SheLeaders Podcast Series - Ep. 1: A Dialogue Between Male and Female Leaders | Panel Discussion From SheLeads 1 Year Anniversary

This is a new series of CBC in collaboration with SheLeads, an empowering platform for all professional females in China. SheLeads dedicates to promote female leadership, and in this series, we will bring you interviews with inspiring and successful female (She) LEADERS in China and share with you their exciting life stories, work experience, professional insights and career advices.

Today’s podcast is featuring a dialogue about female leadership between male and female leaders. This panel discussion was taken place at SheLeads 1 Year Celebration event and navigated by our special guest Ms. Adelmise Warner from Pandora USA and a respectful Eisenhower Fellow. The theme is chosen to create meaningful conversations between decision-making leaders. In particular, male champions are invited to encourage a discussion of such matters between men and women, to avoid one-side dialogue, and to inspire more male audience to be involved.

Our Guests

Adelmise Warner (Panel Moderator)
(Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, SiriusXM Satellite Radio and Pandora USA)

After practicing employment law for 18 years, Adelmise is accountable for developing and implementing diversity and inclusion strategies in her company. She is a participant in the Eisenhower Fellowships, and is one of 9 diverse leaders from the United States who have been selected as a 2019 Zhi-Xing China Eisenhower Fellow. During her visit in China, she joined as our special host to navigate the SheLeads panel discussion.

Eleanor Bedford
Director of Programming in Peace Corps, USA;
SheLeads Mentor

Eleanor is currently the Director of Programming in Peace Corps. Before coming to China, Eleanor held important managerial roles at organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations, U.S. Agency for International Development（USAID) with more than 20 years of experience supporting leaders, organizations and communities. She is also a proud mentor of SheLeads.

Zhang Yi
Zhong Lun Law Firm Partner;
SheLeads Mentor

Zhang Yi is a SheLeads mentor and advisor. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Sichuan University Law School before her master's degree from University of London. She has been engaged in legal work for 21 years, serving as a judge in economic crime courts, foreign-related and intellectual property courts, as well as handling dozens of major economic crime cases and more than 200 intellectual property disputes. Currently, she provides Fortune 500 companies legal services.

Jim Mullinax
U.S. Consul General in Chengdu, China

Jim Mullinax began his assignment as U.S. Consul General in Chengdu, China in August 2017. Prior to this position, he served as Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. He has spent the majority of his career in Asia, previously serving in Manila, Philippines; Surabaya, Indonesia; Taipei; Hong Kong; and Shanghai.

Kurt Macher
General Manager of The Temple House

An Austrian native, Kurt Macher has over 28 years of experience in luxury hospitality. Kurt joined Swire Hotels in July 2016 as the General Manager of The Temple House, Chengdu. Prior to joining Swire Hotels, Kurt was the Group Director of Projects & Rooms for Wharf Hotels in Hong Kong.

Sean
HRD of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Chengdu

With a Bachelor of Business (Hotel Management) from Griffith University, Sean has over 10-year experiences in hospitality industry working with The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, The Ritz-Carlton, Chengdu and The Shanghai EDITION.

• All panelists briefly introduced themselves and their relationships to China.

• Discussion about top characters of a good leader?

• Globally, there is a gender imbalance in the workplace, particularly at the senior and executive levels. Do you agree there is an imbalance? If so - what do you believe are some of the biggest factors contributing to this imbalance?

• What companies can do to help advance more women, or clear some of the barriers to senior leadership？

• Discussion about what companies can do to get more males involved in supporting female leadership or related issues. How do we not only empower women but also empower men for such matter?

• Discussion about acceptance and definition of “feminism”.

• Discussion about difference in the leading behaviors of men and women and cultural difference between the west and China regarding confidence.

• Advices to women in terms of what they can do to be successful leaders.

Highlights

Eleanor - Leadership is about a way of being instead of doing. Be a true leader means ‘stick to who you are’. Without this commitment and vision, you are not able to inspire other people.

Kurt- The key (of eliminating advancing barriers for women) is that every organization should hire people based on their experience rather than skin color and gender. Women has a nature of nurturing. They are more willing to mentor others when they are in the leader position. We should support them.

Yi- Guanxi (connections) make things better, but not essential. Change the world by changing your mindset.

Jim- If you want to change the culture, you have to change it for both men and women. Award people who promote diversity, men have to want it, women also want it.

Sean- Forget about female and male, you can be a leader.

Eleanor- You can do hard things, it just takes believing in yourself.

Jim- To make a change, you have to call up the behavior publicly you want to change.

About Sheleads
SheLeads is an empowering female platform, which is run by women and specially for women. This international network is created to build long-term valuable relationships among professional females at workplace. SheLeads will not only enable women to share their expertise, learn from each other in a safe and comfortable environment where common challenges are shared particularly to females, but also help emphasize the role of female leaders in professional careers.

Join & Lead
Wechat ID: sheleads
Linkedin: SheLeads Professional Females Network

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