Drivers of Prevention: The Female Touch

Prevention: incredibly important yet far less in a spotlight when compared to development of a medicine. That is probably why women dominate it. This is a unanimous view of the participants of the panel that focuses on cancer prevention.

It is not about big money. It is not about fame. It is simply about playing defence and not a glorified offense, says Brigitte Mohn, board member of the Bertelsmann Foundation, adding that the strive for a ‘silver bullet’ - a strive for a cure - gets most of the attention. However, things are slowly improving, Carolyn Aldige, President of Prevent Cancer Foundation, argues. Still, there is a long way to go.

Yet, there are more and more examples of success, such as the tobacco legislation that for instance bans smoking in public places. Tobacco lobbyists were pressing hard against it. “They even launched a personal attack against me and tried to discredit me. But they failed,” recalls Martina Poetschke-Langer of the German Cancer Research.

Other panelists tell a story of neglect. “I was never attacked. But they did not join me,” says Aldige adding that instead of cheering for prevention majority kept looking for a medicine. “You need to advertise the right data at the right time. You need to present these data to the press. It is effective, when you do it right,” offers recipe for success Poetschke-Langer.

At the same time, it is important to fight prejudices. “When we set up our foundation, stroke was considered an old people’s disease,” remembers Mohn adding that such a notion is simply wrong. Stroke can hit a young person, a mother-to-be, it can hit just about anybody and spreading the word thus can make a huge difference. As Poetschke-Langer sees it, this task is – and is going to be – largely up to women. “Prevention relies on communication and women are better in communicating than men,” she explains.

It only follows that women need to be proactive on the personal level as well. Men often refuse to get checked, says Christa Maar, a Founder of Felix Burda Stiftung, adding that it requires women to change the men’s minds – or to act on their behalf.

“We need to make appointment for the men. We are the gatekeepers after all,” agrees Aldige suggesting that sometimes it is simply about dragging ones partner to the doctor. Other time, it is all about getting the word out. For instance, lung cancer is the most preventable of all the types of cancer. Stop smoking and the chance of getting sick decreases significantly, explains Poetschke-Langer.

To get the message of the power of prevention out, women need to be heard, all the participants of the panel agree. In a male-dominated environment, that often requires to turn into an alpha dog. “I am an alpha dog,” admits Cornelia Ulrich, Director of NCT Heidelberg, adding that she has to be an alpha dog. Otherwise, her department would not get any funding. It is simple like that.

“We don’ t want to take over the world,” says Ulrich. We just want to do our jobs. “We want it to be normal that there are women in leading positions,” she adds.  

Of Responsive and Responsible Innovation

It doesn’t matter whether it is a corporate social responsibility or innovation, dialogue and partnership is a crucial stepping-stone towards success. In both instances the shift from a top-down approach towards a more democratic one can untapped an existing potential that largely has not been utilized yet.

Lindt (DHL): First talk then do

Often, companies develop a product and only after they are done with that they look around for a potential buyer. That is wrong. You need to keep the (potential) consumer in mind right from the beginning, says Irma Lindt of DHL adding that, paradoxically, buyers – or end users – are often not really consulted in instances where there is a product or a service developed with their well-being in mind.

Just consider the problem of waste disposal or an issue of regular traffic jams in large cities. We have all the data, we have numbers, but we don’ t know what these mean, argues Lindt adding that this – or rather the result of this state of affairs – is yet another reason why to opt for an alternative model that is user-centered. Design thinking is an example of such an approach, Lindt says.

Design thinking - or more generally alternative to the prevailing approach - concentrates on a (more intensive) dialogue. It means to go to the streets rather than rely too much on general market studies; it means to work with simple prototypes that yield more honest and rich feedback; and it means involving partners which leads to new ideas, faster implementation and better scalability.

Seling (GoTeach): Doing CSR our way

Corporate Social Responsibility is often heavily externally determined, Michael Porter, an authoritative voice on CSR, says. Many companies feel like that they simply have to do it. So they do it without making it a part of their business strategy. DHL opted for an alternative path that helps disadvantaged and yields benefits to the firm at the same time. The idea is to develop existing potential.   

DHL does business in many countries all around the world. As such, it is very much concerned about – and influenced by – the quality of education. This is why it decided to get involved in this area. It chose the NGO SOS Children’s Villages as its partner. “It was because of its very holistic approach that contains an education of kids living in difficult conditions,” says Christoph Seling of GoTeach.

