We asked the WF participants about trust — see these two previous posts. But what about us? What does trust mean to the WF bloggers?

“Trust is believing that something you think is true.. is true.” - Margit

“I don’t trust anybody don’t ask me” - Coralie

“Trust is the bond that keeps people together” – Manasi

“The relationship you build between you and people. It is the basis of all relationships to me.” - Camilla

“Trust is confidence and be aware of the other and expect the other to be aware about you.” – Ivonne

“Feeling that  are shared values with somebody.” - Annachiara

“Confidence without fear” - Bonnie

“Honoring your commitments” - Natiq

“ Trust is believing in another person, taking a chance and seeing their potential”– Joysy

“Trust is the cornerstone of human relations. Trust is such a subjective notion that it requires the most personal feelings” – Louis

“Trust has to be something pretty like a personal demanding state of mind.” – Jonathan

“Trusting someone is knowing you can rely on that person, on his honesty or competencies.” – Gersende

The discovery hall was simply buzzing with energy – participants gathering in groups discussing views they had heard during the panel discussions, some were pacing backwards and forwards with their mobile phones and blackberries, others were browsing the various displays, or networking over un café et un pain au chocolat. Unmistakable also were the queues of ladies lining up for the beauty lounge for a quick makeover or eyebrow treatment between the sessions.

As the ladies awaited their turns at the counter, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to go and ask some of the Forum participants whether they could “trust” the makeover, and more seriously, what does “trust” mean to them?  Birthe Gortz, a Partner in Transaction Services with PwC, told me that she is in the “trust” business – trust is a fundamental business principle, and it applies both externally and internally within the firm.  Joanna Fielding, CFO of Standard Chartered Bank in China, agreed.  When the bank surveyed its clients on the most important aspects in a banking relationship, “trust” always comes near the very top of list.  She added, “Trust is essential in building relationship across borders… it is one of our core corporate values”.  A French executive offered another interpretation: trust is the willingness to just go do what you believe in.  On further discussion, she revealed that women can sometimes hold themselves back in life because they think too much about the “complexity of being a woman”.  Kati Najipoor-Schutte, Partner of the executive search firm Egon Zehnder, believed that trust encompasses many elements, the key ones being “honestly, openness and transparency”.

And the verdict from the Forum participants on the makeover artist?  7/10.  Based on a highly statistical sampling methodology (of course).

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!

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.

Linda Lanzillotta, the Italian Minister for regional affairs, was in a panel today on political institutions. In introducing the discussion, moderator Christine Ockrent said that “Italy may be today the European country where distrust towards political institutions and leaders is the highest”. Lanzillotta (in the photo by Mario Farinato) agreed, but nuanced the statement, saying that “while national governments are in a phase of deep crisis of trust, the same is not true for regional and local governments”. I asked her to elaborate on this statement.

“In Italy the most popular institution is that of the mayor, who’s perceived as the one most capable of solving citizens’ problems — of doing the job institutions are supposed to do. Regions also have goodwill. At a national level instead, the government suffers from the perception of its own fragmentation, which makes impossible to lead change”.

This problem is not an Italian exclusive, I said. “Indeed: we are witnessing a drastic decline in trust in institutions globally. Governance systems are struggling everywhere”.

In Italy, the national political system right now is very much under pressure: there is a strong popular rejection of politicians and they perceived privileges, they’re called “the caste”. A book with that title, “La Casta“, is this year’s bestseller, denouncing a long list of advantages, immunities, and the “cost of politics” (the cost of the political system). I asked Lanzillotta about her reaction to the book. “It’s a source of information — I was also surprised by many things — and at the same time its success is a strong reminder of the necessity and urgency of political reform. On the one hand, the cost of some of our institutions is way too high: we need more financial restraint. On the other hand, we clearly have too many institutional levels and structures (and my Ministry is working on simplifying some of that). But, finally, once you’ve reduced the costs and redesigned the structures, you will need to make them efficient, able to deliver the services that citizens expect.”

The theme of this year’s Forum is “Trust”. So I went around asking a few participants about it: What does “trust” mean to you?

