MARINA NIFOROS OF CLIMATE GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE GREECE

“Some may call it resilience, other ambidexterity, but, ultimately, I think the essential ingredient is the capacity to anticipate and navigate change that is so important in today’s turbulent times.” - Marina Niforos

Marina Niforos is an academic, board director, and climate tech investor. She is an affiliate professor at HEC Paris Business School, the President of the Climate Governance Initiative Greece and part of the WEF network of Board Director associations leading climate action in the boardroom. A world recognized expert on Blockchain and Web3, she was the lead author of the IFC-World Bank report on Blockchain: Opportunities for Private Enterprises in Emerging Markets and is a frequent contributor in media (Bloomberg, FT, CoinDesk and others). She serves on the EU Blockchain Observatory and as Expert jury member for the European Innovation Council Accelerator, funding European startups in deep tech. EU Startups named Marina “one of five female leaders driving change in the European blockchain ecosystem”.

Marina has served Board mandates with the GrowthFund-The National Fund of Greece (sovereign fund), Séché Environnement (Euronext-listed), the European Network of Women in Leadership and the US National Commission for UNESCO (appointed in 2012 by US Secretary of State H. Clinton). She is currently on the Advisory Board of Urban Impact Fund, a Dutch impact VC firm.

In the past, Marina served in senior positions with the American Chamber of Commerce of France, INSEAD, the Pechiney Group and the World Bank Group in Latin America. She received the World Bank Award for Excellence by President Wolfensohn for her service in Colombia, assisting the borrower with sovereign debt conversion. Ms. Niforos holds an MBA from INSEAD, a MGA from the University of Pennsylvania/SAIS-Johns Hopkins University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University. She is fluent in Spanish, French, Greek, and is proficient in Italian.

You have worked in a variety of different firm sizes, industries and held numerous positions and leadership roles, which resulted in your gaining new skills and knowledge. What has been the most important thing you have learned from all these diverse experiences?

1. If you stay in your comfort zone, your learning curve drops off the cliff. If you want to keep learning and grow as a person and as a professional, you have to purposefully push yourself beyond what you already know.

2. Nurture strong relationships throughout your career, especially with people whose opinion you trust. They will be your sounding board and your resource, particularly when you’re in transition and making a leap into a new position or field.

3. Stay curious and open to new ideas and experimentation; sometimes your greatest breakthroughs will result from indulging your intellectual curiosity and putting yourself out there.

What has been your experience working in industries that are predominantly for men? How would you say your workspace is evolving to accommodate more females?

In the early stages of my career, I thought success was determined based on diligence and proving that I could do the job as well as any of my male peers. Eventually I realized that it is not enough to just work hard and expect that recognition would magically come my way. A predominantly male-dominated workspace has a specific culture and unwritten rules that make it very difficult for women to progress, since they do not necessarily conform to the prescribed behavior of what is perceived as leadership. There has been progress over the last couple of decades, and there is now much more awareness in companies about suppressing bias and inequity in the workplace. Several policies have been put in place, particularly in Europe, to ensure women are not singled out or penalized for caregiving or flex time, and that they get remunerated on par with their male peers. The fact that more women are attaining positions of leadership in both business and politics provides the necessary role models for younger women to aspire to succeed without sacrificing their own identity and values. 

There is still, however, much to be done. When you look at the tech sector and venture capital where I work, for example, there is still a remarkable lack of well funded female-led companies and even fewer female leaders in VC firms making investment decisions. Considering that a growing amount of future value creation will arise from this sector and its impact on the economy, this continuing ‘digital disparity’ is troublesome.

You are proficient in five languages, giving you the opportunity to communicate and work all over the world. Despite knowing so many languages, has there ever been a time where you haven’t felt heard in the workplace, if so how did you manage it?

Linguistic ability is certainly a big advantage when working internationally across different environments. Equally important though is the ability to ‘read’ and understand the ‘language’ of an organization. Sometimes we can speak the language of a country but fail to understand how people communicate, collaborate, negotiate, and make decisions. Cultural differences play a key role in these mostly non-verbal codes of interaction and they are very difficult to decipher. 

