THE WORLD IS OUR STAGE
FEMALE BUSINESS AND ACADEMIC LEADERS VOICED A MESSAGE OF CONFIDENCE AND VISION AT CEIBS 2ND ANNUAL WOMEN'S FORUM.
By Lauren Hilgers
At the 2nd Annual Women's Forum, held on the CEIBS Shanghai campus in May, it took no time for speakers to come to a consensus - the business world is expanding and as it does, the role that women play is becoming increasingly important.
"The environment has changed," said event organizer CEIBS Management Professor Jean Lee, who is also Michelin Chair Professor in Leadership and Human Resource Management. "Our mothers used to live in families in small towns... now our stage is the whole world."
The event was launched to foster the growth of women business leaders, giving CEIBS students the opportunity to learn from successful business women. The forum fosters the kind of discussion that is integral in fulfilling the school's mission, said CEIBS Dean and Vice President Rolf D. Cremer. "CEIBS was designed to play a modest but important role in China's reform and opening. In keeping with the fundamental idea of reshaping the role of China, one of CEIBS' key goals is to develop not just managers, but leaders."
Women leaders, however, will face different challenges than their male counterparts. Several speakers candidly related their own career missteps and stressed the impact of a fast-track career on their personal lives, to pass advice along to younger attendees. "In China, we used to say if your husband does well, then you also do well - but not anymore," said Wang Hongmei, chairwoman of Shanghai Fenghua Group. "This kind of thinking will prevent you from moving upward in the future."
If CEIBS' women can learn from their female forerunners in business, preparing for today's challenges and obstacles, then the whole world stands to benefit, said Pedro Nueno, executive president of CEIBS. "If we can better incorporate women into our businesses, we will better achieve success."
FROM CINDERELLA TO CEO
CEIBS Honorary President Liu Ji began the conference by putting the modern rise of women in business into historical context. The increasing influence of women, he said, is happening alongside the rise of the information age, expanding globalization and the peaceful rise of China. "In the manual labour era, women lost some power to men," he said. "In this age, women will be equal to men."
Businesspeople are the new "generals", Prof. Liu commented, as China enters the world as an economic power. "Now we have lots of successful women business leaders here. You have not reached the levels of generals yet, you are probably majors. You are going to play a very critical role in the rise of China."
Prof. Jean Lee characterized China's new businesswomen, not as generals, but as modern day Cinderellas. In our mother's eyes, she said, today's women are all princesses. But the current generation of working women tend to find that the business environment is not as friendly as their own homes. In fact, the business world challenges female entrepreneurs in the same way that Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters challenged her. "Our competition with people around us may not necessarily be negative," Prof. Lee said. "Competition is part of life; competition requires that you prepare yourself in order to win."
Like Cinderella, today's women are improving themselves so they can seize opportunity when it presents itself. "The glass slipper represents the opportunity for you," Prof. Lee said. "You have to wait sometimes to find the shoe that fits you best."
CHINESE WOMEN IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
The magic glass slipper, for many women in Asia, is tied to the development of the Asian economy on a global stage. Mrs. Liu Mingming, president and chief representative of Voith Paper Technology (China), shared how her own career path has run parallel to China's development. Liu studied in Germany as a university student, bringing language skills and business savvy with her when she returned to Yunnan Province, China. "In Yunnan province there was lack of management talent, I had to grasp this opportunity and display my talents to the outside world," said the housewife-turned-executive. "You have to be very innovative. Always think what will be possible and don't focus on what will not be possible."
In Asia, however, women still face pressure to fulfill a traditional female role, said Jean Liu, vice president of corporate affairs of EDS Asia. Women can find innovative ways to combat expectations, however, particularly if they have a global perspective. "Women leaders will sometimes face the challenges from male counterparts that they should stay at home," Liu said. "I went abroad very early, so I had my own perspective on how men and women should be treated. I asked myself, 'Why should only the male leaders be successful?'"
Another piece of advice was shared by Wang Hongmei, who stressed that women can also overcome stereotypes simply by proving them wrong. She describes her work ethic as a newcomer to the workforce. "Every day I would show up the earliest; I would clean the office, get the hot water so people could make tea," she said. When the opportunity came to open a bank branch, she opted for the branch in the toughest area. Eventually, her over-the-top working style caught the eye of a company VP who offered her a better opportunity - her boss's job.
CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES - MANAGING DIVERSITY AT THE WORKPLACE
As women advance on the global stage, the difficulties they face will be cultural as well as gender-based. Success, however, depends more on management skills, according to Peter Alatsas, general manager of The Westin in Shanghai: "It's not about gender, it's about results."
Accomplished leaders can overcome differences and create a culture of their own within the business team they are working on, said Caroline Wang, a former senior vice president at IBM. "From my observation, one common quality among great leaders is that they are not self centered," she said. "They often forget about themselves, they are team centered and mission centered."
WOMAN-LIKE VERSUS BUSINESSLIKE
Some women are clearly getting results, said Prof. Jean Lee during the keynote speech for the afternoon. In the 1980s, Prof. Lee pointed out, only 10 percent of entrepreneurs were women. Today that number has doubled - women now represent 20 percent of entrepreneurs worldwide.
While the ranks of business women are growing across sectors, females still face a number of challenges that their male counterparts do not. In addition to balancing work and family, women often face differing expectations at work. One of the most important struggles most female leaders will have to grapple with, Prof. Lee said, is a double standard between femininity and authority.
"You should not be too woman-like because you have to pursue results and be determined, at the same time you should not be too tough and attract the criticism that you are not like a woman," Prof. Lee said. "How to be a woman and not be a woman? Women executives have to learn how to face this dilemma."
The pressures on businesswomen tend to change as they mature, as family pressures ebb and flow and careers shift direction. Women of different ages also bring different historical experiences with them. Lilia Zhang, general manager of Enterprises Services for Ingersoll Rand (China) Investment, brings with her the memory of the Cultural Revolution, and its impact on her career decisions: "I realized that caring and love for each other is important to help you pull through all of those most difficult periods."
Thirty-something Mrs. Monica Li, general manager of BrandUnion, faces a different set of challenges. After actively pursuing a career, Li is considering the complicated process of balancing starting a family with the demands of her career. "In your 30s, you start to have lots of pressure in terms of family," she said.
But family can also be a source of support, said Mrs. Kuan-Thye Sean, human resources managing director at FedEx China. "I'm doubly blessed with a very supportive husband who gave up his dental practice and became a traveling spouse," Sean said. "I'm extremely blessed with a mother who retired as a teacher but who went on to a second career as a grandmother and nanny." With her family behind her, Sean is unafraid of what the future might hold. "Life can only get better as we mature," she said. "Like wine, we mature very gracefully."
HITTING THE GLASS CEILING
While many women do encounter the "glass ceiling" when advancing their careers, success ultimately depends on your own perspective, said Mr. Paul Mak, president for Greater China, Mary Kay Inc and Mrs. Chialing Hsueh, general manager of MCM, Greater China and South East Asia.
Mary Kay, founder of the namesake company, broke through a glass ceiling of her own by quitting a dead-end job and starting her own business, Mak said. Hsueh, similarly, joined the company after making a dramatic career shift away from a less appealing industry. "You have to come to terms with what you really want and then go for it," she said. Hsueh adds that, as women become more successful, they often encounter double standards: "If you
are successful and determined, people say you are too tough. When I raise my voice at a meeting to argue, my subordinates say I am not like a woman.This is the double-edged sword."
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
This is the age of opportunity for women, as international companies pursue diversification programmes and women are becoming more accepted as leaders. "In your 30s and your 40s, your life will be much easier than all of us," said Marjorie Woo, chairwoman of Keystone Leadership (Shanghai). The trick for today's entrepreneurs is to decide on their goals. "If I were to do it over again, I would start looking sooner at: who do I want to be; what do I want to do; and what do I want to have? Put yourself in the equation so that you know who you are and that you accept who you are."
One of the greatest regrets for Mrs. Shi Xiaoyan, chai rwoman of Beijing Illinois Investment Co., is not finding the right business partners. "If I could do it again, I would find partners that are very strong in logical thinking. I'm crazy, so I can't afford to have other crazy people in the company."
Success often depends on recognizing your own strengths and weaknesses. "(These women) are successful because they keep learning and they are brave enough to face the challenges," said Yu Yafei, managing director of Yaning Public Relations.
The trade-offs of success are often personal, women leaders said. "When my kids were very young I didn't spend enough time with them," Shi said. "Now they no longer need me." But she says she set a good example for them." If you want to make money, you have to work hard. Women have a lot of pressure - pressure from your parents, pressure from your husband, pressure from your career."
As a final remark, one of China's most successful entrepreneurs urged women business leaders to take care of themselves. "Don't think about the pressure," she said. Take a bath, listen to music, Shi advised, and get some exercise.
