Rewind a few decades, to Vienna In the mid-1990s. At the time, the Austrian Freedom Party (FP\u00d6) was just beginning to make waves as an anti-foreigner movement. Marie Ringler, then a political science and gender studies student at the University of Vienna, decided she had to take a stand in the face of the growing racist sentiment around her. \u201cWhy is the world so broken?\u201d, she wondered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a group of friends, Ringler organised rallies and demonstrations. It was fun, yet she quickly realised that these didn\u2019t have the impact she was looking for. \u201cWe weren\u2019t changing anything,\u201d Ringler says. \u201cThe government was happy to see us spend our energy in the street, since they could carry on as usual.\u201d After half a year, the Green Party asked if Ringler would run for office. \u201cI was 24, and had no idea what I was getting myself into!\u201d, she says now. Not only was she a woman, but she also would be the youngest sitting representative in the regional Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But duty called. \u201cWhen you have that nagging feeling that street rallies are not changing anything, you have a responsibility to take action,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I felt that politics could be an avenue for that.\u201d The mechanics of politics \u2014 parliamentary debates, bringing motions and cobbling together a majority \u2014 should represent 10% of a politician\u2019s time and energy, according to Ringler. \u201cThe other 90% is talking with your constituency, the citizens, stakeholders, and your party members. Politicians often lose sight of what is the most relevant in order to get things done.\u201d She used her office to create transparency, sharing what was happening in the Parliament with the citizens using the Internet. In 2004, she started a blog to show what was happening behind the scenes of the Parliament. \u201cI created a lot of anger within the system,\u201d says Ringler. But she never bowed; she wanted to bridge the gap between the elected officials and the people they represented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast-forward to 2010. Ringler decided to keep moving, because otherwise, she\u2019d be part of the system \u2013 and, she says, part of the problem. \u201cPeople stay in politics forever and become dependent on its structures. It feeds their vanity,\u201d she says. At the time, Ringler was a part time MBA student at the University of St. Gallen. One of her professors presented a case study about Specialisterne, a Danish company that leverages the unique strengths of people with autism to find them jobs. The idea changed her way of seeing business. And when she found out that the founder was a part of a network called Ashoka, she was determined to be a part of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There only was a small problem: Ashoka didn\u2019t have an office in Austria. Ringler decided to change that. \u201cI basically recruited myself and called Ashoka\u2019s German director to build a new branch,\u201d she says. The role was the perfect application for leadership skills she had been honing for the past two decades. \u201cStarting the office means you have to raise funds, build a network, find fellows,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to build the reputation of the brand and make yourself useful to the ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And she succeeded \u2013 first, as Austrian Country Director. Then, as Europe co-Director. And today as head of the organisation\u2019s European operation. Ringler aims to build a culture of trust and innovation. \u201cWhat I love about this role is that it allows me to work with our different country offices and help them really step into their greatness. That’s what this role is about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ashoka\u2019s interconnected, global structure has been a perfect fit for the former politician. Ringler is an optimist, but doesn\u2019t look at the world through rose-tinted glasses. \u201cWhat I care about most is: How do we build communities of business leaders, policy makers, and citizens who want to drive change? It really is an art.\u201d And Ringler believes it\u2019s ultimately the way to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Move what forward, you ask? Anything: \u201cWe have two years to solve the biodiversity crisis, so we better get going.\u201d But that\u2019s only an example. Ringler wants to erase poverty, increase political transparency, give a voice to the unheard. \u201cAshoka is topic agnostic,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt\u2019s about exposing problems and finding their solutions from the bottom up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As long as you give great entrepreneurs support and create spaces where they can really take action, she says, they will provide solutions to the world\u2019s problems. And the best entrepreneurs are empathetic problem solvers. \u201cYou need to be able to step into someone else\u2019s shoes to solve problems in a way that will impact everyone,\u201d says Ringler. So how has Ringler\u2019s early experience in the male-dominated world of Austrian politics informed her work? She says there really is a difference between the way women and men lead. \u201cWomen often empower individual members of their communities to lead, more than men do.\u201d That result is a \u201cdeeper scale,\u201d or organisations that have a better reach within their communities. They create movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Men, in contrast, tend to scale more traditionally, seeking quantity over quality. The more countries reached, the merrier, in other words. \u201cMen are born in a world that teaches them to not listen to their emotions, not listen to their intuition, not be empathetic and to elbow their way to the top,\u201d Ringler says. While learning about leadership theories, Ringler realised that the qualities that made a good leader were usually not the ones that men are taught to value.
\u201cBeing a man means being assertive, and always putting the focus on what you’re doing,\u201d says Ringler. \u201cBut we all know that modesty and humility are key criteria for good leaders. Stealing the spotlight might get you a CEO position, but does it make you a great leader? Not necessarily.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ringler\u2019s advice for ambitious women? Stop doubting yourself. She likens women getting top positions to jumping off a high diving board. \u201cSociety can make sure that you get into the swimming pool. It can help you feel comfortable in your bathing suit and teach you to swim,\u201d she says. \u201cBut you need to climb up a high ladder, and jumping 10 meters takes courage.\u201d The world might be broken. But the more purpose-driven people who take that leap, the more problems we can solve. Together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marie Ringler was elected to office as part of the Green Party at the age of 24. She\u2019s now working to improve the world by supporting and connecting social entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Rewind a few decades, to Vienna In the mid-1990s. At the time, the Austrian Freedom Party (FP\u00d6) was just beginning to make waves as an anti-foreigner movement. Marie Ringler, then a political science and gender studies student at the University of Vienna, decided she had to take a stand in the face of the growing racist sentiment around her. \u201cWhy is the world so broken?\u201d, she wondered. With a group of friends, Ringler organised rallies and demonstrations. It was fun, yet she quickly realised that these didn\u2019t have the impact she was looking for. \u201cWe weren\u2019t changing anything,\u201d Ringler says.…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"INSIGHTS<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"wordpress@weitblick-online.ch","url":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/author\/wordpressweitblick-online-ch\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","authors":[{"term_id":67,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"laurianne-croteau","display_name":"Laurianne Croteau","avatar_url":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/gravatars\/762b22de4bf1bf3924204e9b02554eaa","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1926"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3073,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926\/revisions\/3073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1926"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}