Time and talent are precious resources. Women now have the opportunity to become highly educated and are gaining valuable professional and personal experiences at home and abroad. Women can have it all; a job, a family and time for personal growth. Yet, who doesn’t feel the pressure of expectations from others about being successful, setting priorities, and doing it all? The question is how do we want work and life to be: would more of us step up to power, and feel great about it, if power, work environments and leadership were more inclusive, purposeful, caring and compassionate? We suggest it is time to move into a higher gear as we look at how the new authentic and feminine leaders consider power.
These issues and more were covered at this plenary session and speakers that contributed to the discussion were:
- Alessia D’Amato, Postdoctoral Fellow in Research and Innovation at Center for Creative Leadership.
- Carolyn J. Lutz, Lutz & Partners International Executive Search
- Meg Jones, Managing Director, Constructive Connections
- Michael Kimmel, Professor, State University of New York
Meg Jones, who is passionate about the economic empowerment of women, started the afternoon session by talking about women as change agents. How you need to use that feeling in your gut when you want to be a change agent. Trust that feeling and use it to make a difference. She also talked about how we have to realize and embrace the fact that life is a stage, from which you can not step down.
After Meg it was time for Michael Kimmel to take the stage. An expert on men and masculinity, he quickly won over the crowd over by saying that childcare is not a woman’s issue but a parents’ issue and how men should have the courage to be the change too.
Using jokes and funny images he engaged the audience in a lively discussion. “We (men) will invite you (women) to join us (men) and then when we (men) don’t like it”.
He did also make some powerful and important points as he talked about how privilege is invisible to those who have it. Women have made gender visible but it remains invisible to men. A key to success, according to Michael, is to confront men’s idea of entitlement and engage them into the discussion. In the end gender equality is good for both men and women and it will lead to men being able to live the lives they want to live. Ending on a fun note, he shared some interesting research on what makes the “best marriages” Did you know that men sharing responsibility of house and childcare does not only lead to a happier wife, but also happier and healthier children, healthier men and last but not least more sex?
Carolyn Lutz, who runs her own executive search firm in Switzerland, spoke about her life and work experiences. Before starting her own business she spent time in the US Marines, at the Wharton School in Pennsylvania, at Procter & Gamble and as a partner at Hedrick & Struggles. By sharing how relationships had influenced her, what decisions she had made and what she had learned from it all, she inspired all of us to stop and think about our own situation. What is our definition of success?
She also told us about a motto she had learned from her father: “If is doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger”
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