Archive for the ‘Women in Business’ Category

Women in Business

The first woman on Henkel’s Management Board / Die erste Frau im Henkel-Vorstand

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

Yesterday, Henkel employees had two good reasons to be happy: On September 26, 1876, that means 135 years ago, Henkel was founded in Aachen, and since yesterday there is also the first woman in the Henkel Management Board since the company foundation: Kathrin Menges, previously Corporate Senior Vice President and Head of Human Resources will take over the Human Resource responsibility as a board member of Henkel, starting at October 1.

“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Kathrin to the Management Board. As with the previous changes in our Board, we have been able to develop the next generation of leaders from within the company. With her longstanding professional experience in human resources, her skills and her leadership qualities she will be a perfect fit for this challenging role”, said Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted, who was responsible for HR in the Management Board to date.

Kathrin Menges started her professional career in human resources in 1990 at Bankgesellschaft Berlin AG. In 1999, she joined Henkel, initially at Schwarzkopf in Hamburg, and later on from 2005 at the corporate headquarters in Düsseldorf. In 2009, she was appointed Corporate Senior Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources.

“As a global company, Henkel competes for the best talents around the world. We enjoy an excellent reputation as an employer who develops talents within the company. I am looking forward to contributing with a strategic human resources management to the continued success of Henkel”, said Kathrin Menges.

(more…)

Women in Business

The balancing act of mothers in politics / Der Balanceakt von Müttern in der Politik

Monday, September 19th, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

The reconciliation of children and career is for many women everyday business. So why should female politicians have better circumstances?

At least in an interview with the German journal ZEIT four female politicians talked about their different approaches to reconcile family and career. However, all women have one thing in common: motherhood in politics is no easy undertaking.

Miriam Gruß, family spokeswoman of the FDP, and Andrea Nahles, general secretary of the SPD are supported by their husband to reconcile children and career. Miriam Gruß’ husband is a full-time dad at home and takes care of their seven year old son. Although, they tried several other solutions to solve the problem, both parents could not find another way. Miriam Gruß is sure that her job is completely family-unfriendly.

Andrea Nahles’ husband took over at least the three years of parental leave and reduced his working hours for the sake of their daughter. Nevertheless, the politician sets clear priorities in her job to have time for her child that was born in January. She tries to work one day a week at home and sweeps everything unimportant from her calendar.

Quite differently the problem of reconciling family and career is solved by Dorothee Bär, family spokeswoman of the CDU / CSU, and Christine Lambrecht, deputy chairwoman of the SPD. Dorothee Bär is supported by her parents. Because her husband works fulltime she can’t expect support from his side. During the meeting weeks in Berlin her parents often accompany her and take care of the youngest of her two children.

The now ten year old son of Christine Lambrecht, however, has grown up in the Bundestag. Until he was six months old, she has taken him to every meeting. Then, ushers used to be transformed to babysitters and her working desk to a changing table.

Also Andrea Kerstin, economic policy spokeswoman for the Grünen, takes her just nine weeks old baby with her to evening appointments. She has to take care of three children. But for her the biggest challenge is to have a child in school as the need for conversation then becomes higher. Therefore, she completely abandons time-consuming travel.

As different as the experiences are to reconcile children and career in politics, those examples show that female politicians face the same challenges than all other working mothers.

The whole article can be found here: www.zeit.de/karriere/beruf/2011-08/familie-beruf-politik-mandat

(more…)

Women in Business

Schwarzkopf sponsors Role Model Award / Schwarzkopf sponsort Role Model Award

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

At the end of August the Victress Awards Ceremony was held for the seventh time in Berlin. Schwarzkopf supports the initiative for four years and for the second time sponsored the Role Model Award, which this year was given to the Young Entrepreneur Verena Delius.

