On December 8, the 2022 Fortune MPW Women’s Summit was held in Shanghai with the theme of “Calm and Fearless, Finding the Future”.
How to exert influence and connect an increasingly divided world in this era of anti-globalization? This is an important and urgent proposition. This conference brings together the most influential business women in various fields, who have demonstrated female influence, wisdom and resilience in a challenging and transformative business environment. Among them are female leaders from large companies, as well as emerging female leaders in China, including entrepreneurs, professional managers, industry stars and opinion leaders.
During the MPW summit, the guests discussed topics such as entrepreneurship, medical innovation, consumption trends, and leadership from multiple dimensions, and shared their own practices and thinking behind their actions in practice.
The following are the wonderful views of the participants:
Go all out for love
I really like Ronda Rousey. When I saw her fight when I was still confused, she won the first female UFC championship. Role models are powerful, like beacons, and Ronda Rousey is my role model. Seeing her, I think I can too, and girls can also show their female power in the octagonal cage.
In my opinion, personal influence is to do a good job of myself and my career. As a boxer, I need to fight well and train well. This is what I need to do. If I can use my influence to do something, I hope that the children of the next generation will have a strong heart and a strong body. I also hope to spread the traditional Chinese culture and traditional Kung Fu, so that more people can join in and let Chinese athletes Be more confident and bring your own culture to the game.
A new mandate for business leaders: Bridging divides, reshaping connections
There is no need to set up a person, the person will definitely collapse. What I believe in is to behave against human nature and do things in accordance with human nature. There are a few key points for female leaders in terms of communication. First, simplicity brings trust. Second, respect for professionalism. How to let high-quality R&D personnel play their roles is far more important than authority. Third, always be open and inclusive. A closed system increases entropy and will eventually perish. We need to absorb information and nutrition from all sides. Fourth, keep pace with the times. In the end, I believe that continuing to lead the team to one success after another is the best way to achieve consensus. It is necessary to be able to empathize, seek common ground while reserving differences, and reach a consensus in the universal values that everyone agrees with.
Future enterprises should follow the new longboard theory, find their own positioning, forge their own longboards, and use the longboards of their partners to make up for their own shortcomings. In the process of rebuilding globalization, innovation is very important. To solve the technical challenges faced by the industry, if you can break through, it means creating value in itself. China’s huge economies of scale can drive the rapid development of the entire industry.
Since 2020, we have seen various uncertain factors such as international politics and the new crown epidemic. It can be seen from the data that some deglobalization is happening, but what is interesting is that the flow of funds has suddenly increased in the past three years. From the perspective of investment decision-making, funds are more inclined to flow in stable markets such as China and the United States, looking for certainty among uncertainties.
It is a trend that analytical data replaces raw data. Raw data is similar to the lowest material, such as oil, natural gas, wood, fossils, etc., and can only be used by people after processing. For female managers and decision makers, our requirement must be to obtain insightful data, so as to reduce the time for research and judgment and make accurate decisions quickly.
How to re-establish trust is also a question for leadership in the next era, that is, what kind of leadership can truly lead the team to manage the changes in the era of deglobalization. In this era, you need to be more empathetic and listen to what customers and employees are thinking, not just listening, but more understanding. Be a service-oriented leader instead of an authoritative one, build more connections, connections bring transparency, and transparency brings trust.
We entered the Chinese market more than 40 years ago. The 40-year development trajectory is completely consistent with the timeline of China’s reform and opening up. This line can see the growth of the Chinese economy. We have also cultivated the Chinese market as Dow’s largest overseas market in the world. Market, such a win-win situation is also the best footnote of globalization. In the past, it was in China for China, but now it is more in China for the world, thinking about how to reverse innovation and do a good job in global collaboration.
In the past three years, repeated epidemics and geopolitical turmoil have had a great impact on global economic and social development. In the face of many uncertainties, from the perspective of the consulting profession, there is a very certain trend, that is, the continuous development of the technological revolution, and the development and iteration of new technologies will become the most important trend in the current, including the entire social and economic development in the next ten years. One of the main driving forces, nothing can stop it. China’s digital economy has developed rapidly in the past ten years, and it will become faster and faster in the future.
