WIL Europe Latest News

5 minutes with...Maurizio Zollo, Full Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at Bocconi University

Mon, 14 May 2018 08:24:55 GMT

Core elements of a leadership mindset relate to the capacity to think, decide and act for the long-term creation of (economic and non-economic) value for all stakeholders. This is the foundation of sustainability in organizations and societies. But how can that capacity be developed? What forms of learning can stimulate the development of these leadership traits?

A recently published book “The Evolutionary Leap to Individual and Organizational Flourishing”, written by Prof. Zollo, among others, offers an innovative answer and explanation. WIL had the chance to interview, Prof. Zollo, who will also hold a webinar on the topic for our network on the 17^th of May, during which he will clarify why deep meditative practice, applied to business decisions and work, is a powerful way to develop the capacity to lead the transition to sustainable, stakeholder-oriented, models of enterprise.

What led you to write a book on individual and organizational flourishing?

The scientific evidence that emerged in numerous findings ranging from medical science, neuroscience and management science shows that there is a strong link between meditation and both individual and organizational flourishing!

A flourishing organization is an organization whose members have reached a state of collective consciousness where decisions and actions are geared to nurture and realize the development of the fullest potential for all actors in the socioeconomic and natural system.

The main reason I wrote this book together with my colleagues is therefore to share this scientific evidence that meditative practices can have a huge impact on companies’ performance and on society and to provide very practical case studies.

There is scientific evidence that meditative practices
can have a huge impact on companies’
performance and on society.

What do you mean exactly by meditation?

There is a universal concept of meditation, which is essentially: to expand our own consciousness, and expand the notion of self, beyond our own body. When the notion of self-expands, we then enact a completely different thinking process: from being focused on ourselves, we shift to a collective interest and common good.

What are the implications of this practice on individuals and on organizations?

At an individual level, when one begins a meditative practice, the results can be seen not only in terms of well-being and diminution of stress but also in terms of decision-making and interactions with colleagues. Individuals who meditate tend to change the way they interpret reality and frame a problem and usually become long-term oriented and more intuitive in the way they manage their day to day tasks.

In addition, meditative practices have an influence on the quality of creative thinking, as it activates both the right and the left hemispheres of our brain, enabling us to merge our managerial capacities with a more creative and intuitive attitude.

At an organizational level, there are a series of implications that include not only the introduction of meditative practices as a management tool, but also structural changes that lead to a flourishing organization. The meditative practices open up the strategic decision-making processes, leading to better integrate all stakeholders’ views, such as supply chain, HR processes, control system processes, sales and so on. In addition, they develop the capacity to lead the transition to sustainable, stakeholder-oriented, models of enterprise.

Meditation can thus lead us to an evolutionary journey through two paths, which actually reinforce each other: the development of consciousness at the individual level, and a strong organizational change at the collective level.

Individuals who meditate tend to change the way
they interpret reality and frame a problem and usually
become long-term oriented and more intuitive in the way they manage
their day to day tasks.

Do individuals and organizations have sufficient willpower and capacities to assume a proactive role and trigger a systemic change?

Absolutely! Businesses are by far the strongest institutions we have in society, and it is very clear from multiple business researches that companies that have invested in sustainability and related change have significantly over performed similar companies, that operate in the same industry and same countries, that have not made these types of investment. Unfortunately, not all businesses have understood these positive implications of sustainable change in terms of competitive advantage.

Business researches show that companies that have invested in sustainability and related change have significantly over performed similar companies.

Biography

Professor Maurizio Zollo is the Dean’s Chaired Professor in Strategy and Sustainability at the Management and Technology department of Bocconi University and board member of the Center for Research in Innovation, Organization and Strategy (CRIOS). He is also visiting professor at the Sloan School of Management of the M.I.T. in the Management Science department.

A past president of the European Academy of Management (EURAM), he was also former editor of the European Management Review. In addition, professor Zollo served for a decade on the Executive Committee of the Academy of Business in Society, which he helped establish in 2003. For the Strategic Management Society he chaired the Innovation and Knowledge interest group and was a founder and chair of the Stakeholder Strategy interest group. A past member of Executive Committee of the strategy division of the Academy of Management, he also co-founded the Business & Society division of EURAM. In addition to his editor role for the European Management Review, he also served as associate editor or editorial board member of six other leading academic journals in strategy and organization studies.

New Members

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 13:27:45 GMT

Axèle Lofficial

Axèle Lofficial is an Executive Coach at Leroy Dirigeants and Manager of the Key Account Development team of BPI group. With a diploma from HEC, she worked 15 years in international groups and also as HR Director. She accompanies executives on topics at the frontier of human and business goals, and works in particular on collective intelligence and emotional intelligence. She is also an expert in leadership, gender diversity and women professional development. She is co-author of 2 books published in 2017 where she wrote on emotional intelligence, leadership and how diversity brings collective intelligence.

Keeping up with... Racha Abu El Ata - Djebou, Health Industry Sales Director at Microsoft (FR)

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 13:51:31 GMT

Artificial Intelligence and Cloud computing - What do they have in common with the Healthcare? The WIL had a fruitful discussion on this topic with Racha Abu El Ata – Djebou, who, only a few years after participating in the first edition of our Women Talent Pool programme (WTP) in 2012, has recently been promoted as Health Industry Sales Director at Microsoft. Racha has been with the IT company for more than 15 years and is passionate about innovation, predictive analytics, and data science. If you are skeptical about artificial intelligence or would like to learn how it can act as an enabler for changes in medicine and healthcare, take 5 minutes and read our interview with her!

1. After 15 years at Microsoft, you have recently been promoted to a Health Industry Sales Director. How will technology transform healthcare and where are companies like Microsoft focusing?

Healthcare is an important industry to be transformed in France and other developed countries in the next few years, as the costs for healthcare spending, fueled by the aging population and chronic diseases, are projected to rise from currently 12% of GDP to nearly 18% of GDP in the next 10 years. There is thus a good opportunity to change the industry and technology is at the heart of this transformation.

Microsoft has also gone through a reorganization in the beginning of last year and has decided to focus on the following priorities: manufacturing, financial services, retail, education, government, and health being one of them. In order to assist the healthcare transformation, Microsoft is building specific offers and solutions such as engaging patients and empowering care teams.

“The costs for healthcare spending, fueled by the aging population and chronic diseases, are projected to rise from currently 12% of GDP to nearly 18% of GDP in the next 10 years.”

2. What is the most exciting development that you are seeing within the field of e-health solutions at Microsoft?

The mathematical algorithm to analyze the health data and the power of cloud computing to simplify the analysis and make it faster. Without the algorithm and cloud services, we could still perform the analysis, but that would be very costly and would take an unimaginable amount of time.

3. In particular, what role does artificial intelligence (AI) play in health sector today? Leading thinkers have attacked the concept—such as Stephen Hawking who voiced his concern. Do you think we should be scared of Dr. Terminator and why ?

Artificial intelligence (AI) enables society to have a good understanding and analysis of what has happened in the past and what may happen in the future. To give an example, currently, a patient receives a treatment and is sent home with no further analysis if the treatment he has received was the right one. Technology can help us customize the treatment with the patients’ data such as age and lifestyle, which can be analyzed in a short period of time (see the previous question).

The above example shows that if we anticipate and prepare for the change, AI can be an opportunity for the society as a whole. It is true that AI and improved automation will disrupt the job market and will indeed contribute to a job loss, but it will, at the same time, create job opportunities that never existed before, such as data scientists.

Education thus plays an important role in anticipating and addressing these changes, therefore governments and educational institutions should work hand in hand with industrial leaders such as Microsoft and others to train the next generation(s) and prepare them for the future employment market.

“Technology can help us customize the treatment with the patients’ data such as age and lifestyle.”

4. You have joined Microsoft in 2002, while many people were and are still knocking on the company’s door. What makes it so attractive and how does it foster innovative and creative thinking among its workforce?

Microsoft is a very emphatic company and while it is very demanding it is also extremely rewarding. There is a possibility for an employee to stay with the company until his/her retirement while taking up diverse roles. I have changed six roles since I have joined the company, but I have the feeling that I worked for several companies and on many different topics.

I also truly appreciate the fact that our top management is constantly questioning its model, innovation, and organization. As said previously, we went recently through a significant reorganization into six vertical industries, which shows that management is not afraid of changes and this gives me confidence for the future.

Microsoft is playing a big role in society and citizenship, which is of great importance to me, as I could not work for a company that would not care about making the world better place.

5. In 2012, you have participated in the 1^st edition of our Woman Talent Pool Programme and only a few years later, you have reached a leading position. Could you share with us how the Programme has benefited you and what advice would you give to other participants?

The participation in the Programme gave me an opportunity to network, travel, meet leaders and learn from them. The example of leaders as role models is important for young women, so they can witness the possibility of having a leadership position beside a balanced personal and professional life.

“I have particularly enjoyed the training session about the “Good Girl Syndrome”, which made me aware that men are not the only one responsible for the lack of diversity and inclusion.”

I have particularly enjoyed the training session about the “Good Girl Syndrome”, which made me aware that women often have fears about promoting themselves and do not seek for a promotion, because they think, that as long as they accomplish the necessary requirements, the opportunities will come along. For example, if they receive an opportunity for another job, they express doubts about themselves, even if they have 85% of all necessary competencies and skills.

This training was extremely insightful as it changed my perspective and helped me to say that “I can do it” and that I have the right to ask for something. Moreover, it helped me in my management and leadership position towards others. I am now coaching other young women in Microsoft and I always try to make them aware and change these behavioral patterns.

Keeping up with... Chloe Jones, EMEA Brand Advocacy Manager at Lenovo (UK)

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 12:44:18 GMT

Beyond our members and the participants to our Women Talent Pool programme, other great women are doing a fantastic work. At only 28, the brilliant Chloe Jones, EMEA Brand Advocacy Manager at Lenovo (UK), has already made her mark. Chloe is the finalist of the PCR Women of the Year 2015, an award recognizing the contribution of women in the UK PC & Technology industry. A “writer, creator and thinker”, in her own words, Chloe is also particularly active on social networks where she shares her views on a wide range of interests such as environment, education and equality.

A great support of WIL, Chloe participated to our annual gathering in London on May 15th and 16th 2017, where we had the chance to meet her and learn about her already impressive credentials.

Want to know where Chloe gets her inspiration from and how she uses it as Brand Advocacy Manager? Read our interview!

You graduated in English literature and drama and describe yourself as a “writer”. What prompted you to then specialize in marketing? How does your literary background help you in your current position?

The skills that I had developed during my degree like self-presentation, analytics, creativity and writing really lend themselves to the world of marketing. I was keen to further these skills and use my creativity and my passion for people to create connections between a brand and consumers and really understand what makes people engage and react.

Relationships with our “super fans” are important for improving customer loyalty, which helps add muscle to our brand’s customer acquisition and retention efforts.

I started at Lenovo by managing and writing the EMEA email marketing campaigns and was recognized for my abilities to write engaging copy. This was a fantastic starting block from which to learn about the different audiences around Europe and how to engage with them. At the same time, our Vice President of Marketing was looking for new ways for Lenovo to have one to one relationships with our customers, and that led me to launching our first brand advocacy program, designed to create meaningful relationships with our brand’s “super fans”. These relationships are important for improving customer loyalty, which helps add muscle to our brand’s customer acquisition and retention efforts.

Is there any English author that you particularly appreciate or that you consider to be a great inspiration?

There are a lot of remarkable English authors. I could list some classic inspirations, such as William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien and Virginia Woolf. A modern day role-model has to be J.K. Rowling : she has inspired a whole generation to love reading and has written strong and independent female characters in her books. She embodies that having both passion and an idea can transform your life. Currently, I am reading ’Swing Time’ by Zadie Smith, she’s an amazing inspiration, who won prizes for her first book at just 25 years old. She writes beautifully and comes across as a very well-grounded woman. For example, she has no social media accounts because as she says, it gives her “the right to be wrong.”

For more than two years, you have been the owner of Lenovo EMEA’s first Brand Advocacy Program, an online community aiming at turning customers into brand advocates. Why do brands need advocacy programmes?

In a really crowded market like technology, where companies are producing similar products, brands and relationships are keys to ensuring we can move beyond a one-time purchase. Social brand advocates are incredibly influential. As brands like Lenovo seek to reach new and wider audiences it’s imperative they engage their advocates and nurture those relationships. Brand advocates add a depth to brand marketing; due to their loyalty and their satisfaction in a brand they go deeper with their networks to share their positive brand experience. This helps to create and increase brand awareness.

Sometimes, a positive experience with a brand can simply be a successful customer service experience. Going a step further, dedicated advocacy programs help build trust and loyalty, foster valuable relationships and develop online and offline engagement. Providing this positive brand experience, in any capacity, is essential for brands who want to be customer centric.

What makes a good advocacy programme? Could you tell us more about the actions you are implementing?

There are two key points for a good advocacy program : first, a good advocacy program should empower the customer by being a dialogue between a brand and its advocates. Secondly, advocacy starts inside the company. Thus brands who want to make a significant impact should have employee advocacy programs as well as super fan programs.

A good advocacy program should empower the customer by being a dialogue between a brand and its advocates.

Bringing the brand story to life in a relevant and meaningful way is important to do both online and offline. I run hosted programs for top advocates and influencers at European trade shows to give them ‘insider’ experiences with our brand and products. These face to face interactions and experiential activities really help to foster lasting relationships and they complement our efforts to create online social engagement. Giving our fans these experiences also shows them how we value them and how we want to have their feedback so we can improve what we do and how we do it.

Steve Jobs had predicted a post-PC era due to the rise of smartphones and tablets and it’s true that the PC market has been going through a few years of declining sales. Where do you see it heading over the next few years?

Tablets haven’t really evolved since they first hit the market, but consumers want more and more from them, but the form factor doesn’t always support. There are more and more apps developed to support productivity, but the form factor of tablets doesn’t make it a pleasurable experience. At Lenovo, we spent time watching people using their devices, using pen, detachable keyboard etc and decided to bring something revolutionary to the market: ourYoga Book. The Yoga Book gives the user the same paper-like writing experience but also has a fully functioning and responsive keyboard. In terms of forward thinking and innovation, this “PC plus design” is where we need to focus our strengths and keep ahead of the declining PC area.

Coming back to your love for literature and passion for education, do you think that the digital transformation of the classroom has a real ability to improve student learning outcomes?

