Ms Haruno Yoshida, President of BT Japan

breaktime

This morning, I had the rare opportunity of attending a breakfast event with Ms Haruno Yoshida, President of BT Japan and the first female and youngest executive of the Japanese business association “Keidanren”. It started at 8am, perhaps a little early on a Monday morning, but around 20 Japanese and non-Japanese business women gathered and heard a two hour talk on female advancement. The most memorable points for me were: 1) the importance of speaking up and sharing one’s own experience with others, in order to advance the position of women, 2) the importance of establishing global business women’s networks, and 3) Japan can learn from the London Olympics. In London, the 2012 Olympics improved home working and flexi-time environments significantly. This is because many large organisations had prepared their policies in anticipation of transport congestion in London. This may have contributed in some way to a better working environment for women.

I was very inspired and delighted to extend my network of contacts. It was a fantastic gathering.

< Back to list