Herminia Ibarra, Chaired Professor of Organizational Behaviour, INSEAD commented, “What has made you successful in the past in not necessarily what will make you successful in the future.”

Wang Yuan, Deputy Director, China Development Bank, mentioned that in the financial services women are on par with men as they are educated and compete on merit. Women have the confidence to succeed. In china, women get 6 months of paid maternity leave and husbands get 2 weeks. This is generous compared to the west!

To their credit, financial services sector puts the most effort, time and money into recruiting MBA students. But are there enough role models? What can we do to create more women in power within the finance sector. Organisations need to showcase their senior women and focus on attracting and retaining talented young women. Start educating women at a young age and introduce them to wide range to subjects and career choices. Women look for balance and growth in the organisations that they join. Be willing to adapt and be flexible to their needs. Nurture young talent and develop them by giving stretch assignments and coaching. Put this as a requirement for managers’ performance appraisal. Female senior managers need to mentor other women to help them grow.

Traditionally, finance has been dominated by men but we might need to create a level playing field so that women can also compete. Think creatively how work is designed and how career paths evolve. Can we deconstruct work so that we can creatively think of providing more flexibility. ‘Children and family’ is not just a women’s problem. We don’t make them on our own! Men are also looking for the same flexibility and balance in life.

Is it true that women are worse than men in playing the game of politics? Women tend to be direct and it may be that they don’t know how to play this game or that they dislike playing politics. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of power and politics (i.e. when somebody gets what they did deserve), think about how you can sell your ideas and enlist people in what you want to do. By thinking of the positive aspects of politics, women can develop themselves to have greater impact and influence.

In golf it takes time to practise your swing, similarly it takes time to get to know your colleagues and build relationships with your clients. Talk to three people you don’t know, call three people you haven’t talked to in a while and call three clients everyday. Share a little personal story as it helps build relationship. To be successful, you need to build a network outside your career path. Make yourself valuable to the company and learn from different environments. Another suggestion was to get your clients to talk about how great you are to your boss. It is very important that you build a great reputation both inside and outside the company.

Finally more women are willing to support others and spend the time to mentor younger women. In the past, when we had very, very few women at the top it was hard for them to compete but now as the numbers are increasing they are enabling more women succeed. Mobility and flexibility is important and it’s a question for everyone in society as to how we can take advantage of flexibility without impacting our reputation or adversely affecting career progression.

Fintan Farrell, Director, European Anti Poverty Network, expressed his opinion that Hedge Funds are widening the wealth divide and have a destabilising effect on the economy. He thinks that hedge funds have no regard for the impact on lives and spread precarious employment. An investment banker in the audience disagreed with him and expressed her views on what hedge funds do. Coming from a finance background, I do understand that hedge funds are only open to a limited range of qualified investors. They create a lot of wealth for themselves but that does not mean that it is unfair or illegal.

I think that there should be public debate on this as people don’t fully understand the role that hedge funds play. Sometimes people are misinformed by media and then they perpetuate these thoughts unknowingly.

I attended a grand lunch at Hotel Royal where Rama Bijapurkar, Market Strategy Consultant from India shared her views on social entrepreneurship. Rama is a very dynamic and articulate speaker; she really introduced me to some new ideas that had never crossed my mind before.

Even though I have a Computer Engineering degree, I didn’t think much about how poor people could use technology so easily. Well you don’t need to be literate to use an ATM, laptop or a cellphone in India… The country is changing very fast and technology is making a huge impact on people at the lowest income lowels (vegetable sellers, tailors, masseurs, etc). C.K. Prahalad in his book Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid refers to how some companies are focusing on profit making by eradicating poverty. Companies can profit from the masses and also enable the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid to improve their economic condition.

Necessity is the mother of invention. NGOs have a lot of innovation as the need is severe and passion to deliver is strong. They however do not have the scale and don’t know how to commercialize their innovation. If private sector could help in this area we can create new possibilities. According to Rama the poor are very innovative as they have to think creatively in order to survive. With mentoring, support and coaching we can develop social entrepreneurs and develop market mechanisms that support a new world.

Yesterday Friday we all discovered the winners of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards (see this previous post for details), five women entrepreneurs (see picture), one from each region of the globe (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America). When Bernard Fornas, President and CEO of Cartier International, announced the winners, he said that they took 7 hours discussing to make the decision. Not only me, but I guess a lot of people in the WF wondered: what criteria did they take into account for the evaluation?

Today I spoke to Freja Day, from Cartier International, and she told me that the evaluation is very rigorous. The three main criteria are: creativity (the degree of innovation of the overall business concept and idea); sustainability (financial impact of the business, indicating its long-term success); impact (community impact of the business, in terms of job-creation and impact on the immediate or broader environment).

The jury is composed of outstanding individuals of the business world, the non-profit sector and the academic field. There are five jury panels, one per continent, representing a variety of profiles, countries and cultures. The jury members all voted for the projects of the finalists.

Freja also said that the social impact of the project is very important, especially in emerging countries. The analysis of the business plans, showing the sustainability of the projects in the next three, five or ten years, counted a lot as well.

The Award is a long-term project and is going to be repeated. So, women entrepreneurs of the world, prepare your business plans for next year’s Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards!

