By Valerie Ryder and Kristina Tool

Mentoring plays a critical role in the advancement of women professionals in all sectors. It provides women role models, it can provide access to important networks and opportunities, and can provide structure for the development of individual skills and leadership abilities.

These are areas that are often cited as key barriers to career advancement for women in Italy, as is the lack of mentoring in general. Only a small portion of the Italian working population has access to this career development tool, mainly selected high-potential employees of international corporations.

PWA has innovatively moved to fill this gap by pioneering network mentoring in Italy, via its Women Leading Women program. The mentoring program is a key component of PWA’s updated mission, which is to support the advancement of career-minded women in their professional growth and development through networking, skill-building and mentoring in an international environment.

Facts and Figures:

by Kristina Tool

What can companies do to not lose valuable resources when employees take time for maternity leave? What can women do to remain competitive in the workplace if they take time away from the office for maternity leave? PWA hosted a panel of speakers on February 17 at the Grand Hotel et de Milan and generated a list of tactics that both women, and the companies who value them, can use to continue to benefit both business and women.

The panel was comprised of Barbara Cominelli, Strategic Planning Director at Tenaris Dalmine, Lynn Chasson, EU Controller at Arvin Meritor and Mara Caverni, Partner at Price Waterhouse Coppers – Private Equity Leader.

Questions about returning to work post maternity leave initiated a discussion in which    the panelists spoke candidly about their experiences. Barbara Cominelli explained that a successful maternity leave begins with planning what to delegate, what to reduce and which responsibilities to keep control of while away. 

Lynn Chasson related how her experiences away from work varied with each of her three children. With more than ten years of work experience, she had risen up the corporate ladder and did not want to lose her place while growing her family. Due to company restructuring during her first two pregnancies, she was unable to return to job. During her 3^rd pregnancy she was without work and post pregnancy faced the challenge of getting back into the job market and achieving her pervious level. She started small and actively pursued opportunities through her networks, eventually working for a previous boss who knew that having a family did not interfere wither abilities to perform her job.

Mara Caverni provided a perspective, not as a mother, but as a partner who did not want to lose two strong employees who left for maternity leave. In each case she was able to shuffle her teams and shift their responsibilities to manage projects while these women were away. It was not always seamless but with open communication and a commitment to stay in touch, Mara and her team were able to manage this temporary shift with great success.

All panelists agreed that good planning and outside help were essential to making this work. The discussion opened up to an active Q&A period from the audience, generating more suggestions about what both companies and individuals can do to have a successful maternity leave. Many from the audience contributed to help formulate a list of actions, including Maria Grazia Bizzarri, HR Manager Corporate Function Vodafone. Maria Grazia shared information about Vodafone’s culture of recognizing the value which diversity in the workplace contributes and how they actively cultivate an atmosphere which supports women, something that we hope more companies will begin to do.

With the goals of supporting women and bringing more value to business, the evening’s event produced the following tactics:

COMPANIES:

• Allow flexible schedules
• Allow part time work
• Enable employees to redefine roles and duties
• CEO and top executives must demonstrate support for diversity and set up business to allow women to return
• Educate the employees; produce written guidelines to provide all employees with strategies on how to work successfully with colleagues on maternity leave
• HR to maintain contact and provide guidance during transition
• Make it a goal to manage people by objectives met, not simply physical presence in the office.
• Provide coaching to employees on leave
• Evaluate process in place to manage maternity leave and share success of established programs

 INDIVIDUALS:

• Plan leave in advance
• Decide which duties you can delegate, reduce, keep
• Stay in touch with work
• Strategies to return:
  • Start small, freelance in current field
  • Use professional and social networks
  • Use personal coach to validate your value
• Have support at home
• Don’t stay away too long
• Choose good companies and supportive bosses
• Be clear with your boss and company about your intentions
• Don’t lose your ambition

by Kristina Tool, Speaker Director

Conflict resolution and negotiating were the first topics of the year for PWA Milan’s monthly speaker events. Cynthia Milani presented Intercultural Negotiation & Conflict Resolution: Tips from a Corporate Anthropologist to PWA members and guests on the evening of January 27, 2010 at the Grand Hotel et di Milan.

