All over the world, talented, ambitious women are being held back from achieving their potential at the top of organisations by a range of cultural, social, educational, and emotional barriers.
This in turn is holding back progress in almost every sphere of life. How can organisations innovate or solve complex problems if their leaders are all pressed from the same mould? How can they respond to the needs of their customers if they have no insight into half of the people who make up that customer base? How can we possibly hope to build a better world for everyone without drawing on everyone’s skills and experiences? Progressive governments and organisations have introduced well-meaning policies, but change is occurring at a slow speed. As with all complex problems, it’s going to take a range of approaches to address it.
The Women Transforming Leadership Programme is one of the most innovative executive education programmes we run in Oxford. It is only one approach, but I can tell you it’s powerful. These women have left Oxford after a week with greater self-knowledge and greater confidence in their own abilities and leadership style. They have had their eyes opened to different ways of dealing with organisational challenges and bias, they have explored their roles in dealing with complex global issues, and they have been inspired by sharing this experience with a diverse group of women from all over the world.