When I arrived at this conference I had no idea what an ecological footprint was. After being in the conference I was curious to find out more about this topic (ah, and of course about the Dongtan eco-city, which plans to opens its doors in 2010 and be an environmental, economical, social and cultural sustainable city). OK, it’s not good. According to a website quiz, my total footprint is 15. If everyone lived like me, we would need 8.3 planets. Please check yours, it would probably make me feel better, unless you are really ecologically conscious.

According to a panel with Chris Luebkeman (Head of Foresight for Arup), Livia Tirone (Portuguese architect) and Noni Allwood (Cisco), two important factors are energy and people. Population is increasing by the second and during your lifetime, the planet will increase from 6 to 9 million. In China, 600 million people are expected to move to urban areas in the years ahead.

After hearing all of this information I got worried. But, there is hope, big hope. Sustainable construction (for example, buildings which demand lower energy), lower fuel consumption, recycling, etc. are a reality. So, when you are planning to move, consider about living in a sustainable city. If they are not ready, look for sustainable constructions, buildings which consume less energy. And think about your lifestyle, even if you don’t think it matters, it does. Just look up your ecological footprint and you will know.

Maryanna Iskander belongs to those women who make me feel bad about myself. Kind and brilliant, warm and available, she is one of those who have the courage to dedicate themselves to something meaningful to them and to society, when many others chose the “easy way” of more conventional careers. She is now working as the Vice-President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), which is the largest provider of reproductive health care in the US, and offers birth control, HIV and STD tests and cancer detection services to 3 to 5 millions people, mainly disadvantaged women, in the United States.

When she is asked why she took the step to embrace such career, she answers in the simplest way: “Well, I thought about something I really care about, this is how women usually advance, you know”.  According to her, enabling a woman to control her fertility is at the very root of her participation in society. This is all about female empowerment and having the possibility to make choices: to choose when it is the right time to give birth, given the expectations towards environment, job and life.

The reason why Maryanna made me feel bad when I met her is the way she talks about what she does. Most people try to ease their conscience about making the world a better place by giving a few hours a week after work to a special cause. She chose to make her job of this commitment towards society, like this is the most obvious thing to do. And her job can be really challenging. Although only 3% of the PPFA activities are related to abortion, this is enough to raise constant and strong opposition in the US. Maryanna faces this situation with confidence and lucidity: “Women’s health shouldn’t be a political issue”.

What would be the next step for her then? Stay passionate and committed as a full-time activity, and maybe run an organisation by herself one day.

Tensie Whelan from the Rainforest Alliance sees a paradigm shift in the making. Until now businesses have maintained a mentality of bottom line versus sustainability. Now, some businesses are looking at reinventing their technologies and processes to improve the bottom line while also addressing the environmental concerns of society and individuals. Tensie Whelan calls it the revolution of design.

She says this is happening because of the influx of a young generation of CEOs who are more environmentally aware, of companies becoming more international and their brand valuable but vulnerable, and of governments not always effective so that NGOs have turned to businesses.

The examples of L’Oreal and Renault show how sustainability can be one of the foundations of business performance. Alice de Brauer from Renault believes measurement of the impact of a sustainable business is crucial. It is essential to get the financial community – so far a laggard in this process – see the business value of sustainability. It is also essential for consumers to see the value proposition of a sustainable product.

Making a business sustainable can bring potential, from cost reductions to a stronger brand and a differentiation advantage. It can also create new markets and motivate employees. But to be successful it needs to look at the entire value chain, and it must develop effective metrics to measure and communicate progress to consumers, investors and employees.

So perhaps it is not so useful any more to talk about corporate social responsibility, which focuses on business obligations instead of opportunities. We should rather talk about a revolution of design, where innovation within and outside companies is accelerated to change products and processes. In this environment, organisations which can anticipate trends and address unspoken social and consumer demands first can gain tremendous advantage while also attracting the best talent. This is a much more effective way to talk about the role sustainability can play in a business. It puts innovation and business opportunities centre stage, which is where they belong.

The “Women for Education” prize, organized by the Elle Foundation and the Women’s Forum with the support of Renault, La Poste and in collaboration with the NGO Aide et Action, has just been awarded to Chekeba Hachemi (photo) and her NGO , Afghanistan Libre, an organization working for the economic, social and political development of young Afghan girls and women in Paghman, in the Kabul province.

The operation “Women for Education” (more info on the Elle Foundations’ blog) was launched last May in both Elle magazine (France) and nine of its international editions around the world. Three projects were finally chosen among 50+ that were submitted. The other two finalists were microcredit and vocational training for women in Benin, presented by ECIDEC; and a social entreprise for reintegration of girls and adolescents victims of sexual exploitation in Laos, presented by AFESIP.

When I was invited to the forum’s 3rd edition, I immediately noticed an interesting place for me not to feel absolutely exotic: the men’s corner; a little dark stall where minority men who dare attend the event can freely gather together (at least that is what I thought at that time). Every women were supposed to be prohibited from that place built on a club-style basis with a giant TV screen and leather armchairs. A sort of forbidden city in which the men could compound in case of any sudden feminine attack.