Cynthia Milani, Director of the Institute for Global Development (IgD), applies her background in anthropology to the corporate environment. As a corporate anthropologist, she explained how understanding the people and the cultures which they come from can help us to resolve conflict.

Cynthia began an interactive presentation by asking the audience to define the difference between conflict and negotiation. It was clarified that conflict usually stems from a lack of understanding each other and makes it more difficult to achieve mutually successful outcomes, while negotiations are something we experience in both work and our personal lives to get what we need from each other. Negotiations usually require some  give and take or compromise.

How can we shift away from conflict in order to negotiate more effectively? Cynthia discussed how our behavior in negotiations is influenced by the overlapping of various cultural components. National culture, business culture and individual culture all come together and result in our approach and reaction to a particular situation.

For business negotiations, certain corporate cultures can have an overriding influence on how the individuals who work within these companies handle negotiations. Differences can be seen too between males and females. Many factors come together in the end to affect how each individual handles a given situation. This evening’s topic focused primarily on the national cultural influences.

Our national culture shapes how we interact with others, and problems can develop when our perspectives on developing relationships contrast. In understanding the various cultural approaches in getting to know each other, we are better able to deal with those from different backgrounds. Three kinds of cultures and which nationalities exhibit them were outlined:

• Peach: Soft on the outside, with a hard pit center. – Americans
• Coconut: Hard to crack but once you break through, warm and soft. – Europeans
• Onion:  Peeling back layer after layer, never really knowing where you are or if you have arrived. – Asians

Expanding on the fruit and vegetable metaphor, Cynthia continued to highlight differences we see among nations. Some cultures such as Arab nations come from an   environment with more constraints, while Asian cultures tend to place a much higher value on harmony.

Another potential area for conflict comes from how various cultures view time, ranging from preplanned and more structured schedules to those who are more spontaneous and reactive to a given situation.

We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are.
-Anais Nin

The Anais Nin quote served to remind us that we that our background and context influence our perspective. With this understanding we can be better prepared to have successful interactions.

Cynthia Milani sold out the copies of her book Brand Italy: A Guide to the Italians at the event. It can be purchased  at the American Bookstore in Milan, or at Amazon online.

Why are there so few women sitting on boards of directors in Italy? A SDA Bocconi study states that only 4% of the positions in publicly held companies are held by women – ridiculously low when research from all over the globe points to a strong positive correlation between a firm’s economic success and the percentage of women in decision-making positions. Too often the answer given is that there are not enough women qualified for these positions.

This historical excuse is not true. During the preparations leading up to PWA’s May 2008 “Women on Boards” event, the “Ready-for-Board Women” Project was born to show concrete proof of this falsehood. It was officially presented on November 18 by PWA, representing what is only the first edition of the ongoing project. As PWA President Monica Pesce stated – “plenty of qualified women are out there, the problem is to recognize and locate them. To introduce them to the decision makers. And the first step has now been made with the publication of this dossier listing women with qualifications and experience necessary, some of them in fact already sitting on boards – in business, institutions and academia.”

Together with the support of SDA Bocconi’s Osservatorio sul Diversity Management, D’Antona & Partners, and four leading executive search companies (Eric Salmon & Partners, Heidrick & Struggles, Key2People, and Korn Ferry International), PWA delivered concrete proof in their “Ready-for-Board Women” Project, a list of 72 women in Italy with the experience, skills and qualifications necessary to serve on boards of directors.

A panel of speakers was presented by Assolombarda president Alberto Meomartini who echoed Nobel prize winner Elias Canetti’s fundamental question: can a society ignore roughly half of its human resources? Agreed that it cannot, then why is it occurring? The answer is that Italian society is stagnant, evolving at a painfully glacial pace, or to paraphrase the film title: “No country for women”. But fortunately things are changing.

