Gabriela Nguyen-Groza. (Photo: Matic Zorman/Maison Moderne/archives)

Gabriela Nguyen-Groza. (Photo: Matic Zorman/Maison Moderne/archives)

As part of the 10x6 Women: Leaders' role models organised by the Paperjam + Delano Club on Tuesday 22 February, Gabriela Nguyen-Groza, Founder & Managing Partner of Amrop Luxembourg, shares her vision of female leadership.

Would you say that female leadership is different from male leadership?

Gabriela Nguyen-Groza. - I mostly think that the leadership style is personal to every leader, male or female. It depends on personality, experience (people are not born, but they become leaders), on how they exercise self-governance and on what drives their choices. Our leadership style reflects who we are as a person, what are our values and how we see ourselves in our professional life and in society. Leaders, men or women, need to have self-confidence, drive for success and to instill them in others.

What could we do in order to inspire more women to become leaders?

"Promoting female leadership is a two-way street. It needs the willingness from companies to let females grow into leadership positions. Today, most of the companies have understood the importance of having female leaders and they are making efforts to achieve this.

But it also needs those women to play their part, to bring up courage, to claim territory, to drop their self-doubts, to gain assertiveness and to convince themselves and the people around them that they can do the job. It's about having the can-do mindset to take their careers into their own hands and to dare to succeed!”

How has your role model helped you get to where you are today?

"I was born and I grew up in communist Romania. And even though most of the things were very wrong during that period, there is one thing which deeply inspired me: when it comes to work, a woman was seen as capable of doing the exact same job as any man. There was no difference whatsoever from a professional point of view and, of course, the childcare system was very developed, to allow women to work. So, in a certain sense, every woman around me was a role model, and that gave me the mindset to work towards my goals with drive and confidence."