In response to requests from both those that attended and those that missed out, Sara has kindly provided her slide presentation that you can view here. Included are links for her preferred tools (both proprietary and open source). On her website When I Have Time she writes about all kinds of technology in an accessible way that doesn’t intimidate the “non-techies”.

Which are you, a Ditherer or a Plunger?

Were you fortunate enough to spend time by the swimming pool or near the sea this summer? Well if you’re like me, and enjoy observing people, you will have noticed that the world is divided into two types of swimmer: the Ditherer and the Plunger!

The Ditherer takes half an hour to get from their sun lounger to the edge of the pool or sea. They fiddle around with their things, reapply sun lotion, reposition their swim costume, all the time thinking about getting in the water but not actually doing it. When they do eventually get to the water’s edge, they put first one toe in, then another, just to test the water. A knee follows, then eventually the waist. A good 45 minutes can go by between the decision to go swimming and them actually taking the plunge!

And then there are the Plungers. They decide they are going swimming, and before you can say “swimming costume” they have taken the plunge, disappearing beneath the waves only to re-emerge refreshed and exhilarated 100 metres out to sea.

We deprive ourselves of the opportunity to achieve
This business of the Ditherer and the Plunger is an excellent metaphor for how many of us behave in our lives when it comes to achieving our goals. Although we know what we need to do to achieve our goals, we approach such tasks with hesitancy and uncertainty, a bit like the Ditherer on the beach who hovers at the water’s edge. We talk about our goal, we think and dream about it. We even take small steps towards achieving it. But we never really commit ourselves fully and so deprive ourselves of the opportunity to fully achieve our goals.

Commit your whole body and mind
Hovering at the water’s edge with your feet in the water is all very well. Yes its cooling, it even gets you wet. But it is not swimming. To be swimming (in other words, to achieve your goal) you need to commit your whole body and mind. You need to take the plunge. Jump in! Dive in! Launch yourself dramatically off the nearest diving board. However you choose to do it, do it with conviction. The sea may at times be cooler or rougher than you expected but any initial discomfort will quickly fade beneath the thrill of dancing with the waves and gliding through the water’s surface towards your goal.

Dreams, Hopes and Wishes will only get you so far
When you talk about your goals what language do you use? Do you tell people that you Dream of running your business, that you Wish you could give up your job and travel around the world, or do you talk about all the things you Hope to do one day when the circumstances are right. The language we use is an indicator of who we are when it comes to achieving our goals. Which are you? A Dreamer, a Hoper, or a Wisher?

Dreams Hopes and Wishes are of course an important part of the goal process. Without them we would not be able to imagine a better life for ourselves, nor be able to see that life as possible. But to dream, to hope and to wish is not enough. Because when we go through life as Dreamers, Hopers and Wishers, two things happen:

1. we wait for circumstances beyond our control to improve or turn in our favour, such as a better economic climate, a change of employer; and
2. we take small steps towards our goals, fooling ourselves that we are making real progress, when all we are doing is dangling our feet in the waters, each resulting in a failure to fully realise our goals.

Make the commitment, and strange things will happen
If you really want to achieve your goals you need to have Great Expectations of yourself. This means making a full commitment to what you wish to achieve. Then and only then will your goal become a reality. When you do this, strange things will happen:

• instead of being a passenger in your own life, you’ll become the driver and can choose the direction you want to go in;
• instead of wallowing in comfort, you’ll find the courage to step outside of your comfort zone, into the zone of discomfort where real change and learning takes place;
• instead of feeling like a powerless victim of circumstances, you’ll start to feel powerful;
• instead of being crippled by self doubt, as a result of taking decisive action you’ll start to believe in yourself;
• instead of waiting for change, you’ll discover more and more ways to initiate it;
• instead of standing still, your life will gather momentum and you’ll start to move forward,

Do what you’ve been avoiding
To truly commit yourself means to do the one thing you’ve been avoiding doing because the circumstances aren’t right or because you feel you’re not ready. Usually it is the thing that fills you with the most fear. Asking for a promotion or pay rise; walking out on a dead-end relationship; or approaching a big corporation for work for example. Whatever it is, you are not truly committed to your goal until you’ve done it. Until then, you’ll just be sitting by the side of the swimming pool with your feet in the water, watching other swimmers reach their goals and wondering why you aren’t one of them.

