Women Driving Integrity

To mark International Women’s Day, the 12th Women Driving Integrity network meeting was dedicated to the theme ”Female Leadership in times of perma- & polycrises”. For the second time, male/diverse/female allies of our participants were also invited join us in discusssing leadership, communication and taking a stand in times of crisis. Together with our PwC experts, Laetitia Arndt and Marvin Stöcker, we tackled questions on how we can create sustainable change in times of crisis and the role that values and leadership communication play in fosterin a positive influence and employee cohesion. In addition to PwC expert Daniela Hanauer, Jessica Schwarz (Alnatura Produktions- und Handels GmbH), Bianka Reitz (BUNZL Holding GmbH) and Annette Höher-Bäuerle (Allen & Overy LLP) shared their personal experiences on how to successfully navigate through crises as a female leader during a fireside chat. Marike Mehlmann-Tripp from Telekom Deutschland GmbH inspired us with the #GegenHassimNetz campaign and highlighted how important it is to take a stand and act. In addition to the moving impulses, the honest and authentic discourse characterized the uniqueness of this network.

At our 11th Women Driving Integrity network event, decision-makers from various industries came together to discuss key questions on the topic of “Empowering integrity for a social digital transformation”. Dallas FitzPatrick inspired with her keynote “Integrity in Communication: The Power of Inclusive Language for Understanding, Connection and Respect” and motivated participants to engage with the power of inclusive communication. Susanna Wolf from DATEV eG and Henrike Dembowsky from BARMER initiated an exciting and insightful exchange about responsible digitalization. At the end of the event, the women immersed themselves in the metaverse and discussed the ethical do’s and don’ts.

Celebrating five years of Women Driving Integrity! The focus of our tenth anniversary event was: “The growing role of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”. Next to our expert Daniela Hanauer, decision-makers and their allies from the areas of integrity, diversity, HR, responsibility, compliance and sustainability came together to discuss key questions on diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI). Manifold contributions from Sarah Schwellinger on the topic of Supplier Diversity, Dr. Carolin Mehnert and Christian Kaiser on Diversity & Transformation, Yvonne Fandert’s dialogue on diversity and inclusion as a prerequisite for self-organized teams and Eva Kreienkamp from BVG & Melanie Kubin-Hardewig from Deutsche Telekom AG gave the participants various ideas to take action and strengthen DEI within and outside of their organizations. 

As part of our cross-industry and steadily growing WDI, women from the fields of risk management, ESG and responsibility met for the ninth time in a row to discuss key questions on the topic of “Living Corporate Responsibility!” How can responsibility be anchored and lived in the corporate context? And what central role does the topic of attitude play here? Maike Bermüller inspired with a keynote speech on “Anchoring responsibility in organisations”. 

For the eighth time, the WDI brought together key decision-makers from the areas of integrity, responsibility, diversity, risk management, HR and compliance alongside our expert Daniela Hanauer and her team to discuss the growing relevance of responsibility and integrity. The participants exchanged views on their personal contribution to the promotion of corporate, digital and social responsibility in their daily work.

For the seventh meeting of the WDI, women from different areas of compliance and risk management came together alongside our expert Daniela Hanauer to discuss key questions on integrity: How do we shape the responsibility agenda in our companies? How do we live attitudes and values for sustainable corporate success? Christiane Uhl inspired with a keynote on the topic of “The value of attitude in companies” and motivated to also look at one’s own attitude.

The 6th networking event was attended by numerous committed women from a wide range of industries and functions. Experts in integrity, risk management, diversity and compliance accepted the invitation. The event started with an open exchange, moderated by our expert Daniela Hanauer. The focus was on current integrity issues in the companies and the question of what difference a value orientation can make for the sustainable performance of companies. In the second part of the event, Dagmar Oppermann and Susanne Schaefer from Volkswagen AG spoke in an inspiring keynote about the levers of HR for integrity and compliance. 

At the networking event in September 2020, Christina Martin from the Otto Group opened the event with her keynote speech. She discussed the question of whether corporate values only work in good times. Afterwards, participants from various sectors discussed how they experienced the impact of the pandemic on value-oriented business. The contribution by Dr. Julian Klinkhammer from the Risk Consulting division at PwC Germany, triggered an exciting exchange on organizational misconduct and the influence of informal rules. Finally, Hannah Müller from PwC brought the participants up to date on the EU regulations on whistleblower systems.

In March 2020, the WDI event took place virtually for the first time, in line with the pandemic situation. More than 20 decision-makers from a wide range of industries took part. The focus of this event was on sharing how to sustainably anchor corporate values in challenging times. Kristina Jaekel, Risk Manager at Randstad Germany GmbH & Co. KG, used the example of Randstad to explain how the company lives values, firmly anchors them and effectively brings them closer to its employees in their everyday work.

At the third WDI network meeting, decision-makers from different industries and disciplines in the fields of ethics, integrity and compliance discussed the extent to which the requirements for compliance and integrity have changed as a result of digitalisation and how companies can approach digitalisation responsibly. The meeting demonstrated PwC’s strength in bringing together female clients from different industries on a common platform. In this way, good practices were shared and concepts for a value-oriented future were created.

After the successful kick-off event of the WDI Network, the second event took place in April 2019. Our expert Daniela Hanauer and Maria von Oettingen, Senior Manager in P&O Leadership at PwC Germany, spoke about levers for integrity. They discussed why values are so important in companies and how they can be measured. Afterwards, Alessandra Hawthorne, Global Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Boehringer Ingelheim, in her Keynote delved into the topic of integrity in companies. The presentations created the basis for an exciting and trusting exchange in the round.

The founding event of the Women Driving Integrity client initiative took place in October 2018. Our expert Daniela Hanauer opened the event and discussed in her presentation why integrity is so relevant for sustainable business success. Laurie Waddy from Bilfinger then gave her keynote speech on the topic of Integrity in Business. In an open round, the participants discussed how their companies deal with the topic of integrity in practice.