On March 22nd, 2019, Egon Zehnder's Beijing and Shangai offices hosted its Leaders & Daughters event. The event brought together an intimate group of high-powered men and women and their daughters and mentees in hopes of spotlighting the motivations and challenges confronting the next generation of professional women.

Highlights from the Event

About Leadership

• Leadership is not about telling others what to do; it is about listening. As a leader, one needs to be a role model with a vision and positive outlook for the team.
• Leaders need to make tough decisions.
• Leadership is about inspiring and empowering others.
• Leadership has many meanings, including more responsibility and larger exposure. A true motivation of leadership is learning.
• Leadership styles vary, and humanity is also a big part of being a leader.

Gender Reality

• When disagreements occur, males tend to be over-confident and stick to their opinions, whereas women are sometimes more hesitant to express themselves
• In general, gender inequality still exists and is common among both industrial and consumer sectors. Female leaders are rarely seen in top layer and are often limited to several functions. The glass ceiling from director level to board level is obvious.
• In developing areas, gender inequality is more prevalent compared to developed areas. There is still much to improve.

Power Moves

• The younger generation wants to pursue their goals. The balance between work and life is not necessarily a priority for all.

• Some people in younger generations are impetuous and reluctant to stay and serve one company for more than three years. They do not have the patience or desire to grow in one organization and become a leader within the same team.

• Chinese talent tends to lack experience in working with diverse cultures and people. Thus, we need to hire more international people in China and retain them in order to build a more diverse environment within the workforce.

• Insight from Daughters

  • “Facing rapid change, we tend to go with the flow because we cannot be sure what will happen in the future.”

  • "Although working is very important, finding joy in your profession is more important than working itself. I hope young people can turn their interests into a career, or focus more on their interests after becoming financially stable. “

• Insight from Leaders

  • “Children are the best mirror for parents. You always need to watch your behavior.“ o

  • “Parenting is a marathon. We need to see the long term.”