The Fact: Leading Without Changing

Hello, my name is Alejandra Chacón. I'm Head of Strategy at Havas Media Network.sociologyst by training Those words, three words that best define me are, on the one hand,coherence, on the other hand, mental order, not rigidity,and the third, the imagination to connect things that apparently were not there.

HOW TO LEAD WITHOUT LOSING YOURSELF I want to start by telling a story that happened in 2013.

I remember that year, it was when I got pregnant with my first daughter,Although at that time I didn't know it yet,and in which my previous agency had done a consultancy about all the people who worked there.

With which, when it was time for me to...receive feedback on my performance as a professional,they told me I had too much "I",which was a bit confusing to digest, because it made me think about...

what specific behaviors or in which specific situations, that "I."..

that almost mythical "I" they referred to, had been a problem.

And actually, they were not able to define it at that time in concrete terms, rather, the idea was more that… my person or my personality were too present in my work.

I believe that this is one of the great difficulties we often face when trying to know who we are at work,wondering whether who we are or how we are is the best version of ourselves, or simply the way we lead.

And it's funny, because a few years later, in a personal process that I began, I learned to identify and also to embrace who I was,and to be much kinder and more understanding towards myself,and also to identify my greater and weaker skills, my strengths and my weaknesses.

In fact, from knowing who I am,they have truly been the best professional years of my life.

When we often talk about identifying who we are, sometimes we think that it is something that has to be unchangeable, and that is not true either.

In the end, this learning has to go hand in hand with learning how to move or react too, or those things you have to learn.

And how to manage yourself within an organization or a work environment.

THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT As you develop in a professional structure, as you reach management positions,the truth is that you're going to find fewer and fewer women in those meetings, because, indeed, the percentage of women in management positions is increasingly lower. It is around...

30%, and when you go to CEO levels, we are talking about 7%.

The sociologist in me has tried to do her part,through social research, specifically in the advertising world,to understand what happens to women in organizations.

And with the research I have done,what I realized is that the difficulties that women have,not on an individual level, but at a structural level,they have to do with that professional development.

To give you an idea, 30% of women in the advertising industry, feel invisible in the work they do.

It really takes a lot for them to be seen, to feel valued,in the field they work.

It must be taken into account that 70% of Advertising students in Spain are women, but in reality, we only have a 22%,between 22% and 28% of women are in creative management positions,and that in the same number of years, women take much longer to get a management position.

We took the test with 20 years of career, women have 27 less percentage points of chance of reaching a management position,at the same race number, where it is also in management positions where the wage gap increases the most.

In addition to that, the effort and the mental exhaustion involved,what does it mean to make our work visible?

To continue having a professional career, to participate in the best projects,coupled with conciliation issues, also closely related to mental load what that entails, they effectively make the situation of women within companies something that goes much further also from us.

STRATEGIES TO SURVIVE AS A WOMAN IN LEADERSHIP Sometimes we have the feeling that being complacent will help us achieve respect, and I think that's where we were wrong.

I think that one of the things that I ask at a professional level is trust,and I say it openly.

I have been to meetings, contests,projects in which I needed...

that people let me do my job as best as possible.And what I have asked of the room, and let me tell you,usually, the higher up, the more men you find, is that they would give me a vote of confidence.

Let's ask for it. Let us also ask for the confidence to do things,and let's also ask to be allowed to tell them without fear.

It is very difficult for anyone to tell you that they don't give you 5 minutes to convey an idea when we are talking.

If there is someone interrupting you you can say, "Excuse me, let me finish." But it has to come from the conviction that you have the legitimacy and the right to be saying what you want to say.

And it works, because the reality is that there will be no one to defend your work for you.

And although that may cause discomfort, if you have to explain one thing, and that's why the whole room turns to listen to what you have to say,hold on to whatever nerves you have, and do it.

And it's going to be the only way, or I think it's the way you...

...earn the respect of others, and you are also gaining confidence in yourself, and I insist, confidence is trained. It really is.

What makes men and women different in leadership positions?

In very masculine environments, it is difficult,because many times, unconsciously, but it is something that happens,they establish networks of camaraderie, of male camaraderie,and you don't go in there, because things that may seem anecdotal, such as the pats, if you pay attention,when you enter a meeting or a context in which men meet,there are the pats on the back.

Sometimes I have seen it too, pats on the belly,pats on the shoulder... We women don't pat each other,and men never pat me. What's happening?

That this has established a code of camaraderie.Next step of the meeting,and this is true, is to start talking about football.

Everyone also knows, even if they don't know each other what team each one is from, and then it's the comment of...

What has happened to Barça, to Madrid? "Well, I'm more of a Madrid fan","You're a Barça fan," and whatever. What have they done? A network.

All those things, of course, also create links,relationships of trust, and a whole series of things that are not seen, and that is where I think the difficulty lies.

THE MATURE WOMAN AS A CREATIVE PROFILE When we did the research on , which is a research on the abandonment of women in creative agencies in Spain after their forties, because what happens in creative agencies in Spain is that, after 35 years old, there is a huge step and practically a stampede out.

One of the things they told us was, especially also linked to motherhood, the difficulty of maintaining the social agenda of the agency, of the life of the agency, of what is strictly work-related.

And then it all adds up.In general, you leave the agency and go for a drink, not punctually,but systematically.

This is where work conversations also take place,where they talk about projects, where many times they even continue giving returns to the ideas that may have arisen in the agency.

Of course, the moment you let go of those moments or that life either because you have had children, you don't want to, you haven't had them,or you can't and you don't want to, well, indeed, there is a penalty.

The percentage of women with children in creative positions who said this negatively impacted their career, it was quite high.

If I remember correctly, it was around 60.For men, in creative positions with children,the impact did not reach 30.

In recent years in Spain, it has been achieved thanks to...

the support of more creative women and all the work done by universities to promote this, that entry positions are equal.

But then there are also cases, as the salary gap in junior positions,which is practically non-existent.

When you enter, both men and women charge the same.

The salary gap appears after eleven to fifteen years of career.

That's where women start to earn less.Adding to that the possibilities of promotion to management positions,because really the step is from the senior to the management position.

They can't be promoted, nor moved from senior to management.

Why does this happen?Indeed, with motherhood, or having to face a conciliation,many women decide that...

it is not worth it.It is not because they don't like it, or because their motivation is not the same, because it is exactly the same,but it is not worth it, "they are paying me less, and also..." my chances of promotion are much lower." Thus, if what is required of me is such a great demand in hours of work and dedication,if you don't see yourself back for career progression or equal pay,well, actually, that's when they start to drop...

the profession.Okay.- Great.