“In this world, there is no force equal to the strength of a woman determined to rise.” – W.E.B. Dubois

As an entrepreneur, I am committed to my continual education. And I love learning – what more from the world’s best! It’s phenomenal how the organiser of House of Rose Professional¹ managed to gather all these corporate leaders in this “Break The Ceiling Touch The Sky Summit”, so we could learn from them, and apply these lessons to our businesses.

This Summit was inspired by the book of the same name, and was written by Women In Leadership expert, Founder of House of Rose Professional Anthony Rose. He is committed to empowering women – to help us break the ceiling and touch the sky.

Here are seven lessons from these corporate leaders that really stuck with me:

Lesson #1: On Hiring

Pier Luigi Sigismondi (President, UNILEVER South East Asia and Australia) – 

Always ask a person who they are, not what they do. A lot of people know what they do, but can’t explain who they are.

It is important that they know who they are, possess humility, are confident, and have high ambitions, If they do not have humility, they will just be plain arrogant.

Lesson #2: On What Businesses Will Look Like In The Future

Amit Banati (President, The Kellogg Company Asia Pacific) –

1. Micro-Tasking

A. Splitting tasks down into small tasks and handing them out to freelancers who will do these jobs for a fee.

2. Customisation of Health, Wellness, and Nutrition

A. There is so much information and so much confusion out there now.

B. In the future, it will be a lot more common to have highly personalised nutrition, health, and wellness products or services.

3. Advertising and Marketing

A. Customers will want to engage very differently with brands, on their own terms.

Lesson #3: On How To Attract Millenials To Work For You

Lynne Anne Davis (President, FleishmanHillard Asia Pacific) –

• Millennials tend to be very high performers

• Overachievers and learn a lot in a very short period of time

• Companies need to work with it and feed their learning curve, and prepare for turnover every 3 years

• Millennials want a job that is worthwhile and feel valued.

Pier Luigi Sigismondi (President, UNILEVER South East Asia and Australia) –

• First, you need to be a winning organisation. No one wants to be on a losing team.

• Secondly, there must be a sense of purpose: 84% of millennials have a mission, and they want to change the world. If you don’t demonstrate a sense of purpose, then it will be difficult to attract them.

• Thirdly, we must have very high standards and send the message to them that if they are able to join the organisation, they will be part of a winning team.

• Once they join, there should be a very intense learning programme. Every six months they will need to be learning new things to ensure that they learn at an exponential rate.

Lesson #4: On How To Break The Ceiling And Touch The Sky 

Ann Mukherjee (Global Chief Marketing Officer, SC Johnson) –

Ann’s sharing struck a chord within me. And I’m really grateful for her deep and raw honesty, because not many people are this brave. She shared about her experiences in an abusive marriage, her eventual remarriage to her current husband, her struggles to conceive, and when she finally had her twin daughters, finding out they had cancer. To her, these are her stories and they have shaped her to who she is today. She encourages everyone to embrace their stories and use them to their advantage. This is what she says:

“If you want to be successful, you have to break your own glass ceiling and touch your own sky. It takes courage to look within yourself, and truly find ways to love yourself.

Be honest about what skills you do have. Then you’ll be able to uncover the soft skills that will be reflected in your company.

You must embrace your stories, because through those stories, become those soft skills. Use it to touch your sky, but also help the organisations that you want to join, touch the sky too.”

Lesson #5: On How To Be Authentic 

Catherine Hall (GM Marine, Shell Chemicals) – Catherine is a woman in a man’s world, and she shared that she was completely fine with that because of her own childhood experiences. She was always different from her schoolmates and so learned to embrace being different at a young age.

She advises everyone:

• To become comfortable with being different and

• To thrive on that to make a difference. It is important to find out what really motivates you and go from there.

Lesson #6: On Executing Plans

Grace Ho (Chief Commercial Officer, Singapore Post Limited) –

Grace has had an extremely high flying career in tech, having worked for HP and Microsoft, amongst other companies.

Her secret to creating workable systems is crystallised into the following acronym (Yes, so Singaporean, right?):

Communicate: Set the expectations with the bosses

Operationalise: Set the processes and systems for predictability.

Plan: Review every 90 days and forward plan to instil some sense of sanity.

Lesson #7: On Making A Positive, Lasting Impression
Anthony Rose (Founder, House Of Rose Professional and Best-Selling Author of Daddy’s Logic and Break The Ceiling Touch The Sky) –

Anthony took the time to hand write personalised messages on the name tags of all the delegates who attended.

The event was really well run and put together and I certainly learnt a lot (and ate a lot). But what struck me most deeply besides these other 6 lessons above was Anthony’s thoughtfulness and humility in this gesture.

I truly believe he really has a heart for women in leadership and I’m really glad that he’s doing what he’s doing. Thank you Anthony!