Begin it now!
If you want to succeed, it is no good dreaming, wishing or hoping. The only way to get results is to commit yourself bodily and mentally to your goal by taking the one significant step that you’ve been avoiding or putting off. This is your Great Expectation, it is what you must expect of yourself, and it is the key to your success. In the famous words of Goethe:

“ Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it now!
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!”

About Caroline
Caroline is a coach, writer and speaker who has a passion for personal growth and for discovering new ways to help others achieve fulfilment in their lives. Read more at her website www.carolineflanagan.com

Germaine Greer said that human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves. A panel of three PWA members shared their experiences of making the decision and taking action to reinvent themselves and their professional lives.

Gini Dupasquier, Italian, a former Accenture project manager and Bocconi alumna, now founder of Donnalab, a startup consulting business specialized in the inclusion and development of women in companies, was the first speaker. Gini explained that she reinvented herself, and had the idea of Donnalab, when she became aware of the disinvestment that companies often put in place toward women and especially toward mothers. She felt there was a waste of talents, a myopia in the working environment that needs to be solved. This young mother of two related how that maternity is something that can be foreseen and companies need to understand the advantage they can have if they deal with it in the right way, instead of penalizing (and then often losing) the woman.

The former consultant shared with the audience that – in such a reinvention – it is very important to be proactive, not reactive, to keep going and find the inner motivation, because every person is in charge of her own choices and needs to have the final word on them. Therefore it is important not to get distracted from each ones’ goals. Secondly, Gini stressed the importance of passion at work, stating that “you cannot reinvent yourself unless you are passionate about what you will become”. Finally, the former UCLA exchange student gave the audience her secret formula to successfully reinvent herself: “Do what you think is right and give yourself motivation: achievable goals and a defined timeframe”.

Zoe Flaherty is the Australian-born founder of the Language Grid. With her story, Zoe showed that she was able to make use of skills she had acquired during her life. A passionate horse rider, she studied banking and finance in Australia and the UK and after a stint balancing her life between her finance job in the city and her commitment with the equestrian team, Zoe decided to change her life and become a professional horse rider. After several months, she decided to reinvent herself one more time and followed her Italian partner to Italy where she taught English for a while before matching the skills and competence acquired to create her own business: The Language Grid, which provides business training in English.

Zoe too gave the audience the secret formula that helped her to successfully reinvent herself more than one time: “Believe in what you are doing and think that what you are doing is great just because you are great. You should be the artist that doesn’t put his/her piece of art in the garage because he/she is too scared of the judgment of other people”.

Sheyla Rega, French and Italian, is a senior executive coach and trainer on management & leadership programs and a partner in the firm Lody srl. Three years ago she founded with two colleagues LeaderShe a company which creates training and coaching programs that help women in developing and enhancing their leadership skills in organizations. She taught the audience to “follow what life brings in”. After a successful career as manager in quality control, Sheyla resigned from her job – and her daily routine that involved 3 hours of commuting – to have a baby. After this move, Sheyla worked hard to reinvent herself and – because she was very passionate about HR and people – decided to train as a coach, studying both in her country and also abroad, and started a business with her former best friend. This 5 months long experience taught her the difference between a friend and a business partner and the importance of choosing carefully both of them. Moreover, a definitely huge support to all her projects had been provided from her husband.

The advice she shared with the audience was the importance of differentiating yourself within your market niche, continuing to reinvent oneself and keeping a forward-looking approach. Choosing partners carefully was another key to her success.

The three also shared the obstacles they face. Gini explained that her biggest obstacle is to make companies aware of the value of gender balance, attracting and retaining more talented women. Zoe’s challenge is to get companies to understand the value of training in English. Sheyla mentioned that she sees no obstacles but only choices and that she doesn’t look back with regrets but only to learn how to improve.

PWA launches the second edition of the Mentoring Program

Valerie Ryder, Professional Development Director, and Lee K. Smith, Program Coordinator, opened the event “Moving Mountains through Mentoring” by reviewing details of the current program. This year PWA is going to select between 12 and 15 pairs. Aspiring mentors and mentees were able to submit their application through May 4th, 2011 (application period is now closed). A number of Mentors from the 2010 program have confirmed their willingness to serve again in this year’s edition (attesting to the satisfaction and other benefits they gained), as have several PWA members who have been named as Ready-for-Board Women. Criteria for matching are based on the correspondence between Mentee objectives and Mentor profiles. Once those criteria are met, priority will be given to applicants with a longer membership period with PWA. Results will be communicated within the first half of May and selected participants will be required to attend the free Mentoring Skills Workshop on Saturday morning, May 21st.