After the two first days I must confess the organizers were right but on the other way around what they had imagine: men have been ferociously attacked by hordes of women that seemed to consider the little square the best in the all Deauville CID (our host resort). So much so that men began to cautiously avoid the men’s corner.

But manliness had not enunciated its last word. The battle was going to its apogee on this afternoon. The forum comprehensive program was announcing the arrival of Carlos Ghosn (CEO of Nissan & Renault), Frank Brown (Dean of INSEAD), Olivier Marchal (Bain&cie) and JP Tricorie (CEO of Schneider). Yes, in the twenty-square-meter thing. Of course the idea was to enable these well-known economic figures to meet the happy few other men in Deauville and talk between men about something like how and why women matter in business.

That’s not saying much that the she-army would fight tooth & nail to evacuate the poor guys who dare to try to attend the conference planned specifically for them.Here’s come a genius idea from an organizer: let’s change the place for the conference: a very classical feint in war period. The women would headed like a whirlwind into the men’s corner, while, we, happy and victorious would celebrate peacefully our victory in good company. The machiavelic plan worked out, only one thing mattered: discretion. (you know Guitry? If you’re man, rush to that: “Of course women can keep a secret, they only need to be several of them”).

How The James Bond stronghold was attacked

Men rushes into a first floor conference place, hidden behind a big totem that advertises the event. But there was a previous conference that was taking place there. And guess what, the men’s gathering in front of a door was noticed by passing women that was hanging around. In less than five minutes, streams of red-headed, blonde or dark, asian, indian, american, european and african women were surging toward us, perched on stiletto heels, full of rage for the attempt to elude them. We could hear from the depth of the pit the victorious rumour moving upward. Our guests were already arriving to the James Bond room and the James Bond girls were following them in an unbelievable uproar.We tried diplomacy in order not to surrender immediately.After hard peace talks we agreed on the following rule: three women should have at least one man to assail the place.

Let’s make it clear they didn’t respect the treaty as soon as they were numerous enough inside to put us down: powerful women are crual and pitiless.

As there were so few chairs for these numerous women present, they began to sit onto the fitted-carpet, leaving shoes and pushing their peers just as if in a mud battle. Indeed women wanted to eye their hero intently.The conference started in a strange way: M. Ghosn, who probably meant to be sincere, explained that diversity was compulsory in order to achieve effectiveness in companies but had to be meticulously prepared, and so that in his executive there were no women so far. Here we were and I really thought at the time we were on the verge to a nuclear war. I grabbed my bag and rushed to the door. Actually I am too young to die and I cannot bear physical torture. Thus I ran toward the door in an desperate attempt to save my life as the popular discontent voices were coming up. Were the bodyguards ready to evacuate the unlucky Nissan CEO? Never mind, every man for himself in hard times.

The diplomatic crisis was managed by Bond, James bond (his friends also call him Carlos Ghosn). My colleague Camilla, much stronger than I and determined to cover the event, has already posted her summary of the risky debate those four men dare to host. A strong historical moment. That’s how a private men’s clandestine meeting was ruin in Deauville, October 12^th 2007 by the vikings of modern times, I mean, women.

According to Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO, TNT Express division, there are five factors that helped her succeed and that she thinks women should take into account when figuring out how to achieve their professional dreams:

• education
• early international exposure; especially in this globalized world
• take risks; think of what you want, not what others think you should want
• no sacrifice on private life; it will be hard and tough but it is possible
• market yourself; communicate your ideas, sell yourself

Taking risks is not always easy, actually it’s very hard. But sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling and go for it. I’ve heard plenty of comments in this forum about how sometimes women have to be pushed for a promotion and on the contrary, that if they are too pushy, it’s bad. So, where is the middle point? When should you push, when should you hold back and wait? There is no correct answer for that, everyone is different and everyone has a different style. Feel proud of your accomplishments, market yourself as the best solution and believe that you can do it. This could be a way to crack that thick heavy glass ceiling or as Laura Liswood said on Thursday, “There’s no such thing as a glass ceiling for women, it’s just a thick layer of men.”

“Darfur met our expectation of horror. But what we hadn’t thought about before we went is that it might also meet an expectation of joy. The spirit of the women of Darfur is amazing - I don’t have words to describe how magnificent it was.”
Caryl Stern, President, UNICEF, USA

The ceremony of the first Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards took place tonight Friday. The Awards are an international business plan competition for women entrepreneurs. It’s a collaboration of the Women’s Forum and Cartier with the support of McKinsey and INSEAD. There were 14 finalists, and the 2007 winners, who received the award from Aude de Thuin, founder of the Forum, and Bernard Fornas, CEO of Cartier International, are:

Africa: Lucie Avoaka, Santa Maria Medical Center, Ivory Coast (healthcare provider in the underprivileged region of Abobo, Cote d’Ivoire).

Asia: Nandini Pandhi and Yasmina McCarthy, Green Mango, India/Philippines (mobile phone-based virtual marketplace for low-income entrepreneurs and their customers in developing countries).

Europe: Bettina Götzenberger, LOmasLEGAL, Spain (low-cost legal services available from high-street stores, over the phone, and via the internet).

Latin America: Antonia Sanin, The Globe, Colombia (day-care center for children aged 3 to 6 that offers educational products and services developed from the experiences learned at center — workshops, manuals, blog…).