Kate Robertson (Euro RSCG UK) — Trust is broken in the world. In her words: “Institutions, governments, nobody trusts them anymore. But the world won’t function without them”. She believes that women can bring an emotional perspective that could help rebuild trust.
About the Women’s Forum, Kate thinks that it has become a established forum and that it is increasingly important. According to her, there is a sense of urgency of women’s role and the Women’s Forum helps bring action to this issue.

Ghania Houadria (La Poste Algérienne) — For Ghania, trust is capital for a company that has clients. For her, the success of the company depends on trust. A lot of problems happen if there is no trust. The lack of trust disturbs the evolution and the development of the company. She agrees with Anne Lauvergeon, Areva’s CEO, when she said in the previous panel that trust is difficult and long to build, but easy and quick to destroy. According to Ghania, for a company such as La Poste, in which the clients must have trust to put their money and send their letters, trust is the company’s reason to exist, and it must be established not only between the company and its clients, but also internally, between the company and its employees.

Gabriela Carvalho (Brazilian, among the 20 young women selected as “Rising Talents”) — Gabriela says that a great part of the work that women do to represent a larger percentage of the workforce is related to trust. According to her, for women, more than for men, it is essential to establish trust and to avoid mistakes to be able to continue in the career. She argues that it is very important to generate trust for the stakeholders and she believes that it is frequently more difficult to do it for women than it is for men.

Joana Loureiro (Portuguese, Aprendera, Junior Achievement, Portugal) — Joana believes that first we have to trust ourselves, believe that we are capable of doing things. Of course we also have to question ourselves, she says. To Joana, anyone who is a leader has to inspire trust.

I felt somewhat suspicious about the theme (Sorry…) and was very interested in asking to a large number of the Women’s Forum’s participants what “trust” means to them, with a bit of irony I must confess. Who does choose to attend an event (just think about Davos) because of its theme? I can even go further: How many of the participants didn’t even know or remember the theme that is supposed to gather us for three days in Deauville? I suspected them to be numerous. Anyway I asked, I talked and on top of that I laughed with the women I met. But by the end I got flabbergasted too. These mighty women knew the theme, and what’s more they considered it of some importance. Of course they are not absolutely naive idealists: they have not traveled up to ten thousands miles to talk merely (what’s more, in Deauville) about trust. As a dynamic social entrepreneur put it: “It might seem light and genuine but trust does remain of high importance. Let’s don’t fear to go back to basics”. A partner at McKinsey makes it clear, “trust” is an “attribute”; it means “openness and transparence”. In a nutshell it means “demands”. And for so high-level and hardworking women, one can make it clear that means much.

This year, the Women’s Forum welcomes a delegation of 15 students, both men and women, coming from all over the world to live together this unique event and share their vision.

Last year, at the 2006 Women’s Forum, we were 18 students from 12 different countries who were given this unique opportunity.
It was amazing to meet each other; women students from all around the world, who were in many ways very different, but at the same time so alike in their concerns and their hopes.
It was amazing to meet women in top management and decision making positions, who shared with us their experiences and provided us with invaluable advices and guidance. It has also been a unique platform for us, to enrich the discussions and debates with the young generation’s perspective and to voice young women’s issues and aspirations.
We are very grateful for the inspiration which we brought back from the 2006 Women’s Forum. It has given us new ideas and built up new confidence. It has encouraged us to think “out of the box” and to start to act, to make changes, at our level; in the societies we live in.

The 2006 Forum has inspired us as women, and still today we acknowledge the richness and the impact these 4 days had in our lives.
I have no doubt this 2007 Women’s Forum will be as inspiring and uplifting for the coming student delegation, and I look forward to being part of it!

By Christine Ockrent

Trust is the very backbone of our societies. Without trust, our institutions crumble, our companies lose their footing, our social fabric is torn apart, and our media lose credibility. Without trust, scientific and technological progress becomes suspect. Without trust, violence, poverty and ecological damage only worsen. In wealthy as in poverty-stricken societies women now play a major role. Their ideas on these issues are worth defending, their views are worth confronting and their proposals should be heard. On all these issues their voice is both legitimate and indispensable.

The world cannot progress without trust, and the world cannot progress without women. This is why during 3 days in Deauville, from October 11 to 13, 2007, Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society has invited business and political leaders, NGO managers, experts, innovators and journalists from around the world to discuss the current state of the world and how best to build trust in our societies.