SACC-NY Executive Women’s Conference

On April 22, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Reception for the 2013 SACC NY Executive Women's Conference

Last week I had the fortune to do something very special and close to my heart: celebrate and learn from successful female executives from both sides of the Atlantic!

The Swedish-American Executive Women’s conference is organized by the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce based in New York City. This year we commemorated the 10th anniversary of the dynamic women’s conference which this year saw tickets sell out months in advance. This is a testament to the work of the chamber’s first female President, Renee Lundholm, who has made SACC-NY into an effective vehicle for shared Swedish and American values and deepening people-to-people ties between our two nations through business.

The theme of this year’s conference was prescient and forward-thing: Making money in the 21st century. How do we evolve along with changing business models and shifting demographics to continue creating growth in our companies?

Several panels intermixed with individual speeches focused on “knowing and growing your value”, growth and leadership in a financially turbulent and constantly changing world, and even more detailed explanations of private equity versus conglomerate business models. Much of the discussions focused on trends and how to adapt those into growth. The co-existing trends of urbanization and digitalization, a quest for simplicity and essentiality, how the Internet is changing consumer behaviors and business models, and changing demographics, were topics of discussion.

Healthy renewal is central to any organization. I believe leadership and profitability in the future will rely largely in an ability to foresee challenges and adapt to change. This was the over-arching theme of my keynote remarks at the conference, which I was very honored to be able to deliver to such an amazing group of women.

My speech focused on how we can harness the unique values of the Millennial generation to create greater profitability. But beyond that, how can we use the values of openness, work-life balance and transparency to advance women’s leadership and create a more diverse, dynamic future workplace. In my opinion, there is a clear synchronicity between the values set of the young generation and women’s leadership.

I also believe that the United States and Sweden are ideal partners in promoting women’s empowerment. Lagom (work-life balance), consensus, transparency and even decentralized office spaces with the elimination of the “corner office” have been interwoven into Swedish society for several generations already. Our strong shared values and future goals for socially just societies bring us together with our Swedish friends on a very substantive level and make the possibilities for future partnership on gender equality and entrepreneurship, as well as a variety of other areas, endless.

I will end by imparting the advice that these successful women were willing to share with us in the audience on how to maximize their professional potential.

·         Build on our strengths, not fret continuously on our weaknesses
·         Women tend to say “no” more to opportunities, say “yes”!
·         Find a mentor, or better yet a sponsor, to support you over the long-term and explain the informal rules of an organization to you
·         Have passion for your job, but also for making your community better
·         Follow your gut instincts
·         Stay “employable”, always do the right thing and protect your personal brand, reputation is everything
·         Keep your pulse on how business is changing, find an area where you can be part of transformative change
·         Try out different roles and reinvent yourself, never stop learning
·         Women have something special of their own to bring to the table. Don’t feel that you need to bring the qualities a man would bring, being different is a plus!

Thank you Renee Lundholm, SACC-NY and the amazing women who participated in the conference for opening my eyes to new ways of thinking about growth and value and inspiring me to believe in myself and promote other women too!

For more pictures from the event, see our Flickr page!

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Toca Boca Time!

On April 10, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Emil Ovemar and Mrs. Natalia Brzezinski with some Toca Boca friends!

Two Spanish, sing-song words encompass a foolproof solution for the traveling, exasperated parent: Toca Boca. The popular Swedish gaming application is not just a reliable silencer of agitated toddlers, but a celebration of the magic in every-day life.

 
The focus is just fun and letting kids be kids, according to co-founder Emil Ovemar who led us through Toca Boca’s colorful offices dotted with huge cardboard cut-outs and smiling faces of its iconic characters. At a time when kids grow up far faster than they should, Toca Boca’s creators are betting on prolonging the simple joys of childhood and learning through play. Children are encouraged to engage in interactive play that parents can feel good about Through a visual smorgasbord of never-too-perfect looking creatures— like my favorite “Bo”, a large hairy creature with a floral wreath adoring his jovial head— and simple activities like washing tea cups in a sink overflowing with suds or blow-drying the locks of a pink-haired girl with cat whiskers.