North America: Angel Chang, Angel Chang LLC, USA (luxury apparel with “performance” elements and functional designs: special stain-proof, wrinkle-free and odor-free material, color-changing silkscreen prints, 3-D optical illusion prints, fiber optics…)

Here they are, clockwise from top left, Nandini Pandhi, Angel Chang, Bettina Götzenberger, Antonia Sanin and Lucie Avoaka:

Are we living in the real world or in a digital world? Some people think they are the same, other people think they are completely different and if you ask other people, they think the more you live on the digital world, the less you live in the real one. Facebook and MySpace are the digital networks of today. According to Anne Lange, Senior Executive Advisor, Cisco Systems, USA, 60% of 17-19 and 18-21 years-old of “Generation Y” are members of one social network. Women spend more time on social networks (we are so organized and we can multi-task so well that we even have time to log on).

Even if we don’t agree with the digital world and these types of networking, they exist. We can’t deny and I think we shouldn’t. Why? Because they are changing the world and they way we live. Jean-Louis Constanza, CEO, TEN France, commented that in countries where internet penetration is high young people choose internet over TV. So, if we don’t participate in the digital world we may be ostracized from the younger generations.

There is a big debate over Second Life and Orkut. Are they safe? Can you trust people (or avatars) you meet there? Should business go there and see it as new market? Well, as one of the panelists said, networks are like real life and there will be good, bad and ugly.

Facebook and MySpace are the digital networks of today. According to Anne Lange, Senior Executive Advisor, Cisco Systems, USA, 60% of 17-19 and 18-21 years-old of “Generation Y” are members of one social network. Women spend more time on social networks (we are so organized and we can multi-task so well that we even have time to log on).

Even if we don’t agree with the digital world and these types of networking, they exist. We can’t deny and I think we shouldn’t. Why? Because they are changing the world and they way we live. Jean-Louis Constanza, CEO, TEN France, commented that in countries where internet penetration is high young people choose internet over TV. So, if we don’t participate in the digital world we may be ostracized from the younger generations. Mobile phones are the way people are accesing the internet in developing countries, they are sold more than computers.

There is a big debate over Second Life and Orkut. Are they safe? Can you trust people (or avatars) you meet there? Should business go there and see it as new market? Well, as one of the panelists said, networks are like real life and you will find the good, the bad and the ugly. So, you will have to judge by yourself, just like real life.

The luncheon event on A Good Story Can Change The Way We See The World featured two dynamic women. May Chidiac, a media reporter whose story changed the way we see the world and Tania Rakhmanova, a Russian film director who tells stories that has changed the way we see the world.

May Chidiac, is a television reporter in Lebanon whose candid reporting resulted in her being a target of a terrorist attack. While her life was saved, her friends were not so fortunate. She has now taken up the cause of making people aware of the situation in Lebanon using her story.

Tania Rakhmanova is a documentary filmmaker whose hard-hitting work on President Putin and Chenchnya has moved several people including Colin Powell.

The discussion began with May’s comments on how media today is influenced by shareholders of the media company. She said, as a journalist, one has to report within the policies of the organization one works for and this can taint the truth. She went on to advise that in order to get a truer picture of the goings on, it is important to gather your information from various sources.

The other interesting topic discussed was the lasting power of the stories. May gave the example of how a car bombing in Iraq a few years ago was breaking news that concerned the world, and today is mentioned in passing.

On Tania’s arrival, the conversation shifted toward the commercialization of television news. The women stressed that to get a full picture, we have to turn to documentaries, the Internet and print media. Tania gave the example of television programming in Russia being “influenced” by the administration with Putin having commented that real people don’t need to know the truth.

From listening to these two women, it is clear that no matter what or who tries to stop them, they will be heard.

First of all, a thank you note to my dear fellow blogger Jonathan, for his post on “To be a novelist in China: A missed appointment but no disappointment”. A rather charming post, I must say, and very much like the writer himself. Well, I am not sure whether the event was “no disappointment”, but there was certainly “astonishment”. A casual invitation by the Forum’s Chief Operating Officer, Bruno Vinay, to a chat with acclaimed writer and journalist, Irène Frain, turned out to be a full interview in front of an audience of distinguished women participants, photographer and writers….

So, Jonathan, you think I am an “ambitious and determined young shark”, huh? Hmmm… I have never thought of myself that way. What I can tell you is that there were many moments during the session when this young shark felt more like “Nemo” lost in the wide ocean. Shark or clown fish, the interview was an incredible experience for me. It was an honour to be interviewed by Ms. Frain, a gentle woman with the highest level of perception. She raised some tough, but truly thought provoking, questions (certainly much tougher than many job interviews!). We talked about living as a foreigner in a globalised economy, about Chinese values and about my personal beliefs. Moreover, to have an audience of such high achieving women listen to my young, inexperienced mind, I feel incredibly privileged. The experience made me realise why these women are so successful - because they have the openness and patience to listen to different viewpoints, no matter how naïve or foreign they may be.

My apologies to those who arrived late and thought for most of the session I was the young, talented Chinese writer. Unfortunately, a novelist I cannot pretend to be. But I will remember the first question of the Q&A session for a long time to come: “As a writer, why would you want to pursue an MBA?” A missed appointment – Yes. An astonishment – Yes. An incredible experience – Definitely.

