MPW Next-Gen: Creating Meaningful Change and Collaboration in Action

In 2020 alone, 50 million children in the United States had their education disrupted, said the Walton Family Foundation’s chief strategy officer. “Of those 50 million, 15 million — 30% — didn’t have access to the internet or a device to continue their learning and really move into this world of distance learning,” said Peters. Six million didn’t have either.

With a diverse coalition, the foundation took action, bringing devices to millions of children and helping provide $75 billion in federal funding for broadband infrastructure.

In addition to meeting an immediate need, this collaboration addressed a long-term one, noted Peters in a panel discussion at the wealth Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit in San Diego. “We are in the phase where we are rethinking when, where and how children learn and what education looks like in this country,” she said. “We really wanted to use this catastrophic moment to reframe and rethink that.”

For Julian Guthrie, founder and CEO of Alphy, the rise of video conferencing during COVID proved a boon when she founded her San Francisco-based startup. “I’ve been able to build our company over the last two years — a fully distributed team that brings people together via video,” said Guthrie, whose AI-powered communication tool addresses the shortcomings of meeting and collaborating with others on screen. “I think collaboration and the way we work together has changed dramatically.”

The three pillars of collaboration are communication, community building, and nurturing curiosity, says Guthrie. “How do we do that in this new world of hybrid, remote, back to personal?”

The pandemic presented an opportunity to reevaluate relationships, said Alva Adams-Mason, executive group manager for multicultural business alliances and strategies and multicultural dealership relationships at Toyota Motor North America. Her company saw what many of the nonprofits it supported could achieve through video, Adams-Mason recalled.

“That helped us to be able to step back and say, ‘Wow, we really don’t need a big conference anymore to get the insights and understand what the organization has to give,'” she said. “Or maybe we should refocus our minds on how we donate to this organization and focus more on… the talent pipeline of the workforce.”

Anya Dua, the 18-year-old founder and president of research platform Gen Z Identity Lab, urged schools and workplaces to encourage real collaboration on issues like diversity. “When people feel like they’re involved in creating the culture that they’re a part of, it feels more authentic,” Dua said. “Rather than management or the people at the top dictating to everyone else, ‘These are our values,’ I think the values ​​should come from the people in the company, in the community.”

According to Peters, “trust is the lowest common denominator for any successful cooperation. “To have open conversations and dialogues about respect and how to show up at work and how to have compassion, you have to trust and feel like you can be your most authentic self in those conversations.”

When asked how women can work better with men, Vanita Patel responded with a wish — and some advice. “What I’d like to continue to see is that we continue to leverage our amazing capabilities, one of which is empowering everyone to have a voice,” said Apple’s head of strategic partnerships and initiatives.

Patel also recommended that women should be “ultra-prepared” for any business meeting with men. “You need to know almost everything you know, or as much as you can,” she said. “And to a degree — depending on how serious or important the meeting is — guessing what questions they’re going to ask so your answers are that clear and you don’t have any doubts about your abilities and who you are.”

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