About 600 invited guests, including prominent representatives from business, society, politics and media, attended the gala, followed by the after-show party at the Classic Remise in the Meilenwerk. With the brand Schwarzkopf, Henkel supports the initiative for the fourth year and was the inspiration for the Victress Role Model Award. The award was given to Verena Delius, founder and CEO of Young Internet GmbH. “I see it as one of my best obligations to stand up for women’s advancement and feel very honored to be a member of the jury. Women and the topic of diversity management are already part of day-to-day business at Henkel.” said Tina Müller, Corporate Senior Vice President at Henkel and responsible for the global Hair Cosmetics, Skin Care and Oral Care businesses.

The prize “Victress Award” was established by the nonprofit Victress Initiative which advocate a higher proportion of women in leadership positions with the motto “Excellence Knows No Gender”. With the award extraordinary women were honored for their passion, their courage, and assertiveness.

You can find more information about the Victress Day and the award ceremony at www.victress.de.

(more…)

Women in Business

VICTRESS DAY 2011 – „On the Move”

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

Mixed Leadership Teams of both, women and men are on everyone’s lips. Since 2005, the VICTRESS initiative advocates mixed management teams in the economy. One action field of this initiative is the improvement of the share of female leaders in top leadership positions in Germany and the promotion of a change in society – away from outdated stereotypes to new role models.

To value the progress economy and society have been making, the initiators invite for an annually VICTRESS DAY that includes a conference as well as a gala in the evening. On August 29, this year’s event took place in Berlin held themed “On the Move”. The focus of the conference, with introductory speeches, panel discussions and workshops is “change”. What has been changed? How do companies react to these changes? How can Diversity be consciously perceived? Which effect has communication and how important is it? These questions have been answered by people from a wide range – from managers to coaches and TV presenters.

In the panel discussion “Diversity as a success factor”, Henkel’s Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Markus Dinslacken, participated beside Aletta Gräfin von Hardenberg, Diversity Charter Germany, Peter Green, Coca Cola, Ursula Sanio, Daimler AG, and Christine Keiner, SAP AG. They proved that Diversity Management is not only an image factor but a business necessity in the 21st century to stay in businesses.

During the gala event in the evening, the VICTRESS Awards 2011 were awarded. A distinguished jury, since 2010 also including Tina Müller, Henkel’s Corporate Senior Vice President for the hair cosmetics, skin and oral care segments of Henkel and VICTRESS GLASSBREAKER Award winner in 2009, have been chosen the this year’s winners. Henkel has already won the Corporate VICTRESS Award in 2008. Again, five nominees were honored in the categories: „VICTRESS Emotion Award”, “ VICTRESS Corporate Award “, „VICTRESS Role Model Award“,  „VICTRESS Social Impact Award“ and „VICTRESS Glassbreaker Award“.

  (more…)

International Ambassadors, Women in Business

Lady’s Lunch with Kasper Rorsted

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 by Monica Sun

Currently, Henkel CEO, Kasper Rorsted, visits the Henkel sites in Asia Pacific. On August 17, a lady’s lunch was organized at Henkel’s Asia Pacific headquarter, the Zhangjiang office in Shanghai, China.

36 female leaders were invited to attend the lunch. Kasper Rorsted,  together with three top female leadership manager from Asia Pacific - Monica Sun, Vice President Human Resources, Michelle Cheung, General Manager of the cosmetics business in China and Katharina Höhne, Regional Head of the professional cosmetics business in Asia Pacific – hosted the event.

Kasper shared his point of view on Diversity & Inclusion with the female attendees. At the same time, a variety of questions on talent, career path, the Asia Pacific markets, performance culture, work-life balance, etc. were raised from the audience and discussed with Kasper in a face to face manner. Although the lunch time was very short, all participants felt that they had a great added value.

Best Practices, Women in Business

Men are better in professional networking / Männer sind die besseren Netzwerker

Monday, August 22nd, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

Contacts are important, especially for professional success. However, the networking behavior of men and women are significantly different. According to recent statistics of the world’s largest business network LinkedIn, men are obviously better networkers. They basically have more contacts, even in companies with a higher proportion of female employers.
“Having the right connections can make a difference when it comes to the conclusion of a contract or to win a new client,” said Nicole Williams, LinkedIn’s Connection. “Women can sometimes shy away from networking because they associate it with small talk or the exchange of business cards, when in reality, it’s about building relationships before you actually need them.”

