Women in European Business Conference
The WEB Executive Committee in Frankfurt hosted the tenth Women in European Business conference. Under the heading "Appreciating Cultures - Mastering the Codes", approximately 450 participants from all over Europe discussed the significance of social norms for professional success.
The WEB Executive Committee in Frankfurt hosted the tenth Women in European Business conference. Under the heading "Appreciating Cultures - Mastering the Codes", approximately 450 participants from all over Europe discussed the significance of social norms for professional success.
Recognition and promotion of cultural diversity, openness and individuality are key factors for the long-term success of global businesses, such as Deutsche Bank, explained Hermann-Josef Lamberti, member of Deutsche Bank's Management Board, at the tenth WEB conference in Frankfurt. "Ten years of Women in European Business is a symbol of the clear and wholehearted commitment to diversity - the power of diversity in a company's employees," said Lamberti to an international audience of women from business and society. Many of Deutsche Bank's female clients also accepted the personal invitation from their client advisors to participate in the WEB conference. A witty and informative accompaniment to the conference was provided by the business theatre company interact.
To what extent is knowledge and use of different codes a key factor for long-term career progress? And what leeway is there for changing and developing the rules? These questions were examined by Herminia Ibarra, INSEAD Professor of Organisational Behaviour and director of Women Leading Change, the first programme for female executives at INSEAD, which regularly ranks among the top universities in the world in the Financial Times' listing.
In small working groups in WEB Exchange, the conference participants exchanged views on cultures and codes in professional life. In lively discussions, they explored the prospects and opportunities arising from codes and rules, and had the opportunity to learn from the ideas and experience of others.
The participants explained their own personal strategies for success in the podium discussion that followed, and which was moderated by TV presenter Susanne Kronzucker. "You can't win if you don't really want to," stressed Antonella Mei-Pochtler, Senior Partner & Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group, and urged the women to put aside false modesties and use the opportunities to get ahead.
Lynn M. Martin, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and a member of Deutsche Bank Americas' Advisory Board provided an insight into the course of her impressive career and encouraged the participants to have more confidence in their abilities. "A car salesman sells Mercedes and Honda and claims this gives him experience in foreign policy. A woman obtains a master's degree in international relations and says: I'm not quite there yet," said Martin.
"It is time to acknowledge and use our extraordinary strengths - because 60% of the best-educated section of the population are women," added Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of the management consultancy firm 20-first, which specializes in advising companies that value a balanced management structure with talented female and male employees.
On behalf of the WEB Executive Committee, Aletta Gräfin von Hardenberg invited the guests to the Decennial Web party that followed and closed the conference, the only one of its kind in Europe, saying: "The WEB conference has become an integral part of living diversity at Deutsche Bank - and this is something for us to be proud of."