Emilie Goodall is a match-maker, but of an unusual type. At New Philanthropy Capital, she guides corporations and wealthy individuals in their search for the ideal NGO to support. Getting this match right is crucial to ensure that money given to charities does make a difference to people. She is one of 20 Rising Talents awarded by JPMorgan at the Women Forum 2007.

“It is difficult for donors to fund small organisations because large charities have more resources to get themselves known than small ones. We must have a better flow of information about which NGOs are achieving results”.

She believes that NGOs can learn from the business world, as much as time-poor wealthy individuals can learn from working with charities. She talks of many of her friends who agonise over what to do for society, but many never get round to doing anything. This sounds so familiar! But organisations at the interface between the NGO and the business world can take would-be volunteers by the hand and help them put some of their business skills to a good cause.

Emilie has so far focused on very important problems affecting young people in the UK – child abuse, school disaffection, truancy and exclusion – and measured the impact of different types of interventions.

She finds it inspiring to work with so many different players, from the tiny NGO to the millionaire. She sees a new trend of charitable giving among young individuals who have made their first million and want to donate some to NGOs, but who also want to know how the money is spent.

Emilie is passionate about what she does and her passion is infective! I left our meeting convinced that if we get to understand better the impact NGOs make, and if NGOs take whatever practice from the business world can be useful to be more effective, a lot more can be achieved.

By Barbara Dalibard

As we all know, a leadership role has not always been something that women have aspired to in the greater business context. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way and I am heartened to see the progress women have made over the years in the sciences, in business, in medicine, and in the arts – all areas where young women believe they can do what they want, fulfil their aspirations and make their dreams a reality.

Today, more and more young women are thinking about having careers in fields such as science and technology. Such disciplines are still predominantly male. Why? Mainly because since school, we have been told that these disciplines invoke rigorous, logical and competitive characteristics, better suited to the male personality.

I have been in the telecommunications industry for almost 25 years and my experience has been quite different from what I was taught. Logic and rigour are certainly required traits, but I would also insist on the major role played by creativity, good communication skills, imagination, and intuition. Content of my work over the years has been extremely diverse. The experiences I have obtained from dealing with very different people (from researchers to engineers to marketers) have been incredibly rewarding.

If you are young and thinking about the career you would like to pursue, always consider areas that present the most opportunities, irrespective of whether they have been traditionally male dominated. As such technology should figure in your thoughts. I have found as long as you take ownership of your career, take accountability and show your willingness to communicate effectively, you will be rewarded for it.

Technology, whether it is communications, high-tech, or science-related, is always at the forefront of innovation and investment. Consequently it is a wonderful and dynamic area to work in. Young women should be open about considering a career in a technology company. They will be rewarded for their efforts and will have access to unlimited opportunities. As far as I am concerned, I have had and am still having a wonderful time.

Best of Luck!

Mercedes Erra, Executive Chairwoman of Euro RSCG Worldwide in France has just presented a survey showing consumer’s opinion on companies.

Firstly, this survey highlighted the point that 65 % of the public thinks that their opinion should drive company’s conduct and overall strategy.

The thing that has to be kept in mind, particularly by all the leaders attending this Forum is that their responsibility is constantly growing. Indeed people are mainly thinking that the role of companies in our world is changing in lots of fields. For example, more than 75% of English, American and French people think that business bears as much responsibility for driving positive social change as governments.

Corporate reputation on social and environmental responsibility is a key driver of confidence and will become a driver of companies’ performances. With greater awarness people are ready to pay more for ethical and sustainable products.

One of the sessions that I felt would be interesting was this one. I sorely missed the fact that there was no blogger on the panel - surely bloggers are the Media too .. and one of the concerns mainstream media has around blogging is around veracity and trust! Would have loved to see someone like Rebecca McKinnon (an ex-CNN bureau chief and founder of the citizen journalism platform Global Voices Online) on this panel.

Speakers:
Rena Golden, Senior Vice President of CNN.com, USA; Christine Ockrent, Journalist and Author, France Television, France; John Thornhill, Editor, European Edition, Financial Times, UK; Moderator: Liz Padmore, International Advisor and Consultant; Associate Fellow, Said Business School, Oxford, UK

Liz Padmore started the session by saying that in the UK, you get the impression that the Media really sucks. But remember there is something good in the pursuit of truth … and more than 1100 journalists killed in the last 10-11 yrs. Whats driving changes – increased competition/tech/us – are we demanding too much too often too quickly?

Christine – Forces at play in Media — for Europeans on the continent, the UK media and the BBC always looked upon with envy! The good news is worldwide there is more media than ever before, thanks to organizations like CNN and thanks to technology, which makes access to news free. The sad result, in the west, is we have lost control of the narrative. There is CNN and also Al-Jazeera. Until 9/11 Western media told the world what they ‘needed’ to know. It changed with 9/11. China is launching a channel in French. The BAD news is the complexity of the world and therefore the over-simplification that the media provide. We the media simplify more and more because we need to sell. This is the paradox. And bad news. We need the complexities. Second worrying trend – the extreme personalization of news — trivialization eg. politicians sell themselves rather than their policies. Trivia is simple and attractive and sells. Trivia also has proximity. Another worrying thing is the speeding up of news. Today, the picture comes before the wire unlike earlier where journalists had some time to absorb the wire before the pictures came in. Today, the wire is very simple, because it must be sent really quickly, and journalists must rely on wire agencies. This speed has become the biggest enemy of media today. The blogosphere too is is blurring the space even more, with its ‘reportage’ in real time. Good journalism will survive if we adapt!

