Presented by Harvard Business School Executive Education
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Good morning! Donald Trump names a chief of staff, San Francisco’s mayor loses her reelection bid, and women reflect on this week’s election results. Have a restful weekend.
– Ready to react. In the days since Donald Trump won the presidency, women leaders have had to reckon with that outcome: processing their own reactions, talking with their teams, and strategizing for what comes next. CEOs and founders of the biggest tech companies—including Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, and Sundar Pichai—extended their congratulations to Trump in public and reportedly spent the past weeks and months courting him behind the scenes. I have yet to see an equivalent message of congratulations from a major female CEO; GM chief Mary Barra, for example, last posted on X in July to wish Trump a swift recovery following his assassination attempt, but has not posted a statement since Tuesday.
Women leaders beyond the Fortune 500, however, have started to gather their thoughts and calls to action. Melinda French Gates, who had endorsed Harris, wrote that “nothing ends here.” “Over the next four years, we will see heroic work across our country…I am committed to being part of that effort,” she said.
Others, with expertise ranging from women’s health to community-building to the future of Silicon Valley shared with me their response to the election result:
Dee Poku is founder of the WIE Suite, a membership community for women. She also organized the group Female Founders for Harris in the lead-up to the election.
Women have so much unrealized power and influence. What we saw in the election and reflected in society is a very fragmented use of that power. We have to learn to consolidate, work together and double down on where we direct that power…We need to double down on our own ambition and lead with conviction. And above all use our voices. I completely understand that we have shareholders, investors, or customer bases who don’t want us to be political but if we don’t speak up on behalf of other women, then who?…Community works when you’re united by a common purpose and have respect for one another’s point of view. Now is not the time to blame and point fingers. It’s the time to listen and rebuild.
Leslie Feinzaig, founder of early-stage VC firm Graham & Walker, launched VCs for Kamala, a group she rallied after a few high-profile investors endorsed Trump. She identifies not as a Democrat but as an independent.
If I had to guess, venture capital will fare great under the new administration, as I think we would have fared under a Harris administration. Our job is to make money for our investors, and that hasn’t changed. VCs have been co-investing with each other this whole time. But while we show up to work as VCs, we show up to the voting booth as citizens. And on that side, our values and priorities differed.
I think it’s important to listen, and to heal the deep partisan divide. The values that brought together our pledge—pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, pro-technological progress, pro-democracy, and pro-dialogue—transcend any one candidate, any one moment, and even any one party…I have no regrets.
Lux Capital’s Deena Shakir is an investor in women’s health businesses like Maven, which have already dealt with the instability of state-by-state abortion bans and rulings and legislation around fertility treatments and IVF. She advises her portfolio:
The best advice I can give is to stay focused and turn any anger and frustration into action and execution. The needs of women and families don’t change with political tides. Women make up 50% of the population and drive 80% of healthcare dollars—this is both a critical need and a market opportunity. Our portfolio companies have persisted through administration changes, leveraging innovative tech to provide critical care when needed most. What’s also encouraging is that more investors are seeing capital deployment as a mechanism for action.
Halogen Ventures founder Jesse Draper urges people who support women to turn from politics to the private sector, or what she has started calling “Plan B.”
Invest in women. Invest in childcare. Invest in women’s health. Put your money to work and put yourself out there as a female leader. We need more voices, more role models that are women and more female CEOs especially of publicly traded businesses. If you are a female leader of any sort, you have a platform. Women make 80% of purchasing decisions, healthcare decisions. If you want to see change, invest in women.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
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- A Trump first. Donald Trump named Susie Wiles his incoming White House chief of staff. Wiles ran Trump’s campaign—and will be the first woman to hold her next job. New York Times
- Next in SF. San Francisco Mayor London Breed lost her race for reelection. Breed became mayor six years ago and was the first Black woman to hold the job. After leading the city through the pandemic, she was defeated by Daniel Lurie in a tough race that centered on the city’s homelessness problem. CBS News
- On the phone. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, discussed trade, energy, defense, and Ukraine with Donald Trump in what she described as an “excellent phone call.” Von der Leyen said she is looking forward to addressing geopolitical issues with Trump and strengthening ties between the EU and the U.S. She’s not the only one talking to Trump—he’s been chatting with other world leaders following his victory.
- No, nope, uh-uh, and also no. Interest in the 4B movement—where women refuse to date men, have sex with men, marry men, or have children until there is gender equality—is increasing among American women on social media platforms like TikTok. Following Donald Trump’s election, there was an increase in Google searches for 4B, which started in South Korea in the 2010s. Wired
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CONTENT FROM HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION |
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Sunshine Health, a managed care organization, named Charlene Zein president and chief executive officer. Most recently, she served as the company’s interim president and previously was chief product president.
Power Sustainable, an asset manager focused on sustainability, appointed Delia Cristea as chief operating officer. Cristea is a partner and general counsel at the company.
PosiGen, a renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions provider, appointed Jen Pearce as chief operating officer. Previously, she was the company’s SVP of operations.
ALSAC, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital's fundraising and awareness organization, named Samantha Maltin chief marketing and brand officer. Most recently, she was EVP, chief marketing and brand officer at Sesame Workshop.
Avantor, a products and services provider for the life sciences industry, appointed Dame Louise Makin to its board of directors. Makin was CEO of BTG.
Genezen, a gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization, appointed Pam Stetkiewicz to its board of directors. She is chief operating officer at Arbor Biotechnologies.
United Way of New York City, a nonprofit for low-income New Yorkers, appointed Laurinda Martins, Christine Sobhani, and Kate Woolley to its board of directors. Martins is deputy co-chair of Fried Frank’s real estate department, Sobhani is a senior partner at Kingsley Gate, and Woolley is general manager of the IBM Ecosystem.
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How America embraced gender war New Yorker
I went to Kamala Harris’s concession speech—here’s what I heard from Black women Fortune
Democratic women see a country that is ‘not ready for a woman president’ Politico
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“We’ve fought long and hard, and there's an even bigger fight ahead of us—but I know this: We’ll win the fight for reproductive freedom in the long game. We’re built for this.”
— Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson after the election
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