Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen is Chairman of the Executive Board of Aon Holdings (part of Aon Plc; NYSE AON) and other Holdings entities in the Netherlands and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Aon Inpoint. Marguerite is an expert on diversity and inclusion and is Chair of the Advisory Board of SER Topvrouwen (the Dutch nationwide diversity C-suite female empowerment initiative). She also represents the Kingdom of the Netherlands and its private sector in the G20 EMPOWER Alliance. In 2021 she was awarded the Ambassador J. William Middendorf II award. This award is presented to individuals who have markedly served to strengthen relations between the United States and the Netherlands. In 2010 she was awarded “Women to Watch” by Business Insurance, USA.Marguerite received a Master degree in Law from Erasmus University Rotterdam and is an alumna of INSEAD and Harvard Business School, also holder of an honorary doctorate in philisophy of Rai University, Ahmedabad Gujarat.
Read an excerpt of Talk with Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen:
Rajni Vohra: In recent times, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of female leaders in various fields, and more efforts are being made to promote gender equality in leadership positions. In such scenarios, it is not uncommon to see instances of women co-leadership. However, power dynamics between leaders can become a potential challenge, especially if there are disagreements or differing opinions. How has your experience regarding co-leadership been while working with other women?
Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen: Co-leadership focuses less on power, status and money but more on doing the right thing and driving the required results together. It is therefore less about “I” and more about “We”, using collective knowledge. It enhances a growth mindset. Co-leaders have different life paths, experiences, education, strengths and weaknesses. They can complement each other, keep areas of focus and therefore apply diversity of thought and opinion to a company. Diversity helps a company to grow. With different personalities, experiences, and perspectives available within the leadership core of a business, there are more opportunities for growth. Although differences in personality can create conflict, if however effectively managed, the depth of conversations, ideas, and creative moments will generally make the company better, stronger and faster. Personally I have always enjoyed working with both men and women. My learning agility, my interest in other people, their observations and insights, and my curiosity but also my humility is what thrives me to work with others and to adapt accordingly. My mantra therefore is “If I am the smartest in the room, I am in the wrong room”.
Rajni Vohra: Research has consistently shown that women face significant challenges in the workplace, including stereotypes, discrimination, and biases. Despite these challenges, women continue to work hard and excel in their careers. In fact, studies have shown that women often have to work harder than men to receive the same recognition and rewards. Do you see any disruption happening in this pattern around you now?
Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen: Even when women work harder, female employees are less likely to be promoted than their male counterparts, despite outperforming them and being less likely to quit. And research points to at least one reason why. In the paper, “’Potential’ and the Gender Promotion Gap,” MIT Sloan Associate Professor Danielle Li found that on average, women received higher performance ratings than male employees, but received 8.3% lower ratings for potential than men. The result was that female employees on average were 14% less likely to be promoted than their male colleagues.
In many management books and articles in newspapers etc stereotypical views of ‘excellent leadership” are being described. Characteristics such as decisiveness and assertiveness, working hard, and making a lot of money tend us to think of men. As a result women are perceived less as potential leaders than men. This phenomenon occurs again and again in organizations. But recent research also shows another explanation for the fact that men are promoted faster, despite their average lower performance. When men are passed over for promotions or when they receive a lower potential rating, they are more likely to leave. The researchers argue that managers are aware of this, and so reward men with higher potential ratings so that they don’t walk away.
It is crucial to acknowledge the existence of prejudice, both conscious and unconscious bias, and start measuring talent – both men and women – with the right means so that you will be able to identify real talent.
Rajni Vohra: Studies have shown that women are often socialized to be less confident in their abilities to manage finances to pursue careers in the tech industry. Additionally, women may face barriers such as the gender pay gap and lack of representation in these fields, which can contribute to lower levels of financial and tech literacy. How important do you believe to address such systemic and societal barriers that contribute to low levels of ls confidence in women? Confidence is a belief we can create a successful outcome through our actions.
Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen: In order to be successful, one needs to be both competent and confident. Many women make the mistake of only focusing on proving themselves through their performance. They forget to take other actions necessary to increase their personal brand and exposure in an organization.
The confidence gap describes the tendency women to be less self-assured in their abilities than their male counterparts. Findings from a study by Weibke Bleidorn c.s. in 2016 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26692356/ based on two decades’ worth of research supports the confidence gap, confirming that men have higher self-esteem than women.
One way we see the confidence gap play out in STEM (sciences technology engineering math) is the old but persisting myth of the male math brain. https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/the-myth-of-the-male-math-brain/ This myth perpetuates the misconception that boys are naturally better at math, while girls are naturally better at language and verbal skills. However, many studies indicate that there is no substantial difference between boys and girls in biological cognitive ability or aptitude for math or verbal processing. “Boys do not pursue mathematical activities at a higher rate than girls because they are better at mathematics. They do so, at least in part, because they think they are better.” Shelley Correll, Professor of Sociology, Stanford University. From climate change to the energy crisis to health, the answers to our most existential challenges lie in science. Seeking them we need to include the brainpower of half the world: women and girls. Under the leadership of the Indian G20 presidency we intend to work the coming year on tangible actions to make a change.
Daniel Goleman described in What makes a leader 5 essential skills: self awareness, self reflection, motivation, empathy and social skills.
Self awareness includes knowing yourself and trusting yourself, accepting your strengths and abilities but also your weaknesses. It requires growing your self confidence. Confidence is what turns thoughts into action. Without it we hold ourselves back. Hence in overcoming systematic and societal barriers, we need to work on both increasing competence of women to become digitally fluent and financially literate, enabling them to also learn coding and studying STEM topics. However at the same time also work on increasing self confidence and visibility of women as role models.
Rajni Vohra: There cannot be a single blanket answer to address the different challenges faced by different parts of the world at different levels currently. The problems and needs of each community, region, or country are unique and require tailored and context-specific solutions. Nevertheless, how the element of culture can be integrated to strengthen women in families and society.
Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen: Socialization is the continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position. Already as soon as babies are born this starts. By either giving boys blue or girls pink toys, clothes etc. But also by what we are being told what normal behaviours is by parents, teachers, friends, or by movies or books. These norms and values are a powerful, driving force that puts enormous pressure on us to conform to societal beliefs.
However, once family’s culture, based on race or ethnicity, is equally as powerful and starts just as early. In many cultures, women are expected to be responsible for things that men are not. And, more pressure is put on girls and women to look and behave in certain ways. In e.g. South America Asia, India, some cultures believe that girls should take care of the males in the family. Strong cultural and family influences can impact the personality, success and dreams of young women.
A degendered education both at home and at school would support gender equality. Gender roles can and should be blurred. All children should be taught to cook, clean, do laundry and fix things around the house – essential life skills for any adult. Cultural inconsistencies in how we treat girls and boys should be banned. We need to challenge cultural expectations that women should be responsible for things that men are not. Women are equally capable as men to be successful and happy. Our childhood upbringing and culture should reflect that. Last but not least crucial is that women are raised with the belief that they can and should be financially independent. This implies knowledge of finances, how to save money, how to attract investors to your business etc.
Rajni Vohra: What’s your biggest learning from life?
Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen:Embrace change, don’t fight it. Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence. Last but not least, I do not know the key for continuous success and happiness in life, except working hard and enjoying what you do, but one thing I know is that the key for failure is trying to please everyone!
Rajni Vohra: Thank you so much for talking to us.