Tuija Talvitie wants to encourage women to take more risks and be braver in embracing their ambitions, because both men and women are needed in leadership positions.

– Women have a lot to offer in decision making. That does not mean that men are worse and women are better. What it means is that the balance between the sexes has to be more even at the executive level.

Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) is an unusual conflict resolution organisation in the sense that its executive team has more women than men. Talvitie says that this was not a conscious decision, it just happened.

– We have wanted different perspectives on the executive team, different kinds of people and different kinds of skills, because that is how you achieve the best combination. Research on conflict resolution has shown that when women’s involvement in the peace process is not merely symbolic, the results will be better.

Talvitie is concerned with the lack of female policymakers in Finland at the moment. Women on the boards of listed companies are likewise few and far between.

– If positions of leadership feel nerve-wracking, it is good to remember that perfection is not expected even of executives. Good leaders never know how to do things better than those working under them. People in those positions have to have high enough self-esteem to surround themselves with different types of people who are smarter and more capable than they are. The world needs capable women as decision makers.

Talvitie wants to emphasise that leadership is a lifelong journey. Executives must be humble enough to perceive their own limitations and willing to learn new things.

– Asking for feedback on your own performance as an executive is important. It is equally important is to develop yourself based on that feedback. For example, I have always been very energetic, which can even be construed as threatening. I have had to do a lot of work to learn how to listen and give space to others. I also strive to control my impatient nature.