LEAD Network Spain Chapter Event – 12th May 2017
Hosted by Sealed Air, Barcelona, Spain

Men Advocating Change

On Friday May 12th LEAD’s Spanish Chapter held their second event of the year, this time in Barcelona thanks to Sealed Air’s kind offer to host the session titled ‘Men Advocating Change’.

It was great to share ideas and connect with new faces, which included an outdoor lunch in the sun and networking to get things started.

Spain LEAD Network Committee Chair, Adriana Vazquez, alongside LEAD Network Founder Sharon Jeske kicked off the event; giving a clear overview of the network’s goals and how men and women are working together to drive positive change.

The lively afternoon session saw Sealed Air’s Ginés Cerdan (Global Key Account Director Beverages, Sealed Air Food Care) and Andreu Camps (KAM Processed Food Spain, Sealed Air Food Care Division) talk on how their experiences as fathers and husbands shaped their views around gender equality. They also touched on the men’s network that Sealed Air set up called MARC, Men Advocated Real Change. This sits alongside WERG España – an extension of the company’s Corporate Diversity Council, which includes the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN), all of which promote gender equality and an inclusive culture.

This presentation was followed by a fantastic panel session, featuring three inspiring leaders; Quique Hernández, Head of South West Europe Brand & Commercial Strategy for PepsiCo – the newest gold partner addition to Lead; alongside Jose Ramon Alonso, Managing Director at Accenture and Pedro Dominguez, CIO at Schneider Electric.

These three speakers highlighted key issues and themes, and also shared connections between their personal and professional lives which had shaped their views on diversity. Quique touched on how measurement is beneficial, but must not mask behaviors, for example the adoption or perceived need of an ‘alpha male’ approach by women in order to succeed. Jose added to this with examples of his time working in a different culture when abroad, and how he helped to change the mindset there around certain female stereotypes.

Throughout the afternoon the mix of personal and professional views made for a rich, authentic and inspiring event, including practical discussions around opportunities to steer a more ambitious future which empowers women and delivers real impact to businesses via diversity. It was interesting to hear more around the initiatives each company had implemented, especially PepsiCo’s ongoing ‘Performance with Purpose’, their fundamental belief that the success of the company is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world around it. This includes goals around ‘Product’, ‘Planet’ and ‘People’, with their People agenda dedicated to supporting a diverse, inclusive and engaged workforce that reflects the global communities where they do business. This specifically includes commitments around continuing to develop diverse talent across the business and working to achieve gender parity in management roles by 2025. This is supported in Spain and across Europe with tailored programs taking place around learning, capability building and best practice sharing.

Thanks again to all the speakers and to everyone there for making it a great event with so many useful takeaways and learnings.

LEAD Network would like to thank Adriana Vazquez, Chair of the LEAD Spain Chapter and the team at Sealed Air (particularly Maria Ibars Jane, Customer Service Director Iberia) for organising and hosting this fantastic event, and LEAD Members from the PepsiCo team in Spain for providing this great summary.