International Women's Day... with a grain of salt

I've always liked March 8th. It reminded me of the bright yellow of narcissus and mimosa against the rest of the snow, dirt on the asphalt, and the first blue in the sky after a long winter. Women with little bouquets around. Girls in school uniforms with braided hair and smiles because boys were nice to them for the first time.

Forty years later, there are still flowers and best wishes. What is new is a growing concern – not because celebrating women shouldn't be siloed into one calendar day.

Last week I had a conversation with a brilliant board director, a woman in data, and a fierce advocate for diversity. She told me about an exodus of young women from… everywhere… be it a faculty for computer science at MIT or data science teams in American companies. I am still in deep shock learning the number of girls in computer sciences dropped from 45 to 10 percent in the past years. I've got only episodic evidence, but I would like to know more. Are we moving backward? Did a decade of commercializing gender diversity for the wrong purpose backfire? Did we stop inspiring girls to go into MINT and create companies? Or did we settle for an impossible standard of excelling everywhere, with everything and anything women do? Just investigate the press coverage of female missteps and exits in Germany. It seems that tearing women apart is vital to getting the eyeballs in our attention economy.

Reflecting on my path, I can only encourage young and for-ever-35 female leaders to embrace imperfection.

Carry on, be crappy, but never give up and improve while trying and learning. What is true for startups is very accurate for women.

Help other women without expecting anything in return. There are real jerks among us. There are self-absorbed and not highly intelligent women calling themselves "leaders," not knowing what "speaking up" and "having an opinion" indeed mean. I met many of these, but I met others. When I was in the most severe crisis of my carrier, women were reaching out, telling me their stories, and encouraging me not to lose my head. One of these women was one of the most senior board directors in the UK and another senior leader in the Australian financial sector. I will be grateful forever, and I give back by building a Women Corporate Directors chapter in Austria, mentoring women through crises, and putting them in front of the most senior people in my network.

Consider the "S" in the ESG equation if you are in power. Maybe your company can sponsor a coding program for girls in a local school. Perhaps you can go out and lecture about how you did it. There is no one else to do it, and it is up to us to give hope while staying authentic.

Finally, think twice before throwing a stone at your peer, even if you believe it will advance your agenda. I will never forget how my former co-author rushed to talk about a scandal she knew nothing about. Not only did she fail to correctly research the names of people on that infamous board, but she also did not find a surge to pick up a phone and call me with questions. Sometimes, shortcuts don't guide you to long-term success. Doing your homework helps, especially if you have the network to reach out and learn what is behind the surface.

By the way, all the above applies to men too. Happy International Women's Day!