Fortune - Inside the Fortune MPW Summit

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September 29, 2020

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! All of western Europe now requires paternity leave, Fortune‘s Impact 20 highlights startups making a difference, and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit 2020 kicks off. Have a powerful Tuesday.

– The New Reality, Day One. Today marks the official start of Fortune‘s 22nd Most Powerful Women Summit. For the first time, the gathering will be held virtually.

As Emma mentioned yesterday, the Summit will kick off with a conversation between Fortune‘s Ellen McGirt and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. We’ll also hear from GM CEO Mary Barra, Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson, Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden, and Brandeis law professor Anita Hill. And that’s only part of the line-up from Day One.

Later this week, we’ll chat with incoming Citi CEO Jane Fraser, Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, Carbon CEO Ellen Kullman, Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson, IBM Executive Chairman Ginni Rometty, retired Xerox Chairman and CEO Ursula Burns, and many more. You can browse the full list of speakers for the summit here.

The live stream will only be available for registered participants, but the Broadsheet will be bringing you coverage of the conference all this week.

The theme of this year’s summit is ‘Rising to the New Reality,’ which reflects the effort by Fortune‘s MPW community to better understand and respond to the rapid, ongoing changes to business and society and their extraordinary impacts.

Also new this year: Fortune ‘s first-ever MPW Leadership Survey, which was conducted this month. A peek at the findings, based on more than 100 responses, reveals how members of the MPW community are thinking about the current moment:

– A majority of respondents—53.4%—expect economic activity to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, versus 2021 (22.3%), 2023 (17.5%), and beyond 2023 (6.8%).
– Nearly half—47.6%—of respondents expect 90% of their companies’ employees to be back in the office next year. Interestingly, nearly a quarter say their company offices will never reach 90% capacity again.
– Nearly 80% of respondents say their companies’ diversity and inclusion efforts have increased since the onset of the pandemic; that’s a good thing since roughly two-thirds agree that the pandemic has exacerbated existing gender bias and has had a disproportionate, negative impact on women.

More results from the survey will be revealed at the Summit and in the Fortune Analytics newsletter, which is available to premium Fortune subscribers.

Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman

Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

A note from Fortune's editor-in-chief

FORTUNE MPW Next Gen Community

Join the Most Powerful Women Next Gen Community, attend the October 13-14 Virtual Summit and experience 6 months of Fortune Connect! Apply now!

Clifton Leaf

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Real impact. Fortune has a new list: the Impact 20. This group of 20 startups—including Rachel Carlson's Guild Education—is making real change. These smaller businesses are on their way to enacting the kind of difference that the Fortune Change the World list chronicles for bigger companies. Fortune

- Swiss leave. Every nation in western Europe now mandates paternity leave, after Switzerland became the last European country to do so. Swiss fathers will now get 10 days of paid parental leave. New York Times

- Closing the gap. In a Fortune op-ed, Vangela M. Wade, CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice, writes that there has long been a chasm in philanthropic funding between white- and Black-led nonprofits. Recent attention to racial justice, she hopes, will turn the tide for Black nonprofits. Fortune

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Uber chief information officer Shobhana Ahluwalia joins Peloton in the same role. Tracey Breeden, former head of women's safety and gender-based violence operations at Uber, joins Match Group as head of safety and social advocacy. Blue Shield of California elected board director Kristina Leslie as chair of its board of directors; Colleen Johnston, a former TD Bank Group executive, will join the health plan's board. Minn Kim is now principal at venture firm Bloomberg Beta. MacKay Shields, a New York Life Investments company, hired BMO Global Asset Management global head of fixed income Janelle Woodward as president. N26 hired former Adidas exec Diana Styles as chief people officer and former Dropbox VP Adrienne Gormley as COO. ServiceNow hired the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America's Nichole Francis Reynolds as VP of global government relations.

Content From PwC
Building on a culture of belonging
We have been building a diverse and inclusive culture for more than two decades. Releasing our first ever Diversity & Inclusion Transparency Report is part of our commitment to accountability and transparency. This level of transparency is rare, but important as we share our journey and vision for the future.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Opinion section. Chelsea Clinton, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar all wrote op-eds about the Supreme Court. Duckworth, in Ms. Magazine, reflects on how Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's work led the way for her own career in the military. Clinton, in Cosmopolitan, writes that Trump pick Amy Coney Barrett "does not deserve RBG's seat." And Klobuchar, in Marie Claire, says that the only way to honor RBG's legacy is by voting.

- Hear that Echo. Toni Reid is VP of Alexa experience and Echo devices at Amazon. She's spent a chunk of the past several months building new skills and features for Alexa that customers could use either because of the pandemic or while working from home. Wall Street Journal

- Honest sale. Jessica Alba's Honest Company is reportedly looking for a buyer. The natural beauty and baby care brand looked into an IPO a few years ago but didn't go that route. Now the business is said to be aiming for a sale in the $1 billion range. New York Times

ON MY RADAR

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will vote from space Space.com

How to misread Jane Austen The New Yorker

With or without hair, we send a message Elle

These everyday toxins may be hurting pregnant women and their babies New York Times