Particularly interesting, however, are industry-specific differences. In male-dominated industries, such as the tobacco industry, women are significantly more active in networking. Vice versa, in industries with a higher proportion of women, men are the leading networkers. The given explanation for this phenomenon is the essential need of the minority gender to be more active in networking in order to be more successful.

Though, despite this observation it is the worldwide trend that in terms of networking men are generally one step ahead. During this year’s DLD women in Munich, Angela Rittig from the Business Network Platform “Xing” made clear why the network principle of give and take in business environment is crucial.

(more…)

Best Practices, Women in Business

High Performance: Dual Education / Höchstleistung: Duales Studium

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

After school, everything was clear for Tanja Federkiel: It should be a dual study. The course: Chemistry and Biotechnology (Bachelor of Science) combined with an apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory technician. Meanwhile, Tanja’s apprenticeship at Henkel has been running for almost a year.

On two days a week, Tanja Federkiel learns the scientific foundation of her work at the University Niederrhein in Krefeld, Germany, on the other days she is at Henkel in Holthausen, working in the laboratory: “This way, I have a total networking between theory and practice. Just studying, that would have been too theoretical.” There are also phases of practical involvement at college, but “there it’s all about the grade. At Henkel, I work on my own projects that promote me. So I feel that I provide a valuable contribution to the company”. And Tanja saves a lot of time, more precisely: Three whole years. That is how much longer it would take to complete the training and college sequentially.

Tanja chose Henkel deliberately: “When I had finished high school I went to the US for a year as an Au Pair, and I wanted to start a dual education right after my return.”

Aptitude tests were the problem. In the worst case, Tanja would have needed to fly back and forth between Düsseldorf and America several times. However, Henkel found a solution: “The authorities offered that I could do some tests before I left home and all the others staggered over two days. “Henkel was just super-flexible, and supported me. As part of her training she is now getting to know even another continent : For a project she will go to China. “This is going to be a very valuable experience”.

As a student and trainee, she is currently engaged in Adhesive Research (AR Silicones & Sealants). With her ​​team she develops new products. Currently she is working on a substance designed to improve the adhesive properties of a particular adhesive. She especially likes, that she can take responsibility even in these internships: “I’m included in production processes and fully integrated, even at laboratory meetings.” In the future job search, she sees herself, thanks to her work at Henkel, having a clear advantage over other students: “Because of the additional training at Henkel I have now a much better insight into the real business. As long as you strain and prove yourself, you can achieve anything.” [DE]

  (more…)

Women in Business

A strong commitment to diversity

Monday, August 8th, 2011 by Griselda Serra
Patricia Castejón is the first woman leading the Adhesive Technologies business sector in Henkel Ibérica.

Since July 1 Patricia Castejón is the new U-A General Manager for Spain and Portugal. She is also the chairwoman of the U-A Council Ibérica. Patricia took this position after David Rodriguez was promoted to Regional Manager AC Western Europe. Her promotion is proof of a strong commitment to diversity as Patricia is the first woman ever to lead a business division in the history of Henkel Ibérica.

Now, with Patricia joining the Iberian top management team its members are a balanced mix of gender (five men and three women), nationalities (Spanish, Italian and Argentinian), and age (from 39 to 60). With this team Henkel Ibérica will be stronger in the markets as it assures having different opinions and perspective on board so that the best possible decisions can be made.

Women in Business

Women’s Quota in summer high / Frauenquote im Sommerhoch

Thursday, August 4th, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

Here we go again. As a proven remedy to bridge the summer slump during the summer break of political news, the women’s quota discussion provides the same entertainment factor as it already did at the beginning of the year.

