Women in Board Rooms Create Better Performance - Horasis Global Meeting 2021

On June 8th, 2021, the Horasis community gathered for the annual Global Meeting to navigate latest developments and discuss the post-COVID future. Under the theme “Fostering Shared Humanity”, over 1000 speakers and delegates debated how to be entrepreneurial and at the same time proactive in advancing sustainable development in the interest of the global public good.

What are the seedpods of shared solutions to solve the existential challenges facing business, governments and humanity at large? How to nurture the deep transformations our world needs? And how to ignite discourses on openness, fair globalization and equality?

I was delighted to be able to contribute to an incredible panel, chaired by Lisa Sennhauser-Kelly, with fellow-panelists such as Ayumi Moore Aoki, Anita Motwani, Nina Angelovska and Luisa Delgado, to discuss a theme on the global agenda: women on boards.

We fail consistently to meet targets for women on boards, in circumstances that damage organisational reputations and the opportunities offered by embracing fresh styles of leadership.

Having seen little progress with voluntary efforts, several countries have enacted legislation that calls for a minimum percentage of female directors. But is it working? Are we choosing the right candidates?

Board quality is dependent on board diversity – and for this, we need a combination of skills and experience. Diverse boards are less prone to 'groupthink' and more likely to embrace new approaches to meet threats and opportunities.

Women are a rapidly growing economic force in many leading and developing economies. In many countries women influence or control nearly three- quarters of household spending: without greater and more diverse female representation on their boards, companies are losing out on not only an important segment of talent, but on a critical marketplace perspective.

So what will it take to get more women on boards?

I am pleased to share the full session in the video below as well as my contribution to the topic.

1. What is your story?

I’m an advisor on social trends, economic impact and culture and expert in marketing, communications and public affairs, I’ve had a career in finance, and I’m passionate about diversity and responsible leadership. Over the past 20 years I have worked for both the private and public sector in Milan, London and Zurich.

I grew up in Milan, my husband is German so we have a trilingual household, and we currently live in Zurich with our 3 young children.

I’ve had a non-linear career by choice, which these days have become the new normal, and today I help organisations to build trust as social capital, as I believe that the social, economic, and environmental challenges of our time, truly require new approaches to leadership and responsibility.

My daily mantra at work is to foster and develop skills such as empathy, emotional quotient, ability to listen to what is not said, and to understand and analise society and its trends. I greatly admire companies that have a positive impact on society, that deliver responsibly and walk the talk when it comes to social development goals, diversity, gender equality, responsible and trustworthy leadership.

My advice for younger women who are starting today, for women who are struggling with work, from lack of recognition to impostor syndrome, is to choose very carefully the people you surround yourself with, there always needs to be a balance of give and take, but most of all, of mutual respect. So, find and use your voice, respectfully, but firmly. With your boss, your peers, your circles, your stakeholders, there are lines that should not be crossed and balances to keep at all times, this will actually earn you respect.

Also, one skill that takes time to learn and master is the ability to say no when something simply does not work for you.

Never stop learning, learn to zoom in and out, from the bigger picture down to the detail, and back, make plan A, B, C, and be ready to adjust over and over again. But most importantly, be curious, be open and enjoy the work you do.

2. What creates high performing boards? What are the leadership qualities required and what has gender to do with this?

Hundreds of studies on gender and leadership have found that at the individual level, men and women are close on most aspects of leadership potential, with no significant differences found for intelligence or general learning ability, as well as general leadership.

However, there is a female advantage when it comes to transformational leadership, a style that is linked to higher levels of team engagement, morale, and productivity, as well as effectively rewarding individuals for their performance. Also, men tend to lead more autocratically and are more likely to be laissez-faire leaders— a counterproductive leadership style. Women tend to be better communicators, have higher emotional intelligence, and lower levels of aggression, a pattern that is altogether associated with superior leadership capability.

So why do we need gender-balanced boards? Beyond fairness, increased gender diversity brings a competitive advantage to modern companies, which face extraordinary competition in an economy that puts an unprecedented premium on knowledge. Women comprise more than half of the pool of human capital. Companies that fail to fully leverage and draw from more than half of the pool risk losing an edge.

Also, companies better connect with their stakeholders – be it customers, employees, owners, and the communities in which they operate – when they have greater diversity, including on their boards.

There is very clear research from McKinsey, Credit Suisse and Catalyst that documents that companies with gender-diverse boards experience greater returns on equity, increased returns on sales and higher returns on invested capital.