The new crown epidemic has brought pain, but it has also forced digital transformation, such as the acceleration of life sciences and vaccine research and development, and the explosive growth of Internet medical care has also benefited from this. From this perspective, how the current enterprises embrace the changes of new technologies and use new technologies to create new resilience and flexibility is the key challenge.
Deglobalization, or re-globalization, is not an easy choice for multinational companies. China is too important and an indispensable market. How to build resilience and balance is a problem faced by excellent managers. Chinese companies have never let go of going overseas. Overseas markets can bring new growth points and enhance global competitiveness, which is very important.
New Rules for Entrepreneurial Survival
During the epidemic, our survival rule has always been adhering to customer-centricity. Regardless of whether there is an epidemic or not, every enterprise faces different challenges at different times. As a service provider, we must think about how to provide long-term value to the enterprise, how to reduce the cost between my enterprise and the upstream and downstream, and make the efficiency higher. When you solve customer value, you can survive in any market environment.
Entrepreneurship is the face of life and death. During the epidemic, small and medium-sized enterprises faced many challenges. We are constantly thinking about how to provide value while going on for a long time. Whether it is a small and medium-sized enterprise or a start-up enterprise, it must provide a good product and provide enough value to survive in this cold winter.
The survival rules of start-up companies in the post-epidemic period, I think the first is not to forget the original intention, and not to forget why you started your business. The second is “quick, precise and ruthless”. Under the premise of not violating the moral bottom line, you must do things quickly, and no one knows what will happen tomorrow; you must be accurate in finding your partner, and don’t waste time on inappropriate people and things; Be ruthless in investing.
The new crown epidemic is a rare opportunity for medical device and hard technology entrepreneurship. The policy issued by the state is to tackle key technologies and absolutely focus on innovation. We still move forward with the mentality that the future is bright. Through the epidemic, everyone has realized the importance of high-end medical equipment such as emergency equipment. The policy must not only support the technology needed in the country, but also support the technology going abroad. This is a very good dividend of the times and the needs of the times.
In the post-epidemic period, we have observed that large companies and start-up companies are paying more and more attention to new investment in organizational construction. They must embrace changes very optimistically, but also carefully analyze strategic choices and investment frameworks. Teams need to pay more attention to long-term Goals, ideal side by side with down-to-earth measures. In terms of organizational and cultural construction, more and more growing companies are investing more energy in employee communication and construction.
For the previous generation of start-up companies, growth can cover up many things when the capital market is soaring. Now everyone pays more and more attention to cost, output value and human efficiency, and pays attention to operational efficiency. In the rapidly changing environment, more and more companies are plowing into the vertical field, and there are more cross-border trends in several fields. Entrepreneurs today are faced with a lot of uncertainty and to deal with greater challenges, they need determination and tenacity.
From 10% to 50%
Most of the women are still content to be the second and third in command, lacking enough ambition and desire. We can see that there are many women at the vice president level, but it seems that the highest position, everyone will feel that it is too tiring. This may prevent women from going higher and further in the enterprise.
From a corporate perspective, many companies have the goal of balancing the gender ratio of executives, and even have many systems to accommodate women, which is not necessarily the best way. The more accommodating, the more it means that you are not good enough, you need help, and you need to be given more space to go forward. This may also be another kind of discrimination.
We found that healthcare has the highest percentage of female executives of any industry. I think there are both objective and subjective reasons for this. On the one hand, there are more girls majoring in biology; on the other hand, this industry is doing technology transformation, applying the basic theory of biology and genetics to medicine, which requires multi-technical interdisciplinary, as well as technical expertise from various departments. Integration requires strong communication skills. Two objective reasons determine that women are not disadvantaged groups in the choice of healthcare industry.
Equality between men and women is not a privilege for women. We must be equal and not limit ourselves. From the perspective of enterprises, many studies have shown that when the proportion of female executives exceeds 30%, the financial returns to the enterprise, including the introduction of competitive talents for employees, are very considerable. Startups should not have prejudices and presets about the proportion of female executives. Enterprises should be more proactive in helping women and designing flexible policies that are applicable to men and women, not only in terms of talent policies.
