harvey nash inspire guidebook 2014
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The Inspire Network is a forum of innovation, strategy, personal and professional development for over 4,500 senior, board-level businesswomen across 4 continents. Find out how it works and is quietly changing the world..TRANSCRIPT
inspirethe influential business exchange
WelcomeThis is Inspire 3The diversity challenge 4Welcome to our global network 6Our mission: Helping women grow 8Our mission: Helping companies build balancedleadership teams 10Our mission: Leading the debate on diversity 12Get in touch 14
Women make up 51% of the UK’s working population, and yet only 5% of FTSE 250 executive board members are female.
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This is InspireInspire was born to make a difference.
Our mission
Helping senior women grow
Through networking events, coaching and peer-to-peer support we actively help women advance their careers. Where appropriate we provide access to unique career opportunities via the Harvey Nash Board Practice and other sources.
Helping businesses build diverse teams
Inspire enables Harvey Nash to engage with exceptional talent, resulting in better-balanced shortlists globally for our clients. We use the knowledge and experience we have gained to provide detailed, practical advice to help our clients build diversity development programmes.
Leading the debate on diversity
Inspire has a voice in the diversity debate. From research papers to our involvement in UK and EU government-backed initiatives we play an active role in promoting diversity, shaping legislation and developing the pipeline for the future.
Established in 2008, Inspire is a unique business forum where senior board-level women, CEOs, non-executive directors and chairs share and exchange ideas and experiences with their peers.
Inspire now connects over 4,000 board-level, like-minded, inspirational individuals from all areas of industry in both the private and public sectors.
Inspire was born to make a difference. Through our network of relationships and our connection with Harvey Nash, we offer advice and connectivity to women, helping them advance their business careers.
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The diversity challenge
A gap indiversity
5% Executive board 95%
Women Men
51% Entry level 49%
Why does it matter?Diverse leadership teams have been proven to make better decisions. They balance risk more effectively, are more creative, are more in touch with their customer base and are able to achieve consensus decisions more quickly.
Moreover, in a world where there is an increasing demand for high-performing people, women are a relatively untapped pool of talent. Organisations and countries that are able to tap into this pool potentially have a competitive edge while ensuring that their workforce truly reflects their customers and the communities they serve.
*Cranfield, The FTSE Board Report 2014.
The leaking pipelineWomen make up 51% of the UK’s working population. Female students outnumber
male students in most universities in the UK. But these proportions rapidly decline when you ascend the career ladder. In 2014, in the FTSE 250 only 5.3% of
executive board members and 22.2% of board members overall are women.*
Why is it happening?While most larger organisations may have diversity policies, there is a big difference between policy
and successful action. Some companies are often hindered by structures and cultures that make gender equality more difficult; others simply don't have enough women at entry level. Added to that, women often have a different approach to career planning and career expectations.
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The diversity challenge
A gap indiversity
5% Executive board 95%
Women Men
51% Entry level 49%
Why Inspire?Inspire was born to make a difference.
We see change happening through three communities: the women themselves, the companies employing them and executive search organisations like Harvey Nash which often act as the connector. We call these communities the ‘diversity triangle’, and our mission is to help change the thinking and actions of all three.
The good newsThe good news is that progress is being made. Encouraged by initiatives such as the Lord Davies Review, greater media attention and networking groups like Inspire, women’s representation on boards has increased. Moreover, the pace of change is accelerating and the debate is high on the agenda of most organisations.
There’s still a long way to go......not least around the all-important pipeline of future executives, as well as smaller companies. There are also certain sectors where progress has been painfully slow - for example, engineering, technology and energy. Increasingly governments across the world are introducing voluntary targets, and in some instances mandatory quotas.
ORGANISATIONS
The DiversityTriangle
EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRMS
SENIOR WOMEN
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2008the year Inspire was born. We are now one of the world’s longest-established international cross-sector networks for senior business women.
4,500members, across eight countries: the UK, US, Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Hong Kong and Australia.
25%the proportion of women who took part in our inaugural Women’s Directorship Programme and were promoted within a year.
24% -50%the average proportion of women on Harvey Nash’s senior executive shortlists.
A global network
2008Where are all the women?Carol Rosati, Founder of Inspire and Director at Harvey Nash, attends a CEO networking event. Looking around and seeing that she is the only woman, Inspire is born.
2009Our first eventFollowing months of planning Inspire establishes its first chapter, in London, hosting twice-yearly networking events.
2010International growthInspire establishes a chapter in New York, with yearly events happening subsequently. We also begin establishing connections in the US West Coast / Silicon Valley.
Timeline2011AspireThe subsidiary network Aspire is developed and launched to reach out to the female leaders of tomorrow and help create a sustainable pipeline.
Events in London and New York take place.
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Our Advisory BoardCharlotte Sweeney, Non-Executive Director, Diversity & Inclusion Consultant
Heather Melville, Director Strategic Partnership Transaction Services UK Customer Solutions Group - The Royal Bank of Scotland, Founder and Global Chair of the RBS Focused Women's Network
Simon Fanshawe, Co-founder and partner of astar-fanshawe, media broadcaster and co-founder of Stonewall
A global network
2013Working in Europe and beyondInspire chapters are launched in Sweden, Finland, France and Australia.