So a high-performing board is one that generates and implements fresh and most inclusive ideas. When a gender imbalance exists, boards can easily fall into ‘group think’ and fail to see and account for perspectives that might enhance company performance. Great ideas can arise only when a diverse pool of thought is active and present at the table.

3. If women are drivers of higher performance, due to their skills and abilities, why aren't there more women on boards, what is holding us back? Are we holding ourself back?

I think that when it comes to women and leadership we should be admitting that often the world of work works against us. That, coupled with the lack of inspiring and diverse role models, and the fact that leadership today is much less meritocratic than we think, all that does not help women to move up through the ranks and into senior positions. We have too many systemic barriers and many unrealistic expectations.

The current barriers affect companies’ cultures and everyone working within it, women and men. To succeed, women have had to adapt, and this has proven increasingly difficult.

New role models to me are crucial to break the cycles of outdated cultures, inspiring women and men to a new identity of leadership, one that leverages skills such as collaboration, empathy, empowerment, and trust, helping younger generations of women and men to rise to become new role models themselves, leaders driven by strong soft skills, empathy and trust.

New successful forms of leadership do not take only one form, but all have a common denominator: emotional quotient and competence over confidence.

In general, women or men, I believe we should be very aware of how, often unconsciously, we fall for leaders who are confident, narcissistic and charismatic, we should instead promote people into leadership because of their competence, humility and integrity, incidentally – but proven- this will lead to a higher proportion of female leaders too. Falling for "charismatic" leaders can be very dangerous.

Also, to get better at choosing their leaders, companies need to change how leaders are groomed and promoted. These changes would not only allow more women to advance, they would help men who don’t fit our assumptions about what a leader “should” be. The result would be a rising tide of leadership competence that really would be good for business and help us moving towards more sustainable economic models too. But that’s a topic for another panel 

4. What are your thoughts about quotas, pros and cons and which way do you lean on this point?

I believe quotas are often the only way ahead, unfortunately. I used to be against gender quotas as I felt government intervention on this topic felt like we, as a firm, had failed as we had to comply with strict government policies. However corporate politics, bias, stereotypes, and dynamics in many countries, in many sectors, and in many firms are simply too difficult to overcome. Also, often quotas do not guarantee that we select the best female candidate for the role. And this can backfire against women, how many times have we heard “she only got the role because she is a woman”?

In 2003, Norway pioneered the use of gender quotas, requiring public companies to fill at least 40 percent of their boards with women. Otherwise, they would risk losing their board certification. Inspired by Norway, other countries, including Iceland, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium and Germany, soon followed suit by enacting their own targets.

By contrast, Britain avoided quotas when it launched an initiative back in 2011 to increase the number of women directors on boards. The effort not only boosted the representation of women directors without the use of quotas, but also dramatically decreased the number of all-male boards from 152 to none in the FTSE 100, and to just 15 in the FTSE 250.

So while the reasons behind the gender imbalance may be complicated, the solution does not have to be. Companies looking to diversify their boards should consider adopting the ‘Every Other One’ approach as somebody recently. Fill every other vacant board seat with a woman.

If this happened, company boards would reach actual gender parity within just a few years.

Companies also can – and should – expand the criteria for board directors to achieve parity. Corporate leaders should cast a broader net to include senior female executives with strong business track records.

Boards are increasingly recognising that gender diversity is imperative to successful business, but more action is needed. While some boards already have a substantial representation of women, and a number have been adding women, they must make it an ongoing priority to increase the number of women on their boards.

M.

(manuela.andaloro@smartbizhub.com)

Occupation: Prime Minister

Article by Manuela Andaloro for Corriere dell’italianita’.

At the end of January 2020, I took a few months off to welcome the arrival of our third child. I was going to leave behind a familiar and comfortable reality, with a stable balance and foreseeable dynamics. After four months, I prepare to pick up where I left off and to gradually reopen myself to the world, but the world I left, is not the world I am about to return to, nor the world I lived in with my family and that I have seen change in these few months.

What should we expect from the “new normal” that awaits us and from life after lockdowns?

 A recent cover story from The Economist talks about a “90% economy”, in which significant bits of the pre-COVID everyday life simply won’t exist any more. At least, until a vaccine and/or treatment will be found or the virus will have disappeared on its own.

 After the lockdowns, the factories have reopened and the streets are no longer empty, but the result is a 90% economy, where the use of public transport has decreased by a third, and domestic flights are nearly all grounded. Consumer spending has decreased by 40% and the same goes for eating out. Hotel stays are one-third of what they used to be. People are overwhelmed by financial difficulties, uncertainty, the fear of social uprisings or a second wave of COVID-19. More companies are filing for bankruptcy, unemployment is soaring, GDP is free falling. On the other hand, deaths caused by air pollution – 1.5 million each year, according to WHO – dropped to almost zero and the benefits for the environment are countless. This affects all the countries that have opted for more stringent lockdowns but also reflects onto those that have not implemented any type of closing measures.

