Living through the pain of high expectations, loneliness, criticism, and spiritual and physical exhaustion became a lesson called “Things I Wish I Had Known.” Along my own journey, I learned several lessons: the importance of taking care of the soul, the power of story, the need to know my calling, and the necessity of developing a community of support and friendships. Ultimately, I also learned that effective leadership recognizes the importance of creating a sustainable organizational pipeline for the next generation.

Pipeline building requires generational bridges, strategic planning, vision execution, clear mission, core values, and the opportunity to share stories. Together, these strategies build upon the pain and passion that fuels leadership within an organization. Of all strategies required for building a sustainable leadership pipeline for future women leaders, I believe mentoring and building relational communities remain among the most important.

A relational mentoring model developed to effectively engage younger female leaders in a journey toward transformation and wholeness is crucial for creating a leadership pipeline. The mentoring model utilizes the four primary elements found in the Paul and Timothy leadership mentoring model in 2 Timothy 1:1-18 and employs four primary elements discovered in the passage: core self, communion (the power of story), calling, and community.