But, as a new survey that was conducted by the German Federal Ministry of Family Affairs says, the women’s quota now reaches an unexpected popularity: Accordingly, 79 percent of women and 62 percent of men in Germany agree that policy should provide for a greater proportion of women in leadership positions.

Furthermore, 95 percent of women and at least 88 percent of men believe  that Germany already has a sufficient talent pool to occupy such top management positions with domestic women.

In contrast to that, the situation was quite different at the beginning of this year. According to a survey published by the German magazine “Stern” in February 2011, only 51 percent of all respondents argued for a women’s quota, 45 percent even refused to it.

Even more significant was the rejection of the women’s quota by Germany’s top managers both, female and male. According to the results of a research made by “Psephos”, which was commissioned by the German magazine “Handelsblatt”, the majority of 57 percent of the 500 respondents militate “in principle against a women’s quota”. Although they would be most strongly concerned by regulations especially the under 40 year-olds rejected massively any kind of quota with a proportion of two thirds.

With this restrained euphoria at the beginning of the year Germany was fully in the trend of the most neighboring countries. In average, almost seven out of ten of the questioned employees opposed a mandatory percentage of women. In terms of openness towards a women’s quota Norway and Belgium are the most forward-looking countries. Denmark showed the greatest reservation about regulations (eight out of ten respondents rejected a quota).

So, the tug of war goes on. One Survey trumps the other and one argument ruffs the counter-argument. An entertaining parlor game for not-entertaining summer breaks. The only spoilsport could be the EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding who beckons with the Joker of a European quota regulation.

What do you think? Are you in favor of a quota or not?

(more…)

Women in Business

The Principle of Arrogance / Das Arroganz-Prinzip

Monday, August 1st, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

And who wants to be arrogant? At least, not me. That’s why I – consciously arrogant – turned away from Peter Modler’s book “The Principle of Arrogance” (“Das Arroganz-Prinzip”). This was a reading I – as a matter of principle – would never read.

But then I had the accidental opportunity to experience Dr. Modler’s “Principle of Arrogance” on my own on the occasion of an EWMD (European Women’s Management Development) evening event, and I condescend to register in this evening.

And, what can I say? I was confirmed in my assumptions. When the 100 women entered the room, Mr. Modler seemed not even to take any notice of them, and looked – apparently somehow bored – at the even more boring carpet pattern of the conference room.

However, as soon as the introductory words had been spoken by Vera Sandrock, EWMD representative of the region Rhein-Ruhr, life returned to the speaker: And a very entertaining, ingenious and instructive life I have to admit.

That men are from Mars and women are from Venus, we already know for a long time. But did you know that men communicate in a vertical way and women in a horizontal way? This statement is as true as quickly comprehensible: While for men it is crucial to find a hierarchical order among themselves (and thereby it is only important to get a place in line and not to be the first), women struggle for integration and inclusion of all attendees in their conversation. Comprehensible so far? I think so.

But does this finding already harmonize the everyday work relationship between women and men? Perhaps. But supplementing this basic finding with the Olympic winners’ rostrum of different communication styles, the picture becomes more complete. On position three on the rostrum comes the intellectual and verbal communication style, position two is reserved for verbal but not intellectual communication and the winner of all communication styles is the so called “MOVE TALK”.

The bottom line from this Olympic ranking of communication styles is: While women are perfect contributors to an intellectual and verbal conversation, men dominate naturally-talented positions two and one. So, what to do, ladies? Climb the Olympic winners’ rostrum, defeat the “adversaries” with their own weapons, learn to communicate not only on a verbal and intellectual way but also take advantage of your body language and learn the MOVE TALK!

But what does arrogance have in common with that all? To find an answer to this I cordially advise the reading of Peter Modler’s book “The Principle of Arrogance”. Or even better: try to experience him in one of his seminars or key note speeches.

For those who are interested in the “Principle of Arrogance”, Deborah Tannen’s book “You Just Don’t Understand:Women and Men in Conversation” .might be a helpful reading in English language.

(more…)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »
 

Bad Behavior has blocked 1444 access attempts in the last 7 days.