When Sociability Becomes Your Profession

Experiencing a multinational environment can pave the way for a successful career. However, the odds are often stacked against those who lack the possibilities of building international connections. With respect to cross-cultural networking opportunities, sometimes what women want anticipates global trends. For WIN (Women International Networking), gender equality, inclusiveness and fair access to opportunities were some of the underlying issues that contributed to its birth. WIN's founder and CEO Kristin Engvig shares the story behind the evolution of one of the leading international leadership forums addressed to women leaders and inclusive men who are motivated to engage in a lifelong intercultural learning experience.

Banking is where your career started in the first place. How did networking become your profession and how is that connected to the creation of WIN?

After leaving Norway and attending my MA programme in International Economics and Management at SDA Bocconi, I immediately started working in JP Morgan and then Citibank. However, as a young woman who wanted to change the world into a fairer, more inclusive place, I soon realized that the corporate environment did not fit my expectations. The epiphany occurred when I started thinking of myself as un ugly duckling who needed to be somewhere else to become a swan. I therefore decided to quit banking and after a while I was involved in teaching projects in Eastern Europe, in partnership with Università Bocconi and some consulting firms. That was the moment when I became aware that as a North-Western European I had been incredibly lucky in terms of educational choices and possibilities. And yet there were so few women consultants! I found myself envisaging a way of enabling the underprivileged to build effective connections and of creating organizations that include those people, so that they can become part of the business game. At the time I was living in Milan and I was consistently participating in women networks, a voluntary job which I always enjoyed and gave me the opportunity to practice skills such as speaking in public. It was in this context that I conceived the idea of organizing a conference about how to develop the right skills and attitudes to facilitate networking and make it more transparent. That was the starting point for WIN. It was born as a voluntary event which became more and more popular in the following years and ultimately turned into an annual conference about winning strategies for women in an era of globalization, where leaders from all over the world get and exchange precious insights over future trends and challenges.

The aim of WIN conferences is to give an opportunity to people who lack natural networks and also the ability to develop them. Is there a modus operandi to network effectively and is there a specific intercultural etiquette that applies to that technique?

Networking is crucial not only in relation to business but also in terms of personal growth, because it is thanks to human contact that we can share and confront different points of view. Generally speaking, during conferences an open attitude is fundamental to initiate relationships, because that increases the chances of meeting interesting people. Also, one has to be ready to connect with others, not only on a business level but also on a personal level, insofar as sharing interests, being supportive, committed and open to other people's help, together with a bit of good manners, such as thanking and following up, helps us build and maintain authentic relationships.

Clearly the process might not work in the exact same way in every cultural context. Sometimes there are norms that limit the extent of sharing and of openness allowed, also in terms of gender restraints. Every situation has its own specificities. Take India for instance, or Japan. When I had the opportunity to work there I realized that relationships follow different rules than, say, in Norway, and take longer to develop. Under this kind of circumstance the most advisable thing to do is be respectful, spending more time listening, be open to new inputs and investing time in the relationship. In some cultures, like in Italy, a great emphasis is put on taking the time to become more familiar with business partners. This is how you overcome the feeling of discomfort and become a bridge between cultures. I believe that trust is the basis of every good relationship, and that this principle applies across cultures.

You are an international leader and entrepreneur. How did your global experience change you as a leader and as an individual?

Cross-cultural communication inevitably leads you to evolve, because it forces you to get accustomed to working on clarity when you deliver a message, but also to receiving a completely different feedback than what you would expect based on your previous experience. It involves becoming aware of your own habits, because you need to recognize your working patterns before you share and explain them. Operating worldwide also gives you the opportunity to come across directly with different styles, visions and ways of living. As an international leader, you are constantly faced with those challenges and that becomes a lifelong learning, it gives you a global grasp not only of how things work in a different environment, but also of your own mechanisms. Because in my own view a leader is a grounded, supportive individual who is able to help others evolve, a particularly fascinating aspect of international leadership is the fact that you can actually inspire people and encourage them to undertake seemingly impossible projects by showing them that those things that they deem beyond their reach have already happened or are happening somewhere else in the world. This is particularly relevant when one takes into account that there is a significant trend between the participants to WIN conferences: an increasing number of women working in middle or senior managerial positions come in quest of more meaning in their lives and of a different job environment.