The economic, social and political after-effects of COVID-19 are leaving deep scars in the society and spread out with a myriad of ramifications, creating a domino effect.

In this context, the need for stability on the one hand and for a sustainable change on the other is strongly felt by the vast majority of the population. Something is moving: change is in the air and expectations among the people are growing.

The task of all those who believe in free markets and western democracies is to ensure that these expectations are channelled towards the right kind of change.

Eventually, this pandemic might even increase the sense of solidarity both at a national level and globally. Perhaps, this time – unlike the crisis of 2007-2009 – the desire for a change will not lead to a surge in populism.

In this challenging scenario, I see more and more great opportunities opening up. Politics is one of them, a subject for which I have a strong passion, like so many other women.

Abigail Spanberger, Virginia 7th Congressional District seat winner, addresses the crowd as daughter Catherine, 4, playfully crawls between her mother's legs during the election night party, Nov. 6, 2018. Looking on are Spanberger's husband, Adam, right, and daughters Claire, 10, and Charlotte, 7. Spanberger defeated two-term Republican Rep. Dave Brat. (Bob Brown, AP)

World leaders attend a family photo session at the G20 in Osaka. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool/Getty Images

But, like so many other women, I often find the rugged roads of politics hard to walk and the tools needed to be out of reach. If in the corporate world we speak of a “glass ceiling”, in the political circles we could define it as a concrete ceiling: it’s out there for everyone to see.

Formal equality of the sexes does exist but the facts on the ground are different: over the last two millennia, politics has been ruled by men according to a gender conception that has prevented equal rights so far. As a matter of fact, in Italy, women are 51% of the population but only 30% are involved in politics. Simply put, a big portion of the population is not being represented and has little relevance in public policies, even those that concern women directly.

Everywhere in the world women are under-represented: only 24.3% of all national parliamentarians were women as of April 2019 (UN statistics); out of the 193 Member States of the United Nations, only 15 have a female leader (Pew Research).

In Switzerland, my current country, female voters outnumber their male counterparts by 10% (Swissinfo). Yet, women remain a minority in cantonal and federal politics.

Women in politics are confronted with a male majority in virtually all respects, even if there are big differences between the political parties. For example, the share of men in Switzerland’s strongest party, the conservative right Swiss People’s Party, is twice as high as the share of female members. The same applies to the centre-right Conservative Democratic Party.

Both the centrist Christian Democrats and the Social Democratic Party state that their share of female members is around 40%, while the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party does not reveal its figures. Apart from the Greens, no other party approaches parity.

 A closer look at the number of female delegates reveals a similar picture.

 Alice Glauser, People’s Party’s parliamentarian for canton Vaud, thinks this is problematic: “The structures were created by men for men”.

 Also in Italy, the figures are well known and merciless. No female Prime Minister, or President of the Republic, ever. Until the first Conte cabinet, throughout the seventy years of the Italian Republic, over fifteen hundred male ministers were elected, against only eighty-three female ministers, half of which were without portfolio. Today, three out of five female ministers are without portfolio. Only 13 mayors out of a hundred are women.

In this social context affected by COVID and with such a fragmented political framework, I rejoiced when I saw – at least, in Italy – strong and successful initiatives taking place with the aim of shaping the future political order. They advocate for equal opportunities bearing a constructive and democratic vision.

The first one is called “Prime Donne” (Women first), a school of Political Studies supported by Più Europa Association and presented to the Chamber of Deputies. It is a training course for 25 women selected among over two hundred candidates. It’s just a drop in the ocean, but it’s a start.

Fabiana Musicco, the spokeswoman of the school, explains further: “We work on contextual data that are often not known to the public. We aim at exposing the under-representation of women and showing how their increased presence, for instance in municipal executive councils, has contributed to changing the policies. We are talking about the structure of political parties, access to the leadership, how electoral rolls are created. We also offer training modules on the so-called ‘soft skills’, that is, communication abilities. Political verbal communication – even that of talk shows – is ruled by a masculine, aggressive speech style; we want to disrupt these patterns. We also want to bring up new proposals for a better work-life balance”. 

The second initiative, Prime Minister, is a school of Political Studies for young women (aged 13 to 19) which intends to “inspire a new generation of women by introducing them to politics – understood as the art of interpreting and guiding society –, discussing democracy, activism, social justice and female leadership.”