In order to illustrate the effectiveness of mentoring, PWA invited four of the 2010 Mentees to share their experience with the audience. Stella Hodkin, Communication Manager at Arancho Doc and Lee K. Smith’s Mentee, told the participants how helpful it was to count on her Mentors’ guidance while going through a time of major changes both on a personal and a professional level. She found it to be truly a privilege to be listened to very attentively and by an experienced professional willing to find time to talk only about her mentee and her goals.

The second testimonial was from Sonia Parise, Relationship Manager at Vontobel Asset Management and Nicoletta Zappatini’s Mentee, who started the Mentoring program wishing to grow as a senior sales manager. Coming from the (still) male-dominated finance world, Sonia felt the need to draw upon the know-how of a more experienced woman dealing with the same challenges she faced every day. Sonia had in mind clearly which areas she wanted to improve upon: sales, negotiation and networking – which she did indeed strengthen. There was more. Her mentor’s valuable feedback allowed her the confidence and ability to express her own management style.

Cristina del Rey, sales programs manager and Monica Giordani’s Mentee, also shared her positive mentoring experience. Cristina chose to take part to the Mentoring program during her maternity leave, when her life was changing in many ways and she wanted to invest time in focusing on her next steps. She treasured the insights she gained thanks to her Mentor, a major one being the discovery of her vocation, which she is actively pursuing.

The final Mentee account was heard from Gini Dupasquier, founder of DonnaLab, who took part in a special Mentoring group session with Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-First and founder of the European Professional Women’s Network. Even if her Mentoring experience lasted a few hours, Gini was able to truly benefit from it. She sought advice on how to promote her own start-up consulting firm, a business inspired by Avivah’s work on gender balance within companies. Gini was surprised to see how carefully her Mentor listened to her, putting aside her own success story and giving excellent marketing suggestions to the Mentees who participated in that morning’s session. Start simple; become a voice for your area of specialty; use insightful and proven data to approach potential customers, rather than merely introducing yourself. These are only a few of the suggestions that Gini applied immediately and successfully in the following months within her own company.

This is just a small selection of the positive experiences of the 2010 edition. Many more have been collected in PWA’s publication “Women Leading Women”, named after the program. Download the publication here

One of the questions that then arose was on what it takes to be a good Mentor or Mentee. In order to be a good Mentor it is necessary to have strong professional experience and the willingness to share it for someone else’s benefit. She needs to be a good listener and confident in giving valuable feedback, keeping the exchange with her Mentee strictly confidential. Finally, a good Mentor must commit time and continuity to the program, minimum one hour every month for six months. In order to be a good Mentee, it is necessary to set clear and realistic goals to achieve through the program; be honest and proactive; be open to suggestions and constructive feedback; and not be afraid of asking the right questions to herself and her Mentor.

Workshop “How to find your own Mentor”

PWA realizes that there is a significant gap between supply and demand of Mentoring programs in Italy, which is why the PWA Mentoring program was first conceived and is now continuing with its second edition. PWA is also aware that it will likely be difficult to fulfill all requests to take part in the 2011 program.

This is why Valerie Ryder, program leader, facilitated a Workshop on finding your own Mentor. In her presentation Valerie clarified that anybody can find a Mentor. No one’s professional and/or life situation is too “unusual” to start looking for one (or even several!). But where to look? It’s better to avoid close friends, family and significant others, who may not have the right experience and be too emotionally involved to be objective. Also avoid your direct boss and colleagues, as this could be tricky, possibly overexposing you, your uncertainties and your future intentions. Do not approach acquaintances with no significant ties with you and people with good intentions…but no time!

Do however consider approaching an industry leader of the sector you are interested in, a higher-up in the organization you work for, a mutual connection who has taken an interest in you, a peer at a professional association, or a community leader. Identify at least three potential Mentors and approach them by telling them why you would like to have them as your Mentors, being honest, informal and specific about your needs. Be flexible about time availability and basic logistics, but do set an appointment to get the relationship going once you are accepted as a Mentee.

Persevere if you can’t find one immediately. If you are unsure about a potential Mentor, ask a question and check if you’re satisfied with the answer. Look for a Mentor with the right experience and who is a role model for you, and also who has the right chemistry that can allow you to cultivate a strong and long-lasting professional connection or even a friendship. Do not postpone your search. If you think you need a Mentor, the time to get moving is NOW!

