emPOWERment, Choose Your Yes – The Women in Nielsen Leadership Summit

Originally published on Nielsen News Center

In 2023, Nielsen employees had the opportunity to participate in the Women in Nielsen (WIN) Leadership Summit for the third consecutive year. The Leadership Summit brings colleagues across Nielsen together in interactive panels, discussion groups, and webinars to learn from each other and share stories to motivate and inspire the next generation of leaders. The Summit is organized by WIN, a Business Resource Group that strives to shape and sustain an inclusive business culture that values the talents and perspectives of women.

With the theme emPOWERment, Choose Your Yes, attendees left feeling empowered to take their career into their hands and use that power to the fullest. “It’s a reminder that our career doesn’t happen to us; we are active in our pursuits and can make different choices if we aren’t aligned with where things are headed,” said Angela Povia, VP of Client Consulting and a Regional Co-Lead for WIN. Nicole Cetta, Process Lead, agreed that this was the perfect time to talk about empowerment, “Nielsen is going through a time of change, and with change often comes some feelings of uncertainty. Honing in on your value and how to convey that value to others is empowering.”

Despite changes and uncertainty, women remain ambitious and driven at every stage of their careers. McKinsey & Company’s “Women in the Workplace 2023” report found that young women are especially ambitious, with 9 in 10 wanting to be promoted to the next level and 3 in 4 aspiring to become senior leaders. In order to build a safe space where everyone can confidently learn how be empowered in their career, the WIN Summit had 11 panels that showed the different ways we can take control of our future. From The Intentional Professional: The Importance of Developing a Healthy Relationship with your Career Ambitions to Timing is Everything: When To Make Your Next Move, there was something for all attendees to learn at the summit no matter what stage of their career they are in.

In the Stretching for Growth: Assignments that Expand Your Potential session, panelists who took on stretch assignments or facilitated them for others talked about their experiences.

Gomes–Abreu, Client Services Manager, who helped organize the session said, “Oftentimes we get hyper-focused on our day-to-day obligations that we forget to take a step back and look at our career from a macro perspective. A stretch assignment allows employees to feel empowered and encourages them to take ownership in their career journey.”

Building on Nielsen’s values of inclusion, courage and growth, the WIN Summit connected Nielsen employees from all business units and backgrounds to create a collective learning experience—men included! “I left the summit feeling empowered to advocate for myself. I was surrounded by people all trying to move their careers forward, but also willing to lend a hand and help wherever they could. There was a real feeling of connection with others that has stuck with me.”

Even if change and uncertainty surround us, we can choose the path we want to be on. Our professional lives are a product of the decisions we make; knowing ourselves, being prepared, and taking intentional steps will guarantee success. “Focusing on what we can control and what we can do to prepare ourselves, our colleagues, and the industry we serve for [tough] changes is the best use of our time,” said Rich Tunkel, SVP of Sales, WIN sponsor and WIN Summit panelist.