Higher education spaces are complex, involving teaching, research, administration, and academic and community engagement as central practices. The complexity is exacerbated when academics assume positions where they are required to lead and manage others to excel while developing their own academic profiles. In the face of this complexity, concerns have been raised about women's under-representation in higher education leadership positions. Such concerns suggest that in situations where women assume management positions, they undergo a kind of culture shock, which they have to overcome as they lead and manage in their positions. The shock may be ameliorated through supportive social and academic behaviours that facilitate women managers’ leadership practices and their management of self and others. The absence of such supportive behaviours will have the opposite effect, heightening the difficulties that women new to leadership positions may experience. There is limited literature on how women managers in academic spaces navigate the complexities of maintaining and building their own academic profiles while creating enabling spaces for those they lead. This chapter follows an autoethnographic design, reflexively sharing my experiences to contribute to knowledge in this area. I draw from Lee’s self-management notions of development as maturation, as shaping, as voyage, and as emergent. These aspects of management may be further explored for possible contributions to policy and practice in similar higher education spaces.