Valerie Ryder, Executive Coach & Consultant at Ryder & Associates, served as Mentor in the 2010 edition and invited her own Mentee, Chiara Cappelletti, Chemical Engineer and Development Technologist at BP Technology Centre near London, to share her experience on finding a Mentor after moving to the UK and subsequent to completing the PWA program. Chiara approached a successful young manager working in her company, several levels above her, asking candidly if she would become her Mentee. The much sought-after manager she selected agreed (!), stipulating that Chiara’s immediate manager be aware of the Mentoring relationship (standard practice). Chiara has effectively started her Mentorship within her own company, and is well-prepared to take on her ambitious professional challenges.

Please share with PWA your own success story on finding a Mentor by writing to professional@pwa-milan.org

View photos from the 27 April event here

Read La Carriera Rosa’s interview of Valerie Ryder on the PWA Mentoring Program here

Download the “Women Leading Women” 2010 mentoring publication here

In today’s world it is increasingly important that women be responsible for their professional progress. On the one hand, the career options presented to women are exponentially higher than just a few decades ago. My mother’s generation, for example, had the broad choice between being a nurse, a stewardess, a secretary, a housewife or a nun. Mom was a perfect example: since she was too tall to work on a plane and too disorganized to work in an office, she decided to go into a convent, then changed her plans when she met my father, and became a housewife. Now she’s a nurse (although there is some continuity in that she’s still tall, disorganized and religious).

On the other hand, nowadays changing employers and even careers regularly is commonplace and well-accepted. Some employers and hiring professionals have even come to expect to see a variety of qualified experiences. (Mind you, job-hoppers are still frowned upon).

Too often, however, women’s careers are shaped by chance events, suggestions from friends and family who mean well but who may not be best placed to give professional advice, and occasionally, benevolent bosses.

From reactive to proactive
What can you, as a working woman, do to shift from being reactive about your career, to managing it proactively? You can start by making the following reiterative process a conscious part of your life.

1. Define and refine your career objectives for a rolling 2-4 year period. Think big. Be ambitious. Fight off any self-limiting beliefs (often manifested by nagging, pessimistic inner voices) or negative external influences that may hold you back from realizing your potential. Be aware that you can be the best planner on earth, yet there are always unforeseen circumstances. It’s worth keeping that in mind in order not to be discouraged or surprised about unexpected events which may prevent you from reaching some of your original goals.

2. Just do it. Dare to pursue your goals, with assertiveness, self-confidence and creativity. For a variety of reasons, this area tends to pose many challenges to women. Read on for plenty of examples and tips on how to accomplish this.

3. Evaluate your progress. Periodically assess the situation – are you on track? Have new variables emerged? When they do appear, it’s time to revisit your objectives while taking the new factors into account. Setting your goals is not a one-time, static occurrence; rather, it is an ongoing requirement to getting where you want to go.

No woman is an island
This process is simple to comprehend on a rational level. But for many, it’s easier said than done. How do you set your goals, when you’re not sure about what you want to do or are able to accomplish? How do you communicate more assertively and increase your self-esteem? How do you give free reign to your creativity, without fearing possible unwanted consequences? Getting help and support along the way is essential – there are very few stories of women (and even fewer of men, I would contend) who have succeeded on their own.

Building your personal support team can be done in a number of different ways, starting with enlisting the support of your spouse and/or family. Make your boss or business partner a sponsor of your success. Find a mentor who is willing to guide you. Take advantage of your company’s HR department, in areas such as training, career planning, and organizational development. Work with a professional coach. Reach out to peers and other people in your network who can help you in some way.

Real-life examples
At a Mini-Workshop I facilitated recently for PWA Milan during a Networking Aperitivo, I asked the dozens of women present to answer the question: What is the best proactive action you have taken in terms of your career? Following are the word-for-word answers, compiled into five different categories:

1. Assertiveness: Daring, Asking, Negotiating
Changing companies every 5/7 years – Wanting my boss’ job! – Sending out cold emails – Leave my (old!) job – Focused search in new country – Reinventing my career in a new country – Take risks – Negotiate better conditions – Maternity is not an obstacle: let me try and I will demonstrate I can also work – Applying for my current position in the company, getting more money – Proposed myself for a job I had never done before and succeed in it – Ask my boss for a new position – Being honest about what I could offer from the beginning of a new contract – Get husband and grandparents trained properly to support us and give relief from children and house responsibilities

