Cannes Lions Festival - Day Six

Although the festival is approaching its last few days, the themes that emerged when the festival began are still very much present as the it continues. Of course, this includes everyone's favorite word, diversity. 

Before, I thought it was silly to highlight a concept that in my mind was a natural way of conducting business. But throughout my experiences, it's clear that we need to have a real conversation about diversity, or our lack thereof. Which leads me to think, will we actually ever achieve absolute diversity? 

And to that, my answer is no....not as long as we're talking about it. We can't ignore an important fact I learned today at a panel called, "Redefining Female Success".  There are fewer women in leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies than there have been in the last few years. We're actually moving backwards, in 2017. Jennifer Renaud, CMO of Oracle so eloquently noted that we will actually have achieved diversity when we no longer have to have panels to talk about it. By putting women in these leadership positions of large companies, they will in turn promote more women in lower levels who will grow into other leadership positions. It's a simple domino effect. 

There are always going to be people with new ways of thinking, believing and creating, and that's exciting. But we can't talk about being diverse without actually practicing what we preach and ending the conversation when it's no longer "cool". Throughout this festival, I've had the opportunity to see and meet women from many different companies who are blazing the trail for other women like me. And together we can create a business landscape where the word diversity is just another natural part of our work environment and our world. 

Comments

  1. This is your generation's moment. Take advantage of it. Nobody can stop you.

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