Lean In Barcelona or how to boost female leadership

To demonstrate that there are situations in the workplace that, however common they may seem, are impediments to women's professional progress and that it is necessary to combat them to advance in equal opportunities is one of the tasks of Lean In Barcelona.

Here is the priority objective of this international, non-profit foundation, which has found in the Catalan capital a large group of professionals who, as maximum exponents of female capacity for action, fight for women to lose their fear and have the freedom to grow in the labor field in the segments and positions they desire. Three executives such as Ikuska Sanz, Eva Blanco, and Mercedes Montecino have been behind the initiative since its launch in 2015.

Currently, Lean In Barcelona has a community of more than 1,500 people whom nothing and no one makes question their aspirations or prevents them from leading them with all their potential. "It is the success story of the international Lean In foundation created in Palo Alto (California) by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, seven years ago, after the notoriety that accompanied the publication of her book Women, Work and the Will to Lead," says Eva Blanco, communication and PR director of the international center that HP has in Sant Cugat del Vallès.

In a post-pandemic context, with numerous indicators pointing to a possible international recession, with global geopolitics unhinged... Lean In sees its role reinforced. "In such moments is when we must not let our guard down, when entities like ours are more necessary than ever not to take steps backward, not to lose part of what we have gained and even more so if we take into account that there is still much to do; not all women have been able to fulfill their aspirations because inequalities still exist in the 21st century," Blanco specifies.

What are still the needs we must resolve?, asks the communication director. The answer is very broad but, to frame it in what most concerns the professionals that Lean In brings together today, three areas can be mentioned: the future challenges of an increasingly technological and digital labor market for which new professional skills must be incorporated, the wage gap and equal opportunities and ---"although it seems an aspect that has been overcome", she says--- the co-responsibility of men/women in family life which, "as covid has well evidenced, is not a resolved issue".

Salary barometer

In the case of wage inequalities, Lean In Barcelona has launched a "unique" initiative within the global network, which consists of creating a dynamic database that collects the amount of remuneration received by women according to their job responsibilities. "With the subsequent management of this data, we will be able to prepare a report on what the salary reality is because the figures will have been provided by the employees themselves, not as happens in most of the statistics that are published where the information is provided by companies and is often biased," explains Blanco. They are working to make it an open tool that anyone can consult when offered a job, an internal job promotion... In short, a thermometer of what the salary should be for their position, professional profile, degree of experience, years of dedication, size and characteristics of the company...

To address these and many other aspects, Lean In Barcelona intensifies the activities that --following the working model of the foundation worldwide-- are carried out with the creation of the so-called circles and networks. The circles are small agoras for analysis and debate that arise voluntarily among the members of the association around various aspects that generate concern and for which they seek solutions.

Podcast with 'invisible' role models

At this moment, "we have 20 active circles" that revolve around areas such as communication and influence, entrepreneurship, emotional well-being, STEM for girls, book club, netgrowing, Women in Business management, Crownz International, women role models, Power on Purpose, Money Talks, Women Care for Inner wellness, From education to Freedom or the fight against harassment. The entity has also launched a series of podcasts with professionals who are "referents in their field and who are invisible."

In the foundation's management dynamic, when a circle reaches a substantial level of members and activities, it becomes a Network and, therefore, collaborates closely in the actions carried out by Lean In on a global scale, such as the annual assembly. "Thanks to the drive of our associates, Barcelona is already a Lean In Network," with all the recognition and advantages that this implies "to access research and the preparation of reports and materials that we can use to impact women's professional field."

The intense activity of the entity in Barcelona has allowed it to become part of the foundation's global action program

Both executives are surrounded by a board of directors that includes, in addition to Mercedes Montecino, an industrial engineer specialized in the world of logistics and currently Operations Manager at Amazon; Eli Abad, co-founder and member of the executive committee of Between Technologies; Paula Petrone, Associate Research Professor and Biomedical Data Scientist at Barcelona Institute of Global Health; and Cristina Valiñani, project director at Barcelona Global.

Open to everything that "adds up" to advance women's empowerment, Lean In Barcelona welcomes many other initiatives that have emerged in recent years in the city and Catalonia to defend and fight for the entire collective, whether with business entities, networking, associative, personal and professional experience exchange.... However, Lean In is – according to them – the most open, transversal and inclusive entity because it does not target a specific profile of women.