Women face a unique set of challenges when progressing into senior leadership positions, including unconscious bias, a scarcity of role models, and a peer group that continually shrinks the more senior they become. These can make striving for the top a lonely and frustrating endeavour even in organisations with the best intentions to support their top female talent.At the same time, organisations are awash with myths about why fewer women than men reach senior leadership levels. These myths can perpetuate flawed thinking and delay meaningful change. It is, therefore, vital to develop an understanding of the real challenges women face and how these manifest in daily behaviours and norms in organisations.In this webinar, Professor Svenja Weber will share about INSEAD’s ground-breaking research which sheds light on the true nature of these barriers. She believes that understanding and addressing the complex web of systemic, cultural, and structural issues that hold women back is essential to create an organisational environment where employees can thrive, reach the highest levels of leadership, and realise their full potential.

Contemporary organisations are beginning to recognise the importance of balancing instrumental imperatives – getting stuff done efficiently – with humanistic aspirations – helping people grow and connect across differences. Striking such balance requires leaders who value humanism just as much as instrumentality, freedom as much as efficiency. But that is, unfortunately, not yet the way leaders are raised and trained. So how are we to change that? How can we develop and become leaders who can foster that balance?INSEAD Professor Jennifer Petriglieri will argue that one way to do so is through a deeper engagement with works of art in general, and literature in particular. In this webinar, she will provide and elicit examples of how such works can help leaders recognise, honour, demonstrate, and foster humanity at work, and in doing so help all members of organisations thrive.