The education sector is on a trajectory to reducing the digital divide. The continuation of compulsory computing skills within the curriculum has opened up a range of digital careers for students that were previously inaccessible. Today’s students require more than textbook learning and memorization. They need digital tools that allow them to do more than ever before. Lenovo has pioneered the way in purpose-built educational devices : we recently launched the updated Thinkpad 11e family and Lenovo N23 Chromebooks.

Allowing these new methods of teaching represents a lot of capability and potential for improving student learning outcomes.

Although many classrooms feature tech, most are still teaching from the front of the class with an electric board – it’s not that different from how we’ve taught for hundreds of years. Technology can bring new possibilities to the classrooms such as flipped and blended learning, and over the next 6 to 8 months we are likely to see an increase in the adoption of augmented reality and virtual reality within education- technologies such as Google Tango on the Lenovo Phab 2 have a range of use cases in the classroom. Technology allows the gamification of the teaching experience such as manipulating objects in a virtual environment, allowing pupils to try out future careers or test themselves in virtual scenarios. The new generation of 2-in-1 devices gives teachers more versatility within the classroom. Allowing these new methods of teaching represents a lot of capability and potential for improving student learning outcomes.

However, when it comes to literature and reading, I am still an old-fashioned advocate of picking up a good old book and turning real paper pages!

Interview with Laurence Rossignol, the French Minister for Families, Children, and Women’s Rights

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:58:25 GMT

On October 20^th, WIL Team - Julia Contrea and Lucie Gabriel was honored to conduct an interview with Laurence Rossignol, the French Minister for Families, Children, and Women’s Rights at her Ministry in Paris. We discussed with the Minister about various subjects, from her personal commitment to gender equality, to the launch of the new joint Action & Mobilisation plan against sexism, but also the situation of women in France and Europe.

The video is in French, but you'll find below an english write-up of the interview.

1. Sexism is a concept widely used in Gender studies nowadays yet rarely defined. What would be your definition of sexism?

The subject of sexism, as it is a core issue for the French Ministry for Families, Children and Women’s Rights, which launched in that regard a joint Action and Mobilisation plan on social media to fight daily sexism, on September 8^th, 2016, along with 30 women’s associations. The plan will run for 6 months until March 8^th, 2017, which is the International Women’s Day. During these months, the objective is to encourage men and women to speak up against daily sexism, and to share initiatives to fight it with an hashtag: #SexismePasNotreGenre. In view of the elusive definition of sexism, the French Minister started the interview by giving her own: “A set of secular behaviors that bring women back to their conservative roles and prevent them from accomplishing their goals and moving forward”. Sexism is also defined as a set of attitudes that reduce women solely to their sex.

2. The Plan is based on figures and data from the joint CSA-French Ministry for Families, Children and Women’s Rights’ research study: “Perception of equality between men and women in France”. Did any of these figures surprised you or even choked you?

Laurence Rossignol drew two conclusions from the study: First, that the fight for gender equality is far from being over yet, as women are regularly exposed to sexist remarks at their workplaces, and 63% of women and girls modified their behaviours or wore different type of clothes due to fear of sexist attitudes. For young girls (15 - 20 years old), this percentage rises to 72%. But on the other hand, the Minister highlighted encouraging progresses: More and more people call themselves feminists (57% of the respondents and 61% of young girls) and an average of 97% of respondents recognized that women are often exposed to daily humiliations because they are women. Overall, sexism recognition in the public space has increased in the past few years, and led to a larger mobilisation from the civil society to fight against it.

As the Minister pointed out, the joint Action and Mobilisation plan #SexismePasNotreGenreaims to act as a driven force of mobilisation against daily sexism. The plan is supported by more than 30 women’s associations and institutions in charge of labelling the initiatives shared with the hashtag #SexismePasNotreGenre. Combatting gender-based harassment and humiliations requires indeed strong collective commitment from both governments and society.

3. You are known for your strong commitment for gender equality in the French political landscape. Was there a particular event that drove this early feminist commitment ?

Moving the discussion to a more personal level, the Minister talked about how, being raised in an openly feminist environment, she has always been stunned and offended by discriminatory behaviours she witnessed as a young girl. Later, as a college student, she got involved in a feminist group where she led actions for women’s rights. “In those days, humor was our best asset to make our voices heard without being disqualified as “grumpies”. It is still true for the 2000’s feminists. But in the late 70’s we had a lot of fun being feminists, because we wouldn’t let anything go.”

4. In regards to the recent events in Pologne ( attempts to limit the aborption' rights by the government), do you think that women's rights in Europe are now being challenged / threatened?

The Minister gave a nuanced response: Citing the well known French feminist Simone de Beauvoir, she cautioned that women’s rights have always been controversial in Europe, and therefore are staying under threat in the context of economic, political, and social crisis. But Laurence Rossignol also reminded that the attempt to restrict abortion’s right in Poland has faced a major resistance all over Europe. There are two driven forces concerning women’s rights in Europe: on a one side, there are existing antifeminists movements that try to undermine the granted rights, but on the other side there is a strong mobilisation from the society to keep fighting for these rights.

4. What are your Ministry's top priorities in regards to women's rights in the next months/ years?

The Minister recapped the top three priorities of her Ministry in regards to women’s rights: Sexism, that should be combatted to allow existing laws to be properly applied, gender equality at work, to allow women to access financial independence, and gender-based violence. In this last category, Laurence Rossignol also included the “rape culture” that contributes to trivialize behaviours of sexual harassments in western countries.

Launch of the action plan on sexism by the French Ministry for Families, Children, and Women’s Rights #SexismePasNotreGenre

Wed, 07 Sep 2016 09:14:35 GMT

On Thursday, September 8^th, 2016 the French Ministry for Families, Children, and Women’s Rights launched the joint Action & Mobilisation Plan against Sexism, presented by the Minister Laurence Rossignol. 30 associations and institutions are supporting Laurence Rossignol’s initiative, such as Cercle Inter’Elles, headed by WIL member Catherine Ladousse, Grandes Ecoles au Féminin or Social Builder to name a few. This key initiative against daily sexism is also supported by Thaima Samman, President of WIL Europe, along with personalities from the cultural sector, and economic and political elites such as WIL Member Delphine Ernotte Cunci, President of France Télévisions, Sarah Ourahmoune, Olympic vice champion of boxing, Julie Gayet, actress, and Axel Kahn, doctor and essayist, to mention but a few.

The plan will run for 6 months until March 8^th, 2017, which is the International Women’s Day. During these months, the objective is to encourage men and women to speak up against daily sexism, and to share initiatives to fight it with an hashtag: #SexismePasNotreGenre.

French journalist and public figure Audrey Pulvar moderated the two evening panels. The first one gathered speakers from the associative world: Emmanuelle Laroque (Social Builder), Clarisse Reille (Grandes Ecoles au Féminin), Sabine Salmon (Femmes Solidaires), Annie Guilberteau (CNIDFF), Marie Françoise Potereau (Femix’Sport) and Laurence Beldowski (Toutes Femmes, Toutes Communicantes) who shared with the guests their insights on sexism in universities, in the workplace, in sports and in the medias. The second panel had Anne Le Ny (actress), Dominique Beshenard (actor), Dr. Axel Kahn (Scholar), Dr. Ghada Hatem Gantzer and Mercedes Erra (CEO of Havas Worldwide) who discussed about their perception of sexism and how it should be fought.

During the event the audience was also presented with key figures and main outcomes from the CSA research study: “Perception of equality between men and women in France”.

To conclude the evening session, the Minister Laurence Rossignol took the stage to thank the audience and all the ambassadors, and to explain the program’s outlines for the next 6 months. She particularly stressed out the major role that social media will play in this campaign against sexism.

Please support this fundamental gender equality initiative by sharing your views on sexism by using #SexismePasNotreGenre!

Université d'été E5T - August 24th & 25th - La Rochelle

Fri, 22 Jul 2016 09:25:09 GMT

Great opportunity from WIL Member Myriam Maestroni, CEO Of Economie d'Energie SAS & E5T Foundation President, to attend E5T Summer University on August 24th & 25th in La Rochelle (France)

This 2016 edition will be focusing on the COP21 outcome, objectives as well as policies and will bring concrete proposals for the COP22. High-level speakers will be discussing about ecology issues such as new eco-energy paradigm, E5T eco-mobility or E5T individual and collective housing.

Please note that this is a french speaking event. Click here for more info.

The Foundation E5T "Energy, Energy Efficiency , Energy Saving and Territories " is a french think tank which goal is to "think and act". It is an open platform where stakeholders can exchange ideas and discuss about the problems inherent to the energy transition. It aims to mobilize in an innovative format collective intelligence around this new reality by appealing to the representatives of the various actors and stakeholders in the energy sector (business, political, administrative , teachers, students).

Interview: Laurent Derivery, CEO of Valeurs & Developpement

Fri, 01 Jul 2016 14:55:03 GMT

Laurent Derivery is the CEO of Valeurs & Developpement, a consulting firm specialized in Management, Human Resources and Diversity. V&D bases its approach of diversity on researches and studies conducted in partnership with public and private actors.

WIL: Valeurs & Developpement co-piloted a study with IMS-Entreprendre pour la Cité on gender and stereotypes in 2012. Could you please tell us more about this study and its outcomes?

L: The study was conducted with 1200 managers in 9 different enterprises, and among them, about 300 were interviewed on their perception of gender stereotypes. The study focused on three types of stereotypes:

- Autostereotype: what a man/woman think of his/her gender group (what women think of other women, and men of men)

- Heterostereotypes: What a man/a woman think of the other gender group

- Metastereotypes: what a person thinks the other gender group think about him/her (what a woman thinks another man think about her; what a man thinks another woman think about him)

First we discovered that both men and women’s autostereotypes are positive, which is a constructive evolution compared to previous results. It means that women and men have a good image of themselves. What is interesting is that when it comes to heterostereotypes: men have a very good opinion of women, and they even have a better opinion of women than they have of themselves, while it is exactly the contrary for women. They have a bad image of men.

Additionally, it is worth to be noted that, the more women take on leadership positions within a company, the more men and women’s stereotypes turn negative. Women have a good image of women in operational positions, an “ok” image of women in managerial positions and a bad opinion of C- level women managers. They do not want to identify themselves with these women.

How do you explain that? Would you say women are impacted negatively by stereotypes associated with leadership positions?

Currently, C-level women suffer from a very negative image and are not role models for other women in lower positions. There is a strong perception, shared by women and men, that these women tend to be career-minded and adopt a tougher managerial style. Many of them behave like men and adopt a masculine attitude to be respected.

In that case, what would be a good manager, according to the respondents?

A surprising outcome of the study is that both men and women agreed on gender based differences between a male manager vs a female manager: Men are perceived as more gifted in leadership skills, i.e. tough skills (action, decision making) while women are more gifted in soft skills (empathy, compassion behavior skills). That is one key learning. On the other hand, when men and women are asked to describe their ideal manager, they agreed on an androgynous profile: someone very balanced, who possesses a combination of “tough” skills and “behavioral” skills.

In conclusion, what would you say is the main outcome of this study?

Diversity is the key. In an unbalanced environment (whether in a male dominated or female dominated environment), the stereotypes are worse than in a mixed or balanced environment. In particular, the perception of well-being among workers is positively impacted by a balance environment.

It is crucial to create an inclusive and diverse policy.

How could organisations optimize their diversity and inclusion policies? What “good practices” should they apply?

There are several action plans to put in place. First, you have to create an inclusive environment by assessing the following 5 points:

- Fight discrimination and perception of discrimination through transparent processes

- Create a satisfactory work environment, because frustration generates negative stereotypes

- Look for gender neutral manager profiles; who have a good mix of tough and soft skills

- Implement as much diversity as possible in teams at all levels of the organisation

- Ensure your employees a good work-life balance

The second plan is to work on mentalities: To involve more men in their initiatives, companies must better communicate on their gender equality commitments/initiatives and show how it benefits the company as whole (not only their women employees) by bringing economic growth and performance. Managerial policies must encourage awareness raising between women and men and have them discuss about stereotypes.

Finally, the organisation must work on the HR processes, ie make sure procedures are not discriminatory. But it is also a matter of fighting against glass walls as much as against glass ceilings. We need to think out of the box and distance ourselves from the traditional linear career. Companies should value and offer women transversal career development opportunities, and chances to pursue non linear career paths.

You mentioned a correlation between mixed teams and economic growth, how in your opinion diversity drives performance in a company?

It has been proven that diversity drives performance and well-being. Sodexo’s study assesses that a team which respects male-female ratio (40 - 60%) enhanced significantly its performance. Which means diversity is not only a women’s issue. It matters for both gender. Men, the dominant cast, could feel threaten by women taking over responsibilities at work. But that is not the question. The real question is: how can we drive performance and well-being?

It brings us to the question of managing diversity. If you have a very diverse team but you do not manage communication well, you can easily create a very conflicted environment. On the other hand, you could manage your team in a way that differences could boost creativity and performance. Gender diversity is a driver of better relationships among the team.

As the CEO of V&D, you place diversity at the heart of your Human Resources approach. Could you explain more in details V&D’s approach of diversity?

Diversity arises the question of inclusion: Talents should be managed in a way they feel recognized and valued as an unique individual, and that they are part of a team and a system. The role of a good manager is to allow the individual to be himself, to feel good and in return to work well in the team. In that sense, individual well-being is a driver of performance for the whole organisation. The individual and the system must work closely, in a circle, and solutions must be found together.

We need more women involved in the Tech Sector!

Thu, 30 Jun 2016 14:42:30 GMT

Women are under-represented in the fast growing digital sector: they only represent 15% of IT students and 21,7% of them are working is this sector. In an article published by Les Echos today, Thaima Samman, President of the European Network for Women in Leadership, along with Catherine Ladousse, President of Cercle Inter’Elles and Claudine Schmuck, President of the IT group of Sciences Po Alumni, call on the government to take decisive measures to involve more women in the tech sector. They are supported by 25 women’s organisations, including: Alter Egales, IT group of Sciences Po Alumni, Duchess France, Elles bougent, Elles@ESIEA, Fédération des femmes administrateurs, Femmes business angels, commission du Syntec Numerique,Cercle InterElles, Financielles, Grandes écoles au Féminin, Girlz in web, JUMP Equality, Social Builder, Voxfemina, WomenUp, to name a few.

