With the recent celebration of the International Women's Day, I reflected on how much I learned from a family of extremely strong women and how I always relied on this source of feminine strength to get through difficulties. This moment also led me to reflect on my first year at the firm and how I got involved in initiatives promoting diversity and women’s leadership.
When I joined the firm, I quickly became interested in the women’s initiative in Brazil. I took part in organizing several women events – both internal, for our colleagues, and external, for our clients and candidates. This experience was a fantastic learning and it helped me understand even better why women and diversity initiatives are so important. The three main highlights were: Women’s Voices, Connect to Inspire, and Learning.
The goal of Women’s Voices was to create space to share content made by women and for women, so we could support and give strength to each other. We meet monthly to discuss books, podcasts, TED talks, etc. In our meetings, we discuss issues we face, such as how to battle insecurities or imposter syndrome, how to gain confidence to fulfill our dreams, even the wildest ones. Thanks to these meetings I learned about some great books I can now recommend, like “Untamed” by Glennon Doyle,“You are a Badass” by Jenn Sincero, or “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Another initiative, Connect to Inspire, offers our women business analysts, associates, and managers monthly coaching 1:1 sessions with our women associate partners and partners. The project was founded to strengthen the connections between junior and senior women in the firm, creating an exceptional environment for women to grow. Strengthening the network of women and increasing retention at all tenures is part of McKinsey's values: developing one another through apprenticeship and mentoring, and being nonhierarchical and inclusive. Thus, Connect to Inspire is an integral part of our mission to attract, develop and retain talented women, ensuring a sense of belonging and support for them in an unrivaled environment.
Lastly, there are several training courses for women offered monthly. We join our women leaders and colleagues to share stories, learn from each other and discover ways to amplify our impact as we build our careers. Last month I attended McKinsey's session on a recent study on corporate diversity in Latin America, Diversity Matters, which demonstrates how companies that embrace diversity are significantly more likely to achieve a financial performance superior to that of their peers that are less diverse. The study - the first of its kind in the region - is based on a data set of around 700 publicly traded companies covering all major industries based in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia and Panama, and highlights the interconnection between diversity (gender, race/ethnicity and sexual orientation) and positive business practices, effective leadership behaviors, organizational health and business performance.
Reflecting on the past year, I’m happy we live our values day-to-day in the firm and in our engagements, noting we care deeply about making a positive difference and truly live our mission to build a great firm that attracts, develops, excites, and retains exceptional people.