Working in partnership with the University of Hong Kong, Harvey Nash launches the Women’s Directorship Programme, the world’s first accredited international progamme to help women achieve board positions.
Inspire representatives address MEPs at a major EU conference.
2014New horizonsThe network continues to grow organically, through peer recommendation, with new chapters launched in Vietnam and Tokyo.
Women in Technology networks are launched in the UK and US.
2015Looking to the futureThe network will have local, national and global events connecting its members across all sectors.
Fiona Woolf, Lord Mayor of London
Baroness Sandip Verma, Minister for Energy and Climate Change
Cathryn Riley, Non-Executive Director and formerly Chief Operating Officer Europe at Aviva plc
2012Further expansionThe first West Coast event is held in Palo Alto in Silicon Valley with guest of honour Dr Jane Shaw, Chair of Intel.
The first event in Asia is held in Hong Kong with Umran Beba, President of PepsiCo Asia Pacific.
Helping women grow EventsEach year hundreds of senior women attend our networking events. In the last year we have either hosted, or been contributors to, events in London, New York, California, Hong Kong, Seattle, Sydney, Sweden, Finland and Paris.
Our events feature a wide range of speakers, from business leaders of global corporations, to politicians and House of Lords peers – all of whom are passionate about promoting greater diversity in the global workforce. Our events give members a unique opportunity for networking and peer-to-peer support.
“Unlocking self-imposed
limitations often leads to
exceptional achievements.
Inspire can make this happen”
Carol Rosati, Founder of Inspire
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Helping women grow Developing the pipelineAlthough there has been progress in recent years, it has mostly been at board level, with little change in how future women leaders are identified and nurtured. More needs to be done to ensure the pipeline is sustainable, and that women are fully supported as they progress through their career along with the many life challenges and demands they will face.
CareersWe are passionate about making a difference, and through our connection with Harvey Nash’s Board Practice, we have expertise in career development that we are pleased to share with members. Our founder Carol Rosati and other members of the Harvey Nash Board Practice are qualified executive coaches.
Where appropriate we can also connect members with career opportunities from Harvey Nash, from our members and from other sources.
Aspire and other networksAspire was established in 2011 as a subsidiary network to Inspire. Aspire is a unique executive business network for C-suite, director and VP-level women, aimed at helping them to board-level positions. The women of Inspire are committed to supporting and mentoring these future leaders of tomorrow.
Harvey Nash’s Women in Technology group runs a networking group across the UK, Europe and the US, promoting technology careers throughout the pipeline, from talking at schools, to mentoring aspirant and established technology leaders.
Women’s Directorship ProgrammeHarvey Nash and the University of Hong Kong Executive Education of the Faculty of Business and Economics have joined forces with senior business leaders to create the first certificated, internationally focused and cross-industry, board preparedness programme, exclusively for women.
Through a comprehensive combination of lectures, interactive sessions, leadership exercises and input from senior business leaders, the Women’s Directorship Programme addresses current and contemporary issues in the workplace, across industries and geographies, helping women to be more effective at managing boards and increasing the pool of board-ready women executives.
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Helping companies build balanced leadership teams
Access to diverse talentOur aim is not only to support women in business, but also to help organisations create a more balanced workforce now and in the future.
The challenge of addressing gender imbalance is a top priority for many global businesses and the Inspire network enables Harvey Nash consultants to look beyond the obvious to find the exceptional.
Just as importantly, we work closely with our clients to make the whole process supportive of finding diverse talent – from initial up-front advice about the role itself through to how to attract and successfully retain top female talent.
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Helping companies build balanced leadership teams
Advice and consultancyOver the last six years, we have gained a unique, in-depth insight into the challenges faced by both women and the organisations that wish to attract them. We have also worked closely with heads of diversity and inclusion in many major organisations and collaborated with academic institutions in Europe, Asia and the US.
We freely share our expertise, as well as providing formal consultancy, helping organisations both large and small to develop effective diversity programmes.
Diversity toolkitWe have developed a unique series of podcasts featuring high-profile business leaders, as well as white papers and reports which address the issues of creating diverse teams.
The toolkit is publicly available, and underpins our desire to create change by freely sharing our expertise.
“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities” Stephen R. Covey
Leading the debate on diversity
Facilitating changeInspire is a strong voice in the gender diversity debate and, from speaking at international conferences to producing thought-provoking reports, our aim is to help facilitate change.
We contribute to and help shape future legislation, working with government bodies and the EU in Brussels as well as the House of Lords.
We are regular commentators in the national print media, as well as on social media and online forums.
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the influential business exchange
Return on Diversitya study of diversity in the Boardroom 2012
Leading the debate on diversity
Get in touch
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Get in touchCarol RosatiGlobal Head of Inspire, UK & [email protected]+44 20 7333 1587
Ulrica [email protected]+46 8796 1700
Elisabeth [email protected]+33 1 7302 6792
Kirti LadHong [email protected]+852 2251 8393
Bridget [email protected]+61 2938 6687
Jaana [email protected]+358 50 5011685
www.harveynash.com/inspire
inspirethe influential business exchange
www.harveynash.com/inspire