“The way we will succeed is together” - Lessons from DWEN on the importance of investing in women

This week I had the honour of attending our 9th annual Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network summit in Toronto. Known more commonly as DWEN, the goal of this global network is to connect female entrepreneurs with improved access to capital, technology, networks and information – areas where women have historically been under-served where we feel we can make a significant impact.

This year’s annual summit brought together 100+ women from 16 countries across 25 industries with a combined revenue of $4B+. That is an impressive demonstration of the power and influence of female entrepreneurs.

Offering inspiring keynotes and workshops covering everything from creative financing to becoming an investor and empowering employees, the summit gives founders the opportunity to establish relationships with a global network of other business leaders who can help them grow their businesses at home and abroad.

One of these sessions, which I had the privilege of introducing, was with Sallie Krawcheck the founder of Ellevest, chair of Ellevate Network, and author of best-selling book “Own It: The Power of Women at Work.” In conversation with Laura Brounstein, the Director for Editorial and Business Development for Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazine, Sally discussed the importance of investing in women and how to achieve professional success. These topics extend beyond the entrepreneurial space, and are applicable to every workplace. At Dell, we know that investing in women is a winning business strategy – one which leads to more innovative thinking and stronger teams. While as an organisation we are extremely focused on diversity and inclusion, we know we can always do more. One of the key ways for us and other businesses to better support female talent within their organisations is to listen – and here are some key takeaways I took from this session:

·        “It’s not about excluding men, it’s about including the women.” – This is a great reminder. Often, I hear this sentiment with regards to increasing the number of women at senior levels, when it is the opposite. There needs to be room for everyone at the table, but we do need to strive for more balance and opportunity.

·       “So many of the great calls in life are anti-consensus.” – When you have a table surrounded by one demographic, you tend to get the same ideas, feedback and reinforcement. If you aren’t careful, consensus can lead to mediocrity. Different backgrounds and experiences lead to new ways of looking at things and more innovation.

·       “It’s still hard for women to say they want to make money.” – We need to change this stigma. Money isn’t a dirty word, it’s an essential part of our economic and household well-being. It’s as gender neutral as it gets. We need to encourage women to feel open to discussing pay expectations.

·       "The way we will succeed is together.” – This is a statement that I fully believe in. Within the company, and within my team and their teams, we consistently promote that the path to success is paved by a diverse and inclusive culture – it’s how we will continue to grow our business and ensure success, both today and in the future. It’s not a ‘women’s’ problem, it’s a responsibility for our entire workforce to live and breathe it every day.

This, and every session and interaction I had over the three days in Toronto with this inspiring group, offered a unique opportunity for me to to step outside my day-to-day role and gain insights and perspectives into the challenges these business leaders face every day. Unfortunately gender is still creating barriers in some key spaces – access to capital being a big one – but through the network, we hope to help knock these down, facilitate connections and help even the playing field through access to the latest technology innovations.

For more information on #DWEN or to join the network, click here.