Women are facing more obstacles than their male counterparts to make their way in the tech industry, yet, the article points out how gender diversity is also a matter of performance for digital companies: having more women involved in the IT sector would increase the economic growth of the EU by 9 billion a year! Diversity is a driver of creativity, innovation and growth, especially in the highly competitive digital sector. Therefore, 25 women’s networks are taking a stand today #4WomenInTech.

http://www.lesechos.fr/idees-debats/editos-analyses/0211070157078-il-est-urgent-de-renforcer-la-presence-des-femmes-dans-la-tech-2010928.php

Boldness and Creativity as drivers of success by Women@Capgemini

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 17:09:38 GMT

On Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 Women in Leadership (WIL) Member Isabelle Roux-Chenu, Group General Counsel of Capgemini held, in partnership with the National Diversity Council, a great event in Paris as part of the Capgemini gender balance program she is leading called Women@Capgemini. The evening event, focused on ‘Boldness and Creativity as drivers of success’ and featured 4 great panel speakers, including WIL Board Member Katherine Corich, Founder and Group Chair, Sysdoc.

A dynamic session, the event discussed with the panellists some of their boldest moments in their careers so far and how, now that they are at the top, they manage to incorporate gender balance into their organizations and continue to be bold and creative in leadership. With many inspiring stories from different backgrounds including perspectives from the private sector, a large NGO, and from an entrepreneur, common themes emerged- which included: ‘walking the talk’, making values a key part of the business, and believing in yourself and your abilities.

The panelists further shared anecdotes of their own experiences and their reasons for being bold in their careers; like for example following their values and personal priorities vs. hierarchical advancement; correcting issues impacting the bottom-line such as gender balance and diversity - and thus taking on the implementation of true gender equality practices within their companies; changing the way ‘business’ is conducted by letting products and services speak for themselves vs. dining out with clients as dictated by the traditional model of ‘doing business’. Overall, each panellist expressed the paths they followed and how, when and why they had been bold and creative within their personal and professional lives. All of which resulted in many great successes for the panellists, and positioned them at the top of their organizations. Closing the discussion, WIL Board Member Katherine Corich reminded all women to know their personal and professional worth and to negotiate their careers with confidence based on this knowledge.

Women@Capgemini and WIL Member Isabelle Roux-Chenu are regularly conducting sessions on the theme of women in business. Keep an eye on your inboxes for information from WIL on these great activities conducted by our sponsor!

About Women@Capgemini

Women@Capgemini is a gloal program adopted in 2012, and supported by Capgemini Chairman and Group CEO, Paul Hermelin, to set the overarching guidelines around gender diverity across the group. It encapsulates all intiaitves that have been set up in Capgemini business units around the world and helps the regions that did not have a program to set one. It also allows to share best practices put in pace in the local programs.

Women@Capgemini is based on the fundemental principle of "equal opportunities, equal chances". To learn more about this great program take a look at the flyer attached below or visit their wesbite by clicking here

Ernst & Young report’s on young entrepreneurs and job creation

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 17:10:55 GMT

Ernst & Young published a report, based on their survey, on global job creation and the new generation of young entrepreneurs in the spring of 2015. The survey included a sample of respondents from201 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winners, 2,144 global entrepreneurs in 13 economic sectors worldwide and 2,807 young people encompassing students, workers in their first jobs and those looking for a job. The study captures a snapshot of the ambitions of future entrepreneurs for the forthcoming years, giving us insight on the upcoming impact of the new generation of entrepreneurs on job creation and growth stimulation. The survey specifically distinguishes EY ‘entrepreneurs of the year winners’, from the rest of entrepreneurs, with EY entrepreneurs having a higher job creation rate and a higher rate of mentoring for young talent than non-EY entrepreneurs. EY entrepreneurs of the year winners are characterized as young talent with successful business plan selected by EY to serve as a source of inspiration for others. EY entrepreneurs work mainly in Insurance, Financial Audit, Financial Accounting Advisory Services, Dispute Services, Climate Change and Sustainability Services.

This report aims at identifying what the intentions of new entrepreneurs are, in terms of employment, how confident entrepreneurs are in global and domestic economies, how much they expect from the talent pool of the new generation of employees and the motivations of young entrepreneurs to start a business.

EY found that one of the main drivers of young entrepreneurs’ is their ambitions to develop access to new markets.The surveys also covers the various aspirations of young entrepreneurs, with the highest percentage, 38 %, wanting to start a business in order to leave behind a positive legacy. The survey also found that there is no considerable gender gap concerning entrepreneurial ambitions, indeed future entrepreneurs from both genders are confident in their ability to start their own business, and young women’s confidence is on the rise. Additionally the reports sheds light on the shrinking gap between emerging and developed countries, highlighting the benefit of emerging economies having greater market development potential and a cheaper workforce. Indeed young entrepreneurs from India and China appear to be more optimistic than those from Germany and Japan because they benefit from an economic context with a high growth rate a greater talent pool where their career ambitions are more likely to be fulfilled.

Moreover, young entrepreneurs appear to havea lot ofconfidence in the talent pool and in their ability to put their employees’ skills to the best use. By consequence, according to survey statistics, young entrepreneurs are therefore willing to increase their workforce. As many as 47% of young entrepreneurs expect to increase their global workforce over the next year, which is a more encouraging percentage than the 30% foreseen by seniors entrepreneurs. This is a positive trend in entrepreneurship, as the report qualifies job creation as “the world’s economic lifeblood”. By creating jobs, young entrepreneurscontribute to raising the employment rate, and utilizing the talent pool which ultimately can lead to greater innovation and competiveness. Young entrepreneurs continue to have a positive impact on the job market which is a key factor for a healthy economy.

In conclusion this is an optimistic report that highlights the confidence of the younger generation of EY (and other) entrepreneurs in exploiting market opportunities, creating jobs and innovating.The survey results stress that the next generation of young entrepreneurs, especially the ones from emerging economy, are confident in their ability to compete in a complex business world and are ready to hire new talent to help conquer new markets, which makes these entrepreneurs key to the future success of our global economy.

To read the full EY report please click here.

To see the report on the EY website please click here.

Revisiting the new Priorities of the European Commission

Thu, 11 Dec 2014 09:36:51 GMT

European Commission members were sworn in by the Court of Justice of the EU on December 10th, 2014, and the new Commission is progressing with the adoption of the 2015 European Commission Work Programme set for December 17th. With things propelling forward, it is a good time to revisit the ten (10) priorities underpinning the next 5 years, as laid out by Commission President Mr. Jean Claude Juncker the day he was elected by the European Parliament- July 15, 2014.

In an official political guidelines paper, President Juncker set the tone for his policy priorities, stating that he ‘wants a European Union that is bigger and more ambitious on big things, and small and more modest on small things’. Under his agenda for Jobs, Growth, Fairness and Democratic Change, are the following priorities:

1. A new boost for Jobs and Growth Investment

2. A connected digital single market

3. A resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking climate change policy

4. A deeper and fairer internal market with a strengthened industrial base

5. A deeper and fairer Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)

6. A reasonable and balanced free trade agreement with the United States

7. An area of Justice and Fundamental Rights based on mutual trust

8. Moving towards a new policy on migration

9. Europe as a stronger global actor

10. A Union of democratic change

From these priorities, namely the first three, we can expect to see a progressive jobs, growth and investment package to be turned out within the first three months of President Junckers mandate. Likewise, within the first six months, the EU will likely see ambitious legislative steps towards enabling a more connected digital single market, with the overarching goal of eliminating roaming fees, providing borderless access for consumers to online services/music/movies/sport,as well as facilitating a level playing field for all companies offering digital goods and services in the EU, specifically in regards to data protection and consumer rules irrespective of where servers may be located. The European Energy Union is another ambitious priority stipulated among Juncker’s priorities for his mandate, which aims not only to pool and unite resources and infrastructures across EU member states, but to diversify energy sources- looking more to renewable energy, and go beyond the 2020 objectives in terms of enhancing energy efficiency.

Each priority outlined in ‘Juncker’s paper’ is meticulously thought out and explained, and they all have their challenges, but every priority is ambitious in its own right, and only time will tell if these priorities are the right ones to re-energise the EU.

To read about each priority, please find the full political guidelines document by Commission President Juncker here.

Beatrice Covassi appointed Deputy Head of Unit, Data Value Chain at the European Commission

Fri, 14 Nov 2014 09:38:49 GMT

In June 2014, WIL Member Beatrice Covassi was appointed Deputy Head of Unit, Data Value Chain (G.3), European Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology (DG Connect). The main goal of this Unit is the development of a thriving European data ecosystem by setting out the right framework conditions and building up a data community across the EU, notably through the recently established data value Public-Private Partnership. The Unit is also responsible for R&I on data and language technologies, for EU policy on open data and the implementation of the Public Sector Information Directive. Beatrice has a special responsibility for leading the policy team of the Unit and drive forward the data action plan for Europe under the new Commission.

Prior to her appointment Beatrice Covassi spent four years working at the EU Delegation to the US in Washington as the first EU Digital Economy Counsellor. In this position she lead transatlantic efforts on the digital economy, privacy, cybersecurity and Internet governance.

WIL would like to congratulate Ms. Covassi on this new development in her career and wishes her the best in this next exciting endeavour.

Feminizing the Command Line

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 09:39:52 GMT

WIL Member Afke Schaart, Senior Director for EU Institutional Affairs at Microsoft has published a compelling blog post ahead of International Women's Day (March 8th) titled 'Feminizing the Command Line'.

The Blog, posted on Project Syndicate, addresses the ongoing efforts to achieve gender equality and female participation in the still male dominated informations and communnications sector. The blog captures the current landscape of the sector and re-emphasises what a lack of women in technology is costing the European economy.

Read the inspired post here!

Microsoft Tech Days

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 09:01:41 GMT

From February 11 to 13 the Microsoft Tech Days 2014 took place in Paris at the Palais des Congrès. It is the number one brand event in Europe, reuniting actors of the digital world and providing a platform for new innovations in technologies. The three days are dedicated to new technology and issues of regarding digital transformation in the workplace and society. On a floor area of 5500 m2, 120 stands presented new products and solutions to over 18 000 visitors and professionals in the digital sector and interesting panels engaged attendees on thought-provoking topics.

One inspiring session, moderated by Nathalie Wright, General Manager Enterprise & Partner Group, Microsoft France, a WIL member, addressed the benefits of the digital transformation for diversity and business performance. The discussion focused on the challenges and virtues of developing firms digitally. Emphasizing the great window of opportunity a technological restructuring creates for employee diversity within business. The panellists also commented on the considerable efforts and persistence needed to integrate this new workforce and to build an overall enterprise culture, nurturing deployment and innovation. The tenor of the panel expressed optimism about combining new competences and diversity aspirations: Technology might not be the cause of a more representative reproduction of society in the employee’s base, but it sure can be an accelerator.

Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière appointed Senior Executive VP of Innovation, Marketing and Technologies

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 09:41:53 GMT

We are proud to announce that Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière has been appointed Senior Executive Vice President of Innovation, Marketing and Technologies (IMT) division and a member of the Executive Committee at Orange.

Mari-Noëlle has already filled several management positions at Orange throughout her career, and will offically step in to her new role on March 1st, 2014, replacing Vivek Badrinath, who is joining Accor Group as Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

Stéphane Richard, CEO of Orange, commented on Ms. Jégo-Laveissière's promotion, stating: “I have every confidence in Mari-Noëlle's ability to lead the Innovation, Marketing and Technologies Division, which I wanted to establish to carry Orange's innovations to the highest level. I have chosen a young female talent who has demonstrated the breadth of her skills and her managerial capabilities.”

As we reported previously, Orange ranked first for the feminization of their corporate governance in the French Ministry of Women’s Rights ranking in Octobre 2013. WIL would like to congratulate Orange on the continuous efforts to promote Women in Leadership and wish WIL Member Mari-Noëlle much success in her new position.

THE BLACK SHEEP OF MANAGEMENT: Dysfunctional bosses and managers

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:31:17 GMT

WIL would like to congratulate Irène Papaligouras, founder of Leaders Excellence Partners, on the publication of her great book “The Black Sheep of Management: Dysfunctional Bosses and Managers”, (published on 13 November 2013 in French: Les Moutons Noirs du Management, Edition EMS), co-authored by Hugues Chevalier, Senior Corporate Advisor to TAYLOR COMPANIES. The book analyses dysfunctional leadership, providing guidance on how to identify and mitigate dysfunctional leaders while understanding what qualities compose effective leadership.

Everyone has crossed, at some point during their professional life, a dysfunctional manager or leader. Such a person can be dangerous or even fatal for a business, bringing about perilous positions or, perhaps, scandal. This book is about the portrait gallery of braggarts, megalomaniacs, tyrants, Machiavellian toxics and other ‘black sheep’ of leadership.

Based on observation of various situations encountered along their career as consultants or senior executives, the authors were able to detect warning signals and help identify, manage or even remove leaders with such behavioural disorders. Through the analysis of these black sheep, the features requested for effective leadership become clearly visible. This book does not claim to give the recipe to cure dysfunctional leaders, but it is meant to be a guide to help detect efficient leaders and neutralize incompetent or dysfunctional ones. Indeed, economic and human disaster generated within companies by the ‘black sheep’ of management should and can be avoided.

The Authors

A specialist of the History of Economics and a Political Science graduate, Hugues Chevalier started his career as a professor at the political sciences faculty of Bordeaux before developing his own consultancy in business strategy development. He has been an international consultant for more than 20 years advising major international companies as well as SME’s and start-ups. Hugues Chevalier is Senior Corporate Advisor to TAYLOR COMPANIES (www.tay.com ) for mergers and acquisitions in Europe.

Irène Papaligouras is the founder of Leaders Excellence Partners, a strategic human resources start-up, focused on a leadership development methodology specifically designed to fit top managers’ and entrepreneurs’ competencies and needs in a 21st century economic, societal and geopolitical environment.

Irene has 30 years operational experience in human resources, strategy, organization and information systems acquired while working with large global industrial corporations (metals, chemicals and energy).

In the last ten years, she was human resources director in a major energy corporation with specific responsibility for strategic career management for high-potential directors and executives. She also focused extensively on the issue of female leadership and international executives.

Irène comes from a multicultural background and holds dual Greek and French nationality. She studied science and economics in the US, the UK and France. She holds respectively a Bachelor of Science from Brown University, a Master of Science from the London School of Economics and a PhD from Paris-Dauphine.

