The positive ripple outward will inspire her young daughter and women everywhere. How can you carry the GME further?
By Andrea Stevenson Conner
When Fortune magazine named Jacinda Adern, the prime minister of New Zealand, as its top leader for 2021, Adern cleared a high bar and put the gender multiplier effect in motion.
Being named No. 1 is impressive on its own, but even more so when you consider who Fortune named its No. 2 and No. 3 leaders.
The No. 2 slot is shared by the developers of the mRNA vaccines the world is now using to try to win the battle against COVID-19. No. 3 is Dan Schulman, the CEO of Paypal, who has played a key role in the COVID-19 financial relief effort, led the deployment of more than $350 million in grants to Black-owned businesses in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, and made a groundbreaking investment in Paypal’s own employees.
What did Adern do to earn the top honor?
First, she steered her country through the aftermath of a terror attack and the deadly eruption of a volcano. Then, she led an amazing response to the coronavirus that has resulted in fewer than 2,700 cases and only 26 deaths. In addition, she and the members of her cabinet took a six-month, 20% pay cut in 2020 to show solidarity with people who lost their livelihoods to the pandemic. She has also adopted world-leading climate and gender equity policies, including making it easier for women to negotiate with their employers for more equitable pay.
An even more significant accomplishment, Adern had her daughter, Neve Te Aroha, in June 2018. This makes her only the second elected head of government in New Zealand to have a child while in office. If we look at the prime minister through her daughter’s eyes, we see the gender multiplier effect of Adern’s actions getting rolling.
The GME is the idea that when you elevate and invest in women, the effect ripples out, benefitting not only the women you helped initially but also the people close to them—their families, friends, and communities or their teams, departments, and business units. When you apply the GME to a company, government agency, or even a developing country, you get more than a 1:1 return. In the biggest picture, the gender multiplier effect can have a positive impact on the global economy.
Adern’s daughter Neve and her future classmates will soon be old enough to understand Adern’s service to all New Zealand citizens and to women in New Zealand in particular. They’ll also realize that Adern was raising Neve at the same time.
The ripple effect will be those young women feeling empowered to go after their largest aspirations. It will encourage them to pave the way for those behind them.
That these young women should be elevated is certainly great news. The even greater news is that none of us must be named the top leader in the world by Fortune magazine to ignite the GME.
How can you give a woman a leg up? Is there an aspiring female leader you’ve been meaning to take to lunch? Have you backed a female colleague’s good idea in a recent meeting?
Whatever is the right thing for you to do, do it today. And then watch the woman you helped multiply the good effects of your efforts.
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