BEIJING, Feb. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ — Yucheng Technologies Limited (NASDAQ:YTEC), a leading provider of IT solutions to China’s banking industry, today announces that it will hold a conference call to discuss the financial results of the three-month period and fiscal year…
PR Newswire: Financial Services
SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ — Winner Medical Group Inc. (Nasdaq: WWIN) (“Winner Medical” or the “Company”), a leading China-based exporter and retailer of high-quality medical dressings and consumer products made from 100% cotton, announced today that it will release…
PR Newswire: Financial Services
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Archbishop Desmond Tutu is quoted as saying if he had one wish to change the world, he would have more women leaders. At Davos this year, joking that he may need security to escort him offstage, he suggested, “What we need is a revolution led by women. I think women ought to be saying to us men: ‘You have made a mess, just get out and let us in.’”
While radical revolution was not on the agenda at the World Economic Forum’s Women Leaders Dinner, the question of leadership for the messy world was. As posited by moderator Laura Liswood, Secretary-General CWWL, in these turbulent times do we need the bold John Wayne style of leadership or do women see — and bring — something different?
The conversation was taken up to a refreshingly higher level than the stale ‘what will it take for women to be leaders,’ or ‘how are women better or different leaders than men?’ Instead, the question we lived in was ‘what kind of leadership is demanded in these challenging times?’
It is the right question to ask. As large swaths of the world lurched from one crisis to another through the last five years, our paradigms of leadership have been challenged. At Davos last year and again this year, people groused that our current political leaders do not seem fit to lead and that global corporations are often filling the vacuum of political leadership. One participant put it bluntly, “people are scared; they have forgotten how to lead.”
The women leaders assembled agreed that this environment calls for ‘an era of hybrid leadership.’ As Michelle Bachelet, UN Women Executive Director and former Chilean president, said, “We can’t generalize. For good leadership in changing times, one day they need to be the general, the next the consensus-builder.” Her comments were echoed by Josette Sheeran, UN World Food Program Executive Director and new board member of the World Economic Forum, “Today’s leadership still needs to be hierarchical but also needs to be flexible.”
If the leadership establishment is equated with inflexibility or in many cases, immobility, we need leaders — especially women — who can offer flexibility of thought, facilitate creative new solutions in a fast-changing world, rally resources and think in new ways. And I agree with those who feel our perpetually shifting environment calls for leadership that is more decisive and crisis-oriented than slow and consensual. As Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, said, “We need [leaders] to have thick skin.”
I have rarely sat through a discussion of women’s leadership where the conversation did not drift to ‘masculine v. feminine’ leadership styles. Although that dissection still surfaced plenty at Davos, many felt this framing is passé. As summed up nicely by Valerie Germain, Heidrick & Struggles Managing Partner, Head of Strategy and Business Development, “the discussion of male versus female leadership traits is stopping progress. There is a style of leadership that is needed: flexibility.” UN Undersecretary-General Bachelet said, “We don’t believe we need to make a trade off between being feminine and tough. Women are of course capable of strong and tough decisions.”
In this vein, some women argued that equating leadership to people in positions of authority was also passé, that the true definition of leadership is mobilizing and facilitating various resources toward progress. As posited by a member of the Forum’s ‘Global Shapers Community,’ we often keep individualizing leadership but leadership does not happen without teams. The ability to lead from within or outside a hierarchical structure is more possible and more critical given the current technologies and global culture shifts toward the importance of civil engagement.
Through this leadership lens, our workplace gender equality metrics and measurements are incomplete when we focus on how many women are (or are not) in the C-suite or board seats. If we really buy into this concept that ‘leaders are people mobilizing resources,’ not just those with powerful titles, then perhaps we have more women leading then we currently measure.
The ability of leaders to mobilize resources takes an ability to synthesize which in turn takes an ability to listen and to be inclusive, all characteristics identified as essential for the current contexts. Valerie Germain argues that the kind of diversity that is most critically needed is ‘diversity of thought.’ “The strategic priorities at Davos reflected what we’re hearing from our clients globally. The theme is the next generation of talent and how we continue to pursue a more diverse workforce. Getting to optimal solutions requires the right mix of diverse perspectives and most [corporations] are currently far from equilibrium. Gender is part of that diversity of thought and experiences — the future state of the world is going to built on new perspectives, skills.”
