“Has anyone ever seen a business case for why men are good for business? No. And we don’t want to have one for women.”

During the LEAD Network Virtual Conference this year, Leena Nair, Chief Human Resource Officer at Unilever, delivered a riveting keynote speech that urged women to “stop apologizing and start leading.” Her speech, introduced by her colleague Hanneke Faber, President Foods & Refreshment at Unilever, was the highest rated of all presentations and generated a storm of responses from our members, even giving rise to the hashtag #wwld (what would Leena do?). Leena’s approach is forthright and outspoken. She challenges the need to make a business case for female leaders.

JOIN the LEAD Network and Advance Diversity

The mission of the LEAD Network (Leading Executives Advancing Diversity) is to attract, retain and advance women in the Consumer Goods and Retail sector in Europe through education, leadership and business development.

LEAD Network is convinced organisations can create more sustainable value by leveraging the full talent pool. Our vision is a diverse workforce where both men and women can contribute their full potential and lead their organisations to the next level of value creation. We believe that advancing more women to take on leadership roles is required to face actual business challenges.

As a non-profit organisation we have adopted a unique focus on the Consumer Goods and Retail sector within Europe. To measure how the industry develops in terms of gender equality, every two years we conduct a survey – LEAD Network Gender Diversity Scorecard -.

Companies in the sector are welcomed to participate in this survey, free of charge.

More information on the 2021 LEAD Network Gender Diversity Scorecard here

 

SuperPowers NOW

Turning our individual or company skills and behaviours into SuperPowers
to eliminate gender inequality – now.

Why the SuperPowersNow Initiative?

The SuperPowersNow initiative helps the LEAD Network to fulfil its mission and is especially important in times like these to drive the right decisions and actions for gender equality.

Go to the SuperPowersNow page

Unlimited Potential

Flexible working on the shop floor
A case study of Waitrose

We commissioned this study because we felt the retail industry in Europe was crying out for practical, detailed examples of how to bring flexible working to the shop floor.

Click here for more information

Please get in touch with mick.broekhof@lead-eu.net or sharon.jeske@lead-eu.net if you would like to receive further details, to get access to the full report or to share your feedback.

Six core values of LEAD Network

We embrace the following values to guide the activities of the LEAD Network
and its community of members, Partners, volunteers and staff.

Leadership at Work

Off mute with Elise Misse

Read her latest blog here

Burn Out or Fade Away?
How About Neither

You find all her blogs here

Watch our LEAD Network Webinars

At LEAD Network, we host regular webinars focused on 3 different tracks:
D&I Best Practices – learn from our partners about how they are making an impact on gender equality
Personal & Career Development – be inspired by personal stories, develop your leadership skills and drive your own career
Functional & Industry Topics – learn about what’s new in our sector and build your functional skills

D&I Best Practises

Personal & Career development

Functional & Industry Topics

Watch our webinar recordings here

LEAD Network Partners Interviews

Sponsor Spotlight

Ahold Delhaize

Frans Muller

Frans Muller
President & Chief Executive Officer
Ahold Delhaize

Watch interview

Sponsor Spotlight

P&G

Béatrice Dupuy
President and General Manager France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Procter & Gamble

Watch interview

Sponsor Spotlight

Migros

AYŞE DENIZ YÜZBAŞIOĞLU
HR Talent Management Manager, Migros

Read interview

Metro AG

“Those who want to translate consumer needs in management decisions,
cannot ignore diversity. The conditions are favourable:
There are plenty of women in the talent pipelines.”

Ahold - Delhaize

“As a global retail leader, Ahold Delhaize acknowledges that Diversity & Inclusion is fundamental to its business success and growth. In principle and in practice, Ahold Delhaize promotes an inclusive and respectful work environment which gets Better every day for our associates, customers, communities and shareholders. We are thrilled to support LEAD.”

Procter & Gamble

“Gender Equality is a P&G Citizenship priority and a Business imperative. As a Company that serves billions of women around the world, we are leveraging our insights to uncover gender bias and taking actions to spark conversations and motivate change.
We are doing this through our brands, with our corporate voice, and with our people and partners inside and outside of our Company. As a foundation partner of LEAD, we aim to achieve equal women representation & leadership in the consumer goods & retail sector in Europe.”

EY

“According to the WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2017, it will take until 2234 to achieve global gender parity in the workplace. At EY, we believe it is far too long and we are committed to do what we can to accelerate women’s progress in the workplace.”