Maureen McKenna Goldberg, left, acting chief justice, Rhode Island Supreme Court; Nancy Carriuolo, president, Rhode Island College; Sandra Coletta, president and CEO, Kent Hospital; Susan Rittscher, CEO, Center for Women & Enterprise; and Kathleen A. Ryan, partner, Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP, discuss leadership and the economy.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

Five women at the top of their professions gathered Tuesday to discuss managing Rhode Island’s major institutions at a time when money is tight and the recession is deepening.

Some of their advice came straight from business textbooks: state the mission clearly and stick to it; be up-front about the challenge; bring everybody into the process; create teams of passionate professionals to execute the plan; embrace change as an opportunity to strengthen the enterprise.

But the women made a couple of other points that caught my attention. They talked about the importance of people skills in managing change in organizations. And they showed the significance of humor to make a point during grim times — not laugh-out-loud jokes but stories with some bite based on common experience.

The more I listened, the more I wondered if women, because of their backgrounds and the toughness they have gained from climbing the ladder, are better prepared than men to lead during difficult economic times.

One of the speakers at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce breakfast was Maureen McKenna Goldberg, acting chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and the first woman to hold that position in 257 years.

She said women of the baby-boom generation started to “elbow their way” into the legal profession in the 1970s because “law was easier than business.”

There were obstacles, however. Woman lawyers were often told by the supervisors in law offices to help the secretaries get the work out.

“Women don’t expect that treatment today,” she said bluntly. “Most of those men are dead.”

Many in the crowd chuckled knowingly.

Just as Goldberg followed a strong leader, Frank J. Williams, into the top spot at the court, Nancy Carriuolo, the second woman president of Rhode Island College, followed John Nazarian, an education legend who had been part of the institution for 58 years.

“It was hard to take over,” she said, explaining that many people look at incoming presidents in similar situations as “transitional positions for someone who doesn’t last very long.”

But when the school faced a budget cut of $7 million, Carriuolo, who took over last July, used the required restructuring to build support among her colleagues who were not comfortable with change.

“You have to give people an opportunity to participate in the change,” she said, adding that women can be the best candidates to manage people through the process because of their interpersonal skills and ability to learn new ways to accomplish goals.

Still, difficult decisions must be made.

Carriuolo, 60, described herself as “petite … I don’t make a John Wayne impression on people. I try to collaborate with others, but when I make a decision, I stand behind it.”

When there was a problem with the maintenance workers, she confronted them early in the morning on their turf and explained why their actions were inappropriate.

“I was serious,” she said.

When Sandra Coletta, 50, took over last October as president and CEO of Kent Hospital, most of the fiscal problems had been solved by the prior administration.

Her mission was to keep the motivation going among the doctors, administrators and the other 2,500 employees who had brought about the change.

“I came in with a lot of confidence,” she said, “I wanted to listen and I wanted to bring people into the decision-making process.”

In one small example, she said she wanted recommendations from the security staff and when they spoke out for adding “security” to their work shirts to help them perform their jobs, she made it happen.

“There should be 50 to 100 people driving the process,” she said.

Also, leaders must be straightforward, she said.

“I am a woman first, a mother second, and a leader at work,” she said, “It’s not about an exterior image. Be who you are.”

Susan Rittscher, CEO of the Center for Women & Enterprise, studies the traits that make good leaders and how they develop.

Three characteristics of strong managers are that they are both people and result oriented and they are lifelong learners who are adaptable to change. She also said that only 20 percent of leadership development comes from training and 10 percent from coaching. The other 70 percent comes from life experience and background.

She said that after intelligence and a solid work ethic, leaders in times of crisis also have superior interpersonal skills and what she called “emotional intelligence” to understand people’s needs.

“As more women become leaders, new styles of management are developing that are more feminine, more relational and more people oriented,” she said.

She added that women-led teams in the workplace are more democratic, less hierarchical, with more sharing of authority.

“We like to work with each other,” she said. “We are more collaborative.”

Kathleen A. Ryan, partner and co-chairwoman of the Probate, Trust and Personal Planning Group for the law firm Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP, said the firm has developed a women’s initiative to teach leadership skills to the staff and the firm’s female clients. She also said that mentoring is an integral part of the development of a lawyer or business owner, and women are particularly skilled in that role.

During the hourlong discussion, Goldberg, 58, reminded the crowd more than once that men still dominate many institutions, especially at the top.

“Not everything has changed,” she said, “To get anything done on the Supreme Court, you still have to get two guys to agree with you. Otherwise you are in the dissent.”

She also gave some advice to the women in the crowd: “In a leader’s role, you have to be tough, but in the workplace, it can’t be all about you. Your personality can help, but getting things done is not about you.”

And she had a story about leadership and toughness

Not that many years ago, a colleague, Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl, the state’s first woman assistant attorney general, was in the middle of picking a jury for a trial.

When she got to a man in the front row of the jury box, she asked whether there was any reason why he shouldn’t be seated as a juror.

“Yes, he said, “I don’t think a woman belongs in the courtroom.”

“Well, pal,” she answered, “That means one of us is leaving.”

It wasn’t her.

jkostrze@projo.com