 “We are trying to build a new piece of the world, a dimension where we can find happiness in the community, where we can discover new ways of thinking and living”, says Florinda Saieva, 42, from Sicily. “We want to inspire the youngsters, to discuss with them about democracy, institutions, justice, sustainable development; we want to reflect on the power of active citizenship as well as on the absurdity of gender stereotypes that continue to relegate women to secondary roles and on the need, instead, for new female leaders. This can be seen as a gender equality challenge and a generational challenge – this is why young girls are our priority. What’s more, this is also a challenge to promote the South of Italy, where boys and girls go through huge difficulties. We mean to stimulate the talent and sensitivity of these young girls, hoping that these very girls may be the Prime Ministers of tomorrow. We all desperately need a change and I believe that after the horrible moment we are going through, we will be ready to make it happen”.

In this difficult moment we are experiencing, it is essential to grasp and guide this change, now more than ever. We need to start building new structures and synergies made for an economic, political and social future that includes and leverages that 51% of the population, breaking up with the past and, finally, disrupting these obsolete and harmful mechanisms.

Manuela Andaloro

(info@smartbizhub.com)

Women? They should stop asking what they're worth.

Clockwise: Chiara Condi (left), Riccarda Zezza, Manuela Andaloro

Riccarda Zezza, CEO of Life Based Value and Manuela Andaloro, business strategist and international blogger, interview Chiara Condi, Italian-American based in Paris, thirty year-old founder of Led By HER , a non-profit which empowers women who have suffered from violence through entrepreneurship. The organization gives different forms of entrepreneurship a voice, and raises a new form of awareness about gender based violence.

(Interview also published in Italian on StartupItalia!)

——————-

Sociologists tell us even the most introverted of people will influence over ten thousand others in an average lifetime. Can you imagine how many people we have knowingly and unknowingly influenced in our lives so far? How can we best leverage on this power? We hear daily about leadership, and yet we are left wondering who are the real leaders?

Riccarda and Manuela’s idea is to create a series of interviews aimed at portraying impact makers and leaders who are driving change and innovation worldwide, and in doing so, are raising awareness on a new successful type of genuine leadership. 

New role models who base their success on strategic 'soft' skills, such as empathy, creativity, communication, those incredible few who spark energy and strength as they positively impact others and society.

We start with Paris-based Chiara Condi, Italian-American, thirty year-old founder of Led By HER , a non-profit which empowers women who have suffered from violence through entrepreneurship.

Q. Much has been written about you over the years. Today I would like to reveal a few angles of your professional life and the impact you have had. Shall we start with who is Chiara today?

A. I would say that I am at a crossroads of my life right now because I have spent the last ten years of my life working on gender equality and women’s empowerment issues and the last five years building up a nonprofit organization Led By HER, which carries out advocacy and programs for women’s entrepreneurship and women’s rights. This work that we have carried out on the ground over the years was very formative, it has given me new ideas and the willingness to do more. At this time it pushes me to advocate to try to change things on a new level through the visibility that I have gained.  It has provided me with new ideas and visions of what we can do that can make a big difference for women and now more and more I feel that it is my job to make those ideas heard. That is why I try to participate as much as I can in conferences, media and international dialogues, because I think that it is more important than ever to raise awareness around these issues.

Q. When I say work-life (balance), what do you envision?

A. I think that there is no perfect formula about how to divide time in your life.  The only thing that that has worked for me has been setting priorities and making each decision based on those priorities.  That way I never have to feel bad about the choices I made or about saying no to something. And I believe that instead of always quantifying the time we spend on things in our life maybe we should be qualifying it instead.  I do this in my own life by being fully present with whatever I am doing at the moment, whether that is work or my personal life. Even if it’s something small that I am allowing myself I enjoy it fully.  When I am doing whatever I am doing at a given moment in time nothing else matters. When I try to apply this all-encompassing rule to my life I see that I feel much more fulfilled.

“Make sure that the first person you serve is always yourself because that is the only way you will truly help others.”

— Chiara Condi

Q. Do you see any connection between parenting and management?

A. Yes I believe that good parenting like good management is all about leadership development. Your role as a parent is to develop your child into an independent free thinking adult who will do his best in life. Much in the same way in companies you foster people’s potential and talents so that they can be the best version of themselves.  That is when they will also give you your best. I also think that fulfilled individuals can become a company’s best asset.