2. International experience & travel
Working for an international law firm – Having gained international experience in my job – Being ready to travel a lot – Having travelled everywhere to learn and to teach

3. Launch own activity
Establish my srl – Starting my own business – Create an independent activity (Iva) – Being an entrepreneur of your own life – Starting a project

4. Life-long learning
Attend coaching school – Going back to b school – Learn new skills (language, computer, business, self-organization) – Discovering my core values and life purpose – Being gender bilingual

5. Networking & politics
Being a member of a professional association – New contacts – Enter politics

There’s something to say for women from the previous generations – they may not have had many career options, but they sure did have common sense. Some of my mother’s favorite sayings, still applicable to women today, are: Ask and you shall receive. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. God helps those who help themselves. Knowledge is power. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. In short, assertiveness, perseverance, initiative, education, creativity…sound familiar?

93 new names add up to the Ready-for-Board Women list drafted in 2009, reaching a total of 165 women selected by PWA Milan and the Advisory Board as full potential new candidates for Boards close to their renewal.

PWA Milan’s President, Monica Pesce, greeted the crowded audience that took part to presentation of the second edition of the RFBW list in Assolombarda, asking the RFBW in the room to stand up and collect the excitement and loud applauses of the guests. A touching and powerful gesture that followed the presentations of the Advisory Board Members.

Maurizia Iachino, partner of Key2people and Governance Practice Leader, introduced the audience to the criteria used for the selection: experience, professional roles with high management responsibility, skills, seniority, reputation, internationality, commitment at Associative and Federation level (see her presentation here).

Marianna Carbonari, Senior Associate Spencer Stuart Italia, explained the value of the project, based on a pragmatic approach and objective criteria, therefore granting an excellent and reliable talent pool that can finally and undeniably prove Italian women have what it takes to enter Board rooms (see her presentation here).

Simona Cuomo, Coordinator of the Diversity Management Observatory at SDA Bocconi, helped the guests picturing the typical profile of a “Board member” in order to underline the challenges that a woman faces to match with a traditional and standard model. Focusing on the added value of diversity, Cuomo suggested the best answer might be widening the skills and career profile a professional should hold to access a Board (see her presentation here).

Livia Amidani Aliberti, founder of Aliberti Governance Advisors and expert of corporate governance, highlighted the opportunities and the risks implied in the legislation likely to be approved and effective very soon. Hoping that even small boards will make the best efforts to include women regardless the unfavourable math (round down of the quota calculation), the new legislative environment is however only a starting point, it is the market instead, and its competitive rules, that should create the best conditions for women to excel (see her presentation here).

Women’s presence shouldn’t only be measured in terms of numbers, but also in terms of key positions within professional networks. Romina Guglielmetti, lawyer and expert of corporate governance insisted on the importance of looking for the best talents, regardless the gender, as a way for companies to ensure growth and sustainability. The RFBW list demonstrate that there’s an entire talent pool of professional ready and willing to serve economy (read her speech here).

The second part of our summary dedicated to the RFBW event will focus on what has been discussed by our panel.

What is Venture Capital?

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, growing startup companies. In addition to angel investing and other seed funding options, venture capital is attractive for new companies with limited operating history that are too small to raise capital in the public markets.

If it wasn’t for venture capital (and great entrepreneurial teams), the following companies would not exist: Google, Intel, eBay, Apple, Yahoo, Genentech, YOOX, Starbucks, Privalia, twitter, facebook.

Almost all the new great US companies are venture backed

Venture Capital in Italy

In Italy, the Venture Capital is still at an entry level. €115 M only have been invested. Italy comes long after other European countries such as France with €680 M or UK with € 1.28 B venture capital investments.

dPixel & Alessandro Santo

dPixel is a young company, which is looking for attractive ideas and business solutions for the web world. Alessandro Santo is one of the dPixel entrepreneurs and managers team members

Tips and Tricks to Get Funded

dPixel receives around 500 projects per year, meaning that it evaluates around 2 projects per day. Which are the selection criteria?

The written rules say that the “standard” documentation is needed including a convincing business plan and back up data, as well as a venture capital pitch. Because they are written rules, almost everybody provides these documents.

The unwritten rules (obviously more important and those making the difference) include passion for the business idea and its execution, strong commitment, a cohesive team, and a trusted and experienced advisory board. Furthermore, a deep study of the market size, and more specifically of the addressable market size is determinant. Last, but not least “the enemies”: do not estimate the competitors!