A part of the Bonnier Group, the concept was developed as a “digital toy” and launched in September 2010. The target age was originally 3-6, but today older siblings and even parents enjoy the meditative sensibilities produced by swiping away crumbs on a table meant for a bright tea set, concocting a pink polka-dot pair of pants via Toca Tailor or curling the unruly hair of a sanguine creature in Toca Hair Salon 2.

 
Today, it’s a wild success with a presence in most Swedish households and nearly 40% of its dissemination in the United States. In 2012, the game surpassed 22 million downloads and today vies with companies like Disney for top 3 status among most popular games. A strong collaboration with Apple and a prescient understanding of the times has propelled Toca Boca’s success. With most parents looking for an alternative to the violent, aggressive games that have been dominating the decade and a new generation of hands-on parents looking to cater to their child’s emotional development not only through ABC’s and 123’s. By emphasizing the simple things parents and kids do together like grocery shopping or setting the table, Toca Boca has hit a nerve.

New statistics demonstrating that Ipad play does not destroy the brains of your little ones (and in fact may enhance them!) and the focus of President Obama and many American law-makers on early childhood education may also add to the long-term social trends that will lead to the sustained success of games like Toca Boca.

 
Personally, my Ipad is replete with so many Toca Boca games that I’m even contemplating something I vowed to never do: purchase our nearly 4-year-old daughter her own Ipad.  I strongly believe in allowing children to play with whatever inspires them. If boys prefer ironing and arranging tea cups and girls enjoy strumming electric guitars and arranging train tracks (as our daughter does), so much the better for us all! The gender neutral nature of Toca Boca games is something that has always appealed to me. There are no pink Princesses with perfect blonde hair or loud, crashing cars; all the games focus on tasks that appeal to us all and characters who we can relate to.

Thank you Emil and the Toca Boca team for inviting me to your headquarters! We look forward to what creative games will be unveiled next!

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Visiting IKEA headquarters

On March 20, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Ten years ago while a first-year student at university, IKEA represented freedom, independence and a breadth of new opportunities to me. At that time in America, it had become a near requirement to purchase all of your university furnishings at the gleaming super-store.  Each piece of lightweight, streamlined furniture purchased represented one step closer to a new, exciting life!

Today the iconic brand symbolizes much more than just possibilities and potential for a fuller life. It symbolizes a core set of values— egalitarianism, sustainability and protection of the world’s resources, gender equality, social justice, philanthropy, diversity and inclusion, fiscal conservatism, a sense of community— which inform everything from its products’ “democratic design” to its style of informal, consensus-building leadership within the corporation’s management structure.

The short one-hour flight from Stockholm to Växjö, in the province of Småland, transported us to a serene, stony landscape dotted with leafless birch trees and known for its moose, and perhaps most of all, for IKEA and its founder Ingvar Kamprad who grew up there on a farm.

The land was notoriously hard to farm, thus instilling its people with a flinty hard work ethic and an aversion to waste. Kamprad brought the lessons he learned coming-of-age in a challenging setting to his vision for IKEA. A laser focus on efficiency is one of the reasons IKEA is able to provide its products at such low prices, explained CEO Mikael Ohlsson. Ensuring efficiency and strong partnerships with shared values along the entire supply chain is critical to IKEA’s success. The company has a “People & Planet Positive” goal for 2020 to make its stores, products and suppliers as sustainable as possible.

The focus on sustainable forestry is deeply impressive at a time when large timber tracts around the world are under intense pressure.  Great emphasis is placed on developing content alternatives other than just straight wood.

During our visit, we were able to see the production centers, scientific testing laboratories, design, the first-ever IKEA store and speak to designers in Älmhult. We even experienced a taste of home when we encountered an American supplier from Toledo, Ohio who was at IKEA headquarters with his wife for training and meet-and-greets, something IKEA does regularly to enhance partnerships and strengthened values transmission. When I asked Steve what he liked best about IKEA, he pointed to the strong focus on relationships.

One of the most personally exciting elements for me was their commitment to gender equality in the workplace. Many of the higher-level managers in the company started on the shop floor, and investing in employees’ productivity and development is paramount.

