In a phenomenological study, the perceived experiences of the participants are the most important finding. The purpose of this study was the investigation of the perceptions of women leaders regarding how they learned the skills necessary to lead a college or university. Twelve women presidents permitted me to interview them to discover what they needed to learn in order to lead and how they learned it.; The literature review informed my study by describing leadership theories in general and in higher education, and leadership development through a feminist lens. I presented information on how women first learn through family influence and formal education, and how other aspects of leadership development follow. I described paths to the presidency that began traditionally and non-traditionally and the importance of resources such as role models, mentors, and training programs. I also described such obstacles to success as discrimination, sexual harassment, and the glass ceiling.; For this qualitative study, I chose to use in-depth interviews, conducted by telephone and in person, as the best method for obtaining rich descriptions from women presidents who interpreted for me their "lived experiences" of learning to lead. I asked these women to tell me their stories because I wanted to understand the world from their point of view. In addition to the interviews, I gathered data about the presidents through curricula vitae, biographies, and other reference material.; The presidents spoke with me candidly and at length. The themes that emerged during our conversations including early learning and family influence, formal education, career intentions and pathways to the presidency, training programs, the influence of role models and mentors, and obstacles to success.; This study investigated one aspect of women and leadership, answering questions about how a particular group of women learned to lead. It also provided a foundation for further research into such areas as the leadership pipeline and equality of opportunity for women in academe and offered recommendations for practice such as the hiring of more women into tenure track faculty positions, the traditional starting point for leaders in higher education.
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