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Boston Chamber
  • Events
        • Events

          • Overview
          • Events Calendar
          • Chamber Awards
          • New Chamber Event Series
        • ...
          Women's Network
          A Fireside Chat with Dr. Melissa Gilliam, Boston University

          This Women's Network event will offer an insightful conversation with Dr. Melissa Gilliam, the 11th President of Boston University and both the first woman and the first Black woman to lead the institution since its founding in 1869.

          06/18/2025

          11:30am - 1:00pm

          Fairmont Copley Plaza

          arrow-go
          Read More
        • ...
          Special Event
          Talent and Competitiveness in 2025: Finding Opportunity in Uncertain Times

          Join the Chamber and Massachusetts Business Roundtable for a deep dive into employer insights, featuring analysis from McKinsey and a panel of experts.

          06/26/2025

          11:00am - 12:00pm

          Virtual

          arrow-go
          Read More
        • ...
          Pacesetters
          Doing Business with Mass General Brigham

          Join us for our installment of the Pacesetters Doing Business series featuring Mass General Brigham on June 26, 2025.

          06/26/2025

          1:00pm - 2:00pm

          Virtual

          arrow-go
          Read More
  • Learning & Development
        • Learning & Development

          • Overview
          • Call for Nominations
          • Insights
        • Transformational DEI Certificate

          This program is in redevelopment. Click this page for DEI resources.

          Read More
          Women’s Leadership Program

          Our Women’s Leadership Program enables you to take your leadership to the next level by arming you with the most in-demand leadership toolkit.

          Read More
          Boston’s Future Leaders

          Our Boston’s Future Leaders (BFL) program provides emerging leaders with a socially conscious and civically engaged leadership toolkit, as well as the opportunity to apply their knowledge through experiential assignments.

          Read More
          Authentic Professionalism for Early Career Professionals

          Join us on June 12 for a highly interactive virtual workshop with Strategic Career & Leadership Coach Carole-Ann Penney.

          Read More
  • Economic Inclusion
        • Economic Inclusion

          • Overview
          • Pacesetters
          • Resources
        • ...
          Economic Inclusion
          City Awake

          City Awake empowers young professionals in a variety of ways that encourages these rising leaders to stay invested in the region’s future success.

          arrow-go
          Read More
        • ...
          Economic Inclusion
          Pacesetters

          We are developing an ecosystem of corporations and partners with the influence and buying power to transform economic inclusion for minority business enterprises (MBEs).

          arrow-go
          Read More
        • ...
          Small Business
          Small Business

          Small businesses are the backbone of the Boston economy. Learn more about the resources available through the Chamber.

          arrow-go
          Read More
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          • Leadership Councils
          • Amicus Advisory Board
        • GET INVOLVED IN OUR POLICY FOCUS AREAS

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          Read More
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          Read More
          Health Care
          Read More
          Housing & Development
          Read More
          Talent
          Read More
          Transportation
          Read More
  • Our Networks
        • GBCC’s Networks

          • Overview
        • OUR NETWORKS

          Small Business

          Small businesses are the backbone of the Boston economy. Learn more about the resources available through the Chamber.

          Read More
          City Awake

          City Awake empowers young professionals in a variety of ways that encourages these rising leaders to stay invested in the region’s future success.

          Read More
          BIMA

          BIMA (the Boston Interactive Media Association) serves a vibrant community of like-minded professionals from agencies, brands, publishers, and ad-tech companies with business interests in the New England market.

          Read More
          Women’s Network

          For over 30 years, the Chamber’s Women’s Network has connected female professionals of all background and career levels. Today, our Women’s Network is the largest in New England, strengthening the professional networks of women each year.

          Read More
          Massachusetts Apprentice Network

          The Massachusetts Apprentice Network convenes employers, training providers, and talent sources interested in developing and implementing apprenticeship programs in occupations across industries and statewide in fields such as tech, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and more.

          Read More
          Pacesetters

          We are developing an ecosystem of corporations and partners with the influence and buying power to transform economic inclusion for minority business enterprises (MBEs).

          Read More
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Designing the best place for women to work with All in for Advancement

February 6, 2020

Think about an instance where you felt authentically and fully included – when your supervisor actively sought your feedback during a meeting, or a colleague took you out for coffee and asked you how you were really doing. Moments like these activate us and those around us to bring our best ideas to the table and live a more fulfilling, balanced life. 

Our first-ever graduates of All in for Advancement dedicated the last year to piloting an initiative that will create moments like that for their community at their employer. This is no small feat, and it is clear that their leadership has made their organizations an even better place for women to work. But the work of an inclusive cultural influencers is never over. To support their continued work, and yours, we have summarized some of tools and frameworks we explored together. 

Change requires an entrepreneurial mindset.

All in for Advancement opened with a puzzling and quilting exercise where participants got to experience firsthand the shift from a managerial, problem solving mentality to an entrepreneurial, learning through experimentation and iteration mindset. It is only when we stop looking at culture and inclusivity as a problem to be solved and start viewing it more fluidly that we can begin to take small actions to make huge improvements.

Change must be made in community. 

When we look at a picture like the one above, it is natural for many of us to make a snap judgement about what this woman needs – a ladder, a tall person, another few inches of wingspan. However, we can’t truly know what this woman’s needs are without asking her – perhaps she just needs the shelves to be fully accessible. Likewise, it is up to us as cultural influencers to observe our surroundings, and then to do discovery work to find a solution that works for everyone. In All in for Advancement, participants started by observing and interviewing an outgroup, which steered their design thinking process.

In addition, they also designed the initiative in partnership with their team members (each participating company sends up to four participants) and with the support and buy-in of key leadership. Together, they selected a project at the intersection of desirability, feasibility, and viability. 

Lastly, they designed their culture change initiative in community with the other participating organizations, and gave each other the gifts of feedback, advice, and connections.

Change is worth it.

Though change can be difficult, and more of a quilt than a straight-forward puzzle, it is worth it. Organizations with more inclusive cultures report greater innovation, smarter teams, more market competitiveness, an easier time recruiting talent, and higher levels of engagement from staff. Right now, inequality in women’s work is causing the world’s economy to lose $28 trillion in value.

Everyone is on a journey to be more inclusive – we can’t get it 100% right all the time. However, these tools can help to advance the crucial, entrepreneurial work of making your organization, and the region as a whole, a better, more inclusive place. With our collective power, we can make Greater Boston the best place for women to work.

Thank you to our 2019 INfluencers:

2020 Statements of Interest are being accepted now and are due by February 17. To learn more contact Caitlin Fisher at [email protected] or 617-557-7358 to set up an info session. 

2019 SPONSOR

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