Should we all dream to become CEOs?

For the #8mars #internationalwomensday2021 I shared a round table on "Woman & CEO: dream to reality" organised by Albane Bressolle - Chataigner from Back Market with Caroline Ramade from 50inTech and Marie Outtier from iden.ai (Twitter)

I am trying to summarize here my three main takeaways (before I write the next article about the Maslow Pyramid of Breaking the Glass Ceiling)

1.Debunk the myths of social success, access to power, money and notoriety

A certain discourse on equality issues (gender, social, etc.) presents social climbing, access to power, money, and fame as a universal goal - as the very definition of success. If we push the envelope further, we might conclude that the sole reason for existence is social success. That, in fact, deep down, we are all looking for it and that those who "fail" to achieve it are missing something essential.

In my opinion, we must first debunk and deconstruct this directive. No, success is not defined in an absolute way. No, not everyone has to become the CEO, to achieve notoriety, to earn money or to reach ever-increasing positions of power.

Simply because not everyone is interested and not all of us have this desire and talent. There is a large diversity of talents, desires, and interests and lots of other ways to be in the world that don't involve power, prestige, or money - or at least not in and of themselves.

And that is very fortunate!! What would society become if everyone wanted to become CEO but no one decided to be a nurse, artist, or social worker????

The definition of success is a personal choice. We should stop thinking that there is a single model for everyone.

Here, of course, I'm also talking about the way our society devalues everything that is around "care", care, art, collaboration, etc. - and it's a shame.

2. When one has a vision, a project to share with the world that leads them to this path of performance / power / money / notoriety, then there is often the issue of discrimination (of gender, skin color, social origin, validity, etc.) and it is a loss for us all.

One problem with this directive to success is that it can be blinding. The pursuit of power, prestige, and money can become a goal in itself. Whereas ideally, the goal should be to develop a project that moves society forward and power should therefore become a tool at the service of that project, not an end in itself.

Seeing how success is celebrated (by measuring personal fortunes for instance) we are often far from this.

It seems important to me that a person with a project that brings value to society should actually be able to complete their project! Whether they are non-white, handicapped, male, female, non-binary, etc., 

The fact that some members of our communities are stuck with certain impulses has terrible consequences not only for themselves (feeling of injustice, psychological and physical side-effects, discouragement, loss of creativity, etc.) but also for the society that loses the benefits from these valuable projects.

Not everyone uses power in the same way and with the same objective. It is easy to see in the society in which we live with a majority of men at the helm, what society would we have if a majority of women were at the helm?

As my friend Bolewa Sabourin shared with me: "Women, non-whites and so-called disabled people have already written everything, and their humanities are proven to be excellent. They [we] have carried enough of the burden of inclusion, pedagogy, and struggles for a better world. It is high time that men, white people, the so-called able-bodied people take their part in this fight for inclusion, the ecological crisis, and the fight against inequalities and be allies." An ally is a person who wants to take part in the movement of a discriminated group for more justice without being part of that group. For example: a man who joins a feminist movement, knows that he cannot understand what it is like to be discriminated against by gender, but takes part in the movement from his place as a man as an ally.

We all gain from diversifying the type of people in charge because we benefit from the perspective of diverse viewpoints and discourses on the world. 

There is the quote from Warren Buffet "one of the reasons for my success is that I was only competing with only half the population". I would add that if the other half of the population had had a greater voice, the very definition of success might be different today - focusing on something other than money and power.

This quote from Michelle Obama directly illustrates my point: "Success is not measured by the amount of money you have but by the impact you have on people's lives".

3. Discrimination is systemic, and the burden of change should not be placed solely on those who are the targets of discrimination.

It is of course important to be aware of our level of freedom and to act where we can. Of course, it is important to remind everyone, black, handicapped, etc., that we owe it to ourselves to give ourselves the means to succeed (success according to our personal definition!). But we can't put the burden of this change solely on the people themselves. The problem is systemic, and even if discriminated people can and do drive the necessary changes, they will not be able to do it alone.

We can all do our part by understanding that diversity is not charity, it is just the natural order of things. That our system needs to evolve (who has heard about the ecological crisis?). Rising social inequalities? No one?) for the good of all. 

And the first step is to deconstruct: to understand where we ourselves are discriminated against, where we automatically and tacitly discriminate against others.