Today, IKEA has 42% female managers and has a short-term goal of 50%. One way they are attacking this challenge is through an initiative called “Battle of the Numbers” co-founded by Swedish media maven Eva Swartz Grimaldi  and Sofia Falk, that has received a one-year commitment from many of Sweden’s top companies (Ericsson, SEB Bank, H & M) to engage its top females in several seminars to discuss problems in gender equality within their corporation and find solutions. The solutions will later be presented to the CEO’s of all the companies to hopefully institute. IKEA’s assistant to the CEO, Fredrika Inger, an amazingly bright woman who helped guide and inform us through the visit, is directly involved in the initiative.

We ended this enlightening day in a very fitting place for Mark and me— the children’s section. Children, their development and their freedom to be and grow in every part of the home is a central value and driver for IKEA. The designers work with renowned children’s research centers to develop products that are first and foremost completely safe, even edible (as their markers are) but also lend to a child’s openness and creativity. Healthy eating and lifestyle are a key part of this message, and to underscore that we scanned reading books discussing gardening and squeezed plush toys shaped like carrots! Giving kids a healthy start is a passion and priority for our First Lady Michelle Obama and her path-breaking “Let’s Move” initiative, and many of IKEA’s values lined up perfectly with those of our President and many Americans.

Thank you Mikael Ohlsson and the IKEA family for an incredible visit! One that opened our eyes not only to IKEA, but allowed us to better understand the Swedish culture and what is important to Swedes.  Our visit places our shared values in an even stronger light!

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Women and Security: Sweden’s Nordic Center on Gender in Military Operations

On March 14, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Engaging women in security and peace-keeping is critical to advancing global stability and a safer world. Women are among the most affected by violence during conflict periods and have some of the most nuanced knowledge on how to generate peaceful consensus within their communities.  As former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in December 2011 at a speech in New York:

“From Northern Ireland to Liberia to Nepal and many places in between, we have seen that when women participate in peace processes, they focus discussion on issues like human rights, justice, national reconciliation, and economic renewal that are critical to making peace, but often are overlooked in formal negotiations. They build coalitions across ethnic and sectarian lines, and they speak up for other marginalized groups. They act as mediators and help to foster compromise. And when women organize in large numbers, they galvanize opinion and help change the course of history.”

In this spirit, on 22 February 2013, the Swedish armed forces signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Headquarters, Supreme Allied Command Transformation (HQ SACT) and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) that formalizes Sweden’s Nordic Center for Gender in Military Operations (NCGM) as lead for gender education and training by designating it as the Department Head (DH) for all NATO- led curricula concerning gender.

The cooperation established by this MoU will allow open participation from NATO, NATO nations, nations participating in Partnership for Peace (PfP), non-NATO/non-PfP nations and International Organizations / non-Governmental Organizations (IO/NGO) in accordance with NATO policy for NATO accredited courses.

As the NATO DH for gender education and training, the NCGM, will have many roles/responsibilities, but three of the highlights are as follows: (1) NCGM will translate operational requirements into education and training objectives within the subject of gender and related programs, modules and courses; (2) NCGM will establish training standards to which the NATO gender program courses will adhere; (3) NCGM will collaborate with both HQ SACT and SHAPE to ensure courses and curricula conform to NATO requirements.

This is good news for Sweden and NATO! This MOU culminates almost one year of coordination between SACT, SHAPE and the Swedish armed forces/Ministry of Defense. Sweden long ago recognized that if any Peace Support Operation (PSO) was to be successful that it would demand a comprehensive approach that involves the entire population: men, women, boys and girls. The area of gender perspectives has traditionally been neglected when planning, executing and evaluating PSOs. When ensuring the implementation of gender perspectives, the need for training and education is crucial. That is the reason that Sweden established the NCGM and then had its opening ceremony on 24 January 2012. It is just another example of Sweden’s “moral authority” that is recognized around the world.

So, congratulations to Sweden and the NCGM for their designation as Department Head for all NATO-led curricula concerning gender!