Irène speaks five languages (modern Greek, French, English, Russian and German). She is on the board of two NGO’s: Geochina which promotes geopolitical links between France and China and the Greek Cultural Centre in Paris.

Thaima Samman received the insignia of « Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur »

Fri, 08 Nov 2013 09:44:17 GMT

We are proud to announce, that WIL President Thaima Samman has been presented with the insignia of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

On Friday November 8th close to 150 friends and family gathered in the large ball room of the French National Assembly Palace to join in the celebration of Ms. Samman’s outstanding career, political commitment and social consciousness. Claude Bartolone, President of the National Assembly, delivered an eloquent and heartfelt speech before officially awarding Ms. Samman with the medal of the Knight, in the presence of members of the Government, Parliament, the President of the main Business organization Medef and several high level representatives of the business community.

The National Order of the Legion of Honour is the highest distinction in France and its recipients are designated by the President of the Republic. Insignia of the Legion of Honour are exclusively presented to requite the highest merit of personalities with impeccable conduct. The First Consul Bonaparte created the Legion of Honour on May 19th 1802 with the aim to reward military bravery and civil merit.

Ms. Samman was honoured for her continuous political commitment, which she has maintained throughout her successful career and her assertiveness in pursuing societal equality. We want to sincerely congratulate our President on this meaningful achievement and on her great passion and conviction, which has guided her.

JUMP Survey on Gender Roles

Wed, 30 Oct 2013 09:48:27 GMT

JUMP, in partnership with Bain & Company, needs your help for a unique study concerning the shift in traditional gender roles at home and in the workplace, as well as men’s greater involvement in the family sphere.

If you are a couple with kids in which the man takes up most of the responsibility for housework and child care, then you are the respondent JUMP is looking for.

Please take part in JUMP's survey. This should not take more than 15 minutes of your time. There are two access links : one questionnaire is meant for men and another one for women. If your partner does not have time, you can be the only member of your couple to answer the survey. Please do not forget to select your language in the upper right corner of the questionnaire.

If you are a “traditional couple”, but you know a family in which the woman is the only, or the most important, breadwinner and the man, the main caregiver, please send them the questionnaire.

Survey for Men

Survey for Women

Thank you very much for your help. If you provide JUMP with your email address, they will keep you posted concerning the survey's results. To contact JUMP, please send a message to info@jump.eu.com.

Lenovo Internal Survey Results

Fri, 18 Oct 2013 08:47:22 GMT

What Women Like About Working in a Tech Company

Lenovo recently conducted a survey aimed at women in their company, with the purpose of answering the question: “what is enjoyable, exciting, different about working in technology?”. The results of the survey give cause for optimism and were presented by WIL member and Lenovo’s Executive Director, Corporate Marketing & Communication Catherine Ladousse at this years’ Women’s Forum Global in Deauville, France, an event partnered with Lenovo.

In line with Lenovo’s long-lived commitment to embrace and encourage diversity, the objective of this survey was to capture positive trends and sentiments, and to develop a diversity program that fosters positive proclivities for the female workforce.

Over 1000 female employees from Lenovo International and Lenovo China participated in the survey. The results, represent the tone from women actually working in the high-tech industry, and differ considerably from the stereotypes traditionally attached to the sector. To highlight some of the results, the survey showed that 55% of respondents were proud to work in technology because it is still unexpected for a woman to do so. Whereas the presumed reason for a lack of female presence in the technology sector is often attributed to fear of a male dominant work environment and challenging work, this survey shows that female employees actually gain fulfilment from succeeding in a challenging job and that almost 70% have a sense of pride to be working in such complex subject matter.

Additionally the survey participants enjoy having a “front-row view” on the technological development of today and love the innovative element of their job. After innovation, the second and third most exciting aspects in technology was said to be the rapidly changing sector and dealing with complexity. Furthermore, women at Lenovo felt that working in the high-tech industry enhances their credibility and creativity and therefore their possibilities to move to another sector. All in all, the findings of the survey underpin a turning point in the perception and reality of the gender gap in the digital industry and hence can help to further dismantle fears and prejudice.

Orange Places First in French Ministry Feminization Ranking

Thu, 17 Oct 2013 08:45:47 GMT

On Thursday 17 October 2013, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of Women Rights and spokesperson of the Government released the French Ministry of Women’s Rights recent ranking of most important companies on the French Exchange based on their degree of corporate governance feminization. WIL is thrilled to announce that one of our main partners Orange was ranked as the top company for the feminization of their corporate governance. The ranking is based on transparent monitoring of company’s feminization, taking into account quantitative measures such as the number of women on the board of directors and the number of female executives, as well as qualitative factors such as feminization policies.

This ranking recognises the significant advances that Orange has made in gender equality, considering its proactive gender equality policy and in particular the feminization of its Board of Directors (33%) and executive committee (25%). Orange consistently aims at establishing gender equality and is convinced of the economic advantages related to a gender balanced company. In addition to their recognition, Orange’s Delphine Ernotte Cunci, Senior Executive Vice President and Deputy Chief Executive Officer signed a framework agreement on gender equality with Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of Women Rights.

Stéphane Richard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orange, commented on the distinction stating: “I am very pleased that Orange is ranked in first place in this listing as this clearly recognizes the efforts we have made over several years in the field of gender equality. (...) We must move towards equal representation of men and women at every level of the company and towards equal career opportunities for both, but the road ahead is long. Today, one of our principal challenges in this field is to shift mentalities, and that takes time.”

Read more about Orange’s engagement for fostering feminization: press release

Commission Report: Women Active in ICT

Thu, 03 Oct 2013 08:50:17 GMT

The European Commission’s Digital Agenda released a new study on October 3rd, 2013 titled “Women active in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector”. It ultimately stresses the importance of increasing the percentage of women in the ICT sphere, but also provides a multifaceted view of the sector to date. The report looks into the current state of women in the ICT sector and examines the number of women occupying the sector in Europe, how long they work within the sector and what types of positions they occupy. Additionally it dissects some of the factors preventing women from fully participating in the ICT sector and sets goals to improve on the current situation.

The main message that the report conveys is that “getting more girls interested in a digital career and getting more women into digital jobs would benefit the industry, women themselves and Europe’s economy” (Commission Report: Women Active in ICT) on a broader scale. Stressing the crucial economic and social significance of introducing more women into ICT oriented careers, will hopefully aid in working towards the objective of balancing the gender representation in the sector. European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes states: “We now know, beyond doubt, that more women in a business mean a healthier business,…, and Europe’s economy [can] benefit from their enormous potential”.

The report reveals that of 1000 women with a Bachelors or other first degree, only 29 pursued studies in ICTs, as compared to 95 men. Furthermore, only 4 in 1000 women eventually end up working in the ICT sector and are much more likely to leave the sector mid-career – while 20% of women aged 30 with ICT-related degrees work in the sector, only 9% of women above 45 years of age do so. As in other professional fields, women are under-represented in managerial and decision-making positions; but with 19.2% female bosses in ICT compared to 45.2% in non-ICT related occupation.

In regards to barriers preventing women from fully participating in the sector, the study discerns three major trends: (1) cultural traditions and stereotypes regarding women’s roles, (2) internal barriers and socio-psychological factors, such as lack of self-confidence, risk-aversion or negative attitudes towards competition, (3) external barriers, such as strongly male-dominated environment, difficulties in balancing personal and professional life and lack of role models.

As concluding remarks the report finds an immense potential in respect to the accrued integration of women in the ICT sector. The European GDP is expected to increase annually by around EUR 9 billion and the ICT organisations would substantially benefit as businesses if they are more inclusive of women in management. The study claims that they could achieve a 35% higher Return on Equity and 34% better total return to shareholders than other comparable organisations. Moreover, the study found that women in the ICT sector earn up to 9% more than women in other parts of the economy and have higher flexibility in the arrangement of their work life.

With these aspects in mind, the Commission’s study suggests four priority areas of action:

Building a renewed image of the sector among women and society, with actions such as disseminating most appealing ICT topics for young women (exciting, diverse, profitable etc.)
Empowering women in the sector, e.g. promoting, together with industry, harmonised European educational curricula to foster clear and straightforward ICT careers paths;
Increasing the number of women entrepreneurs in ICTs, e.g. improving access to seed and venture capital programs for women entrepreneurs; and
Improving working conditions in the sector, e.g. by highlighting the improved performance of businesses employing women. By showcasing a variety of profiles of women working in ICT jobs, the study sets a good example in how to attract more girls and women to consider careers in the area of digital technology.

To read the press release and find a link to the full report please click here.

2013 Women in Wireless

Wed, 21 Aug 2013 08:51:26 GMT

August 21, 2013 WIL member Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA has made the 2013 list of Fiercewireless’s top ten ‘Most Influential Women in Wireless’ working in the United States market.

Fiercewireless is a well-known daily monitoring newsletter operating within the scope of the wireless industry. It has a robust subscriber network of over 80 000, from diverse sectors like telecoms, Enterprise IT, Government, health services, life sciences and more.

For over five years Fiercewireless editors have been tracking high-level women working in the world of wireless and creating a list of the ‘top ten’ most influential women. The criteria is based on two aspects, the role these women play in their company and the role these women play in the broader wireless industry.

WIL is proud to have Anne Bouverot honoured as one of the wireless world’s most influential women!

To read the Fiercewireless article please click here.

Book Launch "Entrepreneurs need Freedom" at the European Parliament - Report

Tue, 09 Jul 2013 08:52:33 GMT

On 9th July 2013, WIL acted as official partner for the book launch of “Entrepreneurs need Freedom” (Trauner Verlag, 2013), written by Dr. Paul Rübig, Member of the European Parliament and Co-founder and Honorary President of the business association SME Europe. WIL member Afke Schaart, Senior Director of EU Institutional Relations at Microsoft, also expressed her support for women entrepreneurs by attending the event, which took place at the European Parliament in front of an exclusive audience invested in the growth and flourishing of SMEs in Europe.

For this occasion, WIL had the opportunity to personally interview Dr. Paul Rübig on his views on the role of SMEs in the European economy, female entrepreneurship and new technologies as a means to support start-ups (videos in English and German below).

The book “Entrepreneurs need Freedom” (the English translation is currently underway) uses initiatives of the European Parliament benefitting SMEs to illustrate the European community’s legislation process on the basis of practical examples. It thus functions in two ways: On the one hand it promotes SMEs as an engine of growth and introduces concrete measures to support them. On the other hand it allows European citizens to follow and understand the legislative processes at work that make up the daily routine of those who represent them at the EU level.

The evening was opened by MEP Nadezhda Neynsky, President of SME Europe, followed by MEP Iulio Winkler, who introduced Dr. Paul Rübig as the so-called “SME MEP” for his endless dedication to the needs of small and medium-sized companies.

Dr. Rübig then briefly introduced his book, emphasizing the importance of encouraging female entrepreneurship and the role of SMEs in reducing youth unemployment, before handing over the microphone to statements from Christian Weinberger, Senior Advisor Entrepreneurship & SME Policy at the Directorate General Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission, and Bettina Lorentschitsch, Head of the Commerce Department of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

Christian Weinberger specifically pointed out Dr. Rübig’s dedication to promoting female business angels and supporting the COSME program (Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs 2014-2020) of the European Commission. Bettina Lorentschitsch mentioned tight regulations as an obstacle to SMEs’ growth and urged the European representation to explain and justify its actions and function to the very skeptical enterprises. She argued for a simplification of the tax system and the bureaucracy surrounding the foundation of a company, to give entrepreneurial minds incentives rather than discouragement.

Finally, Dr. Rübig thanked WIL and Microsoft for their support and opened the floor for the Q&A, in which the aspects of diversity, global mobility and data protection were addressed. Overall, the prevailing attitude of the evening was the desire to remove regulations and other barriers that counteract the initiative and innovative spirit of Europe’s entrepreneurs. The book is one example of how such progress can be achieved at the European level.

Portrait of Eliane Fiolet – A Franco-American Success Story

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:55:28 GMT

Eliane Fiolet is the co-founder and editor of Ubergizmo.com, a leading technology news site that features product reviews and coverage of all topics related to new gadgets, computing devices, technology breakthroughs and home entertainment products.

Early career

Originally, Eliane began her career as a graphic designer. Upon graduating with a Master’s degree in visual communication and design from the “Art Decoratifs” college in Strasbourg, she started working for several well-known agencies, such as Trois Quarts Face and Atelier François Miehe et Cie, contributing to the creation of visual identities for several cultural institutions.

She then turned towards video games for Cryo Interactive Entertainment, in particular to work on the educational game Versailles 1685, which sold over half a million copies worldwide, and ranked among the best-selling games in France in 1996, alongside Tomb Raider and Myst.

In 1998, after 3 years with Cryo Interactive Entertainment, she decided to change her professional direction once more and became Senior Designer for Minale Tattersfield Design Strategy, an agency specialized in visual identities and strategic design consulting for big groups such as Eurostar, Sephora, Caisse d’Epargne, Banque Bruxelles Lambert, and others. Minale Tattersfield Design Strategy, which was renamed Minale Design Strategy in 2000, has been rated among the world’s top ten corporate identity agencies.

Exploring new territory in Silicon Valley

During the famous internet bubble, Eliane moved to Silicon Valley, California. Initially arriving as a tourist, she quickly found a position as the Creative Director of Design Matters, a company developing web-based applications in San Carlos. For almost two years she created the user experience and graphic design for multiple applications (e-commerce, publication platform, intranet, and others) and websites for a variety of clients, from start-ups to big groups, such as 3Com, Airgas and Robert Mondavi. The bust of the internet bubble in 2001 prompted her to return to France in 2002 to lead design projects on a freelance basis.

Creation and development of Übergizmo

In 2004, after having obtained her Green Card for permanent residence in the United States, Eliane Fiolet returned to California indefinitely. This time she found herself in Palo Alto, where she founded Übergizmo together with Hubert Nguyen, graphics engineer at NVIDIA.

Interested in innovation and new electronic devices, these two entrepreneurs used to eagerly read the new “gadget blogs” Gizmodo and Engadget, which have since become their competitors. They decided that they could write about the same subjects from a slightly different angle, because unlike these new kinds of publications they enjoyed reading, Übergizmo would be published directly through the technology industry and not through the press.

