Meetings of businesswomen in small and selected circles where trust and confidentiality prevail, with a methodology designed to address challenges jointly and extract the maximum from each one's experience. This is the recipe of the Women Presidents Organization (WPO) to boost the leadership of women owners and leaders of consolidated companies, and which now lands in Barcelona, with Irene Tarradellas at the helm.
As she herself explained, along with WPO's global head, Anni Wilhelmi, the new Barcelona chapter does not want to be just another forum or a contact network; it stands as an exclusive circle where women at the head of their own companies share their concerns, challenges, and doubts without masks, without judgment, and from confidentiality. Thus, it goes beyond networking, as these concerns are extensively worked on among the businesswomen of the chapter, in monthly meetings that last about four hours and follow WPO's own methodology. The Barcelona chapter is added to the more than 150 that the organization has worldwide, totaling more than 2,000 women.
"We are not just another networking group. There are many sectoral networking spaces, which bring together women of the same role or sector, but here, it is different. Networking happens naturally, but it is not the objective. The objective is to create a group of businesswomen in a safe and diverse environment," Tarradellas highlighted. In fact, diversity is key in WPO groups, founded more than 25 years ago in New York: in the same circle there cannot be two businesswomen from the same sector, and different profiles are sought, both by experience, age, and business moment.
Requirements: be an owner and bill one million
From this diversity, these groups act in practice as an "advisory board for them," as Tarradellas emphasizes. The founder and director ofImpact Hub Barcelonawill be thechapter chairof this first chapter of the global organization in the city, which will begin operating at the end of May with a group of between a dozen and 20 members. All of them must meet certain requirements: they must be owners and hold a top management position in the company. In addition, there is a minimum turnover:the company must enter at least one million euros if it is a service company, and two million if it is a product company"It is a very specific profile that faces very specific situations," which are addressed jointly in this council.Despite this role of "advisory council," no advice is given in WPO —it is one of its rules, as is leaving political issues aside—. In fact, its own methodology —called PeerView— is based on addressing challenges through questions and sharing one's own experience. "We speak from our experience. Nobody tells anyone what they have to do," highlighted WPO global ambassador Teresa Patuel Echanove, from the top of the Mapfre Tower, in the same space that will host the meetings of the Barcelona chapter.
Thus, through questions and their own experience, the businesswomen of the circle address the problems that affect them and their organizations. "It is the only space where businesswomen find the authenticity of leadership and where they can take off all their masks," defended Valeria Rodriguez-Codina, chapter chair of the WPO Madrid chapter, where the organization arrived a year and a half ago. Two chapters are also active in Galicia and, with the opening of the Barcelona one, Spain consolidates itself as the country with the most WPO presence in Europe.
To build this new chapter, Tarradellas has met with about 200 businesswomen since January. Of these, 100 meet WPO's requirements, and 30 of them are in advanced conversations to join the organization. In fact, these hundred women met, convened by WPO, for a first contact, in the same Mapfre Tower.
The names are not public: not even among the possible future members do they know who else will be part of the chapter. "They will arrive without knowing who else is there. They can trust that they will be surrounded by equals, by women at their same level, in a very diverse group," Tarradellas emphasizes. Despite this diversity, all will come from consolidated companies: although Barcelona is a hub for entrepreneurship, none of the startups that invoice more than one million euros are owned by a woman who fits into WPO, as the chapter chair has confirmed. To be part of the group, businesswomen must pay an annual fee of 2,200 euros to cover WPO's activity, which operates as a non-profit organization.
In fact, Tarradellas has woven this network starting from a personal impulse: "I have been looking for a space like this for many years, without knowing that WPO existed." Coincidentally, she met Rodriguez-Codina a year ago, and they began to explore the possibility of opening a chapter in Barcelona. "I was missing being an owner," Tarradellas highlighted, who then assumed the role of facilitator that the chapter chair develops. Now, the organization proposes to open two or three groups in Barcelona in the coming years, also reaching beyond the metropolitan area: "That will be a very relevant objective for me," Tarradellas advanced.
This community will not only be local but will also be connected to the international network. In fact, WPO holds its international convention once a year: the next one will be in Miami at the beginning of May, where more than 800 businesswomen from all over the world will gather. In this edition, the plan to add 10 more cities, Barcelona among them, will be presented. As the head of the organization and also of the South Africa chapter highlighted, the city has been in the organization's focus for some time: "The city is important, because it thinks globally."
Against loneliness and imposter syndrome
Now, the city joins a network determined to empower women business owners around the world, in a network for exchanging inspiration and experiences: "We combat the loneliness of women at the top of their company. And also imposter syndrome," Wilhelmi emphasizes: "We have lived many success stories within the organization.""I can be closed in the management of the company, and the rest of the women in WPO open my mind. Although we are from different sectors, we have the same challenges. They can change the direction of your company," Patuel summarizes. And Rodriguez-Codina goes further: "Each one of us has a background, and when we share it, it expands. It is collective intelligence."