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International Women's Day lunch guests listen to Mrs. Natalia Brzezinski

Celebrating International Women’s Day

On March 11, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Celebrating International Women’s Day underscores a clear fact: empowering women in leadership positions is central to a more economically prosperous, innovative and stable world.

Secretary of State John Kerry crystallized this message in an official statement on March 8th: “It is a great and too often untold global success story that so much of the political, economic, and social progress of the last few decades could never have been imaginable without the leadership and courage of strong women.”

To honor the scores of path-breaking female leaders in Sweden, I convened a lunch of 32 women, including established CEO’s, businesswomen and political leaders, matching them with younger “rising stars” in the business world. The sun finally emerged from a long absence on the Swedish horizon and shone valiantly through the large windows as women of all ages streamed into the U.S. Ambassadorial residence.

The theme of the afternoon was connecting generations of female leaders to share stories and have honest conversations on the “how” of women’s empowerment. How do we overcome long-held gender biases in the office, the promotion process and traditional leadership structures? How do we balance work and family in a way that doesn’t deplete our productivity and joy? How do we empower ourselves and each other?

To help answer those questions I asked two of my role models here in Sweden— Maria Veerasamy, CEO of Svenskt Tenn (the iconic Swedish design brand), and Eva Redde Ridderstad, CEO of Spago and former CEO of several finance firms— to share with the group how they achieved success.

Being the only child of an immigrant father who left South Africa during apartheid, Maria Veerasamy never had a formal higher education and began her professional life working with her hands as a tailor. That is how she forged a commitment with a concept that is now the cornerstone of Svenskt Tenn: quality. She began at the lowest level of another merchandise store in Sweden, always asking her employers “What’s next?” She never became complacent and maintained a laser focus on challenging herself and what potential opportunities lay ahead.

Eva Ridderstad is an effervescent woman brimming with positive energy and determination. As she described her career story, these qualities shone through and underlined the advice she gave to the group: surround yourself with positive people, do something you are passionate about and that is beneficial for the world, focus on results and have fun! Helping younger women climb the corporate ladder and believe in themselves is something she weaves into everything she does, and giving back is her key message.

An amazing thing I’ve been able to discover in Sweden is phenomenal role models and mentors both inside and outside of the U.S. Embassy. These women have been unabashed supporters, springboards for ideas and wells of confidence-boosting when I needed it.  Because of them I have never felt such a strong conviction in my identity as a woman, a mother and professional.

Sweden is a special place for women’s leadership. It’s a country that places a premium on social justice, equality, human rights and equipping both men and women with the tools they need to fulfill their goals. Both the United States and Sweden share these egalitarian values and a belief that people have the right to maximize their potential.

With this common foundation, our International Women’s Day celebration had a unique spirit, substance and joy about it.

Happy International Women’s Day to all!

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A Dynamic Week: From Business Life in Stockholm to Culture in Visby

On January 25, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Visby, Gotland Photo by US Embassy

Despite the toe-curling cold, it has been an interesting and active week here in Stockholm! We started off the week with a visit to an innovative recruitment firm in Stockholm focusing partly on promoting women’s management and youth mentorship, and ended the week with a day trip to the stunning and historic island of Gotland.

On Tuesday, I was thankfully included with the Embassy team from the Political/Economic and Commercial sections to an informative lecture and lunch at Novare thanks to the CEO, Fredrik Hillelson. Novare is a human capital firm that recruits top talent for CEO and senior management positions for many of Sweden’s most successful companies. But interestingly, the company has leveraged its sterling network and accessibility for socially responsible and egalitarian-driven purposes.

This point was driven home when I walked into their sunny, open headquarters and saw several images. First, the staff all sat together in a decentralized seating arrangement with the CEO in a standard desk as well. The one difference was that his desk had an adjacent baby’s high chair nestled next to it from when he himself was on paternity leave and brought his son to work!

A large newspaper cut-out also loomed over the common area highlighting Novare’s globally-unique management program for parents on paternity and maternity leave. The image depicted three gleeful toddlers galloping and jumping on top of the shining, cherry wood conference table of a top investment fund in town. What a vivid way to tear down formality and promote inclusivity in the workplace!