These kids, this talent, can and should be nurtured from early stages says Seling. Kids involved are being provided with basic soft skills, with career guidance, and with a first work experience. This benefits both sides. Moreover, the company already plans for a deepening of the program that should enable the cooperation of developed talents on social innovations and business solutions. Yet again, the idea is to employ communication and partnership to untap a potential that would otherwise remained hidden behind the veil of disadvantageous conditions.      

Languages and Technical Education: Powerful Cocktail for (Future) Power Women

The most important thing is to have a vision. The second most important thing is to be able to convince people to follow it, to follow you, says  the Head of Corporate Human Resources and Labor Director at Siemens AG. Sometimes, it gets messy. But if your vision is right, it is worth it, she adds recalling her numerous experiences she gathered in both politics and business.

“When I was young, my vision was to change the world,” Ederer describes what powered her in early days when she was a politician in her native Austria. “Later on, I realized that the world changed me more than I changed the world,” she admits. Yet, she did make a difference, as her partner in discussion, Steffi Czerny, a founder of DLD Conference, reminds pointing out that Ederer was a Minister of State for European Integration and Development Cooperation.

Now, at Siemens, Ederer is determined to prove that there is still space for an industrial base in Europe; that it makes sense to have one. At the same time, she aims to increase the number of women in the management of her company. The German average is 10 percent at the moment. Siemens aims to get to 12-13 soon.

“It is not just about equality. Mixed teams simply work better,” Ederer argues before joking whether Lehman Brothers would go bust if they were Lehman Sisters. Then she turns serious again and talks about the potential women empowerment bares and the role modern technologies can play in this process.

“Some time ago, you would go to the office. Nowadays, the office goes with you,” Ederer says adding that this causes a significant shift that can prove to be a game changer for women. For instance, it is not that relevant how much time the person spends in the office anymore. What is important is the value s/he brings to the table. 

Long story short, the opportunities women have have never been greater. The question naturally follows: How to make oneself or rather one’s daughter ready? 

“Languages and technical education. This combination will be very important. Especially in Europe. Especially for women,” says Brigitte Ederer of Siemens. 

Education: Revolution Action Required, Now

Beeeep, beeeeeeep… Do you hear that? This is how a wake-up call for better education, Gaby Miketta of Focus Schule talks about, sounds. As she says, we urgently need new values, new rules, new codes of conduct – and traditional authorities do not know how to address this. Thus, parents are struggling to find an advice, to find answers, says Miketta adding that, for instance, the way children interact with technologies is one of the big unknowns at the moment.

“We always learn, we have to learn,” and we need to do it differently, yet again, stresses Miketta. Gabi Zedlmayer who is running the sustainability and social innovations programs for Hewlett Packard agrees. As she says, children think differently nowadays – and education needs to reflect it. Without it, the process of learning does not match what children need; and it does not meet what companies want. For instance, the corporate sector needs the skill of communicating across cultures, but this is not a part of a standard curriculum.

Latin, as opposed to cross-cultural communication, is still often mandatory at school. Why, asks Esther Wojcicki, a journalist and a teacher, who considers it an interesting intellectual exercise but not a must. A mandatory Latin, as Wojcicki argues, is an example of old style thinking that predominantly relied on memorising. You either knew stuff by heart or you had to go to the source of knowledge, meaning teachers or books. Internet changed all this. Nowadays, students can find all the information online and that completely redefines the position of the teacher and the concept of class(room) in more general terms.

Teachers that try to prove they know better lost their battle long time ago, says Wojcicki. To stand in front of the class and lecture is the least effective way of teaching she adds attacking the very pillars of an old-style education. As an alternative Wojcicki argues for interactive classes and truly open debates.

Every kid is a researcher. Unfortunately, the school – or rather the way the kids are still being taught – slowly takes this away, Zedlmayer says. Kate Griggs calls this process “educating out” and puts numbers on it: at first grade, 98 percent of kids posses a brilliant, creative mind; by the time they are about to leave school, it is just 2 percent. This is yet another reason why to stir things up.

Untap.it is an example of how things might be done in a different way. This initiative works with a premise that we all have a talent – and it is all about finding out what it is. The traditional model with its inside-the-box thinking does not allow for anything like that. As Griggs argues, even the traditional indicator of ones potential – IQ – shows only how likely it is that an individual will do well on an exam and not whether s/he can excel in something. Untap.it offers experts that focus on latter which should, for instance, enable dyslectics to utilize the skills that often come with this disorder.