Q. Who were or are your female and male role models, professionally?

A. I do not think I have formal role models, but I am very inspired by the women we helped through Led By HER because they taught me that whatever happens in life you can still show up and change your life. And if they believe that every day can be the start to a new life, then all of us should.  Whenever I think of them any excuse that I build up in my life not to show up falls to the ground.

 Q. Where do the synergies between your professional and personal goals lead you daily?

A. Embodying your own goals is an important aspect of success. I care much more than I ever did about that and how I treat myself and run my own life. Only once you achieve that equilibrium in your own life can you unleash the potential to carry out great things. And it is not about major things, but rather about how you show up in your life daily.

Q. How can women, and new leaders, pursue a different type of leadership, and avoid some of the pitfalls that bad managers – we’ve all had at least one! – make?

 A. One of the greatest qualities of the new leader is empathy. Understanding the people you have in front of you, their potential and where they want to be will enable you to make the best arise out of the people you work with. Great leaders see potential and work with it.

Q. What is the biggest professional mistake women are still making – what should we stop doing?

A. Not asking for their worth. I interviewed many women around the world and I realized that if there was a common denominator in their struggle it was credibility.  The truth is that while a man’s work is taken at face value, a woman’s work is not. Women expressed that they have to prove themselves and work twice as much as men to prove that they deserve something.  But we cannot stop there and surrender ourselves. Even if the world is this way and these are our circumstances why can we not work on being so aware of ourselves and know our own worth to claim what we deserve? Every time you are asking for that promotion or negotiating that raise do it, go for it, for yourself and for all women because it is time we teach the world what we are worth and not settle for anything less.

Q. Why does management have such a bad reputation in some corporations?

 A. If we are afraid of management it could be because we are associating it with an old style of doing things. I think that now more and more corporations are realizing that people are their first and most precious resource and that their biggest asset should be cultivating them.  I think the best survival skill in any environment is always to be yourself.  Whatever decision you make don’t make it come from your environment but from you, that is is the only way you will be OK with whatever happens around you.

Q. Will the millennial generation be a very different kind of leader?

 A. Yes I think we are moving towards a leadership of questions rather than a leadership of solutions. A good leader is someone who asks all the right questions, not someone who already knows the answers. Innovation has turned the world on its head because it has taught us that hierarchy does not exist. Good ideas can come from anywhere and the best leaders are those who will be able to seize things rather than impose them.

Q. There is a large debate going on around the future of work, talent retention, women and millennials values. What do you think the future holds for old school organizations? 

A. I had the chance of giving a conference about this lately in Cape Town for the aviation industry, which is an industry that faces great challenges in renewing itself for the future. There is potential for all industries as long as people’s voices are heard and they are included in processes. When people lose sense in work is when they feel that their work is disconnected from what is happening around them.  There is no such thing as an organization and its employees, they are just one---the organization is its employees and therefore they have to feel with every ounce of their bones that they are part of it.  That is what we all want, to be part of something greater than ourselves, and organizations that miss out on providing that sense of purpose will miss out of the future.

Chiara Condi at the OECD Summit Paris 2018

 Q. What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

 A. That nothing is permanent, that I am replaceable and not to be attached to any single outcome in life.  There is no single solution, but when I started I had very fixed measures of success.  When you do that it makes it impossible to just be happy with whatever is happening right now and to trust that even if something is different from what you expected it can still be great.  I also realize that sometimes you start someplace and then life takes you somewhere else, and I used to fight against that, but now I have learned to listen to it and to embrace it.

Q. How do you recharge your energy?

A. I never believed when I was younger that I mattered more than what I do, but now I do because I understand that is the only way to make a difference. You can only give fully from that place of abundance, so I try to create that for myself daily. It takes the form of daily yoga, pilates and meditation with visualization and journal writing. And then taking longer moments of distance from my work  through travels that nourish my soul. I love seeing what I have never seen before and it replenishes me entirely.

Q. What drives you, at the end of the day?

A. Feeling that I left the world a little better than it was yesterday. If I can say that to myself then I can sleep well at night.

 Q. What does impact mean for you? How would you describe the impact you have had on people and on the world?

A. I used to think that impact was a big word and impact meant millions of people, that everything had to be big to matter. Actually Led By HER taught me the opposite. Impact is much more about doing small things in a big way.  Impact is about the intention and magnitude with which you do every little thing-- and that is what will move mountains.  I learned that you change a world one person at a time and each of those small revolutions will foster others.

 Q. A few final words of wisdom and tips for our career-oriented impact-makers, professionals and entrepreneurs alike, women and men?

 A. Make sure that the first person you serve is always yourself because that is the only way you will truly help others.

This interview is a collaboration between Manuela Andaloro and Riccarda Zezza.