General Electric’s Experienced Commercial Leadership Programme has offered its recruits regular meetings with the firm’s senior female leaders, for no-holds-barred discussions on how women can further their careers at the industrial powerhouse.
Neenu Sharma, Marketing Strategy and Operations Leader at GE Digital, a speaker at the ECLP Commercial Women Speaker Series, advised female leaders to own their own brand, saying: “I worked for such a strong personality at one point during my career that even when I didn’t work for him anymore people still associated me him.”
The Columbia Business School graduate also said that she wished she had defined her purpose sooner.” “I knew I wanted to be a leader when I joined GE, but I didn’t actually take the time to define what that meant. What was my leadership purpose and intent?”
The speaker series is part of a two-year development programme for ECLP recruits, which includes skills development, rotation to different business roles, and two annual conferences held in different locations around the world. Current ECLPs write about their experiences on the ECLP blog.
Recent speakers represented the diversity of women leaders at GE. Alison Arbitrio, Director for Account Based Marketing at GE Digital, has been with GE since 2009 holding roles in marketing, sales and customer innovation. The Political Science graduate previously worked in the non-profit sector and authored a book about Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi.
Tackling gender biases linked to communication, Arbitrio said that throughout her career: “I have been told to be more aggressive, to smile more, and to interrupt people… At first, I took the feedback to heart and didn’t think that it was a gender issue.”
Hannah Kaplan, Senior Sales Manager in Power & Water based in San Francisco, focused on the importance of gaining international experience. Kaplan completed a Masters in International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University and worked for the European Commission. Fluent in four languages, she joined GE with experience in building relationships between governments and industry partners.
“Get international experiences and build a global mind-set; being global opens up a new world and new markets,” said Kaplan. “It makes you think about how you deliver value. If you’re sitting in headquarters, how do you support the region?”
The ECLP Commercial Women Speaker Series is one of many company-wide initiatives to support women at GE. The firm’s Women’s Network has over 10,000 members and 150 Hubs in 43 countries. It provides networking and mentoring for women in the firm, as well as raising money for and participating in activities in the communities where GE works.
And it looks like these initiatives are having an impact the world over. Rachel Duan, President & CEO, of GE Greater China recently placed 19th on Fortune’s list of the Most Powerful Women in Asia -Pacific.
Read the ECLP blog here.
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