Beyond just helping give parents the tools to balance work and life, Novare also supports women in the Middle East and North Africa learn how to build a business and bring it to scale, and provides training to young people age 25-35 to develop their business skills and helps businesses learn how to retain young employees.

The visit opened my eyes further to the great power the private sector has in promoting social equality, leveling the playing field for all (not just women but also young people and those with disabilities) and using profit-making structures for socially productive purposes.

Yesterday, we veered a bit from the business side to the cultural and political side with a trip to the historic island of Gotland, roughly in the middle of the Baltic Sea. I was able to accompany two superb women from the Public Affairs section. The short 30-minute flight transported us hundreds of years to the past, as Visby (the largest city on Gotland) is a UNESCO heritage site with ruins dating back to the Stone Age. The municipality symbolizes a dynamic marriage of past and future, old and new, as it is also the host of the unique and wildly popular “Almedalsveckan”.

Almedalsveckan is a week when all the political parties, along with most major newspapers, journalists, think-tanks and some businesses, travel to the island for conferences, speeches and networking across party lines. The week has a special, down-to-earth feel and it is not abnormal to see the Prime Minister waiting in line next to a junior journalist for breakfast, or the Foreign Minister in a panel with a young female entrepreneur.

Part of the purpose of the trip was for the Embassy team to begin planning for that week, as accommodations, boat tickets and even taxis are scarce and the programming is extensive. In addition to touring through the snowy cobble stone streets and feasting on local fish, we also had the honor to meet the Governor of Gotland County Cecilia Schelin Seidegård and tour her lovely residence. Thank you Governor for taking the time to greet us and I look forward to seeing beautiful Visby in July, when the sun only sets at midnight!

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To a great 2013!

On January 14, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Ambassador and Mrs. Natalia Brzezinski

As a new year emerges with a very snowy January, Mark and I could not be more excited for what we know will be a new dynamic, fun and interesting year at U.S. Embassy Stockholm.

It’s still slightly surreal to imagine that we’ve been living in Stockholm for over a year now. My mind still conjures up vivid memories of our late night November arrival in 2011 with an exhausted, colicky toddler, two parents with the stomach flu and suitcases full of clothes that we quickly realized were not warm or waterproof enough for the very cold winter wonderland we arrived in. The city was frigid but the Embassy community could not have been warmer and kinder. As we stumbled around town in the darkness trying to find a grocery store or figure out where Strandvagen was, Swedes and Americans alike could not have been more helpful and genuinely kind and receptive.

Looking back on our first year, I’m amazed by all of the fresh and creative initiatives the Embassy accomplished and the diverse set of exciting visitors we received. A top highlight was the visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  We also received one of the largest Senate delegations ever to Sweden led by Swedish-American U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson.  Additionally, we welcomed U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, U.S. Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, the legendary Paul Simon and Yo-Yo Ma and two sets of brilliant American Nobel laureates among many others. I know that I have grown personally and learned so much from following the lead of the talented U.S. Embassy team.

Our engagement flowed naturally and productively due to their hard work and also a sense of shared values that provides the basis of the strong American-Swedish relationship. A common commitment to democracy, innovation, sustainability and environmentalism, transparency and true partnership injected a special positive energy into the all of the goals and efforts by the U.S. Embassy. Through the Centennial celebration of Raoul Wallenberg, we were able to underscore the value of not being indifferent in the face of adversity and evil. It was extremely moving to be able to collaborate with the Swedish Foreign Ministry and other Swedish partners to celebrate Wallenberg.

In 2013, I’m looking forward to continuing my work in promoting diversity, youth engagement and women’s empowerment but also looking for new ways to be supportive and open within our community. Despite having a relaxing and lovely time over the holidays with my family in Chicago, Mark and I could not be happier to be back to a place and a set of people that we feel are home to us now.

Our daughter set the tone in this regard by voicing a near daily desire to go back home so she could “speak Swedish and go to dagis” to the chagrin and heartbreak of her grandparents!!

Among my many resolutions, one of the priorities is learning Swedish this year. In that hopeful vein, Gott Nytt år och God Fortsättning!