At the end of September 2004, the English version of Übergizmo was created online; the French version followed in January 2005. Today, Übergizmo is published in English, French and Spanish and read in over 200 countries.

In June 2005, Eliane created Übergizmo LLC (Limited Liability Company) to operate the business, of which she and her partner each own 50% of the shares. During the summer of 2007 it became obvious that Übergizmo, which had built a consistent following, required full-time attention. Eliane stopped her freelance activities, Hubert quit NVIDIA and Übergizmo’s headquarters were established in San Francisco.

Since then, the site’s readership has continuously increased, having thus turned Eliane and Hubert into online publishing professionals, together with an internationally-based team. Originally a “hobby website”, Übergizmo is now a news site dedicated to consumer electronics and emerging technologies that is well-respected and established among both its peers and audience, thanks to its neutral and informative editorial policy and product tests.

Übergizmo has received an Honorary Webby Award and has been mentioned in many of the biggest international media outlets (Wall Street Journal, Venture Beat, BBC, Le Monde, Europe 1, France Info, Stern and USA Today, to name a few). Its founders were included among the 50 French citizens who have left their mark on the United States by France Amérique magazine, as representing innovative new media business ideas and, most of all, entrepreneurial spirit on an international scale.

Presentation of the “Women and Power” Study in Brussels

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:12:54 GMT

On 11th March 2013, Club L Benelux - in cooperation with WIL - is hosting a high-level dinner on the “Women and Power” study carried out by WIL member Viviane de Beaufort, Professor in European and Comparative Law at ESSEC Business School, and founder of the "Women Be European Board Ready" program.

Club L Benelux, which is a network of over 200 high-level women from the world of politics, business, arts and media, presided over by Evelyn Gessler, regularly organizes networking events with the aim to support women to find new opportunities and reach top leadership levels.

The dinner will take place at 7.30pm at Cercle Gaulois, 5 rue de la Loi, 1000 Brussels, and several members of the European Commission as well as WIL Emerging Leaders are registered to participate in debating the results of this insightful study.

The “Women and Power” study, authored by Viviane de Beaufort, is based on a series of interviews with women leaders and executives and explores the different dimensions of the relationship between women and power, such as cultural conditioning, career factors and perception of quotas, thus encouraging reflection on contemporary models of governance and leadership.

After the dynamic feedback meeting co-organized by AmCham France, and a session within the context of the Women’s Forum in Deauville, this will be the third in a series of events aimed at discussing the study’s results.

Women in research award project

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:59:32 GMT

WIL has interviewed Denis Perret-Gallix, CNRS Research Director, Director TyL Lab, about its project to find European partners for the launch of the first Japanese award for women in research.

European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn recently warned that “the European Union is going to need up to one million extra researchers by 2020. And right now, women comprise more than half the EU's student population and 45% of all PhDs, but they account for only one third of career researchers. We need them to solve problems like climate change, energy and public health. We need them to help improve our economy and to help provide growth and jobs.”

Improving gender equality and the gender dimension in research and innovation is one of her major commitments. To that end, Europe needs to boost its innovation & research culture.

Collaboration with non-European countries is also relevant. That is why we wanted to better understand Denis Perret-Gallix’s initiative. His story is an example of an innovative European scientific collaboration with Japan.

Can you explain what TYL lab is?

6 years ago, IN2P3 (CNRS) and Irfu (CEA)[1] in France created a joint laboratory in the field of particle physics with KEK[2] in Japan. Its name, TYL (Toshiko Yuasa Lab.), is a tribute to the first woman physicist in Japan[3]. She carried out most of her research career in France (CNRS), in Frederic Joliot-Curie’s team[4]. During the war, she had to move back to Japan and taught at the Ochanomizu Women’s University in Tokyo. She became very active in improving cooperation with Europe and promoting women in physics. Today, TYL houses 25 joint projects on many aspects of particle and high-energy physics, studying the basic forces of nature and the origin of the universe. This is the same physics which made headlines recently at CERN[5] with the discovery of a new boson, the famous Higgs particle[6]. In addition, every year TYL organizes in cooperation with KEK, Ochanomizu and Nara Women’s universities a school for high-school women students providing an initiation into research in the field of physics.

Could you tell us more about the “Women in research” award ceremony to be launched in 2013?

Discussions in Japan involving TYL, universities and industries are being held to award, from 2013 on, women researchers in the field of natural sciences (including physics, biology, chemistry, IT, mathematics, ...). One option would be to award 2 prizes a year: one, at post-doc level, to a promising young woman researcher and one, at an advanced level, to a well-established woman researcher. The award ceremony will be part of an international symposium giving researchers an opportunity to present their challenges and achievements. Thanks to the international dimension, the awardees would be given the possibility to visit companies, laboratories or other organizations in Europe related to their field of expertise.

How would you like to associate WIL and/or any of its members to this first award? Which type of collaboration with Asia are you looking for?

WIL can play a pro-active role by informing its members about this rare initiative and its benefits for developing stronger links between Japan and Europe. Some of the organizations may wish to sponsor this event and/or welcome Japanese women researchers. They could even form a foundation of sorts to support women in science in this bilateral framework. In a second stage, setting up a more balanced project could be considered in a joint foundation between the EU and Japan[7] and why not Asia, sponsoring cross exchanges for young women between the two regions in all domains of leadership.

Global Innovation Index 2012 Edition, an INSEAD article

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:32:17 GMT

Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore are the three most innovative countries in the world, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2012, a ranking of 141 countries co-produced by INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, a specialised agency of the United Nations) published in Geneva on July 3, 2012.

This is the second year running that Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore have been in the top three positions. The rest of the top ten this year are: Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Hong Kong (China), Ireland and the United States. Canada dropped out of the top ten this year, while the U.S. fell to tenth position from number seven last year, changes which the report attributes to cutbacks in spending on, and support of, education and research and development.

A new measurement in this year’s GII includes the Global Innovation Efficiency Index, showing which countries exhibit innovation despite an environment which may be less than supportive. China, India and the Republic of Moldova are the top three in this category.

Currently in its fifth year, the GII measures the degree to which countries and economies integrate innovation into their political business and social spheres. Knowledge partners for the GII 2012 are Alcatel-Lucent, Booz & Company and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

To go to the INSEAD full article, click here.

To go to the official website of the Global Innovation Index, click here.

This article is republished courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu ). Copyright INSEAD 2012.

Act4Growth: European Citizen's Initiative for Female Entrepreneurship

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:43:13 GMT

ACT4Growth is a European Citizens Initiative, ECI, an instrument set up within the European Treaty and legislative process to enable CITIZENS to have a voice. The campaign requires one million signatures from EU citizens in the next 6 months and has the ultimate objective of promoting gender equality and the advancement of women in Europe. WIL, the European Network for Women in Leadership, is partnering up with ACT4Growth and invites all interested members, emerging leaders and friends to take this opportunity and use their power as a citizen to change policy.

Broadly the initiative aims to spark job creation, innovation and sustainable jobs and ultimately to ensure that women’s entrepreneurship remains on the policy agenda in Europe. Furthermore the campaign also plans to introduce robust measures providing governments with real data about women setting up in business, accessing government funds and support as well as securing financial growth.

Madi Sharma, a successful entrepreneur, has launched the ACT4Growth Initiative to bring to policy implementation the recommendations of an official opinion for the European Economic and Social Committee. Ms Sharma, recently returned from an event in Vilnius where she increased recognition for the importance of female entrepreneurship. A long-time supporter of WIL, Ms Sharma shares the values of WIL in supporting female entrepreneurship and access to capital.

ACT4Growth establishes the link between social development, female entrepreneurship and the economic growth which results from these activities. Furthermore, the initiative stresses the lack of selective measurement of the economic contribution of female entrepreneurs, due to the government’s lapse of baseline information collection. The promotion of female entrepreneurship seems to have fallen off Europe’s enterprise agenda altogether and increasingly since the crisis. The debate about women’s enterprise and whether it needs to be addressed will never be answered until we are able to measure our performance. One of the key measures we are calling for in the ECI is a legislative requirement for European Governments to collect business statistics from a gender perspective. Therefore ACT4Growth is collecting supporters for our campaign, which will hopefully give them a hearing at the European government level.

For more details on the initiative and to sign as a European or non- European citizen, click here

Women Matter - McKinsey & Company Study

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:04:14 GMT

The 2012 McKinsey & Company Women Matter report gives a clear picture of the representation of women in companies’ boards.

The outcomes of the research, based on qualitative and quantitative surveys and interviews with senior managers and CEOs of 235 large European companies in eight different countries, shows that even though there is a progress regarding the female representation in the boards or at senior positions in the companies, the change is slow.

If improvement goes at these rates, in 10 years from now women will have less than 20 percent of the seats of boards or executive committees in the European companies.

In countries, which introduced quotas, the percentage of women on corporate boards increased significantly. The changes however are – just like in countries where quotas haven’t been introduced -mainly in the percentage of women on boards, and to a lesser extent in the executive committees.

An important point, is that in order to incorporate more women in their corporate boards, some companies simply increased the number of seats; the number of men therefore has not decreased.

This does not show significant progress in terms of gender balance. It seems like some companies are fulfilling the quotas, rather than show commitment to promoting diversity on boards and in executive committees.

Another important outcome of the study, is that many companies employing many women, have no female CEOs and very few women in the executive committees – this is particularly the case in the media, telecommunications and technology sectors, energy and basic materials and financial services. Companies from sectors such as transport, logistics and consumer goods however employ less women, but one third of them are CEOs and have seats in executive committees.

The study also shows the different key gender diversity issues in different European countries. In the UK and France for example companies are investing a lot in gender diversity, but still have not seen much change. In Germany companies are committed to increase the number of women in senior positions - the number of women in executive committees has increased by 16 %. One of the main gender diversity issues the Netherlands needs to face, is the lack of women in mid-level management positions, while the issue to be addressed by the Czech Republic, is women’s return to work after maternity leave, which lasts up to 3 years.

WIL Compendium of Gender-Related Best Practices

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:34:05 GMT

The Compendium of Gender-Related Best Practices - WIL’s initiative towards promoting a better female representation in companies - is a compilation of examples of programmes and initiatives supporting women in leadership. The document, which has been created by a joint effort of WIL Members, has been presented to Commissioner Reding during WIL's 4th Anniversary. WIL committed to continue with the initiative, counting on the members' contribution. If you would like to share a gender-related best practice case, please get in touch!

For the past four years, WIL has been bringing together female business representatives, entrepreneurs, members of the European Parliament, high civil servants and academics with the aim to meet and share ideas that help them broaden their horizons, and at the same time work together towards the advancement of women in leadership throughout the large range of represented sectors.

As we have been building the WIL network, we have been able to gather perspectives and experiences from members coming from companies and organizations of different identities and organizational cultures. Thanks to these exchanges, we are able to come up with new solutions for helping women in their path to leadership.

These past four years have taught us that more needs to be done to nourish the female talent pipeline in the long run. During several of our events on socio-economic topics, the “Women on Boards” discussion came up. Realising that this is only one side of the issue, our goal is to stir discussions on the various means of promoting female leadership. The WIL Compendium of Gender-related Best Practices is meant to inspire and offer companies and organizations acting in Europe several options to attain better gender balance.

WIL’s Women Talent Pool programme, supported by Microsoft, Orange and Qualcomm, is a step we chose to take to support women in mid-level management positions by helping them develop their potential to become the next generation of female leaders. WIL members felt the need to help less senior women in their career paths; by getting involved in the initiative as Role Models, they are going to connect with a pool of Emerging Leaders and share with them their experiences, offer advice and help them get on the right career tracks to fulfill their career aspirations. The idea of the Compendium initiative is to keep adding best case practices and we are hoping that during our next anniversaries, it will become even richer in great examples.

Orange and Paternity Leave

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:52:41 GMT

Orange is running a new campaign on parenting responsibilities, promoting paternity leave.

In the context of Orange’s policy of women's access to responsibilities and as part of its action to fight gender stereotypes, the company raises awareness on the subject of the sharing of family responsibilities.

Below you can view Orange dads’ testimonials (with English subtitles) on to their experiences of taking parental leave, which is also available at the company's website (in French).

Enjoy!

New Book – Women’s Work Men’s Culture - Overcoming Resistance and Changing Organisational Cultures

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:53:51 GMT

Sysdoc, the company of WIL Board member Katherine Corich, has been presented as a best practice for creating a gender-friendly working environment in a book written by Dr Sarah Rutherford: New Book – Women’s Work Men’s Culture - Overcoming Resistance and Changing Organisational Cultures.

Her work has also been profiled in a top newspaper in New-Zealand, one of the five countries where her business is running.

To find out more about Katherine’s business and her novel approach to business transformation, read the article attached.

Appeal for Europe

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:05:20 GMT

Held on 24 Nov 2011, the WIL biannual meeting in Berlin turned out to be a successful encounter of active women willing to meet and exchange ideas with other women across Europe around improving the competitiveness of the Single market.

In this pro-European environment, and considering the uncertainty behind the future of the Euro and the EU in general, we have shared with our guests an Appeal for Europe, to reassure our network and the politicians about the need to support the EU.

Encouraged by the positive reaction of event participants, we’re taking a step forward by inviting those of you, who adhere to the European values, to leave a comment.

To leave a signature, please add your name and surname.

"There is no future for the people of Europe other than in Union”.

(Jean Monnet, 'Founding father of the EU')

APPEAL FOR EUROPE

We call upon each and every one of you, not to question or doubt the values and objectives of the European Union (EU) in times of crisis, but rather to express your strong support for the Union – now more than ever. We call upon our political leaders to drive European integration further. At a moment of serious crisis it is not the moment to look backwards. What we need are consequent steps to stabilize the financial markets, reduce government budget deficits and enhance economic growth. There is also a need to review Europe’s governance model. We need to move forward with full power towards shaping a strong and resilient European Union.

As Angela Merkel stated, we need a stronger "political union" in Europe to overcome the crisis; "We must develop the European Union's structure further. That does not mean less Europe, but more". It is by strengthening the unity of Europe, that we can overcome the crisis.

The European Union is much more than just an economic union. Today, “Project Europe” is a powerful societal and political vision which has become a reality for every European citizen, with tangible impact on our everyday life. We need to keep in mind and acknowledge the numerous advantages and great benefits that a united and independent Europe brings to EU citizens, including those in the economic, cultural, political, social, scientific, diplomatic and security areas.