The panel was comprised of Giampio Bracchi, Presidente of AIFI; Carmine Di Noia, Vice Direttore Generale Assonime; Marcello Messori, Presidente of Assogestioni, and Giovanni Sabatini, Direttore Generale of ABI and was moderated by journalist Debora Rosciani of Radio24.

The members of the panel acknowledged the fact that the women who serve on boards of directors in Italy are few. But is it a matter of qualification or rather a cultural legacy (Italian or not) that penalizes the female gender when it comes to assigning the major responsibilities in large firms? The latter in fact seems the case.

Is it the case, then, to lobby for the “quote rosa” in order to resolve the situation with federal laws? Is that the way to close this particular gender gap? Perhaps, was the consensus, the starting point of view should be to remove the obstacles that impede equal rights, which are prescribed by no less than the Constitution. Psychological, social, cultural obstacles are all present. And in fact there arose one conclusive fact from the debate: the organization of the workplace at all levels is principally masculine, made by and for men, a power dynamic that leaves little space for women, especially in Italy. So what should be the objective? Equality? Equality with whom, asked a female member of the audience, equality with men? Not only that, but equality with other women with similar experience and ability to excel, even at the highest levels.

By Kristina Tool, PWA Speaker Meeting Director

PWA in collaboration with Korn Ferry presented the Women in Technology panel on September 30, 2009 at the Grand Hotel et de Milan. PWA President Monica Pesce moderated the panel comprised of:

• Pietro Scott Jovane, CEO Microsoft Italia
• Barbara Poggiali, CEO and Managing Director Dada (RCS MediaGroup)
• Tatiana Rizzante, CEO Reply

Throughout the evening, the members of the panel reflected upon the path they each took to achieve their current career position. Several key points presented themselves through the evening:

• Mentors provide a valuable opportunity for learning, be active in seeking out a mentor to guide you.
• Make a long-term plan, but be open to change and be willing to take advantage of new opportunities when they present themselves.
• Increasing the number of women who make decisions in companies is better for business.

Tatiana Rizzante noted the value that being a mentee provided her but acknowledged that it was not always easy to be in this role. In addition to taking the initiative to develop a relationship with a mentor, one must be open to accept new ideas and viewpoints.

Pietro Scott Jovane offered that the mentee is not the only one who benefits. Now that he is serving as the mentor, he is not only able to provide guidance but he learns a great deal more about his company in this valuable two-way relationship.

Being open to change and new opportunities led Barbara Poggiali to her current position as CEO of Dada. Her MIT education provided her with a strong technical background but after working in a lab, she understood that this was not the career she wanted. Shifting focus, she altered her path with steps along the way at McKinsey, Bain, and Omnitel/Vodafone. She felt that her open attitude and willingness to take on possibly unplanned opportunities allowed her to continue to progress in her career.
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According to Pietro Scott Jovane, making a long-term plan is very important, but it is not necessarily important that you achieve the goals which you originally set. What is key in the exercise of making a long-term plan, is that you have established a trajectory and you get yourself moving forward.

The low numbers of women present at upper-level positions and how to change this situation has been the common theme for the PWA “Women in” panel discussions. This evening’s presentation showed that the technology fields also suffer from this unbalanced male/female ratio. While improvements in technology can provide advantages for women, especially those with families, the field itself does not yet demonstrate equality in numbers.

Panelists were asked if a quota rosa (a requirement to have a minimum number of women in certain positions) would be an effective way to reduce the disparity in numbers between men and women in upper-level positions in Italy. Tatiana Rizzante was not sure this would resolve the issue as people would have doubts about the skills of women who achieved a position due to a quota. Pietro Scott Jovane asked what the main objective would be for the quota rosa and indicated that is likely to generate some unpleasant consequences but could lead to a more positive end result.

So if the quota rosa is not the solution, what could work to bring more women to upper-level positions? Panelists indicated that while companies strengthen their business by increasing their diversity in hiring women, larger cultural changes need to occur so that an environment is created to support women in both career and family.

by Kristina Tool

On June 24 PWA Milan in collaboration with Korn Ferry International presented the first in a series of “Women In” events.  Bringing together top level executives in their respective fields, the objective of these events is to raise a discussion on how women have achieved their success and what can be done to increase the presence of women at the highest professional levels.

