MEXICO CITY. It is time for women to harness their inner power, rebuild their history, redefine the concept of failure, and assume and shape their leadership in any field in which they operate. And they can do this through so-called soft skills. That was the message delivered by personalities from business and human development during the Power Skills for Power Women virtual event, held by Dalia Empower on March 16, 2022.

Leaders from different sectors such as Gina Diez Barroso, founder of the continuing education platform specializing in life skills (soft skills) Dalia Empower, Mayra González, director of Global Sales of Nissan, and Silvia Dávila, regional president of Danone LATAM, spoke to the Dalia community for four hours.

Opening the day's program, Gina Diez Barroso highlighted the organization of the event as part of Dalia's activities for the past International Women's Day and highlighted the important role of education, -especially when it comes to life skills- so that women assume their inner power and work with it to achieve their professional and personal goals, and transform their lives and even their environment.

“We want to commemorate this Women’s Month in a different way; we want to continue preparing to achieve this change [to] achieve fulfillment no matter how many glass ceilings you have to break, how many sticky floors you have to overcome, how many doors close,” said the also president of Grupo Diarq and founder of the CENTRO university.

The event, for which nearly 1,000 people registered for free, offered conferences, question and answer sessions, workshops, and networking. The moderator was Maribel Quiroga, executive president of the Mexican Wine and Spirits Commission, and author of the book El turno es nuestro.

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This is how Maya González built genuine leadership

During the session with Mayra González, the Nissan global executive described her own experience as a leader and how she learned to reconcile her femininity in the business world and turn it into a competitive advantage, being the only woman in her industry who could present a new car in a long dress. In that sense, she recalled that at the beginning of her career, she tried to copy the style of other leaders she knew since she thought it worked for them. However, it wasn't always like that, and she had to develop a style of her own. This is why she recommended the digital audience explore and find their style.

In 2016, González became the first woman to assume the leadership of Nissan in Mexico. In 2019, she was promoted to her current position. The executive is set apart by her interest in promoting the professional development of women, and her most recent project in that regard is the Leadership and Empathy masterclass that she teaches at Dalia Masters, Dalia Empower's masterclass platform.

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What story do you tell yourself and how do you use it to achieve transformation? Entre los speakers del evento también estuvieron Carla Gaya, reconocida coach ejecutiva y de equipos, y Fernando Rovzar, quien encabeza junto con su hermano Billy la productora de contenidos Lemon Studios, que ha dado vida a películas como Matando Cabos, Km 31 o la serie Monarca de Netflix. Carla Gaya plantó una profunda reflexión ante auditorio: ¿Tienes el control de tu vida?

Among the speakers at the event were also Carla Gaya, renowned executive and team coach, and Fernando Rovzar, who together with his brother Billy heads the production company Lemon Studios, which has given life to films such as Matando Cabos, Km 31 or Netflix’s TV series Monarca. Carla Gaya asked the audience to reflect on a question: do you have control of your life?

"¿Hay algo en tu vida que te arrastre a sentirte como una víctima, a sentir que no tienes la posibilidad de crecer? […] ¿Vives pensando que tu vida depende de otros o tomas tu vida en tus manos", lanzó la experta a la personas asistentes. "Is there something in your life that drags you to feel like a victim, to feel that you don't have the chance to grow? [...] Do you live thinking that your life depends on others or do you take your life into your own hands?” the expert asked the audience.

In this regard, she went over the life factors that people cannot control, such as physical appearance, biological characteristics, or the historical moment they live in. However, she emphasized other factors that they can influence to assume their inner power. One of them, perhaps one of the most relevant, is their response and attitude to fear.

When his turn came, Fernando Rovzar delved even deeper and asked the audience to see life as a movie, where one must be an active character who makes their own decisions to reach a goal. That implies acquiring knowledge "to defeat the dragon", that is, to overcome the obstacles that they will face throughout the 'script'. “Our favorite stories are those of adversity so great, that we think [the heroine or hero] is not going to make it” – yet they do.

They overcome the conflict and begin to understand that they've learned because of it, so they are grateful for the obstacle, explained Rovzar, who, together with his brother Billy, teaches the Storytelling: Control Your Narrative masterclass at Dalia Masters.

Also read: Connecting your storytelling to your life will help you become resilient

A voice of one’s own and a voice for underprivileged women

Kirén Miret, the executive producer and director of Shark Tank Mexico and Colombia, emphasized the importance of having a voice of one’s own to leave a mark anywhere. The creator of Niñonautas, a series of radio capsules, and founder of the Casa Morgana ice-cream parlor said that this voice, from her experience, can only be built based on self-knowledge and the identification of strengths and weaknesses.

Almost in the final stretch of the virtual broadcast, renowned Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao talked about how the development of her critical thinking has been key in her life to make decisions and avoid mistakes. However, she pointed out that, taken to the extreme, this ability can be very negative by becoming an incisive and harassing judge. This is why critical thinking must also have a good dose of another skill: compassion; understood it as the ability to recognize suffering and to know how to put it aside, and not with pity, as is often thought.

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Additionally, Bilbao referred to the fact that her work as an architect has been steeped in a key vision: to open spaces to less-privileged women who still do not have full access to their human rights, such as education, or entry into the labor market. "When you come from a privileged position, you have to understand the reach you have to open channels to those who don’t have the same opportunities," she said.

The creator has stood out by giving architecture a socially conscious approach through housing projects and collective spaces, for which she has won awards such as the Emerging Voice from the Architectural League of New York in 2009, the Kunstpreis Berlin in 2012, and the Global Prize for Sustainable Architecture in 2014.

You’ve never failed? You’ve never been an entrepreneur

Gina Diez Barroso and Silva Dávila were in charge of closing the day's program with a Q&A session. They talked about how they see failure and how they overcome it. The president of Danone LATAM said that failures are inherent in any personal, family, or work project, and therefore, there will always be mistakes. However, this should not be a barrier that prevents people from pursuing and achieving their goals. Instead of being static and waiting for things to happen, they must take action to make them happen, she mentioned.

In that regard, the founder of Dalia Empower agreed with Silvia Dávila and claimed that if a person never fails, it is because they have never taken action to achieve a goal. That is why she encouraged the audience to never stop learning and training to continue opening doors.