It is thanks to the European Integration, that we have achieved the current level of prosperity and wealth across all EU Member States. Furthermore, we must never forget that it is the first time Europe has enjoyed half a century of peace with the EU acting as a peacemaking and peace retaining force. Therefore, we - the citizens of Europe - need to be proactive now. It is up to everyone of us to enhance dialogue, mutual understanding and trust in order to foster and spread confidence in the process of European Integration.

The signees of this appeal for Europe trust that the current crisis can be solved through further development and a deeper integration of the European Union.

Thank you for the time that you have taken to read our appeal.

Please sign below to show your support for fighting the crisis as a united Europe.

WIL is not a political organization and has no political views to defend.

Have already signed

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Éva Kamarás , Deloitte , Consultant

Marie-Pascale de Wouters d'Oplinter , Conseil de l'UE

Eva Kopel , Council of the European Union , Translator

eddie bonesire , artist

Ambreen Saleem , kamraj enterprises pvt ltd. lahore - pakistan , Company secretary

Sixtine Bouygues , Commission , Acting Director - DG Communication

Pinuccia Contino , European Commission , Head of Unit "Multilingualism and Translation Studies"

Claudine Schmuck , GlobalContact , Director

Margarita Borisova Kaisheva , National Association of Small and Medium Business , Senior Expert

Anca Caruntu , Samman law firm

Sylviane Toporkoff , Items International , Partner

Rita Süssmuth , Deutscher Bundestag , Bundestagspräsidentin a.D.

Elisabeth Kelan , King's College London , Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer

cinzia boschiero , E.C.Partners , Director of Communication

Marie-Therese Huppertz

Bernadette Hendrickx , Sanofi Pasteur , Vice President, Senior Medical and Scientific Advisor to the CEO

isabella lenarduzzi , JUMP , ceo

Deborah Leary , Forensic Pathways Ltd , CEO

Ursula Schleicher , former Vice President of the European Parliament

Daphne Trumpf , United Kingdom Rechtsanwältin , LL.M. Coaching and Public Affairs

Katharina Wolf , Deutscher Juristinnenbund

Martina Schraudner , Technical University Berlin , Professor for Gender and Diversity in Organizations

Karoline Munz , Netzwerk Europäische Bewegung Deutschland , Stellv. Generalsekretärin

Andreea Maria Paul , Personal Advisor to the Romanian prime Minister Emil Boc

Elysse Vincze , WIL , Consultant

Tanja Bohm , Microsoft , Government Affairs Manager

Irina Grouchevaia , To The Children of Tschernobyl Foundation , Founder

Guillaume Klossa , Europanova , President

Brigitte Dumont , France Telecom Orange , Deputy Group HR, Executive Vice-president

Jehanne Savi , France Telecom , Head of IT Delivery for France

Margarete Hofmann , German Women Lawyers Association , VP

Viviane de Beaufort , ESSEC Business School , Professor

Ana Palacio , European Commission , Special advisor of Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship

Brigitte Baumann , Go Beyond Ltd., EBAN , Founder and CEO

Pascale Auger , CapGemini Consulting , Vice President Organisation Competitiveness

Ulrike Guerot , The European Council on Foreign Relations , Head of Berlin Office

Marie Therese Huppertz , Vice President Government Relations, SAP AG

Beatrice Delmas-Linel , de gaulle fleurance & associés , partner

Thaima Samman , Women In Leadership , President of WIL

EU as a Model of Multicultural Governance

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:08:31 GMT

On 5 July, during our biannual meeting, Professor Viviane de Beaufort looked at EU as a model of multicultural governance, a thought-provoking issue for decision makers, which should be shared with those who couldn’t join.

According to Prof. de Beaufort, the EU can become a model of multicultural governance for other world regions if it is able to find a solution to its internal citizenship crisis, to change its approach to the outside world by playing an arbiter role, and to strengthen its Single Market.

At the internal level, EU needs to solve its European citizenship problem. It is imperative to tell Europe’s citizens about the virtue of EU’s common values and fundamental principles: human dignity, freedom, equality, solidarity and democracy. The European project needs to go under debate: a safer and more competitive Europe, a social Europe, a Europe of public services, a Europe of consumers, a Europe of sustainable development and energy, a Europe of Research, a Europe of Education, a Europe of SME ……In short a Europe that is “moving forward”! If not, the lack of trust so forcefully established by the economic crisis, will feed on a serious internal crisis within Europe paralyzing the Union’s capacity to act, because governments will have to deal with heightened opposition to Europe.

At the external level, Europe needs to exploit its ability to work out compromises to be able to play a role as an arbiter (G8, G20, WTO…). Policies and instruments for national favoritism are no more pertinent at a time when corporate groups are being incited to “globalize” and break away from national ties. The question that globalization asks of Europe is whether it can protect its businesses against unwanted takeovers by outside companies or investments or it can open international public procurements to give European corporate opportunities and impose its rules of “fair trade” … yet give these enough access to maintain and develop domestic and international competitiveness.

To strengthen its external influence, the EU should strengthen its Single Market however. With the new political landscape created by the Lisbon Treaty, is it time for Europe to envisage taking more determined action to change the Single Market’s approach to the outside, toward more regulated openness considering the threats to its competitiveness it faces every day. Measures regarding Control over foreign investment, European golden shares, anti-takeover measures, European merger law as an industrial political tool or Tools of fair trade should be taken into consideration by policy makers.

Prof. de Beaufort concluded that Europe must be its companies’ base camp! There must be clear rules of reciprocity in the game, as any asymmetry could adversely affect the competitiveness of European companies. Systematically applying this principle would make it easier to establish a regulated single market; the principle is already mentioned in several European regulations (e.g. the agreement on government procurement included in the WTO Marrakech Agreement ) but not widely used.

Elena Bonfiglioli named Senior Director Health EMEA, Microsoft

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:09:15 GMT

Elena Bonfiglioli stepped up to the role of Senior Director Health, Microsoft EMEA Public Sector. She will be leading Microsoft’s efforts to support and develop the community of Health professionals in the EMEA region; growing the company’s partner strategy, increasing engagement with health providers, professionals, payers, users and partners; engaging with decision makers and showcasing how Microsoft products and solutions can bring real health impact for a better tomorrow to the region.

“I see tremendous potential for innovation, sustained market growth and the opportunity to deliver societal benefits through the application of technology in health and wellbeing. Health combines three of my passions: creativity, business innovation and care. I am honored and thrilled to contribute to this unique venture in my new role across Europe Middle East and Africa.”

Prior to her appointment, Elena was Director of Corporate Citizenship within Microsoft’s Legal & Corporate Affairs and EU Affairs team in Brussels, where she focused on advancing Microsoft’s skills, employability and healthcare initiatives. This included working with academic leaders and stakeholders at the EU and global level to create government and public sector partners. Previously, she has held other roles within Microsoft over the past eight years, within teams such as Corporate Affairs and Social Responsibility, Citizenship and Health. Elena is also the co-Founder of the Women in Leadership Network (WiL)

Women expect less

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:10:12 GMT

Female European students expect to earn 21% less than men after their graduation (men expect a graduate starting salary of €40,898). The findings come from a recent report from the Swedish consultancy Universum, ran in top 100 European academic institutions.

Reasons seem to lie in the fact that women and men have different workplace and career aspirations. To be a leader or manager of people (34% of men vs. 22% of women) and a technical or functional expert (22% of men vs. 14% of women) were more important to men, whereas women gave more importance to secure employment (36% of women vs. 26% of men) and to be dedicated to a cause or serve a greater good (32% of women vs. 23% of men).

The prestige of working for a great company is more important for men (31% of men vs. 24% of women), whereas high ethical standards is more important for women (30% of women versus 20% of men).

However, overall, the report shows that Europe’s top students are more attracted by the prestige of a potential employer, rather than by its CSR & ethical standards.

Orange hires tech-skilled women

Tue, 31 May 2011 09:22:05 GMT

If you choose the new information and communication technology sector (NITC) you definitely opt to involve and commit yourself to the general public and take part in the digital revolution. Whereas just 20 years ago NITCs were only present in the field of research, nowadays they are easily used everyday by everyone.

The main players in this field, whether hardware vendors, software publishers, IT service suppliers or telecom operators, realised at that time that the Internet’s expansion would have an enormous impact. This is obvious today: telecoms and IT are behind huge transformations because they modify both interpersonal and interenterprise relationships. Last but not least they create new economic models resulting in profound societal changes. The boom in social networking, the explosion in on-line buying or the development of teleworking can only confirm this. Over and above these challenges, integrating a major international group is the promise of a diversified career path and even the possibility of mobility within France or abroad for those who wish.

Now, IT is practically an integral part of the service offered to the final customer and not just a support for business processes. Consequently, within the strategy of an integrated service operator implemented by France Telecom-Orange since 2005, networks and IT play a central role. IT within the Group represents more than 14,000 internal employees out of a total headcount of 181,000 worldwide. For France this represents investments of about 200 million Euros per year just for software development. IT is indeed a determining factor in the launching of new offers and in the automation of customer processes from order capture to service assurance. In particular, the call centre staff in the customer relationship is the focal point of IT for France in 2010, with the goal for IT people of substantially improving quality of service and user satisfaction. What is therefore particularly agreeable about working in IT is the cross disciplinary aspect. The richness and diversity of those involved is really pleasant, even if negotiations are sometimes tough between “marketing”, “the field” and “delivery”. In some countries, due to the historical position of the operator, there are in addition highly impacting regulatory requirements. Moreover, contributing directly to the company’s success is a source of great satisfaction.

According to Gartner consultancy, IT costs worldwide should increase by more than 5% this year. In fact, "a strong offer in terms of equipment in the first quarter of 2010 together with an upturn in the world economy would suggest an increase in IT demand for 2010", explained Richard Gordon, vice-president of research at Gartner, in a press release in April 2010. Similarly, worldwide demand for software should grow by 5.1% to 232 billion dollars and that for IT services by 5.7% to 821 billion dollars. Logically, for France Telecom-Orange, recruitment forecasts for IT functions in France will amount to approximately 570 in 2010, 370 of which only concern the development part. In particular, we are looking for:

fluent French speakers, either recently graduated after 5 years’ higher education or experienced applicants with a high-level of expertise

all kinds of technical profiles: from developers to architects or operational profiles, in all fields from portals or customer relationship management to order fulfilment or supervision and service assurance or even billing

people to work in all areas of France: Arcueil (94), Paris (5th district), Guyancourt (78), Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Montpellier, Lannion, Grenoble and Orléans

According to a study carried out in 2008 by McKinsey & Company, certain leadership behaviour more frequently observed among women strengthens company efficiency. The gender mix is therefore not just a question of ethics but also a performance factor. Many top managers in major companies are even considering positive discrimination within the framework of their human resources policy. In parallel, in a few European countries, there is a real reflection at state level concerning quota laws, which is encouraging. For external recruitment, the France Telecom-Orange IT Division has fixed the goal of a 30% rate of feminisation.

The place of women is gaining ground in France Telecom – Orange, including for key positions in top management. The IT Division in particular, despite its image as a technical entity, counts 31% of women on average, and the Group as a whole 37%. This is undoubtedly not a bad score, because the shortage of women in this domain is also a determining factor. It is regrettable that few young women (less than 20%), in spite of their excellent academic results, do not pursue a technical career or do not even opt for this sector, mainly due either to a lack of self-confidence or to a lack of information concerning job opportunities. Sometimes, thanks to their family background, it is simple to choose a technical career. Nevertheless, neither masculine competition, nor that which exists in any other form in the company, should be feared. On the contrary, they drive you to develop your adaptability, your capacity to be tactical and your faculty for communication, all of which are key factors for professional success.

As far as finding a balance between professional and private life is concerned, this is primarily a question of self-discipline, in a nutshell your capacity to be organised, to say no and to delegate. It is something that has to be learnt and which is admittedly not always very easy at the start of a career. Obviously the France Telecom - Orange context is favourable since the company is extremely well-disposed to this equilibrium, but society in general is also moving more or less in the right direction on the topic. It is no longer an exclusively feminine issue; fathers are also demanding to remain close to their children. Even an essentially masculine working environment can therefore induce the promotion of this kind of policy.

To conclude, an essential piece of advice to young women is above all to be pragmatic. There is a total mismatch between supply and demand in this sector, so the first thing to do is to have a look at how the labour market is evolving. As far as possible you then have to try and match your own skills and centres of interest with market needs. In the field of IT and telecoms, job opportunities are plentiful at the moment and will continue to be so in the next few years.

So don’t hesitate to consult the job offers section on www.orange.com to apply on line. And of course widely invite your friends and acquaintances to do so!

Jehanne Savi's Testimony

“I chose to follow academic training with a view to a career in research: first of all I went to “l’Ecole Normale Supérieure”, a top-tier higher education establishment, and obtained a PhD in theoretical physics. I was undoubtedly influenced by my family background in which there are many scientists. I then trained as a telecoms engineer, as I realised that I wanted to work in the field of industry and service.

I am currently the director of what is called “IT delivery for France”, a term which is impossible to translate into French. It consists in delivering complex IT projects for business in France, with dozens of systems to be enhanced. I lead a team of 165 people. Most of my time is spent in decision-making, seldom alone and most often with my peers. Prior to this, for any project, it is absolutely essential to really get to know the topic with my colleagues and coordinate with the main stakeholders. Another important part of decision-making concerns team management. Finally, from the strategic point of view, guidelines and priorities have to be defined for my entity or more widely for the IT Division, concerning for example the delivery model or recruitment policy. All these decisions are fundamental and as such require arbitration after weighing up different parameters; the latter are not only technical but also relate to marketing and financial aspects and of course human resources. This implies building up a consensus of opinion following rigorous risk assessment. “

Commission eyes corporate governance

Mon, 02 May 2011 09:10:57 GMT

A public consultation on improving corporate governance in Europe, until now usually based on self-regulation, was launched at the beginning of April by the EU Commission, backing up the adoption of the Single Market Act. Three issues are weighed up in the Green Paper coming along with the consultation: restructuring the boards of directors, enhancing shareholders’ involvement on corporate governance issues and long term performance, and monitoring and enforcing the current national codes of corporate governance.

Looking at boards’ structures, the Green Paper recommends diversity, and in particular gender diversity, to be considered as a selection criteria for the new members. It also solicits opinions on whether payment policies at top levels should be made public or not. Changing the high risk taking culture in many companies, and not just financial institutions, by asking the executive management to assume a clear position and disseminate it internally and externally, is also put under debate.

