Diversity and acceptance of everyone's quirky bits has always been a key element to the culture of Firebrand.  It needed to be - I am the leader of the quirky brigade at Firebrand and aimed to create an environment safe for me to be me as well as everyone else.  

Having signed up to the WEP's though has scared the hell out of me (to be brutally honest), Why? because the stats are super scary with regard to just how far we need to go before we truly have a fair, just and equitable world for women and girls. 

In New Zealand alone (which we like to think of as Paradise) our leadership team/board makeup statistics are mortifying and in fact, getting worse.  We all can play a role in this - it has been identified a key action that will result in clear and measurable change is to create specific professional development programmes for women to increase opportunities for innovation and differing perspectives at senior leadership levels.  Gotta ask, why aren't all our leading companies doing this?

We recruit for culture first - and that has resulted (not by design) a balance of ladies and gents in the team shot pretty much every single year.  Leadership comes from within, being afforded opportunities and the environment to enable the embracing of leadership and leading is my responsibility - and I take it seriously.

Are you offering the same or doing more and want to be inspirational to others perhaps?

Check out the details on the Women's Empowerment Principles - it is worth some consideration and pondering about just what you are doing to ensure your business, Dunedin, New Zealand is playing it's role in offering fair, just and world leading enivornments and opportunities to all people. 

Bex