Leadership and gender equality at the Nobel Peace Center

Diversity and gender equality in the workplace have made great strides in recent years, but the fact is, change isn’t happening fast enough. There’s still a lot of work to be done in addressing a lack of diversity, inclusivity, and equity in businesses around the world.

What qualities make a good leader? How can we recognize our own biases, and what are the barriers to overcoming them? The CEO of the Nobel Peace Center, Kjersti Fløgstad, joins Designit’s own Kjersti — our European Managing Director, Kjersti Lund, in a conversation about gender equality, sustainability, and leading purpose-driven organizations in the latest episode of YELLO .

Inspiring and educating at the Nobel Peace Center

Fløgstad’s career as former director at Norway’s largest bank and Secretary General of UNICEF Norway has always been guided by her focus on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and passion for sustainability. Now, leading the Nobel Peace Center, she’s still focused on bring sustainable changes to the world, and she sees Nobel Peace laureates as game-changers that we can all learn from.

According to Fløgstad, the ideas and movements started by Nobel Peace laureates can help us rethink challenges and reflect upon how global issues can be solved. She hopes to inspire and educate people through the Nobel Peace Center.

“We want to challenge the way we’re thinking. Not just reaffirm what we already know, but to try to open peoples’ perspectives.”

Challenging established ways of thinking can encourage business leaders to consider the broader goals and purpose of their organization. Fløgstad poses fundamental questions to consider, like, “What are we actually about? And how can we have people join this agenda?” All organizations can be purpose-driven if leadership chooses to focus on a set of objectives.

The journey to diversity and equality

Female leadership can mean living as an example, as Lund observes from her own experience: “When I look at the difficult things I’ve dared to do in my life, it’s usually after seeing that other people could do it as well.”

From Fløgstad’s experience in the private sector, she’s seen how companies can successfully promote gender equality in the workplace. Her interest in sustainability initially drew her to a position at DNB, the largest bank in Norway. The social impact of banking and finance can’t be overstated, as Fløgstad says: “When you want to change things, you need to go where the money is.”

“Banks have a big, big impact on who they want to invest in with their funds, and who they want to finance…where they want to channel money.”

At DNB, management took two approaches to promote gender equality: they set KPIs for female representation in leadership, and they addressed the capital gap, the gap between men and women in terms of capital and savings. This approach ensured that not only were female leaders equally engaged, there was also an eye towards contributing to diversity and equality in society overall. And why was it significant to set gender equality KPIs for leaders? According to Fløgstad, the agenda must be set and pushed forward by management.

“If you can set a goal on an objective and then measure how you’re doing, then you have to put action behind it and make things happen. If you don’t set an objective and don’t measure it, then it’s much harder to have focus from the management on it.”

Fløgstad acknowledges that diversity also goes beyond gender. It begins with recruitment and understanding why you need a more diverse team: Diversity can be an important tool for businesses if it’s true diversity, where people can be authentically themselves and bring their experiences to the table.

“It’s not about having diverse people, it’s about using diversity actively in the organization. It has no value to have women if they have to behave like men”

Sustainability is the way forward

Beyond diversity and inclusion, Fløgstad is focused on sustainability and how the private and public sector can collaborate on solutions. She sees the role of the Peace Center and Oslo Pax as links between the government, the corporate sector, and the civil sector.

“Government, corporate sector, and civil society organization — we need each other. Without collaboration, I don’t think we’ll succeed.”

From Fløgstad’s perspective, the United Nations’ 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) should be used as guideposts for organizations. The SDGs point to solutions the world needs, so businesses should capitalize on the opportunities that the SDGs have identified. Companies with this foresight are ensuring their own longevity while contributing to a better world.

“If we cling to the way we’ve been doing things together in the past, we’re not going to succeed, not as a company, not as a society, and not as a globe.”

Businesses must question how they make their money, as the world will only demand more and more sustainable products and services.

Get the full story in the latest YELLO podcast. Relevant to anyone who gives a damn about building a better future.

The Nobel Peace Center brings the public and private sector together and gives female leaders a voice. Oslo Pax, a conference and a movement from the Peace Center with Nobel Laureates, brings together change makers, activists, and activists to take action on diversity and gender inclusion.