHeartRadio.

There are about 50 interviews with female academics. In around 30 minutes, learn about about their personal backgrounds, their research, and their mentoring lessons for junior academics. Below is Anne-Wil's interview

Interviews with inspirational female academics

Published interviews with a range of inspirational female academics, all of whom have combined doing research that matters with a stellar academic career.

• Kawamura, K.M.; Eisler, R. (2013). Leadership: An interview with Nancy Adler, PhD, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 20(2). Request full-text from Researchgate.
• Ke, J. (2011). An interview with Dr Anne Tsui, Motorola Professor of International Management: Part I – the scholarly journey. Journal of Chinese Human Resources Management, 2(2). Request full-text from Researchgate.
• Ke, J. (2011). An interview with Dr Anne Tsui, Motorola Professor of International Management: Part II – the scholarly journey. Journal of Chinese Human Resources Management, 3(2): 151-159. Request full-text from Researchgate.
• Moore, K. (2014). The life and times of a senior scholar: an interview with Jane Dutton, Journal of Management History, 20(2): 140-144.
• Tung, R. (2017). Prologue, Voyages of self-discovery: a reflection on four decades of research on expatriation and cross-cultural interactions, Progress in International Business Research (PIBR) Vol. 12: Distance in International Business: Concept, Cost and Value. Request full-text from Researchgate.
• Williams, Z. (2016). Mary Beard: "The role of the academic is to make everything less simple", The Guardian, 23 April 2016.
• Wilson, S. (2020). Not an academic, but certainly inspirational: Three reasons why Jacinda Ardern’s coronavirus response has been a masterclass in crisis leadership.

This little girl: stories by CYGNA members

"This little girl is me" is part of a campaign by Inspiring Girls International. Its aim is to raise young girls’ aspirations worldwide by encouraging women to share their childhood ambitions and inspire the next generation.

Several of our CYGNA members have participated. I hope many more will follow. Remember you don't have to be a full professor to share your story. Even PhD students have important stories to tell. Girls might relate even more to those closer to them in age.

Blogposts on gender in academia

• How to hold on to your sanity in academia
• Female academics: Wives of the organization?
• How to prevent burn-out? About staying sane in academia
• Not a Post About Gender and Academia
• Would you ask a male academic the same question?
• Trailblazers of diversity: editors and editorial board diversity
• Gender and geographical diversity in the JIBS editorial board: an update
• We need a different kind of superhero: improving gender diversity in academia
• Why are there so few female Economics professors?
• Celebrating CYGNA: Supporting women in academia
• Wives of the organization - 30 years on...

Related video

Interesting blogs, websites, books and articles

• Babcock, L.; Peyser, B.; Vesterlund, L.; Wingart, L. (2022) The No Club. Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work. A revealing book about how women are unfairly burdened with "non-promotable work" and what women and organizations can do to change this.
• Devlin, M. (2021) Beating the Odds. A practical guide to navigating sexism in Australian universities. A spirited account about the barriers for female academics in Australian universities and what you can do to break through them.
• The Academic Woman. An international platform championing recognition, well-being and positive action for more female empowerment.
• Chamorro-Premuzic, T. ; Gallop, C. (2020). 7 Leadership Lessons Men Can Learn from Women, Harvard Business Review, 1 April 2020
• Feedback from CYGNA members on participating in the Aurora leadership programme, collated by Ling Zhang in this document.
• Academic men explain things to me, a blog about mansplaining in academia, hilarious and sad in equal measure. No longer seems to accept new postings, but there are 74 pages of posts to "enjoy".
• Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers. About the many behaviors that women learn in girlhood that ultimately sabotage them as adults.
• Mayer, D. (2017). How Not to Advocate for a Woman at Work, Harvard Business Review, 17 July.
• CYGNA member Daniela Lup's research: Becoming a Manager Increases Men’s Job Satisfaction, But Not Women’s
• 2018 Dossier Women in Economics dealing with the lack of senior female academics in the Netherlands.
• In 1000 words: #TimeIsUp, academics and organization studies, in which women share their experiences about working in academia. You can download the whole issue here, but I am hotlinking Steffi Siegert's contribution here as a pdf. Compulsory reading for any female academic.
  

Related pages

• About Cygna - Background on the CYGNA network
• Quick overview - Overview of presentations in our meetings with linked slidedecks
• Meetings - Information about forthcoming CYGNA meetings, and links to prior years
• Membership - Information for and about the Cygna network membership
• Readings and inspirations - Inspirational readings and resources for female academics
• The Cygna charter - Documents our CYGNA charter
• Cygna videos - Repository of introduction videos of our new CYGNA coordination team
• Cygna history - Tracing the history of our network since 2014, includes links to all of our meetings
• Frequently asked questions - Everything you may want to know about the CYGNA network and more
• The SWAN project - Initiated by Christa Sathish and Clarice Santos and implemented by Jacqueline Leon Ribas, this project created two swans reflecting CYGNA’s equal, inclusive, collective identity and the diversity of the network and its members
• Conference meet-ups - Provides brief write-ups of CYGNA conference meet-ups
• 10-year Anniversary event - Programme page for our 10-year anniversary event
• International Women's Day - Our collection of posts for international women's day
• CYG: Teaching & Scholarship Research - Our first CYG = SIG = Special Interest Group
• CYG: Career stage CYGs - Introductory page for our new career stage CYGs
• Cygna Writes - Introductory page for our new CYGNA Writes initiative - Writing in Community, Achieving in Silence
• Cygna Collaborations - Reports on some of the many collaborations our swans have engaged in across the CYGNA network
• Confused? Overview of meeting types - Provides an overview of the seven different meeting types that the CYGNA Women in Academia Network currently offers