A second set of questions looks at solutions to counter shareholders’ apathy, which is proven by the current average holding period of shares of only eight months. Responsibility relies on investors, but also on intermediary agencies that may need to show more transparency and cooperate more with the other shareholders of the investee company. The Paper pushes forward the idea of creating an EU mechanism to help companies identify their shareholders easier, in light of facilitating dialogue and long term decision making. Minority shareholders protection, as well as employee share ownership, should also be given thought as a way to build a market culture of measured risk taking.

The last chapter focuses on ways to improve monitoring and enforcement of existing national corporate governance codes, due to the fact that the “comply or explain” approach does not enhance the quality of information provided by companies. More, few Member States have public or specialized authorities check the completeness of information provided.

The consultation is open until 22nd July 2011. A feedback statement summarizing the results of the consultation will be released in autumn. On this basis a decision will be made whether legislative proposals are necessary. They will, however, be tabled only after conducting a thorough impact assessment.

WIL partners AmCham France in the Women Leadership Program

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:12:05 GMT

WIL and AmCham France will advance their women in leadership agenda in a series of common actions. In this respect, the two entities will run the AmCham Women Leaders Program, under the guidance of Thaima Samman, WIL President and Partner Cabinet Piton Samman, and Nathalie Wright, member of the COMEX and Public Sector Lead for Microsoft France.

WIL members based in France interested in joining the taskforce can send us an email for more information regarding registrations!

The mission of the taskforce will be to provide a platform for high-ranked women within the AmCham member organizations to strengthen their access to a business network, to exchange ideas and respective best practices from their companies and to engage public authorities on a discussion for policy solutions.

The taskforce is open to all senior women and men from AmCham member organizations, notwithstanding their function. Although diversity will be, per say, a transversal theme for the network, the activities will go beyond the gender-equality issue, as the task-force seeks to support women in leadership in all sort of operational positions.

Delphine Ernotte appointed Executive Vice-president of Orange France

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 10:12:51 GMT

WIL member Delphine Ernotte was appointed Executive Vice-president of Orange France by Stéphane Richard, newly appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of France Telecom – Orange. She was previously acting as Deputy Executive Vice President for operations in France alongside Stéphane Richard.

Delphine Ernotte graduated a renowned French engineering school, Ecole Centrale Paris. She joined France Telecom - Orange in 1989 to take up various operational positions, in research and development in particular. She then continued her career in sales management as Director of the Retail Distribution Network and as Regional Director for Centre Val de Loire. She became Director of Communications and Sponsorship for France in 2006 and was appointed Sales Director for operations in France in 2008.

In 2010, Orange France maintained its position as leader on the Internet and mobile markets with over 46% market share. At the end of 2010, Orange France had close to 80,000 employees and reported sales of 23 billion euros.

To meet the objectives set-out in the Conquests 2015 strategic plan, Orange France will set-up a new organisational model that is designed to bring together staff well-being and commitment, economic performance and customer satisfaction with the overall aim of positioning Orange as the leading operator in terms of customer experience in France.

Women and ICT through the lifecycle

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:55:08 GMT

Although many researches from the past few years looked at the reasons behind the leaky pipeline of women in ICT, the reality is that women are still a diminishing minority in ICT professions.

WIL member Cecilia Castaño, together with Juliet Webster and Rachel Palmen, hosted an international conference at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institut (IN3) in Barcelona which assembled researchers from 11 countries, who are examining traditional forms of gender discrimination through a lifecycle approach.

Given the fact that women are confronted with different challenges and opportunities at different life stages, the main lines of research looked at emerging forms of social exclusion associated with gender in the ICT sector and the solutions to deal with it. Among the practices discussed:

a comparative analysis of policies for gender equality in science in Europe

a UK/Spain comparative analysis of women in ICT throughout the lifecycle

workforce mobility in science and technology

women in computer sciences and telecommunications higher education in Spain

secondary school students and their study choice

gender at the interface of art, science and technology.

The presentations can be found on the website of the conference here.

The forthcoming 6th European conference on Gender and ICT will be held in Sweden, March 8th – 10th.

Cecilia Castaño is professor of Applied Economics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and director of a Masters Program on Gender Equality. She is also the Director of a Research Program on Gender and ICT at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institut (IN3, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona). Visiting Professor at MIT, UC Berkeley and Harvard University.

3 WIL Members awarded at the MEP awards 2010

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:56:19 GMT

WIL Board members Edit Herczog and Antonyia Parvanova and WIL member Edite Estrela were recognized for their outstanding work in the European Parliament at the MEP Awards Gala 2010 organized by the Parliament Magazine. Each year the magazine recognizes those members of the European Parliament who have MEPs they feel have done exceptionally good work in their policy area.

Edith Herczog

Edit Herczog was awarded for her efforts in the area of Justice & Civil Liberties, particularly for her fight against counterfeiting and piracy. Throughout her activity, Edit has been actively raising the public awareness upon the consequences of using counterfeit products for the economy and job creation. She is an active advocate for the protection of intellectual property online and is driving initiatives in the area from her role as governor of the European Internet Foundation.

Antonyia Parvanova

The MEP Award for Health was received by WIL Board member Antonyia Parvanova, who notably initiated a campaign on Patients' Rights in Europe in 2007 and has been actively involved ever since in pushing for healthcare policies that take into consideration the European demographic challenge and the need to cut health costs in the long-term, by investing in the current infrastructure. She is also campaigning for a standalone Health and Food Safety Committee in the Parliament, to address these issues more efficiently.

Edite Estrela

Awarded for her work in the policy area of Employment and Social Affairs, WIL Member Edite Estrela dedicated this prize to all European women. She has driven actions to ensure that gender equality is reflected in any legislation concerning Europeans’ professional and personal lives, particularly advocating for the right to paternity leave and the extension of maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks.

EU launched flagship initiative “Innovation Union”

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:15:51 GMT

Brussels is committing itself to boost investment in research by building on the strengths of the single market. This month, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn launched the "Innovation Union" flagship initiative for the Europe 2020 strategy, an initiative built together with Vice-President for Industry and Entrepreneurship of the European Commission Antonio Tajani.

Among its critical priorities, Innovation Union aims at creating a European Research Area (ERA) framework without obstacles to the cross border flow of people, ideas and funding as well as easing the access to finance, particularly for innovative start-ups and SMEs, by simplifying the funding procedures and encouraging private investments.

While business circles broadly advocate the need for a single innovation market, there are still several steps to pass until an agreement on the Community patent is reached. Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn has thus made it a key priority to hasten the pace towards reaching agreement and is also supporting the idea of a European market for patents and licensing, following good practices in France and Denmark.

Beatrice Covassi appointed EU representative in charge of the Digital Agenda and ICT in Washington DC

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:14:16 GMT

Beatrice Covassi moves forward to the Delegation of the EU in Washington as the Digital Agenda Counselor, a newly created post which indicates the importance that ICT has today in the Transatlantic marketplace.

On November 9, in Washington, in the context of the session hosted by WIL at the Global Forum, Beatrice will share with us her views on how the EU and the US can work together on building a transatlantic digital market and increasing women’s participation in it.

More, she will be participating in the opening of the Forum, on behalf of Director-general for Information Society and Media Robert Madelin, and she will deliver a keynote speech on ICT for an empowered society at the opening session of the second day.

"I am thrilled to be the first EU Digital Agenda Counselor in DC and I am strongly committed to strengthen EU-US relations on all the pillars of the Digital Agenda. ICT offers powerful means to face some of today's global challenges such as reducing energy consumption, supporting an ageing population, strengthening health services, and delivering better public services”, says Beatrice.

ICT is a hot topic in the political debates, as shown by the relevance of net neutrality and broadband policies on the US side, and the launch of the Digital Agenda by the EU Commission, the first flagship of its 2020 Strategy. Beatrice is expecting that key topics, such as e-Health, are addressed at the highest political level during the EU-US summit in November.

Well acquainted with the US private and public environments, having previously worked as policy analyst specialized in telecom issues for a major US law firm, Beatrice believes that closer EU-US dialogue on ICT matters can trigger a mentality change on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, this would be much needed in areas such as increasing private investments in ICT research and boosting up ICT venture capital.

How about women in ICT? The Commission’s Cyberellas project, which offered to girls the possibility to shadow women with successful careers in ICT, or the recently launched TechWomen Program by Hillary Clinton, are positive examples of initiatives to encourage women to participate as leaders in the new digital economy.

We wish her a successful term in Washington DC!

Marina Niforos appointed Managing Director for AmCham France

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:16:50 GMT

Marina Niforos was one of the co-founding partners of WIL while she was at INSEAD, and will be assuming new responsibilities as Managing Director at American Chamber of Commerce in France as of September 6th, 2010. Marina will be responsible for running the operations of the business association on a day-to-day basis.

“My ambition for the AmCham is to refocus this great brand along the changing needs of the 21st century, providing our members with concrete business development opportunities, access to value-added economic intelligence, policy decision-makers and visibility through marketing platforms and high-level events. I encourage you to take maximum advantage of our dynamic organization, and its outstanding services. It uses its voice to create awareness of the key issues impacting business and by providing a forum where ideas and information can be shared. We provide them rs of more than 70 major multinationals participate in our Advisory Board.”

The American Chamber of Commerce is the primary collective voice of US companies located in France, with a very long history (founded in 1894). More than 80 multinationals participate in its advisory board. Its main mission is to proactively promote a constructive business dialogue between the US and France and to underline the importance of the economic transatlantic relationship.

“AmCham is still dedicated to its original mission, which consists in being the main conduit between the public authorities and the private enterprises on both sides of the Atlantic” says Marina.

Immediately before joining the Chamber, Marina served as Director for the Diversity and Leadership Center of Excellence at INSEAD, where she created and developed the Center’s academic and outreach activities, negotiated strategic partnerships, including with the World Economic Forum and the World Bank, Microsoft and Unilever, and successfully conducted fundraising for the Center. Before that, she had spent several years working for the Pechiney Group in corporate strategy and corporate venturing functions of the Group. Prior to coming to France in 1998, Marina spent five years with the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, managing the relationship with the country borrowers. Her responsibilities included management of country strategy and sizable investment portfolios (+1.6 billion USD) for Latin American countries, the last two years notably as Country Officer for Colombia, where she received the Award for Excellence by President Wolfensohn for assisting borrowers with sovereign debt management.

Marina also serves at the European Advisory Board of the Healthcare Business Women’s Association.

Marina is a summa cum laude graduate of Cornell University in Government and International Relations. She also holds a Masters in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and a Diploma in International Relations and European Studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. In 1999, Marina obtained her MBA from INSEAD.

WIL Members nominated for La Tribune Awards

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:57:31 GMT

French economic newspaper La Tribune recently launched an award recognizing women shaping the French business environment. WIL is honoured to have two outstanding members selected by La Tribune.

Out of the 42 candidates, fifteen successful women will be distinguished for their successes and will be profiled in the September editions of the newspaper, before the jury and the public make their final choices.

WIL Members Catherine Ladousse and Béatrice de Clermont Tonnerre have been nominated in the category Emerging Markets, respectively Technology & Media.

Catherine Ladousse is vice-president corporate marketing & communications for Lenovo EMEA. From 1995 to 2005, she has been director for communications at IBM. When Lenovo bought IBM’s PC division in 2005, she took over the responsibilities for internal and executive communications for Lenovo EMEA and in 2008 she was entrusted with leading Corporate Marketing & Communications for Lenovo EMEA. At both IBM and Lenovo, she has launched several women’s initiatives, such as InterElles, a network gathering women from the technological sector, or the Women in Lenovo Leadership network. The nomination in the Emerging Markets category comes as recognition of her contribution to tightening the business relationships between France and the Asian countries.

Béatrice de Clermont Tonnerre is vice-president business development for Lagardère, an important French media conglomerate. After graduating from Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (BA in Politics) and the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (MBA), Béatrice started working as a radio journalist. She moved on further to Matra, a French company producing high-technology, which became a subsidiary of the Lagardère group in 1995. In 2001, Béatrice joined CanalSatellite as Head of Interactive Television, signing the first IPTV program deals in France. She rejoined Lagardère in 2005 as head of Business Development and co-head of Investor Relations.

Vote their profiles here.

Isabella Lenarduzzi awarded at the Best Entrepreneur Gala at the European Parliament

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:05:09 GMT

With the sponsorship of Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment, Wimadame.com held the first European Female Entrepreneur Gala, at the no less prestigious location than the European Parliament.

Together with six other outstanding women across Europe, Isabella Lenarduzzi has been awarded for her entrepreneurial skills and for promoting women in leadership through her editorial in the Belgian magazine Elle. Isabella is a successful serial entrepreneur, and is currently organizing one of the most known forums dedicated to professional women across Europe, the JUMP Forum.

Sysdoc recognized for its flexibility culture

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:58:42 GMT

Katherine Corich’s company, Sysdoc won a well-deserved award for having created a work culture embracing flexibility, championed from the very top of the organization. The prize is all the more important, given the status of the other nominated companies, KPMG and National Grid.

As Sysdoc was moving its original operations from Australasia to UK, it needed to attract loyal customers who would recommend and repeatedly use its services. How? By attracting a previously untapped pool of management consultancy talent which supports the operations. However, while the consultancy sector is generally male-dominated, at Sysdoc, 50% of consultants and 60% of its board members are women with child caring responsibilities.

By creating a flat organizational structure, which brings career evolution opportunities, Sysdoc encouraged a more flexible working schedule, removing the stigma of parttime working by offering it to all employees, even senior executives and actively encourages individuals to consider both work and life aspirations.

Women Equity for Growth & La Tribune Award women in business

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 09:19:05 GMT

Many of today’s achievements of women in business receive scant media coverage. However, globally three quarters of the employment opportunities created between 1990 and 2006 have been taken by women and, as Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen stated: ‘Women are the most powerful vector of economic and social change’.

The French newspaper La Tribune, in partnership with Women Equity for Growth, run by Dunya Bouhacene, is kicking off a campaign aimed at recognizing women’s leadership abilities and enhancing the status of women in the business environment, either as business executives or entrepreneurs.

The application is open to any women who, through their work, have brought their contribution to the development and transformation of France. La Tribune will publish weekly the profiles of each of the nominees so as to promote and showcase their achievements.