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Empowering Women in the 21st Century: U.S. Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer Visits U.S. Embassy Stockholm

On December 14, 2012, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues

Women’s issues are not just about women anymore. As President Obama said in April, “They are family issues, they are economic issues, they are growth issues, they are issues about American competitiveness. They’re issues that impact all of us.”

We have a President and a Secretary of State who understand the interdependence between advancing economic opportunities for women and advancing the overall prosperity and condition in society. Promoting and empowering women in business and political leadership positions is not just good for women, it’s good for all of us. Countless studies conclude it’s better for share-holders returns, better for the bottom-line and better for the productivity of corporate boards when more women have a seat at the table. The most creative innovation comes from a diversity of ideas and voices.

Our leaders take this challenge so seriously that Secretary Clinton created a brand new role within the State Department to implement this vision. Melanne Verveer is the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. The Secretary has charged Embassies worldwide to deliver on this “strategic and moral imperative” of women’s empowerment as a top priority.

Mark and I had the honor of hosting her this week here in Stockholm.

Ambassador Verveer often cites the unique “power to convene” as an effective tool for American Embassies around the world. Bringing a diverse set of people together around a common challenge and facilitating open, authentic dialogue can be a transformative experience that can be a catalyst for change.

On Tuesday, we did precisely that. Mark and I brought together a group of Sweden’s top female and male CEO’s and senior managers around key questions: What are the critical components necessary for an ideal ecosystem to empower women in senior business positions? What can we learn from different models elsewhere? And what lessons learned could these leading business people thatlive in a country that leads on gender equality share with us? Essentially, what really works ?

We began from an empirical framework and examined low-cost childcare, maternity/paternity leave benefits, access to capital, entrepreneurial training, mentorship programs, role models, mandatory quotas and the commitment of headhunters on this issue, as basic components that could possibly create “virtuous circles” (or low cost, high leverage cycles) of change.

Low-cost, high quality childcare is an example of this. When women have low-cost childcare available they have more capital and time to put into something productive for themselves and society, such as an entrepreneurial enterprise.

Through the dialogue, Ambassador Verveer helped frame the issue for us. Simply put, gender diversity at the top makes economic sense. She called on the private sector, and in particular CEO’s, to make a commitment to empowering women and pointed to specific examples of public-private partnerships she is familiar with, like Coke’s 5/20 program. This issue is in our collective self-interest, as Ambassador Verveer said, yet no country in the world has closed the gap yet.

One country that has made great strides is Sweden. In Sweden today, there are more female Cabinet Ministers than male, including a female Minister of Defense. There are 1.5 women for every man in tertiary education (a statistic reflected also in the United States). And yet in this realm there is so much more that can be done — less than 2% of Sweden’s top executives are women although they have the highest representation globally with 21 percent.

All these numbers tell us one thing: we still have a great deal of work to do to unleash the power of gender and facilitate women’s full economic participation. With aspirational leaders like President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and Ambassador Verveer, I have true faith that women of my generation and our daughter’s will have a greater voice in the workplace because of the trailblazers before us.

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Connecting with Youth on Questions of Identity

On November 1, 2012, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Meeting with Swedish youth at the Embassy

“I thought diplomats were all older white men, it was so great to see women and young people today while visiting the Embassy.”

 
This comment by a young, female Somali student from Malmö, Sweden struck me as the core of the challenges for cross-cultural outreach: battling misconceptions and putting a compassionate human face on diplomacy.

The Embassy team has been working tirelessly and effectively to organize authentic meetings and discussions with young people from diverse backgrounds. The point is not to talk at them, but to listen and listen some more. Such an event was organized yesterday to open up the Embassy doors to Somali high school students, let them ask questions of the Ambassador, tour the Embassy, hear what diplomats do and just connect on an authentic, people-to-people level.

I attended the lunch portion of a half-day program, and was thrilled by the open level of communication, laughter and conversations going on. I sat with four sharp young women who told me of their dreams of becoming a nurse, how they wanted to go help people in the Horn of Africa or the things they both admired and disliked about images and pop culture coming out of America. I know that it’s not always easy to be frank with older “authority-type” figures especially in what can be an intimidating setting— a U.S. Embassy— but the Embassy team created such a warm, welcoming setting that made everyone feel comfortable and able to really share their views.

