Reflections from the 2010 Dynamic Women in Business Conference

Last Saturday I attended the 19th annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference at HBS, which is hosted by the Women's Student Association on campus. I have to admit that last year, although I went to the keynote speech by the founder of Bare Escentuals, I was so bored at the first panel that I promptly left. This year, I had a bit of a different strategy (only go to what sounded truly interesting and spend time doing job search/school stuff in a separate space during the less interesting bits) and found that overall I had a much more enjoyable time.

Perhaps what surprised me most was how much I enjoyed the morning keynote speech by Ann Simonds, the President of the Baking Division at General Mills. Originally, the CEO of Product (RED) was supposed to speak, but she fell ill and had to cancel at the last minute. I was really disappointed and expected a completely boring speech about marketing Betty Crocker, but instead I found myself really engaged and inspired.

Ann's speech was mostly centered around the role that women play in business today and how we can work together to shape expectations for the future. Some interesting statistics that she pointed out:

• 45% of people report not liking their job. Those that do like their job are 12% more productive (so it pays to do what you are passionate about).
• Women still earn just 77 cents to every dollar that men earn, but companies that have women in their senior ranks deliver 34% more shareholder value than companies that are run solely by men (so why are they buying us so cheaply?).

What I appreciated most from Ann's speech was how she ended it. She said that she actually gets annoyed when people approach her and ask her how she "has it all," because she says that having it all is a flawed idea -- she certainly doesn't have it all and she doesn't believe that's what the goal should be. Rather she said the goal is to give and be a productive, useful person, whether that be through giving to yourself, family, co-workers or friends.

The afternoon keynote, Linda Easley, the CEO of Limited Stores, was less interesting (she talked entirely about the private ownership of the brand, which split off from Limited Brands a couple of years ago and wasn't nearly as inspirational), so I'm going to skip over her speech and go straight to the third panel session where I attended the Technology, Entertainment and Media panel.

The panel featured a really diverse group of women: Anna Collins, the General Manager of Entertainment and Devices Support, Customer Service and Support at Microsoft moderated, and the panelists included HBS alums Meredith Barnett (Editorial Director, The Inside Source), Patricia Burh (VP of Strategy, Programming and New Product Development, Time Warner Cable), Sara Clarke (SVP Corporate Strategy, Analysis and Communication, Showtime), Jessica Schell (SVP Digital Strategy and Business Development) and a lone non-HBS alum Tai Beauchamp (CEO, The Blueprint Group).

Here are some highlights from the conversation:

• Jessica Schell commenting on how much value technology has destroyed with DVRs, piracy issues, the delivering of content without cable subscriptions and other disruptive technologies. Anna Collins then trying to defend technology (since she works at Microsoft).
• Tai Beauchamp talking about finding a comfort level tooting your own horn, which women find more difficult than men (and which leads to women less often getting the promotions and raises that they desire/deserve).
• Sara Clarke reiterating that it's okay not to know everything and to admit that. She was once assigned a project regarding HD technologies and had no idea what it was all about, but by networking and utilizing internal resources, she quickly became the expert and "go-to" woman in the company.

Overall, I thought the conference was well done -- and I enjoyed the lululemon goody bag (we got Unilever toiletries, 150 calorie warm delights desserts, a candle, a clutch from The Limited and more!). One day I hope that I'm successful enough to be invited back to campus as a speaker for this event!

Next up is this Thursday's Entertainment & Media Conference for which I spearheaded the marketing (along with my awesome partner, Minal!). Will blog about that one soon!