On the 8th of November, during the “La Tribune Women’s Award” ceremony in Paris, five of the nominated women will be awarded in the categories: Finance, Green Business, Technology & Media, The Luxury Industry, Developing Countries.

Report on IT Skills Among Immigrant Women

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:14:20 GMT

Most of the current migration of women to the European Union is now employment-oriented. Nevertheless, it is widely recognized that this population of women faces a “double disadvantage” in the labor market, as women and as migrants.

A study conducted by Microsoft among 530 immigrant women in 5 EU countries identified how access to IT is critical to improving social and economic status and finding a job. About a third of the immigrant women have basic computer and Internet skills, 32% have intermediate computer skills and 22% have intermediate Internet skills. Slightly over 20% of the women reported no e-skills at all.

Digital skills are particularly valued by native-born women (76%) and less by immigrant women (59%), reflecting their different backgrounds. In this sample, 306 women reported attending 612 training courses. Only one sixth of the sample (58 women) did not participate in any training courses.

Overall, the most popular area of training was e-skills (43%, including basic and advanced levels). The other two were equally popular: host-country language (30%) and vocational training (27%).

Problems cited by respondents in their new environment include: language-learning, employment issues, social marginalization, and bureaucratic procedures. The suggestions they offered tend to focus on social inclusion, and on the quality of public and nonprofit services and employment centers. Developing e-skills, especially in combination with the training experience itself, more than by acquiring basic digital competences, but also helping to expand their social networks and overcoming language barriers through e-learning, is a most significant factor in finding employment.

WIL Members Campaign for Women in Science

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:00:25 GMT

Sensationnelles 2010 is a public campaign comprising 5 video interviews of exceptional women, either scientists or champions of women in science and research, launched by the French TV channel TV5 Monde (equivalent of BBC World) in partnership with Global Contact headed by Claudine Schmuck. It aims at supplying young generations of women with powerful and motivating examples of women role models.

Global Contact has conducted extensive research on this topic for Orange, and published the results in a survey (Mutationnelles 09) which demonstrates that due to lack of information and convincing examples young women are disadvantaged when they make their choices in fields of study and area of specializations.

Hence, WIL through its President Thaima Samman as well as Luisa Prista, Head of Unit Scientific Culture and Gender Issues, Directorate-General Research, European Commission are in the spotlight as 2 of the 5 interviewed women. Thaima’s interview points out the key issues the WIL network addresses so as to give high-profile women the needed resources to reach top leadership positions. Luisa Prista shared the view of the Commission on ways to boost the worrying lower numbers of young people following science studies.

Cécile Dubrovin, Thales Microwave and Imaging Subsystems Bids and Programmes Director, Jehanne Savi, Head of IT Delivery for France Telecom Orange, Anne Bouverot, Executive Vice President, Mobile Consumer Services France Telecom Orange, and Marie-Pierre de Bethune, Vice-President Scientific Affairs Tibotec, have also contributed by offering their inspiring written testimonies (in French) as women who have followed a career in technical sectors, so as to encourage young women who aspire to become scientists to share their opinions and ideas and create their own supportive network.

More testimonials will help to strengthen the effectiveness of this action!

To support it, contact Claudine Schmuck for assistance in drafting your testimonial in French. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Top Talent in the Downturn Study

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:08:11 GMT

INSEAD launched the book “Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up When Business is Down” by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, based on a research on the impact of the down cycle over top talent ran in a dozen top companies.

WIL Endorsed by Mary Honeyball MEP

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:07:05 GMT

Mary Honeyball MEP and new WIL member highlighted the WIL network on her official blog, encouraging our growth and actions to promote women in leadership.

The Orange Best Use of Technology in Business Award

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:06:16 GMT

Congratulations to Deb Leary whose company has won a prestigious UK award for innovation.

Forensic Pathways has joined its forces with the Cambridgeshire Police to put in place a Phone Analyser Platform, which not only reduced costs, but also enabled the police to discover a wide range of critical information about active criminals and terrorists and enhance public security.

Studies and recommendations on UK Female Entrepreneurship

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:23:27 GMT

UK is renowned for the pro-entrepreneurship policies the government has put in place, but as in most of the EU Member States, the gender-related data is still insufficient to measure the opportunities that lay for women. As rebuilding the economy asks for all categories to participate to it, Women's Enterprise Task Force and Delta Economics have released two different reports on the added economic value of women led businesses, bringing recommendations to the UK government and respectively to all interested actors.

Challenges and Opportunities for Growth and Sustainability (COGS). DELTA ECONOMICS

Delta Economics has surveyed 2120 UK entrepreneurs that run businesses with a life between 2 and 10 years. Although women lead only 16% of them, the survey shows clear differences between them and the men-led ones, in terms of turnover and growth options.

Most of the companies ran by women are in retail or services, sectors that were hardly hit by the crisis. Consequently, the overall turnover of these businesses has dropped by 48% compared to their 2008 status. The men-led businesses, spread in various sectors, have overall felt a drop of just 14.4% in turnover. To recover the losses, companies need to invest in new products or services, in R&D, in marketing etc. Remarkably, there are not high differences with respect to where entrepreneurs search for these investments.

However, the surveyed women entrepreneurs have a higher confidence in external support (networking, agencies, professional advice) than men, with up to 4 times more trust in governmental financial aid, yet relatively fews access it. At the same time, 40.8% of women who run high growth businesses have either post-graduate or graduate qualifications compared to 32.4% of men. These are patterns on which policy makers can build new incentives to boost the number of female entrepreneurs and to help women enter into new sectors. The report can be accessed here.

Greater Return on Women's Enterprise (GROWE). WOMEN'S ENTERPRISE TASKFORCE

Women's Enterprise Taskforce (WETF) released a report with recommendations for the UK government to support female entrepreneurship based on the high contribution of these businesses to the GROSS Value Add (GVA). Currently, UK women-led businesses have a turnover of £130bn and bring £70bn in GVA. Other 150,000 UK businesses could emerge yearly if women started businesses at the same rate as men. The report puts together a complex set of data to make recommendations on 5 pillars: gender-data gathering, business support, business financing, public procurement and awareness raise.

The lack of gender-disaggregated data determined the authors to ask for gathering gender data through the VAT-tax form or other similar governmental financial tools. There are some other issues at stake. Lack of information holds back many women from becoming entrepreneurs. WETF has created regional entrepreneurship centres for women in the past 2 years as a solution. Such initiatives, along with including gender diversity objectives into state agencies strategies, can convince women who risk unemployment in the downturn to become self-employed.

The COGS report showed that women have a high trust in networks and agencies. However, the GROWE report discovered that women tend to finance their business through bank loans in a higher degree than men and take less into consideration private equities or business angels. As new business models emerge in high tech sectors, renewable energies etc., diversifying capital access is necessary. That is why WETF encourages successful women entrepreneurs to become business angels and coach in turn other women as well as to replicate funds such as ASPIRE, especially created for women's start ups.

Another important issue is that two thirds of SMEs do not participate in public tenders mainly due to lack of trust and only 3% of UK women-led businesses gain public contracts. WETF called for easing the procurement process for SMEs in order to diminish any gender discrepancies in accessing public contracts.

To ensure the sustainability of such actions, attitudes need to change as well. To start with, WETF recommends industry bodies to have women in their boards. This way, both government, through policy incentives, and the private sector through diversity programs can support the creation of new businesses, jobs and growth. The report is available here.

EU-WIIN Conference

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:10:49 GMT

Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network, led by one of our members, Bola Olabisi, will recognize during this meeting women who have made an outstanding contribution to innovation.

European Conferences on sustaining SMEs

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:13:27 GMT

The EU Swedish Presidency will host a conference on the Small Business Act (Oct 5 –6) to exchange best practices on issues such as access to public procurement for SMEs,cash flow for business growth, women’s entrepreneurship or fostering innovation. Between October 7 and 9, the Enterprise Europe Network, a network of 600 service organizations, is holding a conference to help SMEs find business contacts throughoutthe world.

Feminin Pluriel Conference on Women's Networks

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:10:07 GMT

The club for women entrepreneurs Feminin Pluriel and the business magazine for women L/ONTOP organized a roundtable that brought together founders of women’s networks who are either activating in France or all over Europe. Three WiL members, Aude de Thuin, Founder of Women’s Forum, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, founder of the European Professional Women Network, and Thaima Samman described their work to an audience of more than 300 active women. Other networks represented in the meeting were Accent Sur Elles or Action de Femme.

WIL in L/ONTOP Magazine

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:08:59 GMT

Highlighting the French members of the network, the magazine L/ONTOP published an interview with Thaima Samman on the Women in Leadership initiative. The interview revolves around the network’s vision of empowering young women in research and technology and its capacity to liaise leading women from the public and private sector with the European political and administrative elite. Click here for the article.

Aino-Maija Fagerlund. Successful Women Heading the ICT Sector

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:01:43 GMT

During a terrific eight years as the head of FRENDS Technology, a growing Finnish software company specialized in business process integration, Aino-Maija Fagerlund managed to both transform it from a business and organizational perspective and to shift its technology focus.

“One of the turning points was definitely in 2005, when I managed to convince our R&D department to build our own product on top of third-party technologies. It was a huge strategic decision for Frends”, explains Aino-Maija. Her decision to set this turning point led the business last year to a steady rise in customer and personnel satisfaction, and an overall growth of 50%, which is rather exceptional in the ICT field.

Aino-Maija is convinced that such examples can play a part in paving the way to entrepreneurship for other women, especially in a male-dominated sector such as ICT. Behind her success stands a clear vision of the qualities needed of an entrepreneur: “Before taking any steps towards becoming an entrepreneur, one must have an Idea and strong Belief in it, as well as a View of how it can be realized. Education and know-how will provide the required confidence – it’s very important that women acquire these qualifications.”

Besides her work as CEO for FRENDS Technology, Aino-Maija also serves as a board member of the Tekes Technology Program Fund, the main public funding organization for research, development and innovation in Finland, a responsibility which permits her to help other technological innovation-based businesses, as well as businesses led by other women

All these stories will be shared by Aino-Maija on September 29th, at our working breakfast in the European Parliament.

The European Gender Policy Roadmap

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:27:28 GMT

Last month, the EU Commission held a conference analyzing its roadmap for 2006-2010 for equality between men and women.

Belinda Pyke and Daniela Bankier, were involved in the discussions, which addressed equal treatment legislation, its integration into all EU activities (“gender mainstreaming”) and the ways to limit the effects of the economic crisis on women.

Ministries from the Czech Republic, Spain, Austria and UK, Commissioners Vladimir Spidla and Margot Wallström, social partners, experts as well as NGOs joined the event in an effort to push the gender roadmap forward as, after almost 3 years since its inception, women are still highly under-represented in economic decision-making and in European politics.

New Gender Diversity Research Fund in INSEAD

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:24:51 GMT

INSEAD and Unilever established a research fund in leadership and diversity with a gift of €3M in honour of its recently retired CEO, Patrick Cescau. The inaugural two-year study will explore ways to increase diversity at the top ladders of organisations.

The research will focus on experiences of men and women from diverse backgrounds as they prepare to move into more strategic leadership roles in the current uncertain economic context.

"Investing in gender diversity is a strategic decision for a company whose consumer base is 80% women", says Sandy Ogg, Chief HR Officer in Unilever. The company decided to address gender diversity as a key leadership issue when observing that, each year, 55% of the new hires were women but women only made up 8% of senior leadership positions in the following years.

Gender Stats in the Newly Elected EU Parliament

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:14:49 GMT

Of the 736 MEPs elected, 35% are women. Thirteen of them are WiL members to which we send our best wishes. Be sure to count on our full support in addressing the “leaky pipeline” impeding many other women from moving up in their careers.

L'Oreal Turned 100

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:14:12 GMT

Jennifer Campbell, Secretary General of L’Oreal Corporate Foundation, and Beatrice Dautresme, VP Communications, have prepared their company’s centenary. In celebration, the company launched 100 citizen projects throughout the world.

US Partner for WiL

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:29:16 GMT

WiL has met recently with Global WIN, a forum gathering several dozen of executive women of IT companies, with a strong support of US Congress Women.

GlobalWIN and WIL have agreed to welcome any WiL members traveling in Washington. They are constantly trying to bring together individuals and organizations with common interests, particularly in the area of technology, and also enable other women to step up and use their potential.

If any of you want to connect with the members of GlobalWIN and establish different initiatives with them, please contact Thaima.

EU Employment and Social Monitor

Wed, 06 May 2009 10:15:31 GMT

A recent EU Commission report shows that men have been affected by the downturn more than women, as sectors hit hardest are predominantly male-oriented. As a result, the previously significant gender gap in unemployment rates has disappeared.

Cyberellas at the Starting Point

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:30:02 GMT

On 3rd of March, in celebration of International Women’s Day, the WiL network signed the Code of Best Practices for Women and ICT, launched by EU Commissioner Viviane Reding, under the umbrella of the Cyberellas initiative. Five other signatory company representatives participated, from Alcatel-Lucent, IMEC, Microsoft, Motorola and Orange FT.

Claudine Schmuck and Thaima Samman highlighted WiL as a supportive network for women’s careers, including those working in the ICT sector, through the mentoring framework put in action and its policy outreach actions.

Bringing together the best practices of industry, public organisations, academia, NGOs, the Code is developed as a web address-based tool where other entities are invited to consult, bring improvement suggestions and sign.

Shivia Microfinance

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:03:00 GMT

On February 4, 2009, Shivia Microfinance charity celebrated their launch at the House of Lords with the support of EFG Private Bank. Shivia Microfinance is focussed on reaching out to the poorest of the poor to help them access funds in order to set up micro businesses. The invite only event was attended by some 85 executives and high net worth individuals including a large number of Lords and Ladies who care about giving back at a grass roots level.

Shivia partner, Jayanta Ray came from Kolkata to speak about how local villagers, mostly women are impacted in a positive way by leveraging loans in order to alleviate themselves out of poverty. The women make saris (traditional Indian dress), jewellery, baskets and other items for sale. This week, the team will go to Gujarat to work in the slums with micro businesses. The goal is to incorporate the use of technology so that these businesses can be more efficient, scale and alleviate poverty in a meaningful way.

To learn more about Shivia Microfinance, please visit www.shivia.com and to bid on the online auction for a limited edition BEO Sound System 9000 donated by Bang and Olufsen click on the bottom left of the home page.