A biography of Alexander the Great sparked Jan-Benedict Steenkamp’s interest in history’s greatest leaders when he was a kid, but it’s former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who influenced his own leadership style.

“She succeeded where a long string of her predecessors, all male, did not,” says Steenkamp, Knox Massey Distinguished Professor of Marketing at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. He teaches the popular business course Leadership Lessons from History. “When she was told by those in her party that she needed to water down her views and tone down her language, she flat-out refused. She was decisive and unwavering as a leader. It was electrifying.”

Thatcher is one of 25 women across thousands of years of history profiled by Steenkamp in his soon-to-be-released book on leadership, “Warrior Queen Scientist Activist: Gritty Women Who Bent the Arc of History” (Xlibris, 2024).

Read more at: https://www.unc.edu/discover/business-professor-profiles-25-inspiring-female-leaders/