Liz Padmore asks the audience - who trusts the media and who doesn’t – majority hands up saying they don’t.

Freedom of press – is editorial now driven by business or political interests? Christine – we have to remember there was never a golden age about anything – and certainly not the press. The problem is with competition and scarcity of advertising revenue — print in particular in France is in bad shape because they are financially weak.

John – (FT Europe). Is it driven by competitive pressures of business? Quotes Balzac from his book Les Journalistes – Balzac condemns the power of the journalists in late 1800’s. Some axioms … “if the press did not exist, it would not have to be invented”. “For the journalist, whatever is probable is true”. BTW - the book in full (French) is available here. So some issues the press is judged on – that it is sensationalist, it hypes. What’s good is that it holds power under question. The positive fallouts of competition — given voice to the voiceless, lots more choices, no more monopolies that are fat, happy and smug. New media is here to stay – 40000 blogs created everyday and 70 mn in total. Media is learning to adapt, they are now evolving their web strategies through websites, podcasts etc. Also, competition holds media to much higher standards, people are demanding much more. Negative effect of competition, is that media is putting more emphasis on entertainment rather than info. Which in turn is eroding the businessmodels on which good journalism was based. Comment is free but facts are on expenses. Is there a demand for free media? Is there money in it for us? Yes we better believe that. But we have to reinvent it.

Moderator – asking John – is the FT able to maintain its ability to have complex arguments and discussions in this new age of media? Velocity of news — FT gives soundbytes too now, because FT is acknowledging the fact that people have lots of pressures on time, and is responding to the market.

Liz to Rena — 21 yrs experience in TV journalism .. what’s happening with the news on TV? How is it competing with all that’s happening? CNN recently interrupted a programme to say Paris Hilton is released …. do we really care?

Rena (CNN) — I wish they didn’t care – but now you can measure just how much they care. I think I am optimistic – today people are getting news and information in different ways. Many news organizations will interrupt with news of Paris Hilton – it’s the need for information as it happens. What’s incredibly liberating on the dotcom side, is we can offer up both the interesting and the informative. Unlike on TV where it’s now more often what’s happening moment by moment. Technology has made a huge difference in our business – for eg. you can broadcast live via a cell phone - and can gather news in a cheaper and more efficient way. It’s also upto the consumer, we are forgetting that. They will come to us because we have live experts on the ground. Yahoos of the world aggregate the news. And many may want that too. Technology has made it just as easy to make consumers publishers of news — CNN has a UGC space where they get stories from Myanmar for eg – 100’s of citizen journalists sending pictures from the streets. CNN then is the gatekeepers, we are vetting the material ourselves carefully.

Speed vs Veracity – moderator: is there a problem? Rena: But the train has left the station – I am a realist. We can’t really slow things down – incremental news reporting is what the customer has come to expect. There are ways to vett and to make sure you have accuracy above all. But speed alone is not the reason to mistrust the news.

Christine: I agree speed is there and we have to live with it but why is media looked upon with less trust? The problem with the mass market is, is the consumer right in wanting to consume so much so fast so much trivia. Question of accountability has to do with consumer choice. Am a strong believer in high quality niche products. Brand for media is as important as for any other industry and technology allows us to have high quality niche products., high standards. It’s upto the consumer to decide – read us or not.

Rena – I feel the consumer makes the media more accountable now than ever before. We have to go out of our tent to listen to what people are saying. There are lots adding value through content they are generating.

Moderator – aren’t they just adding opinion … (I almost stood up at this point and wanted to say … are you folks living in a different world than I? Have you seen good citizen journalism like Global Voices Online? Or the first-hand reports from people affected by the Tsunamis when mainstream media wasn’t able to reach some of the zones affected?)

There were many question from the audience - Jobeda Ali (who I met later and really enjoyed chatting to - she seems to love creative chaos!) talked about how small producers can break into big media and educate big media. “I want to inject reality – I want it not to remain on the blog — but I want BBC to pick me up” . Unfortunately she used the term objectivity to make her point - to which Christine said: “objectivity is a terrible word – I never use. You want a balanced view and rely on good reporting, expertise, and POVs that you try and balance. The same way that you have citizen journalists – you now have people who can provide their productions on loads of people. The manipulation is even greater on the internet … because anything goes”.

A gentleman from HP asked, what’s the future of Media? This wasn’t really answered except with a we don’t know yet. Some questions around the ownership of media making it less trustworthy, and the economic imperative that had to be taken into account when you talk journalism. More news is biased because of the owners, some felt. John quoted a Russian newspaper editor who said, “we will never be able to have an effective independent media – until we have a profitable media.” This is the reality. However, media must always challenge governments, he felt.

