Davos: Where are the women, again?

January 24, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

As CEOs, celebrities, and champagne covers the snowy streets of Davos this week for the 2013 World Economic Forum, the media is enjoying its own spin on the world’s most exclusive event. While the mix of people at the event is slowly changing with the rise of World Economic Young Leaders, Global Shapers and technology entrepreneurs, there is one population that remains quite the same—the overwhelmingly low ratio of women to men at the event and the whispers of the quota system in the air.

With women still only making up only 17 percent of Davos, we are moving closer but we are not moving fast enough. There is still a long way to go.

This week in Huffington Post I share some facts about quotas as "controlled experiments" and what it might look like in the future. Read the full article here.

How are you tackling quotas in your workplace? Do you have strategies to recruit a pool of diverse talent—diversity of backgrounds, experience and ideas? We might not be able to change Davos, but we can change our own teams and companies to generate better ideas, leaders, products and services.

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Let’s be honest about Davos

February 13, 2012 by · 1 Comment

I’ve gotten a lot of praise, admiration, and high hopes of becoming a ‘power player’ for attending and speaking at the World Economic Forum 2012 at Davos last month. I am grateful for it, the 70 Global Shapers, all incredible millennial leaders, have been well-respected for their contribution to Davos this year.

Yet what I really want to share is that, for me, I have learned to embrace my losses as much as my opportunities in life. One year ago, I was completely burnt out and unsatisfied with my life, career goals, and physical energy. I took the time to reflect on what truly mattered, what I cared about and why, danced 3x a week, journaled and meditated. This inevitably made me a better person. When I started to show up as my full self, rather than running around chasing the work of others, opportunities came to me. I would say the real source of power was letting go: of expectations, of always having a set plan, and just being myself.  I went to Davos to share my thoughts with the world, from where I stood as a young woman. My biggest successes have been from ‘enabling myself’ not trying to save the world. That is real power, when we own our life and mindset, rather than solely attach ourselves to our accomplishments and awards.

So what was Davos like? Lets be honest: it’s the most exclusive event in the world. So when I, a visibly Indian-American young woman came to this event, no one was really talking to me at first. Everyone couldn’t wait to shake hands with Bill Gates, Arianna Huffington, and Sheryl Sandberg. So I learned to exercise my own version of power: asking questions.

In almost everything I went to I asked a question that related to my life and my generation. It unexpectedly brought people to me I wasn’t seeking out originally but became kindred spirits for the rest of my time there. That’s our real power: our curious mind. We don’t need to know it all, we need to start from where we are.

The challenge is that when you get to a position of power and authority, other people expect you to “be a certain way.” Yet I’m learning that I can constantly shape who I am for myself rather than rely on others to determine this for me.  This will be a challenge for all next generation leaders as we morph and grow.

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The Future Across Generations

January 31, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

After a week of heated dialogue at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, four Global Shapers took the stage with Klaus Schwab and Muhammad Yunus to end the event on Saturday with a panel titled The Future Across Generations.  

Watch this video to see the power of young people who have a real seat and voice at the table. These Global Shapers, Manju George (India), Tyler Spencer (US), Rapelang Rabana (South Africa), and Niel Bowerman (UK) cited flat decision-making, open networks and collaboration as key to leadership. Yunus and the Shapers spoke of visioning as key to create a world where more people can be active contributors. The core values that mattered most were: equity, empowerment, interconnectivity, respect, honesty, authenticity. Global identities have surpassed national or local identities. The panel called for adaptability, values, accepting change, and constructive solutions that are more responsive to the needs of our world.

Next generation leadership is not only my work but it is my calling. This was clearly my highlight of Davos! Enjoy!

 

 

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Davos 2012 is in action

January 26, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The conference has begun. Blackberries, black suits, and BMWs have taken over the streets of snowy Davos. 3,000 leaders have across the world have flooded the halls and sessions sharing their opinions on the debt crisis, emerging economies, health reform, technological innovations, diversity, and more.

A key conversation has been on the role of business in society. CEOs have been challenged to break the view that there is no ‘them’, there is only ‘us.’ We live in an increasingly interconnected world and many of the conversations have questioned the decision-making practices of CEOs. Business leaders have been called to personalize their role in society, openly share their tax payments and how they make an impact in their community. Matt Bishop from The Economist spoke of the failure of shareholders to focus on long-term sustainability, called for ethical capitalism, and advocated that atleast 1 person under the age of 30 to be on each company board.

My most inspiring moment of the day was the opening plenary with Desmond Tutu, former archbishop of Cape Town, who said “we need a revolution led by women. I think women ought to be saying to us men: You have made a mess, just get out and let us in…let us re-align forces, let us ensure that women have a significant part in the decision-making process.” His speech came shortly after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the world’s most powerful woman, gave the keynote address at Davos.

The push to promote women and youth at these forums has been exciting and inspiring to me, yet there is much more work to do in this domain. The Global Shapers delegation is an incredible set of 70 leaders, yet it isn’t entirely representative of all young people today. However, for me, truly being of service is about stepping up to the opportunities here and engaging with people who are very different from me. We need more Gen Y leaders to step up (in December, I called for more Gen Y women to take the stage). This is an evolution that will be happening for the next century.

More to come! Follow @davos @wef and #4mygen for leaders from our generation.

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