 PWA hosted the event for the first time at the Grand Hotel et de Milan on Via Manzoni.  The standing room only crowd included more than 150 professional women who came to listen to four  panel members discuss women working in the male dominated field of finance.

Moderated by PWA president Monica Pesce, the panel was comprised of Giulia Belloni -Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry International, Alessandra Perrazzelli – Head of international affairs, Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, Monica Poggio – Head of Corporate Culture, Unicredit Group and representing the male point of view, Fabio L. Sattin – Chairman and Founding Partner, Private Equity Partners Spa. From the audience, Patrizia Micucci – Senior Partner, BI Invest and Mara Caverni – Partner, PWC, provided their point of view on investment banking and consulting.

The evening began with defining the current situation. Giulia Belloni shared statistics on the greatly disproportionate representation of female executives in the world of finance. Present at the top levels in only single digit percentages, women have a long distance to go before parity is achieved.  Continued discussion reinforced that women in the upper levels of finance are few and far between and Italy ranks lower than many nations in the percentages of women who have achieved upper level positions.

Panelists presented thoughtful and frank responses based on their experiences of working both inside and outside of Italy.  They gap between male and female workers is seen not only in the numbers of women present but in the lower compensation women receive.  It was acknowledged that education and skill levels are not the problem; women who have risen to the top are clearly capable of meeting the high demands which a career in finance places on them, so what reasons remain to explain the situation?

Alessandra Perrazzelli noted a lack of female role models in the upper echelons of corporate executives, in addition to the lack of infrastructure provided to women with families. As the burden of family care still falls on the shoulders of women, (even those employed fulltime) those with families must rely on outside resources which allow them to be able to focus on work.  Italy is especially lacking in providing this support.

Additional reasons could have more to do with self promotion skills. Monico Poggio commented on women needing to be better at first recognizing the value they bring and then doing more in expressing this value through self promotion.  Fabio Sattin added that women are often less aggressive than men.

Discussion also focused on the Italian culture of viewing women in limited roles. Battling the stereotypes of being viewed only as mothers or the predominance the veline in the media and being judged on physical beauty alone, has made it even more challenging for those who aim towards the highest levels.

Monica Pesce continued to probe the panel on what can be done to bring more women to upper levels. Responses took an optimistic tone with the reminder that women have some power in influencing change. Women can demand more from their employers in terms of support, pay and promotions. They can do more to share their achievements and make their accomplishments known so that their true value is understood. Women can also support and encourage each other. 

It was noted that the environment was showing signs of change and that companies have started to recognize the benefits of having more females present in decision making roles. The values of mentors was seen as a strong positive from the panelists view point and also from the perspective of many of the businesses, many of which have started to put programs into place to support and cultivate female leaders. 

While there appeared to be a consensus towards most of the responses, audience members were quick to object to Fabio Sattin’s comment that women were more likely than men to need a structured framework in which to work and perhaps this was a difference between male and female success. Citing the multi-tasking skills which many females exhibit, the idea of a needing a framework was dismissed as a reason for the lack of women seen at the top.

With time running out, the audience was still able to share some ideas on bringing about equality, including PWA Vice president, Malin Carlberg putting forth a provocative question on Italy’s policy of parental leave for fathers.

Wrapping up at about 10PM, the event provided an opportunity for those in attendance to listen to first hand experiences from and about accomplished women in the financial workplace. Although the focus was on women in finance, many of the ideas shared could be applied to a variety of professions.

While the venue was crowded, we received much positive feedback on the presentation and we are looking forward to continuing the series on the fall of 2009 with the Women In Technology and Women In Fashion presentations.

by  Kristina Tool

PWA hosted a special event on Wednesday, July 1st, which gave the audience a sneak preview of the annual WIN Conference to be held this year in Prague, Czech Republic on October 8-10. This was the second event for PWA held in the Grand Hotel et de Milan on Via Manzoni, and one of the events where we welcomed male guests.  