My take - there are some terrific bloggers with solid journalist backgrounds who have opted out of mainstream media and are preferring to blog and work as freelance journos. And then there are those millions on-the-street ‘reporters’ bringing news and opinions to the world in real time and real voices (without those biases that come from business and ownership issues raised in the panel). One of the things I am learning thru blogging is the whole definition of ‘Who is the Media’, especially for the younger generation growing up with the internet, is undergoing transformation. With repercussions on both traditional journalists and new media users. Interesting times ahead am sure!!

In today’s world, a large number of executive women are having children later in their lives, or even deciding not to have them in order to advance in their careers. They make longer studies and some of them invest in a time consuming career. Indeed, the mean age of the first pregnancy went from 23 years old in 1976 up to 29 years old in 2005. These facts were shown yesterday Thursday by Corinne Hubinont, Professor and Co-Head of the Department of Obstetrics at the Clinique Universitaire St-Luc, in Belgium, during the Discovery Moments, to a very interested audience, in a session (photo) titled: “Pregnancy and Executive Women …is it a challenge?”

To answer that question, Corinne confirmed what most executive women feel when they think about having children and continuing to advance in their careers: Yes, pregnancy for executive women is a challenge. After the age of 35, the risks of pregnancy start growing at a higher rate. In addition, the time when executive women start thinking of having a child coincides with the time when they are on the track to a successful career, which normally demands long hours of work, travelling and late meetings. She called attention to a “new high risk pregnancy”, associated with stress, high physical workload, dissatisfaction at work and late pregnancy, despite the major medical performance we have today.

Some ways to manage this challenge were suggested and discussed during the session. For example, to facilitate early pregnancy, during the studies or early in professional life. Another important point would be to allow long pregnancy and materity leave in “late pregnancy” in order to decrease their complications. But all these solutions depend not only on women, but on society as a whole.

One of the women in the audience reported that she was noy very reassured by the solutions that exist today, as they depend on a change in society and this takes time. She is 35 and doesn’t have children. Another woman, from the Belgian Board of the Women’s Forum, said that she decided to have children later, around the age of 30, so that she could advance in her career before. But she considered herself lucky because she didn’t have any problems getting pregnant or during pregnancy.

The question of how women executives can manage the challenge of pregancy is not solved, but discussing them in the Women’s Forum seems to be a good beginning to think about solutions and starting to make things change.

Do women have a special role to play in making economic development more sustainable? There is some evidence that women-led companies are faster at embracing the challenges of acting sustainably. Business writer Alison Maitland thinks so, and says that two out of the three companies first to sign up to the Aspen principles have a female CEO.

Herman Mulder from the World Business Council on Sustainable Development believes businesses increasingly want to show they are committed to sustainability. The next step for leading businesses is to assess their long-term impact on society, the environment and people.

Consumers can make sustainable choices as more and more green products are offered on the market. But latest research from the UK shows consumers feel they need guidance from governments and businesses to make their choices. Also many women with children cannot afford the sustainably sourced products which are often more expensive.

There is a new trend which is merging network communities enabled by the web with the sustainability movement. Social networks and communities expert Susan Kish said she was intrigued by a new online community called Do the Green Thing. The idea is to make “going green” fun and easy for consumers. This holds great potential in raising awareness and helping consumers in their choices.

Women cannot take the moral high ground on sustainability issues. Some women and some men care about sustainability. But a more diverse business leadership with a higher number of women at the top can broaden the debate on sustainability and help companies question themselves more on their long-term impact on society and the environment.

Or: A missing writer, and a young chinese MBA student standing in.

Yesterday at the afternoon tea time, the writer and journalist Irène Frain wanted to provide us with a sociological reading of Xiaolu Guo’s Village of stone (shortlisted for The Independent “Best Foreign Fiction Prize” 2005, and nominated for the Dublin International Literature Award (IMPAC) 2006).

Unfortunetely the novelist gave it a miss. A session less during the forum? Do not even think about it: for women (and all the more so as they are mighty women) do not get used to submitting to fate. So Irene Frain has a quick look outside the smart and affluent-looking “author’s corner”, she sees a dynamic chinese student having her way to the bar, and invites her to join the assembly. She pushes our perfect chinese candidate into the dark intellectual room, so far away (mentally I mean) from the bar with the petit-fours and the so sexy tiny pink champagne bottle created for us …euh I mean for the event.

The upset ambitious girl suddenly felt pushed on stage, in front of the women smilingly waiting for the renowned novelist.

That’s when it became clear to me that, even here, there was deep respect and reverence face to the artistic stuff. It rejoiced me, but there was more than that. The student did the sociological analysis thing by answering the snobbish but actually accurate questions she was being asked (and translated). She has lived both in Hong Kong and in the UK. She is now taking a MBA program at INSEAD. We learned that she considered herself as belonging definitely to the Asia area even if she confessed of feeling a foreigner when traveling now to HK and even more when attending in Beijing (clearly even less British). She talked about her cultural meeting with French people and Fontainebleau (nobody dares question whether that Fontainebleau or the INSEAD campus is at any level representative for the French spirit or reality) but it was really instructive to look at ourselves through her eyes. She quite simply make things clear about values in China vs. Western countries, and how she did not really feel at home anywhere. And above all without being the least troubled from that.