One recurring theme we picked up was a lack of role models. One young man told us that he had chosen vocational training to be a plumber although it’s not where his passion lies only because he had no one to go to for professional advice or any role models that “look like him” to give him motivation.

This topic blended into an evening discussion that same day by the nascent Embassy Youth Council, called “You Tell U.S.” The goal of this dynamic initiative is to bring a diverse set of young Swedes together and once again, to really listen. We gather roughly once a month over chips and soft drinks, and the theme of each evening is not set by the Embassy but by the young guests:
What does it mean to be Swedish? What is the relationship between national identity and cultural or religious identity? How can we make newcomers feel like they truly belong? Is it possible to compare Swedish and American models when it comes to integration, or are we coming from fundamentally different foundations?

These were a few of the fascinating questions that we debated with the help of Kadra,

a young Somali grass-roots community leader from Minneapolis, Minnesota who Mark had actually met with on his trip to visit the Swedish and Somali diaspora in Minnesota earlier this month. Kadra helped lead the discussions by describing the entrepreneurial spirit of the Somali community in Minnesota as well as the challenges for her organizational efforts, which included a lack of role models and a need for institutionalization.

What ensued was an incredibly vibrant discussion among a group of Swedish youth political leaders, entrepreneurs and activists both immigrants and non-immigrants that went on far beyond the two hours initially set aside for the evening. Toward the end, the conversation took an introspective turn as each of us discussed what it meant to be a Swede, or to be an American. Couldn’t people in a certain nation agree to be diverse but also agree to have shared national values, like democracy or individual freedom?

Despite both consensus and wide disagreements, the evening demonstrated that part of the answer lies in the discussion. And I look forward to learning more from these talented young people at the next “You Tell U.S.” evening.

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Creating a New Definition of Leadership

On October 12, 2012, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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What does leadership mean in today’s information-rich, interdependent economy? How can we create a new definition of leadership that encompasses diversity and openness?

These were some of the central questions asked Tuesday evening as I spoke to a group of young female professionals in a glass-enclosed, panoramic annex room of the Stockholm School of Economics. The young women were part of Barbro Ehnbom’s “Best and Brightest”, or the BBB network, which brings together rising stars from the university’s economics program to form a professional network. The goal of the network is to cultivate the leaders of tomorrow in the international business community, and the members receive valuable business contacts, scholarships and even job opportunities in China, which is Ms. Ehnbom’s latest scholarship effort.

Each year one of these women is chosen as the “Female Economist of the Year,” and I had the privilege to speak alongside one of the winners, Ambassador Lisa Svensson, on a range of topics concerning leadership, work-life balance and the obstacles women face in the corporate promotion and hiring processes, and especially in establishing an authentic form of personal leadership.

I relish these discussion opportunities because they are not moments where I speak at the group or preach my belief in work-life balance, but instead as a group we help create environments where we listen to each other and share lessons learned. I am not a female CEO or executive, and listening and learning from the panoply of international experiences those young women have had allows me to better understand the challenges that lay ahead for both young professional women and men. I truly believe that in the debate itself lies much of the solution. And together we were able to identify a series of obstacles that present themselves for young people in the workplace, such as avoiding burning out, managing personal life with career, and seeking out appropriate role models and mentors.

In the end, together we concluded what many statisticians and researchers have recently said: that the most effective executive boards or senior management groups are the ones with the most diversity. And not just gender diversity, but diversity in education, life experience, culture and religion. In an interdependent world where many corporations have a presence in more than a hundred countries around the world, being able to relate to others, have empathy and an open mind are critical to success. Being able to lead both from one’s emotional side as well as intellectual side is what the future of leadership will entail, according to many of the young women. Finding role models that emulate those qualities is of utmost importance. And one person mentioned time and again that evening as such a role model was Barbro Ehnbom, the founder of the network. Her passion for mentorship, belief in those young women and dedication to their futures is key to their self-confidence and something we all need more of: women helping other women, and human beings coming to each other’s sides in an increasingly competitive world rife with challenges.

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