The Davos discussion on women’s leadership was eloquently stitched up by Beth Brooke, Ernst & Young Global Vice-Chair, Public Policy: “We need to focus on what we can do collectively, but also individually. Do women leaders exercise the power we have?” One of the Forum’s Young Global Leaders, Mina Guli, founder of Peony Capital and CEO of Thirst, argued eloquently for not neglecting the steps women can take immediately and personally. “I’m so focused on action right now launching a global movement on water conservation and doing it from China. So it’s fine to talk about the esoteric nature of leadership, but individually we need to look now at how we can be the best leaders we can be. Are you the best you can be, and if not, why not? We should focus on strengthening our strengths, mitigating weaknesses.” I completely concur with Beth and Mina. There is still plenty of need to focus on removing systemic and cultural blockages that prevent diversity of thought (including gender equality) in organizations and politics. But individually, when we spend time looking at barriers around us in our workplace or society, barriers is what we will see — and if ‘seeing is believing,’ focusing on barriers often limits our personal vision of what we can achieve.
One of the Davos sessions asked the question, ‘Do women have a vision?’ For our vision of a better world, we should have a vision for diversity of thought in organizations and politics. We should have a vision for leaders who can listen, synthesize and then act decisively. And as those leaders in action now, we should have a vision of ourselves continuously improving our own abilities to be the best change agents we can be.
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As President Obama said last night, those of us Americans– millionaires and billionaires – who have been blessed with extraordinary success have an obligation to pay more taxes. We’ve been protected long enough with…
PR Newswire: Financial Services
Earlier today, President Obama spoke with the late Joe Paterno’s wife, Sue, and son, Jay, to offer his condolences for their family’s loss. During their conversation, the President recalled fond memories of when he first met Coach Paterno and said that he and Michelle would keep the Paterno family in their prayers during this difficult time.
President Obama called Egyptian Field Marshal Tantawi today to reaffirm the close partnership between the United States and Egypt and to underscore the United States’ support for Egypt’s transition to democracy. He welcomed the historic seating of the lower house of Egypt’s Parliament and offered his congratulations to the Egyptian people on taking this important step towards democracy. The President reinforced the necessity of upholding universal principles and emphasized the important role that civil society, including non-governmental organizations, have in a democratic society. He underscored that non-governmental organizations should be able to operate freely. The two leaders discussed Egypt’s economic situation and the ongoing discussions between Egypt and the International Monetary Fund on an economic program that can garner the broad support of the Egyptian people. The President and the Field Marshall discussed the importance of continuing to cooperate closely on counter-terrorism and regional security issues. They agreed to remain in close touch in the months ahead as Egypt continues its transition to democracy.
President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan spoke by telephone today about issues related to democracy, security and development in the Middle East and North Africa region; this was their first conversation in the New Year. The two leaders discussed recent developments in Iraq and their continued support for an inclusive, partnership government that brings stability, democracy and prosperity to the Iraqi people. They agreed that the U.S. and Turkey should continue to support the legitimate demands for democracy for the Syrian people and condemned the brutal action of the Assad regime. The two leaders discussed Iran’s nuclear program and how Iran should engage with the international community in this regard. They agreed that U.S. and Turkish teams would remain in close contact on ways that Turkey and the U.S. can support the democratic transitions underway in the Middle East and North Africa.
FULTON, Md., Jan. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Colfax Corporation (“Colfax”) (NYSE: CFX) announced that the acquisition of Charter International plc (“Charter”) became effective today following approval by the Board of Directors and shareholders of both Charter and Colfax and…
PR Newswire: Financial Services
Earlier today, President Obama called Coach Nick Saban to congratulate him and the University of Alabama on their BCS Championship and their exceptional 2011-2012 season. The President said that he watched the entire championship game and could not have been more impressed with the Crimson Tide’s performance. The President commended the coach on his outstanding record and said that he looks forward to congratulating the team in person at the White House.
