Admiral Michelle J. Howard Imparts Lessons on Courageous Leadership at Holy Cross Lecture
13 May 2024
Admiral Michelle J. Howard was recently a guest speaker at the Annual Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture at the College of Holy Cross. She was selected as speaker at the annual event for her “remarkable dedication to public service.” A groundbreaking leader during her 35-year career in the U.S. Navy, Howard was the first female to achieve the rank of four-star admiral and the first woman to be appointed to the position of vice-chief of naval operations (the second highest rank in the Navy). She was also the first African-American woman to reach the rank of three-star and four-star in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and the first African-American woman to command a ship in the Navy.
A veteran of operations that included NATO peacekeeping, Indonesia tsunami relief, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, she was thrust into the international spotlight in 2009 as leader of the counter-piracy task force that rescued civilian Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates. The rescue was later depicted in the film Captain Phillips.
The retired admiral began by sharing a lesson she learned from her mom that has carried her throughout her career and life. When she told her mother that women weren’t allowed to become admirals—it was illegal at the time—her mom suggested she simply sue the government. Even if it didn’t help Howard, her mom said, it would help other women in the future. Howard said her suggestion instilled in her the value of doing something for the greater good. In this case, it was transforming the landscape for women of the future.
She used that lesson well. Howard recalled when she was elected by her peers to speak to the captain of her ship about his biases against women. It wasn’t something she was looking forward to. But knew it was something a good leader would do. When they finally talked, Howard was surprised that he was willing to listen to her. Another lesson learned: good leaders are not afraid of the truth.
Howard shared a number of other leadership lessons, including that a leader must “pay attention and listen closely” to the needs of others and should be open to negotiation, as well as having “hard conversations without killing each other.”
Howard is a former visiting professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, where she focused on the cyber domain and associated issues in strategy and policy. The appointment highlighted a distinguished career in national defense within the areas of operations, readiness and strategic planning.
Howard led Sailors and Marines multiple times in her career as the commander of a ship, an expeditionary task force and a naval theater. This culminated in her final post as Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa, in which she simultaneously led NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples with oversight of missions from the Western Balkans to Iraq. Howard is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. She is the first woman to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy to become an admiral.