The Dalai Lama once said, “The world today needs leaders with compassion, as compassion towards others builds trust and loyalty. Women, biologically, are often more sensitive towards others, that means the world needs more women leaders.”
Diversity, inclusion, and women’s leadership are not just concepts that will make the world a more beautiful and better place — they do, in fact, make business sense. There is a strong relationship between financial performance and gender diversity. According to a 2015 McKinsey report, companies that rank high in female leadership (or simply put, those with more women in their executive teams) are 15 percent more likely to have better financial returns.
This outlook was confirmed last month while we attended the International Women’s Forum (IWF) World Leadership Conference in Houston, Texas, as Edelman’s global delegates. The conference featured various women who have made critical contributions across industries, from Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman in space and the Director of the NASA’s Johnson Space Center; to Ilya Marotta, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Program Management at the Panama Canal Authority, who rebuilt the Canal.
The attendees represented all industries, over 35 countries and various walks of life. Each showed us what empowered, accomplished women are doing to change the face of leadership.
Hillary Clinton provided the closing remarks, and mentioned a meeting strategy adopted by female staffers when she was Secretary of State. They called it “amplification.” As paraphrased in The Cut: “When a woman made a key point, other women would repeat it, giving credit to its author. This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own.” This is simply one of the countless suggestions in Clinton’s powerful presentation.
Both men and women are required for reaching parity and to help close the gender gap. Numerous studies show that male advocacy — i.e., men who are actively involved in championing the cause — increases the rate of women in leadership. And this is not only the right thing to do — its good for business.
Our key takeaways: Start a dialogue — or contribute to one. Challenge widely held assumptions (either others’ or your own). Support and elevate each other, no matter the gender. Make it safe to fail, and celebrate each other’s milestones.
Although we are still far from where we want to be when it comes to female leadership, progress has been made, and we witnessed many inspiring examples firsthand at the IWF Conference. Every step counts towards reaching gender parity, and besides aiming high for ourselves, we must also “lift up” and empower the next generation of young women to help them succeed.
Ann Clark is a vice president, Edelman New York.
Nithya Ramachandran is an account director, Edelman Calgary.
Melissa Gomez is a senior account supervisor, Edelman Miami.
Thi Thien Thanh Nguyen is a managing director, Edelman Vietnam.
Daya Bronner is a senior account manager, Edelman Frankfurt.