By Xenia zu Hohenlohe – Founder & Managing Partner at Considerate
It was with much delight that I confirmed my participation at this year’s ‘Women of the Future Conference’ – part of the Women of the Future Awards founded 12 years ago by the inspiring Pinky Lilani CBE DL.
The Awards were conceived to provide a platform for the remarkable female talent in the UK and to further the progress of successful young women. Now in their thirteenth year, the awards continue to unearth and recognise the inspirational stars of tomorrow across diverse sectors.
In order to drive and discuss matters at the heart of the Awards, a Summit is held during the day, before the evening gala celebration. It is an event filled with inspiring panel discussions and keynote speeches on a wide array of topics from politics, to technology, mindfulness and nutrition.
In the words of the organisers it is their mission to be the next generation of leaders – ‘connecting, inspiring, supporting.’ Much like Davos’ annual World Economic Forum, the summit aims to discuss key issues faced by leaders today and consider how progress can be made.
At this summit all issues are viewed through the lens of a new generation of leaders, exploring how shifts in culture and leadership style reflect global challenges in a different light and thereby create new ideas and opportunities.
This year’s agenda was set under the heading of ‘Harnessing the Power of Trust’, analysing how technology will evolve the information and intelligence we have in our reach, as well as considering who and what we will trust in the future and what this means for leadership.
It was the organisers wish, upon feedback received in previous years, to also have sessions of active learning, during which all participants were able to engage in active discussions about the topics presented by the speakers. I had been asked to moderate two of the tables during these learning sessions, each of which had an incredible array of participants.
From young, enthusiastic and incredibly bright school girls, to participants from China, female entrepreneurs from the UK as well as KPMG members from Australia, the discussions were extremely inspiring. As each of the women portrayed their own personal challenges concerning the recently learned and tried to help each other out with practical advice and constructive ideas – the will and energy to change things was literally electrifying!
It was extremely inspiring to meet so many of these extremely powerful women who had come from across the globe, to share their professional as well as personal stories.
Each of the participants I had the chance of meeting, were highly professional, driven to deliver their best performance, whether still at school, university, at work and or life in general.
If anything this event proved again the amount of energy, positive thinking and productive conversations which can be released when a lot of motivated women come together to ‘talk business’.
It was a true honour to be part of the event, to be able to participate and integrate our knowledge gained through our years of growing Considerate Hoteliers into The Considerate Group!
Xenia is delighted that she will be part of the judging panel for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards on the 5th of March 2019, in the week of International Woman’s Day