We all were eventually amazingly fond of what that little woman, however partly a Westerner, was telling us about ourselves. We did sociology, and pretty good one. We mentally went away. We talked about fundamental stuff. We talked about what really matters in such a forum: meeting the other with his or her specific experience that can be very valuable. That was an incredibly magical time to hear in that broadly superficial place an ambitious and determined young shark (sorry Bonnie, but it is a compliment) talking about how Chinese values were important to her.

Bonnie — yes, the Chinese student is one of our bloggers, Bonnie Fong — will probably tell about her experience of jumping in for the missing novelist in an upcoming post.

Countries around the world are struggling with the challenges of poverty. What are the trends that have created this wealth divide and what can we do to make a difference as individuals and corporations? The panel discussion that I attended was quite controversial to say the least. The opinions expressed by the speakers were different from what I believed in and what many others in the audience passionately highlighted. Should government apply distributive policies or should there be a bottom up approach by both private and public sector players?

We all agreed that we need to worry about poverty because of various reasons ranging from the ethical imperative to economic growth and health and safety outcomes. Also, the definition of poverty varies by country. For example, in Romania the poverty threshold is €558 per annum whereas in Luxemburg it is €17,087 per annum. There was lot of debate about what can we do to address the wealth divide. Should the government collect more tax and then divide it out fairly? I am not sure how they would divide it fairly. Should we have a welfare state and does it serve to address the wealth divide? What social, political and economic reform do we need to address the causes and issues of poverty?

Nora Lustig, Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Mexico, said that governments should create more transparency and accountability in how they collect taxes and how it is used. She talked about why tax revenue is below what is expected in some countries – the vicious cycle that leads to people not paying taxes as they distrust their government and low taxes leading to lower resources that in turn increases poverty. She felt that Microfinance does improve the local situation but it is not scalable, private philanthropy can help but to bring about wide spread change government had to step in and apply wealth distributive strategy. In my opinion, we need to have more than government intervention or the private philanthropy. We all need to play a role in whatever way we can, be it in contributing financially or by advocating the means for creating wealth or by creating awareness about education and how that can create opportunities. We need to support entrepreneurs not only financially but through our networks, mentoring and coaching them to create wealth and create jobs.

Government alone can’t win this battle against poverty. We all need to join forces in educating, in mentoring, in coaching, in supporting, in harnessing the power of women.

Managing continuing waves of migration and building trust among different cultures and communities to coexist closely is a hotly debated topic these days. We had distinguished speakers at the Women’s Forum 2007 sharing their views about the same.

Jean-Pierre Garson (Head, International Migration Division, OECD, France) said that immigrants represent approximately 3% of total population in France. Contrary to popular belief , Europe has seen the greatest increase in immigration. Also, different people migrate to different countries. Comparing migration in Austria with France, Austria sees more people moving in from Eastern Europe, Turkey etc., while France has more influx of people from Northern-Africa etc.

Kathleen Newland ( Director and co-founder, Migration Policy Institute, USA ) views that USA’s Labour Market is more open compared to other countries. USA has a reputation of being an Immigrant friendly country. Building on the theme of the Women’s Forum 2007 i.e. “trust in societies”, her view is that when governments refuse to acknowledge about problems of “trust”, which people are concerned about (immigration in this case) , it undermines the whole issue. Business community has a strong interest in immigration because they view it as a source of attracting people to their respective organization ,but governments need to have a more pro-active approach to the whole issue.

Mari Simonen (Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund, Finland) emphasized the point about the need to put migration issues out in the open to discuss. Having dialogues will go a long way in getting to know different perspectives and/or address fears of migration. Interestingly, she pointed out that 50% of the migrating individuals are women (mostly domestic workers), but it’s apparently invisible and hence not much talked about .

Core take-away from the session: that honoring commitments i.e. doing what one says one will do is a powerful way to build confidence and trust in societies. Bringing accomplishments to the attention of others and publicizing success can create a sense of pride and reinforce community involvement. Changing attitudes and behaviours can be an excruciating slow process, especially in closed societies. One shouldn’t expect to accomplish everything at once. Even small changes are significant, and may be more enduring over the long term.

Quotes gathered by the Women’s Forum writers team on the first day of the conference, Thursday October 11:

“It takes years to build up trust. It takes seconds to break it.”
Maria Livanos Cattaui, Vice-Chairman, International Crisis Group

“Men feel like they are fully confident to make a decision when they have 25 percent of the information. Women only feel confident when they have 75 percent.”
Laura Liswood, Senior Advisor, Goldman Sachs

“You really can’t trust very much in Nigeria. You can’t even trust that when you turn on the light switch you will get any light.”
Ayo Obe, Chair, Steering Committee, World Movement for Democracy
“I personally don’t like victimized feminists who say when you criticise them, ‘It’s just because I’m a woman’.”
Elisabeth Guigou, former French Minister of Justice

“Women are different from men, and we have our own way of looking at the world, but it doesn’t mean we’re better, genetically or in any other way.”
Maria Angeles Amador, former Spanish Minister of Health

“I don’t believe there is a glass ceiling. There’s just a very thick layer of men.”
Laura Liswood, Senior Advisor, Goldman Sachs

“The planet will do fine – it’s us that’s in dire peril.”
Maria Livanos Cattaui, Vice-Chairman, International Crisis Group