This month we met on 13th April at the Park Hotel in Amsterdam to learn about the added value of women leadership and the tools to women’s empowerment and leadership.
Our hosts for the evening were, Katarzyna Czabanowska (PhD) and her mentee, Valia Kalaitzi. The workshop was kicked off by Katarzyna Czabanowska, where she was explaining the meaning of leadership for women in their professional practices and what it involves to be a female leader in culturally diverse setting. Katarzyna talked about various life stories, not only hers but also others, then she moved on to describing why women leaders live in a constant paradox and last but not least, she mentioned that we need “to fit” things they match.
Katarzyna made a point that women are living on the verge and are in the paradox. When talking about the leadership, she explained that it’s about the “head=reason, heart and courage”. It is important to be courageous and grab every opportunity that comes our way. However, being a woman, we live in a paradox and then we question our abilities, we are doubting our skills and then we loose a chance to grow.
So, what is the recipe to be a successful female leader? Well, there are many factors but some of them, mentioned by Katarzyna were:
- be passionate & motivated,
- set up goals,
- learn, learn, learn,
- look at role models,
- do not lie,
- take opportunities, do not fear,
- find balance in emotions & rationale,
- celebrate your success.
Valia, on the other hand, was talking about the various barriers women encounter when reaching for top leadership positions, the tools of addressing them and the secrets of navigating the change for women empowerment. Interesting to point out that out of the 26 barriers Valia and Katarzyna have been researching, 25 have been encountered by women in business. 25! Some of them being: lack of mentoring, gender bias, lack of netwokring, lack of work/life balance or the lack of flexible working environment.
After this intense workshop, there was time to do some networking and grab some tasty snacks prepared for us by the Park Hotel’s chef.
Below you can check out the photo gallery! The meeting was captured by our photographer Zaneta Mackey – thank you!
Najbliższe spotkanie
Wiosenny piknik dla mam i córek, odbędzie się 13 maja (sobota). Więcej informacji można znaleźć tutaj >>