There were many instances where I felt that I was an ‘alien’ in the workspace early on in my career, when I was very young and had  to lead a country-team that was predominantly male. At the time, I tried to conform to external expectations, dressing more conservatively, trying to look older, even laughing awkwardly and pretending to ignore jabs pertaining to my age or gender. Years later at a board meeting, the chairman cut me off as I was verbalizing a dissenting opinion, ‘rephrasing’ my words for the minutes of the meeting. I thanked the Chairman for his ‘translation’ but insisted that the corporate secretary reflect verbatim my comments for the record. The years between the two episodes taught me that you need to confront people with their biases, rather than conform for the sake of peacekeeping, particularly in the context of a toxic corporate culture. Find your own voice and let it be heard, firmly and with conviction. 

It is clear you are well-informed and very knowledgeable in tech and digital transformations, and you are seeing the industry rapidly sky-rocket into an ever growing hub for innovation and ideas. Is there anything about technology that scares you?

I do not think that technology has a moral character; it is its misappropriation and misuse by humans that can have destructive consequences for people and societies. There is a lot of talk about artificial intelligence and its potentially unethical uses, but the issue is much larger, as a confluence of disruptive technologies (AI, robotics, biotech etc) is creating new business models with an explosion of data and undefined accountability. What scares me is that technology is evolving very rapidly but our progress on convening appropriate governance for data driven economies and societies is very slow. We need enhanced collaboration between policymakers and the private sector to define the necessary regulatory and self-governance guidelines to ensure the emergence of standards and accountability.

In an era of increasing social responsibility for businesses, why are boards uniquely positioned to lead the charge towards net zero? How does the work of The Climate Governance Initiative enables boards to make this transition?

I think that climate change has very rapidly moved from being a question of corporate social responsibility to a critical business risk for companies worldwide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) signals that emissions globally need to be halved by 2030 to ensure that the average temperature rise does not exceed 1.5 degrees by 2050. The business community must act now to move from pledges to action, but they often lack the tools, skills and expertise to do so effectively. As custodians of a company’s overall governance, boards are uniquely placed to drive this environmentally focused change, highlighting both the risks and opportunities of new and more sustainable business models ensuring the long-term resilience of the company. The Climate Governance Initiative (CGI), hosted by the Centre for Climate Engagement at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, empowers board directors to tackle climate action by enhancing their knowledge and skills in climate governance. We are a rapidly growing global network with Chapters in over 70 countries worldwide, operating under the World Economic Forum Principles of Effective Climate Governance. The CGI supports this global community of directors, encourages knowledge-sharing and thought leadership, and advocates for business mobilization on climate action from the boardroom.

Your work has stretched around the globe and across numerous languages. How has this global perspective shaped you into a better leader?

I have been teaching leadership at HEC Paris Business School for a number of years now and the basic academic premise of the program is the concept of systemic leadership:  perceiving our notion of leadership not as an innate endemic characteristic, but as a skill, an aptitude you can and should develop across multiple settings. It's not static: it depends on your ecosystem, the particular circumstances in which you find yourself and the way other stakeholders around you interact in it. Working across countries, languages and cultural settings has underscored for me the truth of this systemic approach to leadership. There is no one size fits all, even for a single individual, and we all need to be able to develop different leadership personas that can be deployed at will depending on situational intelligence. Some may call it resilience, other ambidexterity, but, ultimately, I think the essential ingredient is the capacity to anticipate and navigate change that is so important in today’s turbulent times.

QUICK TAKES:

1) What three attributes have made you a strong leader?

1) Practice active listening, 2) take risks and do not abandon goals in the face of

resistance, 3) keep learning

2) What’s your best financial wellness tip for young women?

The first step to financial wellness is financial independence, starting with an investment in a great education, as you are probably the best and only inalienable asset you will control in your lifetime. In addition, financial wellness requires that women stay informed about financial management, plan for the medium and long- term and do not cede decisions for their financial wellbeing and future to others; When they do, they should exercise strong oversight.

3) What is your favorite travel destination?

House on the beach in a (non-touristy) Greek island.