The success ratio of women in the financial industry is very low, and the ratio of employees is about 18:1. You usually see so-called ace fund managers, and there are very few women. We should think about how to systematically create opportunities for women’s careers in very male industries. In the Chinese market, cultural traditions and education bias towards women have a great impact on this phenomenon.
First of all, it is a prejudice to say that women are emotional animals, lack rational thinking, and are very emotional. In the investment industry, it is easy for the audience to subconsciously feel that women are not rational, while the investment industry pays more attention to logic and rational thinking. Such a culture requires the society to change together so that women are no longer limited by industry labels.
In the education system, we see that in engineering, mathematics, physics and other majors, the proportion of women choosing is lower. Among industry analysts, more girls cover industries that are more directly related to life, such as consumer goods and retail, while relatively few women are in industries such as industrial manufacturing. I think the education system should do some guidance.
The Chinese way of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry
After COVID-19, in the current situation of global aging and various medical needs, it is necessary to consider how to spend money wisely, realize further reasonable allocation of existing resources, and truly achieve the maximum benefit of patients. A responsible medical and health enterprise should not only develop itself well, but also solve many social problems and think about how to use its own technology, including new means, to achieve ambitious goals.
In order to achieve such a goal, I think the new strategy in the Chinese market is not limited to the business model, but also includes innovative technical means, algorithms combined with modern medicine, etc. With the means of precise treatment, the effectiveness of patients after medication will increase. Even better, this is the premise that we propose half the social cost and 3-5 times the patient benefit. However, precision alone is not enough, and weapons are also needed. For example, based on the platform and the AI algorithm to bring about a technological revolution, it can not only find the target, dart target, but also be able to strike the target well. This is the specific way to move forward in the future. .
When it comes to the Indian market, the advantage of China’s pharmaceutical industry is that China’s innovation capability is stronger, there are many innovative companies, and more multinational companies are in China. In addition, the patent level of China’s pharmaceutical industry is very high, and patents are the most basic floor for innovation. Without this point, it is difficult to innovate. Because the high risk of innovation is that if everyone does not respect intellectual property rights, there is no way to innovate, which is still a big problem in India.
How innovative drugs developed in China enter the international market is a very important aspect. We also hope to cooperate with different domestic counterparts, especially in different environments, these small companies need funds and resources, we hope to be able to unite, keep warm, and go to the international market together. For open innovation, there are both License-in and License-out.
China’s medical approval has undergone earth-shaking changes in the past five years. The abbreviation of the Food and Drug Administration is NMPA, and some people used to joke that it was “you approve it”. However, a Novartis drug for the treatment of high blood pressure was the first in the world to be submitted for approval in China, and it was also the first to be approved. The speed of (new drug approval) is obvious to all. We hope that this will not be an isolated case in the future. It is expected that 90% of project approvals will be synchronized globally in the future, which will be a great improvement.
Compared to India, China has a better pharmaceutical market. For example, universal medical insurance, more than 96% of residents in China are covered by the basic medical insurance catalog, while India does not have this mechanism. Some people ask which country will be the next China, is it India? Is it Africa? The final conclusion is that the next China is still China.
The pharmaceutical industry is now facing a lot of pressure, but the good news is that policies have relatively strong support for innovation. For example, the policy of innovative drugs, including the policy of accelerated review and simplified review after new indications come out. In general, in the process of market environment changes, it is necessary to be able to stand out in the industry by means of differentiation. The most important thing for pharmaceutical companies is to meet unmet needs, open up newer technologies, find more cutting-edge targets, and find overlapping points between needs and technologies.
In addition to differentiation, there is another point that involves the ability to commercialize. For pharmaceutical companies, innovation may have been the most important in the past, and the evaluation of comprehensive capabilities will be the future. Especially for local companies, speed and commercialization are very important. Need Complement and strengthen in these areas.
