• by Kristi Faulkner , Op-Ed Contributor, July 4, 2017

“Women are the majority in this country, and that’s worth repeating,” stated actress Kerry Washington to the hundreds of influencers on a mission to improve the power imbalance in politics, business, media and cyberspace.  The recent Forbes Women's Summit was an enthusiastic sharing of insights and inspiration. Here are the themes that resonated most: 

1. A more equitable balance of power depends on the cooperation of men in leadership.  “Getting more women into male-dominated industries requires support from the top down,” said Christine Gaspar of Audi of America. “Companies must reach out to women and make clear how their talents fit — and work to demystify stereotypes that certain professions are for men only.” 
2. Success is about focus and reflection, not gender. As one of the just 4% of directors in Hollywood with two X chromosomes, the brilliant Patty Jenkins encouraged women to forget they’re women. “Don’t think about being a woman, just keep your head down, work hard, and think for yourself about what you want.” Apropos for the celebrated director of Wonder Woman, Jenkins urged women to be their own hero. “No one is coming to save us.”
3. Be willing to take risks, especially after a failure. Deloitte’s Suzanne Kounkel urged the audience to make a habit of fearlessness: "If you're not taking a risk, every day, every week, you're in trouble." Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX urged the audience to avoid doing the safe thing after failing: "I can't think of a risk we regretted taking. Everyone thinks we're nuts, anyway."
4. Role models are more important than ever.  Actress Natalie Warren emphasized the #RedefinePower theme by urging media moguls in the audience to “invest in role models.” It’s critical that young women “see it to be it,” a point underscored by Washington: "We have a responsibility to give other women a leg up.”
5. Work/life balance is still a universal goal.  Facebook’s Carolyn Everson admitted work-life balance was one of the areas that employee surveys indicated as lacking at the media powerhouse.  She set the goal of turning Facebook into a workplace where people would want to spend their entire careers — and mental health was an inhibitor to that objective. Everson created a program in which employees write a vision of their most personal goals and share it with their teams in a gesture of openness and bonding. Everson reported that work/life balance is improving and the program is creating honesty, transparency, and changing the culture at Facebook dramatically.
6. Female entrepreneurs have a critical edge: resilience. Nadia Boujarwah, of disruptive fashion company Dia & Co., says women have a natural advantage as entrepreneurs: “As women, we always knew it was going to be hard. We’re prepared. And we're resilient.” Anyway, as Suzanne Kounkel added, "women never get credit for doing the status quo.” Speaking to the theme of resilience, Kim Kardashian gave a personal account of how the harrowing robbery in Paris motivated her to reevaluate her own career objectives. After taking a break from her family’s empire, she bounced back with a new focus on her own entrepreneurial endeavors -- developing a clothing line for children and a new cosmetics brand.  “I took the experience and made it into a growth process,” she said.  
7. There’s money to be made in diversity. “The world is changing, and if you want to get rich, pay attention to women. Women are where the money is,” Patty Jenkins stated, referring to the upside of creating bold content for a growing female audience. ABC correspondent Rebecca Jarvis concurred: "Companies that are more inclusive have better results." 

But perhaps the most inspiring woman to rouse the crowd was, in fact, a girl. Marley Dias, the 12-year old founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks, spoke to the challenge of leading innovation. Marley cautioned that while solving personal frustrations may lead to a great idea, true innovation is driven by listening and learning.