Kristin Engvig, former PWA president, and WIN (Women’s International Networking) Founder and CEO introduced the WIN Mobilizing Women Tour panel for Milan: Lorella Zanardo, who has worked in marketing for Unilever in Milan and Paris, as marketing director for Gruppo Mondadori and now heads her own consulting group, Sportgate, Sarah Brady,  Director of Product Communications and Consumer Design for Whirlpool and Nancy Fina, professional fashion photographer.

WIN’s mission is to inspire women worldwide and Kristin noted that WIN is fortunate to be able to do so through working and listening to local women’s networks around the world and share the information through meetings and conferences.  She presented facts and figures on how both women and the global economy benefit from placing more focus on women and the way women work.  While the panelists came from different countries and different professions, common themes in their presentations included, adapting to new ways of thinking, generosity, and the viewing of women only as physical objects.

Lorella Zanardo shared her work as writer and director of the documentary Il Corpo Delle Donne. The documentary has received worldwide media coverage due to its revealing examination of how Italian television views women’s bodies. The documentary has struck a chord with many who view it and Lorella credits the success of this project due to having a passion for it, time invested and the web.  As Lorella started to place a critical eye on Italian television, she was shocked by what she saw but it motivated her to dedicate a tremendous amount of time to creating her documentary . Despite family and professional obligations she was able to devote the hours needed to develop the documentary. Between word of mouth and the ease of sharing information on the internet Il Corpo Delle Donne has been able to reach an international audience. In addition, Lorella believes that giving generously comes back to you; part of the success of the documentary can be attributed to those who expressed their appreciation, through emails, and offers of ways to help get the message out to others.

Sarah Brady continued the evening’s presentation by describing her move to Italy from England 18 years ago to work with Olivetti and the progress of her career with different companies. Like many expats, she discovered that things were not always easy living as a foreigner, but as an outsider she could view many situations more objectively.  In facing new and unexpected challenges Sarah noted that she required depending on others and in turn has felt a strong desire to pass on this generosity. Helping other women professionally is one way in which Sarah has been able share the benefits of her experience. Her position at Whirlpool has enabled her to create female initiatives within the corporation.

As an American fashion photographer living and working in Italy, Nancy Fina, has a great deal of experience on how men view women. With assignments that had her working with the top models and agencies in the world, she shared stories about how men had certain ideas on the picture, often with strong objectification of the female and  her opposing point of view on how to do the shot. Noting that in Italy the men hold most of  the power she has worked to express her subjects from a female’s point of view.  Nancy finished up by encouraging the group to attend the WIN conference for it’s ability to inspire. “It’s not like going to a beauty farm for your body, its like going to a beauty farm for you soul.”

The audience had an opportunity at the end of the evening to make new connections with each other. Kristin provided some tips on objectives for the mini networking session in which the audience broke up into up into smaller groups. People were able to introduce themselves and get to know others better in the spirit of making new and beneficial connections.

By Kristina Tool, PWA Speaker Director

PWA member Angie Katselianos, consultant, executive coach and head of Platinum Performance International, shared her expertise in assisting her clients in achieving peak performance with her presentation, Successful Networking Strategies: Reaping What You Sow.

Angie began by stressing that networking is a process – and in order to benefit most – we must look at in phases. She outlined steps and provided targets to be achieved during the three phases of networking: preparations before the event, making contacts during the event itself and follow up actions after event.

Some of the strategies provided included taking the time to develop a memorable and meaningful introduction before you go to an event, assessing body language to understand which people are open to being approached once you enter the event and finally, making sure that you follow up promptly with your contacts post event.

Attendees had a chance to put into practice some of the tips provided during the presentation. An exercise was assigned where participants sought out a partner they didn’t know, learned about what their partner was seeking and presented what they were looking for to their partner – all within the recommended ten minute time limit.  Participants in the exercise noted that the ten minutes went by quickly, but were reminded that it was the ideal time frame to make an initial contact in order to follow up later and still have time to make additional contacts.