As Griggs, CEO of Untap.it says, it is simply all about untapping the potential.

It is the untapped potential the University of People focuses on, says Shai Reshef while introducing yet another organisation that opted for an alternative approach. This one works with a premise that there is a lot of talent lost because people cannot afford to go to school. An online degree that offers top (volunteer) lecturers and possibility to eventually get a stipend at a prestigious university can make all the difference. Educate one person and you change his or her life. Educate many people and you change the world, says Reshef who is a president of the UoPeople.

Long story short, the current system does not know how to find and nurture a lot of existing talent. A new, better system Gaby Miketta calls for should address this. 

Thus Says the Real Trinity

Become a hacker, become powerful! This is a message Keren Elazari has for women. As she adds, she got into hacking because she wanted to be like (unknown, back then) Angelina Jolie in the movie Hackers. Some fifteen years later, there is still a lot of cyberpunk heroines that can inspire: Trinity from Matrix, the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and so on. However, the real reason women should get into hacking is empowerment, says Elazari.

Hacking yields asymmetric power which means, for instance, that the smaller country can defeat a bigger one if it has couple of talented hackers on hand. Moreover, hacking is fun because it allows you to “get the system do what you want it to do,” mentions Elazari yet another take on power that comes with mastering cyberspace.

Few hackers are pure good or evil, most of us fall into a grey category adds Elazari, taking edge of the term that to many has a negative connotation.

Speaking of the good done by hackers, she mentions her involvement with Singular University that explores how technologies will change just about “everything”. It is a big task, Elazari admits, but the challenge we are facing at the moment is just as big. For instance, the concept of intellectual property seemed to be suitable for the 20^th century but make prove itself to be a huge obstacle for further development – at least in its current form – in the 21^st century. Thus, the concept needs to be rethought.

Women can – and should – be part of all of this, says Elazari. The opportunity sure exists. While there might be some bias to female hackers for instance at conferences, cyberspace itself does not give away and does not care about gender, race and so on.

It is time to get hacking, ladies!    

CSR: Right & Smart Business Plan

It is not just that the companies should behave well, they simply have to, argues Julian zu Putlitz of Sixt AG adding that social responsibility is more and more becoming a part of long-term business plan. It is both because some countries enforce such an attitude (including developing countries like India) and because consumers increasingly demand it. It is about brand and reputation; it is about institutionalized dialogue with (potential) clients; and it is about long-term visions of what the business stands for and where it is going, says zu Putlitz.

Some critics of corporate social responsibility (CSR) seem to question the notion per se. Firms should not care, their sole objective should be to make money, they claim. While studies suggest that people still expect states and individuals to be the good-doers, people expect companies to be responsible and responsive to societal needs as well, says zu Putlitz citing recent data.

Some critics of CSR criticize the fact that (some) companies seem to consider profit to be the motivation for their well behavior. However, says zu Putlitz, people generally do not seem to mind; as long as the company is really supporting a good cause they are OK with it being profitable at the same time. What is more, the proportion of those that agree with this premise grows.

Long story short, CSR is becoming a mainstream and companies should be ready for it.   

Digital Scarlett Letter: A Force for Good?

Can shaming be used to improve our behavior? Recent studies suggest that it might as well be the case. For instance, the threat of public shaming – as well as the reward in a form of public praise – increased the generosity of the test group by 50 percent, says Jennifer Jacquet of University of British Columbia adding that it all works with the premise that the idea of being watched is intimately linked to (a threat of) shame.

In other words, the increasing visibility driven by modern communication tools seems to yield the potential for alternative ways how to correct – i.e. improve – the behavior of individuals and corporations alike. Especially since people were and are interested in who cheats, who does not deliver etc. Experiments developing this idea are abound.

For instance, in certain parts of the US, restaurants are being rewarded with sanitary inspection grade that shows how clean the place is. Such a modern scarlet letter can both motivate and deter. However, Jacquet says, one has to differentiate: while individuals do mind public shaming, corporations seem to be less responsive to it.

Thus, while a website exposing individuals cheating on their partners might enforce a change, a similar one shaming companies should be expected to have lesser impact.

It is also important to look at where the massage originates and where it is posted, says Jacquet while speaking of the digital scarlet letter. According to her findings, people trust the state more than the crowd when it comes to shaming and they consider physical shaming less acceptable than shaming online.