Hi, I am Helene.
And I am here to give more women the courage to be themselves, in their true authentic power. I’ve created my women mentoring and consulting business “Let’s Just Be Imperfect, Ladies” after my 10-year experience of being a young woman in senior communication advisor positions myself.
Today, as a speaker, workshop host and trainer, I bring male and female leaders together for a more open, transparent and diverse work culture in their organisations.
(Scroll down for my short biography & speaker photo)
My mission statement: Authentic leadership (extract from the SHE Conference 2022 in Helsinki)
Speaker’s biography
Helene Banner is a Keynote Speaker, Leadership Mentor and Diversity Advisor who founded her business “Let’s Just Be Imperfect, Ladies” after her 10-year career as a senior communication advisor at the European Commission in Brussels and Berlin.
In 2019, she was the German speechwriter of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and advised Ursula von der Leyen in the weeks when she became the first female President of the European Commission. Helene previously served as spokesperson for a European Commissioner and as Head of Communication of the European Commission in Germany.
With this experience of being "a young woman in senior positions", Helene now supports women and men working in alpha-dominated work environments to find their confidence in their authentic leadership style and in their own definition of success. As a speaker, she brings male and female leaders together for a more open, transparent and diverse work culture in their organisations, taking into account mental health challenges.
Helene is a trained political and communication scientist who graduated from the London School of Economics, UK, Sciences Po Lille, France, and the University of Münster, Germany. Since 2019, Helene has been a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges.
Behind the scenes: A young woman in senior jobs
As a young woman in senior positions I tried to "fit in" for a long time: I tried to become stronger, tougher and more assertive. In short: less young, less female. But I failed. In the process I realised that only by being "me", and not by trying to "be someone" will I become a true leader. So here I am today: I've created my own mentoring business to inspire women to be true to themselves in their full female potential and to define “success” for themselves.
My work today
In my workshops and mentorings, I support women working in high-level work environments to build their authentic leadership style with their natural feminine strengths - rather than conforming to male-dominated work cultures.
I also share my personal experience of being a young woman in a senior job among "power people", of leaving my international career at the European Union to start an own business and to follow my “why” instead of the “perfect career”.
My intention is to inspire women to find their very own path and their very own powerful voice as a woman, too - without conforming to what is expected, but by daring to be themselves, wherever they are working, wherever they are in their life right now.
As a Keynote Speaker, I speak at virtual events and on conference stages about how we can change our work cultures together as male and female leaders: by allowing for more diversity, transparency in decision-making and for opening up the good old “glass ceiling” from above - instead of asking women to toughen up and to break through it. Not by blaming men, but by promoting a new, open form of leadership: authentic leadership.
Moderating the Women Entrepreneur Gateway Summit (WEgate) 2022 in Brussels in October 2022. Photo: Francois de Ribaucourt
Listen for yourself.
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Stop trying to conform to male-dominated work cultures
For a long time, I thought that male-dominated work cultures were “normal” - until I gave myself permission to be just…myself in my job. When we women dare to be authentic in our leadership roles, we will change the unwritten rules of power in our work cultures. I am very proud that Margaux Cognard and Fanny Devaux asked me to join the Euroines podcast - the voice of women making Europe!
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How can organisations become more attractive for women?
When Mete Yurtsever invited me to his “Formula For Creating Value” podcast, he introduced himself as a “manbassador” - an advocate of women empowerment at the workplace. So we spoke about why allocating quotas in board rooms is not enough. And how work culture needs to evolve to create a balance between the natural strengths of both men and women.
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The taboo we're avoiding: "men empowerment"
If we are serious about making leadership more diverse, we also need to empower those who are currently in the majority of power positions: men. In her podcast "Raw Reflections", Leadership coach Ulrikke Mysen and I had a spicy and honest conversation on the taboo that many men at the topic deserve support on skills on how to feel safe and confident in the presence of more diverse leaders in the board room.
Prefer to read? Here are my views in my article "Stop fixing women. Start fixing what happens above the glass ceiling"