In addition, Angie discussed the importance of giving referrals and the “Seven Levels of Referrals”; with each level requiring more effort and time on the part of the referee, thereby increasing the potential strength and value of the reference.

In stressing that the most effective networking is an ongoing process, Angie reiterated the importance of continually cultivating our relationships, so that we have a strong network in place when needed.

By Kristina Tool, PWA Speaker Director

Mirella Visser, founder of the Netherlands-based Centre for Inclusive Leadership, board room advisor, former senior executive for ING and KPMG, and president of the European Professional  Women’s Network, presented Women in Leadership – From Crisis, Opportunity to a group of members and guests on April 22, 2009.

Mirella’s presentation shared insights she has gained as president of EPWN and as a female who left her gender-balanced university studies to enter a career in male-dominated multinational corporations.

The higher she climbed in her career, the more she noticed the absence of women and began to wonder what the problem was. She realized that while women work at least as hard as their male counterparts do, they had different views than men on how to advance their careers, as well as the benefits that higher level positions could provide. She noted that hard work alone does not allow you to rise to the top and that more strategic behaviour is required. 

Mirella acknowledged the challenges to women advancing to higher levels in general, and in particular during the current economic crisis. Women are losing jobs at twice the rate of men, as female workers often tend to be employed in departments which are considered non-essential and therefore more susceptible to layoffs. In addition, the pay gap between the sexes is growing.

The situation is far from hopeless, though, and opportunities remain for those who can adapt to the changing work environment. While evidence demonstrates that smart companies benefit from women in leadership roles, women need to do more to put themselves in line for these positions.

Understanding some of the differences in how men and women work may help us to advance. Women tend to be more introspective and self-reflective and may blame themselves first for problems, yet not take credit first for successes.  Modifying this behaviour to take more credit for your contributions will help in job security and advancement.

Mirella left the group with some strategies women can use to advance their careers including:

• Connect yourself to decision makers
• Become part of internal networks
• Prepare yourself for new professional options
• Make sure that your professional image is visible and portrays your skills and accomplishments (check LinkedIn, Google, etc).
• Voice your ambition
• Become invaluable, but be careful with what information you share
• Communicate your contributions and take credit
• Assess transferability of your skills
• Challenge limits
• Support other women

She reminded us that we can all reap the benefits from changing our career advancement strategies from working harder to working smarter.

Andrea Casartelli of Edison Energy presented What it Means to Be Green.  The presentation began with an overview of the pros and cons of different types of energy sources, including, “green sources”.  Andrea defined  green energy sources and explained how energy producers can earn certifications to validate their efforts. Theses certificates are a commodity which can be sold by energy efficient businesses to those with less efficiency and are becoming more valuable as stricter regulations are being put into place.

 While awareness is growing on the importance of going green, cost can be a stumbling block. A survey of European nations indicated a resistance in a willingness to pay additional costs for use of renewable resources, though a fair amount of respondents would be willing to pay up to 10% more for using these sources for their energy needs.

 Andrea brought forth additional benefits in going green. Not only is it politically correct, it can be good business. He cited examples on companies marketing their green efforts to increase business and mentioned how renewable energy is the only sector during the economic crisis with growing investment. Also mentioned were creative ways to offset carbon footprints; everything from concerts powered by sustainable energy to airlines charging a few extra euros per ticket to passengers to go towards planting trees.

 A good portion of the evening was spent discussing how we can offset increased costs while contributing to the green movement. Individuals and businesses can invest in more efficient appliances, light bulbs, and insulation. Measures such as these easily bring the costs of electrical bills down, eventually overcoming the initial expense.

 Comments from those in attendance included the challenges in costs and efforts in making these changes. Andrea acknowledged that many questions remained unanswered, and that many kinks still need to be worked out, but as we become more used to thinking in this manner, improved options and pricing will be available for all of us in our efforts to go green.