On the last episode of Morning Coffee, our CEO, Emilio Cadena, hosted a pleasant conversation with the special guests and world female leaders, Pati Jinich, and Devry Boughner. During this morning chat, they exchanged their insights about the Women Leadership in the Future of the Bilateral Relation.
As part of the chair members of the U.S. Mexico Foundation, it is very important to increase the understanding between Mexico and the U.S., not only on the trade side, that is one of the dimensions of this relationship but also on sustainability and development. Diversity is one of the dimensions that benefit business, society, economic growth, social outcomes.
Meet Our Guests
Pati Jinich, is an award-winning Mexican chef, TV host, cookbook author, and best known for her TV series, Pati’s Mexican Table. She is the resident chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., since 2007. Pati started her professional career as a political analyst and received a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University. Soon after, she worked at the Inter-American Dialogue, a policy research center. In 2007 Pati decided to pursue her dream and left her job, she launched Mexican Table, a culinary program that consists of a series of live cooking demonstrations and tasting dinners of Mexican cuisine.
Devry Boughner is the CEO of DevryBV Sustainable Strategies, a company that inspires businesses to serve humanity courageously. Devry is a well-known international business leader with 20+ years of combined government and private sector experience. In August 2019, Devry left her post as Chief Communications Officer and Corporate Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs for Cargill to found her own woman-owned business.
Women Leadership
Pati and Devry, as a great example of female leadership, shared their insights and experiences about the impact of women leaders.
“There is no reason for us to continue as women who are highly capable in all aspects of leading in society to put out the statistics and data on the impact. Where we now need to be going is what is the data and metrics on how are we actually accelerating women into these roles.”, mentioned Devry Boughner.
It is fundamental that women in leadership positions are supported by other women, but also be supported by men. There needs to be an effort of reeducating the population in the concept of women and change the system based on patriarchy.
“What is the right composition of leadership that needs to be for the overall organization or society to thrive and grow?”, this is the question that needs to be done for choosing leaders. The more diverse the teams are, the better they will be.
To change a company´s mission of profit to purpose, there have to be different perspectives to the table. Soft leadership* and women’s perspective can help identify and focus on other indicators in a system that will add more value to a company.
*Soft leadership: Soft leadership is a new leadership perspective that is closely connected with women leadership. There are 11 Cs that constitute soft leadership – character, charisma, conscience, conviction, courage, communication, compassion, commitment, consistency, consideration, and contribution. Soft leadership is a people-oriented leadership without compromising the task-orientation.
Generational Impact
Years ago, society couldn’t imagine women in leadership positions. Over time, this has changed. When society thinks of women leaders, is not only an impact on gender divide but with generational divide, so for the present and future generations it is very important to consider diverse groups of leadership to break this tension.
Society is evolving, and this quarantine has given an opportunity to rethink the roles and structures about systems and start rebalancing for a better quality of life.
Work-Life Balance: Redifining the System
Work-life balance integration is a very known concept we have nowadays in companies. But for a true balance, a person has to define their priorities and decide what is the best decision to make at that moment. Emilio, Pati, and Devry discussed about women taking the decision of having a break on the work schedule to dedicate time to their families. “At Prodensa, we have a woman leader that chose to have a break on her tasks to dedicate time to her family and come back later, and it is totally acceptable”, mentioned Emilio. On the other hand, it is very common that these decisions may affect women leaders on their resume because of the gap in time during this break. This is the time to redefine the system.
In the recruiting process, it is very important to start rethinking on how the women candidates are being selected. The gaps in a resume not necessarily mean that a candidate does not have the qualifications for a particular job. HR teams need to evaluate other aspects of the recruiting process, such as education, and the real value of an individual. For example, a woman leader deciding to spend time with family means she is the CEO of her own family, leadership can come in many ways. To start seeing real changes, it begins with philosophy but also turned into policy for the leadership to innovate and implement new processes into company management.
“The redefinition of success is one of the most important things that we need to do, in order to be successful on diversity and inclusion”, said Emilio Cadena.
The Bilateral Relation
For the U.S, Mexico relations, maintaining connectivity between these economies is critical for the well-being of the people on both sides. A tangible thing businesses can do to support women leadership, is to take a look at their board members. For the philosophy and policy changes that come directly from the support of the leaders on the board. To accelerate change, it is necessary to change the perception and analyze the real value of board members. Not only consider women on boards in Mexico or on the U.S. but also, consider women on the U.S. for Mexican boards and vice versa “Once you do that you are solidifying the cross boarding relationship in a way it hasn’t been solidified,” mentioned Devry.
Watch the full episode of “Morning Coffee: Women Leadership in the Future of the Bilateral Relation” on our Youtube channel.
Click here.