What qualities make for the best leaders in a world in crisis? This was a central question at The International Women’s Forum IWF Finland’s 10th anniversary event which I attended in Helsinki earlier this month.
What stood out for me at the event, attended by nearly 90 women leaders, was the commitment to collective leadership (of which I’m a longstanding fan!) Every member of the Finnish hosting team played an important role, while also graciously making space for each other.
Back in 2016, the Finnish forum founders set these ground rules:
- ‘Queen Bees’ were not welcome – women must support each other in life and work
- IWF membership meant contributing, not just benefiting
- Networks and contacts were to be opened for mutual gain – as a result, in their first year, they secured Sarah Hurwitz, Obama’s speechwriter, as a star speaker
There was also honest discussion of the difficulties of being a leader today. Panellists Ambassador Deborah McCarthy, Anne Minto and Paula Kilpinen listed the qualities they saw as necessary for good leadership:
- Courage
- Resilience
- Empathy
- Hope (and the ability to instil hope in others)
- Listening (really listening to learn and understand)
- The willingness to step back to let others in
We need a lot more of this. Self-serving leadership is utterly destructive. Thank you to IWF Finland for hosting this rich, stimulating and fun event, and to the women from IWF forums across Europe and the US who came to build bridges across the world.
Footnote: It was chilly and wet for most of the event (which didn’t dampen our spirits), but the sun peaked out the next day on a sightseeing boat trip around the beautiful Helsinki archipelago and harbour so I could take this photo.