PWI Magazine - Q1 2012




President's Editorial

President's welcome

Dear members and friends of PWI,
We’ve been busy since the last Magazine as always! 
Firstly, the Presidents across the federation countries met in Milan in late February to review our overall strategy.  We are pleased to welcome two new city networks: Warsaw and Bucharest. More in news From EPWN
Here in Brussels we organized 3 large events and two networking drinks. If you missed the events you can hear from them on the blog. I take this opportunity to ask participants to comments and send feedback on the events. Photos will be  ....[more]
Q1 2012





Topic of the Edition - Change is in the air

EuropeanPWN AGM 2012 - Milan


At the end of February I went to Milan to represent PWI at the general assembly of EuropeanPWN. 
As you can see, weather was not warmer nor sunnier than in Brussels at the same time. I could even see some snow too. So clearly, this part of the meeting was far from ideal. I should complain! But the rest was terrific!  The EuropeanPWN AGM is always an interesting and sharing event. Of course, like every AGM, you have to go through the official part: approval of previous minutes, discussion and approval of the annual accounts, approval of next year budget ...[ more ]
Q1 2012



The shape of our destiny and that of our daughters is in our own hands


After the Oscar ceremony in Hollywood, all the media was talking about “the Artist” and the lack of enthusiasm - to say the least - the film had when it was projected for the first time. The critics were quite hostile and the film had almost no support. The Oscar is not a first for a French movie but still the tremendous recognition given by the Hollywood community warmed my French heart.
They also mentioned the first Pakistani to win an Oscar and how she has been greeted with jubilation in her home country. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won the award for best documentary ...[ more ]
Q1 2012





Management

"Customer Experience: “Simple & Friendly"
PWI – “Customer experience” has become a very commonly used terminology in recent years, but it is not that easy to find a clear, commonly-held definition. Pascaline, how would you define “Customer experience” at Belgacom?
Ms. Dubois – I would say that customer experience is not really a definition, but it’s a way of living. Three years ago we decided at Belgacom to put the customer at the centre of our strategy by launching a long term transformation program which covers several company processes (from billing, IVR, etc.), but also focuses on culture change and on building engagement in all the employees.
In 2011 we ran a large project called “Live my life”,.
... [more]
Q1 2012



"Languages are my passion"

PWI - Karen, what is the state of the art for language schools?
Ms. Hodgson – The best language schools are slowly coming to the idea of dealing with communication instead of just with learning languages. Communicating is not just coming out with a string of words you put together … it’s all about communication.  Communication does not only mean speaking, you have many aspects in communication; for instance what we used to call “presentation skills” was just based on the language used. Now we mean for instance:... [more]

Q1 2012




Women & Career


"Brand of a Women"
PWI – Ann, you are running the very successful leadership program "BRAND me" (*). 
What inspired you to create something for women and what triggered you to launch this type of initiative?
This program is just one of the many things I do with my company that deals with leadership development. In our programs we also deliver personal feedback tools (e.g. 360° questionnaire) and in this way I came to know that a number of women were unhappy about themselves and about the company they worked in, or they were successful but not happy....[more]
Q1 2012



“BLOOMING” WOMEN LEADERSHIP
PWI – Ms.Perrazzelli, when was the project Gemma launched and why?  How many people are involved?
Ms. Perrazzelli - The Gemma project was launched at the end of 2007 when I had already been working in Intesa Sanpaolo for four years. When I moved from my fist assignment in Brussels to the headquarters in Milan, where I work today, knowing that the workforce of my company was composed of 50% men and 50% women, I started wondering where women were assigned in the bank. In fact in the headquarters I used to see many secretaries and a few other ladies, but the rest of this 50% of female employees were not visible to my eyes...[more]
Q1 2012



I changed my mind about Quotas …
PWI – Christel, first of all congratulations for winning the AXA WO_MEN@ WORK AWARD 2011! (*)
How does this brilliant achievement inspire you to continue pursuing gender balance in the business arena?
This AXA WO_MEN@ WORK AWARD 2011 has been really a unique experience, I was impressed by the press coverage and by the attention I suddenly received on the social media (Facebook, LinkedIn). But, actually gender balance is not something recent in my professional life.  In fact I have been active on this topic for over ten years. I am still passionate ...[more]
Q1 2012




Labour Market

When "away" is here...

PWI -  Elena, how did you become the publisher of (A)WAY? How long ago? What inspired you?
It was a decision I made eight years ago after I finished my MBA and Publisher’s course in London.  I was a young mother at the time and, I was looking for a new job. Confident in my professional qualifications and in my previous experience of a few years work for a non-profit magazine in Belgium, I wondered whether I could start my own business. 
Even though I had a small start-up budget and my revenues were only advertising sales based, I was fortunate to start the publication with a very professional team, who, ...[more]
Q1 2012



Miscellaneous & mails to the editor

Skills you can add volunteering with PWI

Dear PWI friend,
I was up dating my skills on my LinkedIn page yesterday and I suddenly realised how many things I had learned since I started volunteering with PWI. 
I usually work behind the scenes on the Administration, and PWI has given me experience of using a database .I have learned about the Social Media and started using Facebook and LinkedIn, making new friends and re-connecting with friends and colleagues I had lost touch with.  Unfortunately I missed Helen Dunnett’s presentation ... [more]

Q1 2012



Women’s Leadership Edge: Research on Emotional Intelligence, Gender, and Job Level

As business becomes more complex with globalization, new generations, and the accelerating pace of innovation, the value of “emotionally intelligent leaders” is gaining ground. A new analysis of over 24,000 leaders and workers shows this presents an important opportunity for female leaders who, statistically, have a slight edge in this domain in three key areas: (1) EQ is made of numerous component parts, Females are particularly higher in some; (2) the largest gap is in the capacity to predict the emotional consequences of actions – but there are some areas where men  ... [more]

Q1 2012



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