Now is the best time for the development of innovative drugs. The first is the demand side. The new crown epidemic has shown us that the health crisis not only affects the health of individuals, but also affects society and the economy. When human beings face major challenges, only innovation can provide a steady stream of weapons to fight diseases. Therefore, this epidemic has made everyone pay more attention to and invest in the pharmaceutical industry. People hope not only to cure the disease, but also to make it more convenient, longer-acting and less painful. This is where innovative drugs come into play.
From an industrial point of view, in the process of China moving from a large pharmaceutical imitation country to an innovation powerhouse, industrial orientation also requires enterprises to invest more in innovation and develop with high quality. More importantly, from the perspective of policy, we have ushered in unprecedented positive and positive changes. The speed of review and approval by the Food and Drug Administration has accelerated, and we can bring global products to China.
become an enabler
Traditional centralized organizations have three characteristics: Most of them are hierarchical organizational structures, which emphasize more on process division of labor and are driven by strong control. The enabling organization is a networked and relatively flat structure, with very transparent information, independent of control, driven by people, and dependent on the self-driving force of employees or small teams. To put it simply, it is to enable employees to develop and create value for customers under the condition of both talents and information. For most empowerment organizations, capability integration is established at the back end of the organization to deliver resources and support to front-end employees and teams.
In our practice, empowerment is not simply a bold authorization, there are three foundations. First, it is necessary to fully communicate in the strategic direction and respond quickly in tactics. Second, the team’s ability to learn from market insight to review is very important. Third, power and responsibility are integrated. The team not only has the ability to execute or judge, but also needs to bear corresponding responsibilities for the delivered results. These are our very important foundations in the authorization or empowerment process.
There is no one-size-fits-all management model. It depends more on the stage of enterprise development, market demand and business development focus at this moment. Whether it is an empowering team or a traditional organizational structure, the most important concept is to adapt the two words, how to connect with our business needs and maximize efficiency.
To achieve enterprise flexibility through empowerment, the first is authorization, which lowers the focus of decision-making. In the China region, I have always said that doing nothing can lead to governance. Everyone must be able to make decisions in front of customers, otherwise the efficiency will be low and customers will not respect you. I think authorization is trust, so it is necessary to cultivate talents to reach the level of authorization. In addition, the most important thing about empowerment is to stimulate people’s potential through trust and encouragement.
From the perspective of a company, the two dimensions of top-down and bottom-up are integrated. The strategic direction must be top-down. But if the company wants to survive longer, leaders must also hear the voices below and make decisions. The level of execution should be empowered, and everyone’s potential should be stimulated from a tactical point of view. There are many such mechanisms, so that employees are willing to speak out for the company and find ways.
If all decisions of an enterprise are top-down and rely on one or several decision makers, the risk is very high from the perspective of long-term development of the enterprise. Even if this company is very lucky and has a superman, the life of the company may be longer than the professional life of any one person, so I think the learning, innovation and adaptability of the company itself, as well as the ability to empower every employee, are all important. It is very important to the long-term stable and healthy development of the enterprise. Enabling enterprises have more lasting vitality.
The decisions of the headquarters must be communicated to the branches. If they are not given flexibility at all, the enterprise will not have any empowerment. The strategic policy and resource allocation are determined by the headquarters, but considering the market environment and market challenges faced by each branch are different, we fully empower the decision-making flexibility of the front-line institutions in the implementation of the plan.
be your own champion
The whole world is under the background of anti-globalization. The form of sports, especially the Olympics, brings the whole world together, respects the rules and respects each other, and shows each other’s strengths in a confrontational way for two to three weeks under the same roof. Competitive state, this is a very good way to show the world that even in a competitive environment, we can still get along, and sports competition can reflect our best state.
There are always many aspects to consider in an international organization, but sometimes you have to speak up and make decisions. It is very important to have the first thought and to be able to hear your inner voice. The position of women in traditional society will be relatively fixed, and the ability to cultivate women is very important to break through these positions. To be able to truly integrate into the work, play a role, and slowly enter the leadership. (Fortune Chinese website)
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