On March 10-11 IMD Business School and W.I.N, the global women’s leadership organization, joined forces in exploring the topic of women in leadership. The event, which was held during the same week as the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, took place at IMD and attracted more than 250 senior leaders.



"Now more than ever before it is crucial for businesses and women leaders to understand the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for both women and men in championing a more balanced business environment," Kristin Engvig, Founder of W.I.N., said in opening the event."



IMD President Dominique Turpin also gave opening remarks, stressing the importance of gender diversity in all organizations.

Meet Liv Arnesen

Inspiration from one of the coldest places on Earth filled the room when Norwegian Polar Explore Liv Arnesen took the stage and presented the challenges and rewards she faced in becoming the first woman to ski to the South Pole and across Antarctica.

Click for detailed summary of Liv's speach



At just 12 years old, Liv imagined conquering Antarctica. “Norway is a small country and is well-known for legendary explorers. Instead of growing up with typical fairytale heroes, we often heard stories of legendary explorers.” During a dream sharing exercise in school, Liv told her class, “my dream is to ski to the South Pole.”

But that was during the 1960s. “I’ll never forget the reaction. Was I stupid? This was a boy’s dream. It was impossible.” It would take many years for Liv to articulate the dream again, but she didn’t let go. Early on, Liv learned of the role gender plays in life and it was incredibly moving to hear of her success.



Liv Arnesen concluded by telling us of her next project. She is currently planning another expedition to the South Pole. This time she will bring one woman from each continent along. As a former high school teacher, Liv always manages to add an educational aspect to her expeditions. In bringing together female explores, Liv's aim is to educate today's young people about issues related to climate change and the lack of clean drinking water.

Join the many millions that will be following Liv Arnesen online by clicking here: http://yourexpedition.com/

What are the emerging trends?

Setting the tone of the event, IMD Professor Ginka Toegel and W.I.N. Founder Kristin Engvig presented an update on the context in which we are working and the trends ahead. Some of the highlights included that worldwide, women are the largest opportunity market, representing over $20 trillion in annual consumer spending and more than 80% of all consumer decisions are made by women. She also stated that the education and earning gaps are closing. All those changes are reflected in our language (e.g. ‘womenomics’ and ‘mompreneurs,’ etc.).

The two women also looked at how the changing business environment is impacting strategy making and how woman can prepare themselves for the opportunities ahead.

Click to read event summary.





Ginka also shed light on women as CEOs and their increasing presence on boards. “Companies are not acting out of some generalized notion of equality but because there is a strong business case for them to do so. There has been a great deal of research that suggests the value of having gender balanced management teams. In France, for example, companies that had more women in senior management positions performed better during the crisis,” she said.

How are women having success?

In today's business, women are finding success in a wide range of professions from diverse locations. Three fantastic women, Petraea Heynike, Adriana Gardella and Jemilah Mahmood from very different backgrounds in corporate business, journalism and NGOs, not only developed successful careers, but managed to achieve new heights. They openly shared their stories of balancing family and career, international moves, managing big career transitions and much more.







Petrea Heynike (pictured above) has 38 years of experience with Nestle. She's currently the Executive Vice President (Strategic Business Units, Marketing & Sales and Beverage Systems, including Nespresso.





Adriana Gardella (pictured above) is a freelance journalist. She blogs on women and entrepreneurship for the New York Times. Find her on Twitter @adrianagardella.

So what is the role of employers? What can companies do?

IMD Professor Martha Maznevski led a panel discussion where Josefine Van Zanten, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Shell, Mina Uran, Global Growth Director at Solae (Joint venture between Bunge and Dupont), Nicole Schwab, Founder of the Gender Equality Project and Clare Cornish, HR VP West Europe Region, PepsiCo Europe shared some of the key programs their companies run in order to support female leadership advancement.







"The facts speak for themselves – today women are having a greater impact on business and politics than ever before,” said Professor Martha Maznevski (pictured above). “But have organizations adjusted to the new gender landscape that will in all likelihood continue to evolve? Unfortunately, the majority have not."

Break Out Sessions - What where some of the key learnings?

Going from trends to practicality, event breakout sessions presented tips for business success. Sessions explored new leadership in the new world of work, women on corporate boards, claiming your authority and power as a leader, leadership presence, communicating effectively, new ways of feeding the world and the power of personal branding for women leaders.