The essentials of trips and tricks can be summarized as “ideas worth nothing, it is all about execution”.

Women and Venture Capital: Just a Dream?

The reality says that less than 1% of the received projects are proposed by women. Among the causes, some hypothesis mention that women prefer safe jobs or women are less competitive than men and cannot sustain the hard life of a start up. Furthermore, in this case we talk about Web technologies, where the percentage of women is significantly less than men’s.

For example, making a quick survey in an IT department of one of the universities in Milan, the numbers say that assistant professor women are 10% of the total number of professors, associate professor women are 10% of the total number of professors, while full professor women are 4% of the total number of professors. The situation is better for the PhD students, where 20% are women. The truth is that in the IT domain there are significantly fewer women than men, but definitely more than 1%.

In the early ‘900 women didn’t even work outside their homes. Women got the vote right in 1946 in Italy, and now are actively involved in politics. Web technologies are quite young, so just give women several more years to concur also the Venture Capitals.

It is also worth mentioning that Mashape has looked for Italian Venture Capital with no success. So, it moved to Silicon Valley and the success arrived also in Italy. Instead of conclusions, we can say that also Venture Capital in Italy is young.

Find here the slides presented by Alessandro Santo during the event: “Venture Capital in Italy: An Insider’s View“ and “fail idee che affondano“.

On October 20^th, PWA hosted a panel presentation entitled, Attracting and Retaining Talent – Strategies for Success.  PWA president Monica Pesce posed the initial questions to the panel comprised of:

• Sara Liviero, PWA member and Human Resources Manager,  for Janssen Cilag (Business Partner of Johnson & Johnson Italia)
• Gianluca Pessina, Human Resources Director Italy & Central Europe, USG People (operating in Italy through Start People and Unique – Employment and HR Services)
• Paola Scarpa, Industry Leader Technology, Media & Entertainment, Google Italy

The interactive presentation included numerous questions and answers on what businesses were doing to attract and retain the best employees and what individuals seeking career growth could be doing to make themselves more attractive to companies.

Despite the current economic climate, forward thinking businesses have not resorted to cutting all costs, but rather, have decided to invest in their employees through creating a positive work environment.

In USG People’s work to find the best talent, they carefully look through resumes to ensure that they are not passing up strong candidates because someone followed a non-traditional path or may have gaps in their experience.  They take the time to interview those with potential to ensure that what is written is a good fit with where they would be placed. Johnson and Johnson has invested heavily in training and retraining employees who may shift roles within the company. Google has created an office setting which includes recreational and relaxation features as they recognize that innovation and ideas can come at any time, so creating an environment where employees are happy to spend time fosters a place where many can contribute to the growth of the company.

The panelists were in agreement on removing some of the barriers to employee input and enabling all who work for a business to feel as if their work mattered. Matching the right person to the right culture was also a key factor in success for both the individual and the business.  The positive aspects of the benefits and environments these businesses have invested in,  are a key component in attracting and retaining the best employees in order to make the businesses successful.

The outcome of the event resulted in the development of the following two lists; what businesses are currently  doing or can be doing to attract and retain the right talent and what individuals can be doing to better position themselves.

BUSINESSES

• Recruitment programs with universities and graduate schools
• Internship programs
• Make sure individuals are a good match with existing company culture
• Provide opportunities for career growth at every level
• Create more open, less hierarchical environment
• Create relaxed and “play-time” activities within the work environment to encourage exchange of information and new ideas.
• Include areas of recreation and relaxation in work environment
• Create a sense of belonging
• Provide an “emotional salary” ( benefits not just from paycheck, but also from feeling you are an important part of success for the company)
• Practice meritocracy by awarding promotions through a cross function committee to ensure impartial evaluations.
• Provide wellness benefits
• Invest in employees
• Offer leadership and mentoring programs
• Offer flexibility in terms of hours and roles for employees

 INDIVIDUALS

• Make sure statements on your resume are supported by your actions
• Have good reasons for changing job and/or career
• Account for all periods in your life on your resume, and be prepared to provide good reasons for gaps or inconsistencies
• Have needed technical competencies
• Demonstrate skills in entrepreneurism
• Demonstrate passion through taking risks for what you believe and activities in your free time
• Be able to back up what you say, cite examples
• Achieve results
• Be willing to learn
• Be flexible and be willing to adapt to new roles and responsibilities
• Be prepared to show how your life outside of work reflects your personal characteristics

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: