OUR INSIGHTS
As someone who has interviewed over 1,000 CEOs, I have heard over and over that for their people to buy into transformative change, they must know without a doubt, that their CEO is wholeheartedly behind it. And so, I am sharing as a Board Member of Women Business Collaborative (WBC), an essential event that everyone who wants to know how top CEOs think should attend: WBC’S Action for Impact (A4I) Summit.
Throughout the two-day summit on September 20th and 21st, CEO presenters will reflect the gender and ethnic diversity that will hopefully become more indicative of the corporate landscape.
One thing I especially like about this year’s A41 Summit is that it is virtual in all the right ways. It eliminates the time and money required for travel, while allowing for real time interaction between presenters, CEO leaders and attendees. Last year we had well over 3,000 executives signed up and this year looks to be even more popular.
CEO EXCELLENCE IN GENDER EQUITY AND DIVERSITY AWARDS—2 Parts
10 CEOs will receive this year’s WBC CEO Excellence in Gender Equity and Diversity Award. The award recognizes corporate leaders for their significant contributions to advancing diversity and for increasing opportunities for women across their companies.
Let me point out that these two sessions are anything but static award ceremonies. They will provide a deep-dive, firsthand look at how leaders of some of the country’s largest and most successful corporations made DEI happen, the specific strategies they employed and the obstacles they encountered along the way.
As I look at these two sessions, I think of them as a Master Class in accelerating DEI.
You’ll hear directly from CEOs of Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cisco and many more. Click here for the full agenda.
COURAGEOUS CEOS DRIVING IMPACT
This session will share the insights and opinions of CEOs who have committed to leading purposeful and impact-driven companies. They will discuss what makes a leader courageous and how courage, purpose and bottom line can all work together. Their discussions will give further proof to the HBR study that businesses with a strong sense of purpose outperform the market and are better able to innovate and transform as required by their customers and the economy as a whole.
WOMEN CEOS AND BOARD LEADERS
This session will re-iterate both the social and practical importance of having more women fill CEO roles and board positions. It will pinpoint the many ways in which women in top leadership roles improve corporate success. For example, women-led companies are known to grow faster, generate more revenue, and have higher stock prices. They also tend to have a more diverse employee base which contributes to a happier workforce, further benefiting the bottom line.
In addition to focusing on why greater CEO and board representation by women is essential to long-term corporate success, the women CEOs will discuss how to get past the barriers that slow down progress for the advancement of talented women.
Registration is Free for the A4I Summit and is Now Open!
As we’ve heard so many times, accelerating the speed with which diversity, equity and inclusion take hold is not a nicety; it’s a necessity. This year’s virtual A4I Summit on September 20th and 21st will feature over 100 speakers and 30 panel discussions on all aspects of DEI. It provides a convenient, no-cost opportunity for you and your team to speed up your organization’s DEI initiatives, fueled by the experience and expertise of world-class leaders who have made it happen.
Hope you can join in!
Robert Reiss, Founder & CEO, The CEO Forum Group
Publisher, The CEO Forum Magazine
and WBC Board Member
