{"id":38955,"date":"2020-12-16T10:31:34","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T15:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/globalsummit\/?page_id=38955"},"modified":"2023-07-26T10:27:21","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T14:27:21","slug":"excerpts-from-the-nature-of-womens-leadership-a-roundtable","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/globalsummit\/excerpts-from-the-nature-of-womens-leadership-a-roundtable\/","title":{"rendered":"2001 Excerpts from What Makes a Woman Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t

2001 Global Summit of Women<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

Hong Kong<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

Speeches:\u00a0What Makes a Woman Leader?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(The following is excerpted from the session: \"The Nature of Women\u2019s Leadership: A Roundtable\", which took place at the Global Summit of Women 2001 in Hong Kong on September 15, 2001.)<\/p>\n

Moderator:<\/strong>\u00a0Diana Lin, Senior Executive Producer,
\nTVB News and InformationServices (Hong Kong SAR)
\nPanelists:<\/strong>\u00a0Sung-Joo Kim, President & CEO, Sung-Joo International Ltd.;
\nIwillb.com; HRKorea.co.kr (South Korea)
\nPhumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Minister of Minerals and Energy (South Africa)
\nAngelina Muganza, Minister of Gender and Women in Development (Rwanda)
\nLori Ryerkerk, General Manager and Director,
\nExxon Mobil Energy Limited (Hong Kong SAR)
\nMarjorie Yang, Chairman, Esquel Group of Companies (Hong Kong SAR)
\nLoula Abou-Seif Zaklama, Managing Director, RadaResearch (Egypt)<\/p>\n

Diana Lin<\/span>
\n<\/strong>What is your personal definition of leadership?<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Sung-Joo Kim<\/span>
\nLeadership is earning the hearts of the team to go in the direction the whole community is supposed to go through consensus.<\/strong>\u00a0Earning the hearts of others requires a certain quality of leadership to start with, willingness to sacrifice for the community, and also clarity of thought on what would be the best for the interest of the community. Also, sometimes you have to be willing to fight against the unjust and corruption. Leadership requires a lot of courage.<\/p>\n

Marjory Yang<\/span>
\n<\/strong>I differentiate leadership from management. A manager is mostly concerned about getting a task done. A leader tends to worry more about the people. You can learn about management skills by going to a MBA school.\u00a0Learning to become a leader requires one to learn to be a better person.\u00a0<\/strong>That is the foundation on which you build leadership.<\/p>\n

Angelina Muganza<\/span>
\n<\/strong>In Rwanda, which has had extremely poor leadership, we have a different understanding of what leadership means.\u00a0Leadership is inclusive. It is a leadership that allows people to participate and doesn\u2019t pull people away. Leadership also<\/strong>\u00a0has to do with being visionary, seeing beyond the day-to-day.<\/strong>\u00a0It is important to share that vision with the people that you are leading. As a women leader, leadership has to do with being a role model for young girls and even for men. Leadership also has to do with empowerment and liberating your self and others and those whose leadership style has not been effective.<\/p>\n

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka<\/span>
\nOne important thing about leadership is that you must have a vision, but you must be able to make other people believe in the vision you have.<\/strong>\u00a0You are in a team and going in the same direction. There has to be a capacity to come together. In a leadership where people never disagree with you, you have to ask yourself what is wrong. Leadership is not about taking yourself so seriously that you can\u2019t stand a different opinion. It is necessary to constantly evaluate yourself and to be open about your own mistakes.<\/p>\n

Lori Ryerkerk
\n<\/strong><\/span>One of the advantages that women have as leaders is that we are more able to take the ego out of it. We don\u2019t have as much need to always make our name or our mark.\u00a0Another aspect that women have an advantage in is a willingness to take risks and not always accept the status quo, and to not only make changes but to really embrace changes and to allow others to see the advantages of embracing that change.<\/strong>\u00a0In a lot of male-dominated areas, like the petroleum field, we are fighting the status quo all the time. It is easy to reject the status quo and to try to lead the organization toward something new or something different.<\/p>\n

Loula Zaklama<\/span>
\n<\/strong>My personal definition of leadership is that leadership is both vision and courage. Vision without action is a daydream and action without vision is a nightmare.\u00a0A leader must have the courage to act even against expert opinions. Great leaders have to know three main things. First is knowing where you want to go. Second is how to get there. Third is why you want to get there.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lin<\/span>
\n<\/strong>There was survey done by the International Women in Media Foundation which found that a lot of women see clear vision as the most important aspect of leadership, but a lot of women also admit that they want to be collaborative. When you are collaborative, your vision is seen as not as clear, so is this a contradiction?<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Ryerkerk<\/span>
\n<\/strong>I tend to ask the people I work with more what their opinions are, but I don\u2019t necessarily agree with the outcome. There is an opinion-gathering method you go into to get everyone\u2019s opinion prior to developing a vision for a company, but someone does have to decide what the final clear vision will be. It is again a collaborative process to actually begin the implementation to move the group toward that vision. Women can be collaborative and still be seen as visionary.<\/p>\n

Yang<\/span>
\n<\/strong>I don\u2019t see much difference between men and women. Good leadership is individual. I find it difficult to classify male leadership versus female leadership. I focus on leadership. If I am going to train leaders, I train them to be leaders.<\/p>\n

Lin<\/span>
\nIs there a difference between leadership skills between men and women?<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mlambo-Ngcuka<\/span>
\n<\/strong>There are things that men have never been. Therefore, in some cases, they can\u2019t imagine some circumstances.\u00a0One of the things women bring to the table is knowing what it means to be excluded so you try harder to include other people because you know that experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When women go into the work situation, we can empathize about the people who have to attend to a sick child. Therefore, you can adjust your accommodation of the work much better because you understand the importance of parenting. A man who doesn\u2019t have to look after a child because they have a wife doesn\u2019t understand a wife who is absent-minded because the child is sick. That is different and important for humanity.<\/p>\n

Muganza<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Women make better leaders than men. The idea of inclusion is very important. This helps women be good leaders because they take other people\u2019s opinions. Secondly, I think men have come to associate leadership with power. Women don\u2019t. This makes them better leaders as well.<\/p>\n

Zaklama<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Women have an inherent sense of leadership because they have a better sense of perseverance, are more tolerant, have the capability of listening to others, and they have more courage to take risks and defy.<\/p>\n

Lin<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Is there any advice you would like to give on how to be a leader?<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Zaklama<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Never give up. Seek knowledge. Seek to be a master of your profession. Do not pray for an easy life. Pray to be a strong leader.<\/p>\n

Ryerkerk<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Lead in your own style. Don\u2019t try to adopt a style that has worked for someone else. Do the one that works for you.<\/p>\n

Mlambo-Ngcuka<\/span>
\n<\/strong>If you are fortunate enough to have others tolerate your mistakes so that you become a leader, have the decency to do that to others. Lift as you climb because it is lonely at the top if you are alone.<\/p>\n

Muganza<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Be good leaders and role models for our daughters and sons.<\/p>\n

Yang<\/span>
\nLeadership is built on each individual.\u00a0<\/strong>If you intend to be a leader, look deep inside.\u00a0Build a depth of character that is going to allow you to look inside, get rid of the fear, then you can go the long road to reach your ultimate vision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kim<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The 21st<\/sup>\u00a0Century opens up a great horizon for all of us. For women, it is not only right to stand up for our own rights, but it is a duty. Play like a woman and win like a woman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2001 Summit Links<\/h3>