{"id":28826,"date":"2025-05-29T02:34:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T02:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inzaken.eu\/?p=28826"},"modified":"2025-05-29T02:36:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T02:36:21","slug":"rethinking-leadership-female-tech-heroes-conference-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inzaken.eu\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/rethinking-leadership-female-tech-heroes-conference-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking Leadership: Fe+male Tech Heroes Conference 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Cheryl & Terry Boyd<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High Tech Campus Eindhoven buzzed at top volume as hundreds of tech professionals came together for the Fe+male Tech Heroes Conference: Rethinking Leadership.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a full house of changemakers ready to challenge conventional wisdom about what leadership really means in today’s tech and geopolitical landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fe+male Tech Heroes news<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FTH co-founders Ingelou Stol<\/a> and Hilde de Vocht<\/a> welcomed everyone to the conference and kicked it off with some exciting news items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Fe+male Tech Herpes will be the main sponsor of PSV Women! As of the 2025-2026 season, PSV Women will be sponsored by a collection of companies under one common name: Fe+male Tech Heroes, which will be on the front of the jerseys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consortium consists of Cisco, Driessen Groep, Heijmans, High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Mansveld Techniek, Simac and Tibo-Veen. Together with PSV, they are taking on the challenge of attracting and recruiting more (female) tech talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full announcement here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hilde and Ingelou also announced FTH will be rolling out their new branding in the coming weeks, giving the audience a preview of what\u2019s to come: bold colors, fresh look and a bold new tagline: impossible to ignore. The FTH team had fun handing out the \u201cimpossible to ignore\u201d buttons at the conference. Wear them with confidence!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last announcement from the \u201cgood news show\u201d is there will be a Fe+male Tech Heroes triathlon this fall at High Tech Campus. And, as women in the community tend to do, they already formed teams and signed up at the conference!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more and sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond traditional leadership paradigms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day kicked off with Ingrid Tappin<\/a>, CEO of Diverse Leaders in Tech<\/a>, whose keynote on “Identity Intelligence: Unlocking Your Leadership Superpower in Tech” immediately set the stage for deeper thinking. Rather than focusing on traditional leadership traits, Ingrid challenged attendees to consider a fundamental question: \u201cWhere do you lead from?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using her innovative IdQ\u2122 quadrant model, she mapped out diverse leadership styles, from the outspoken challenger to the sensitive fixer, the visionary translator to the harmonizing teambuilder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She asked the audience: “Have you ever been the only one in the room? The exception? You have led in these moments.” We sometimes don\u2019t acknowledge leadership within ourselves. And therein lies opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI with human purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meike Nauta<\/a> from Datacation<\/a> brought a refreshingly \u201chuman-centered\u201d perspective to implementing AI. Her keynote emphasized the need to start AI conversations around real-world use cases and user needs. She encouraged everyone to adopt an AI mindset, spotting practical opportunities for implementation, and to shift from individual usage to team-wide thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She explained that AI will find the easiest route from A to B and this can be a problem for the output. AI will also amplify any bias that is already rooted in the data, so we need to take a hard look at what\u2019s in our data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, it comes down to how we can make AI fair, responsible and explainable. The goal should be hybrid intelligence where human judgment and machine capability work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambitious? Sure, but also achievable, according to Meike. “Power to the people, with the power of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate action through informal leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fireside chat between Ingelou Stol and Beatrix Bos<\/a> from Carbyon<\/a> focused on entrepreneurship and climate action. Beatrix’s journey in carbon removal and sustainable energy systems illustrated how urgent global challenges can fuel innovative leadership approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beatrix has always been drawn to entrepreneurship by the challenge, the urgency of climate change and by the ability to do things differently. She says she was pushed into entrepreneurship by seeing the lack of others taking initiative in certain fields. Beatrix doesn\u2019t have a C-suite role at Carbyon, but she believes in the role of informal leadership to make an impact on startup teams and amplify the startup\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two thoughts resonated: “We need more spotlights on women in science.\u201d (Indeed, that\u2019s our mission at Fe+male Tech Heroes!) But also, this, \u201cBe patient. Step by step, work towards the next milestone, even when ambitions are high and the mission is huge.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bridging generational perspectives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The multigenerational panel discussion proved to be one of the day’s most engaging sessions. With Ingelou Stol moderating, Miriam van der Meer<\/a> (Generation Z), Yolanda van Dinther<\/a> (Generation X), and Joseph Zekry<\/a> (Generation Y) explored how different generations approach work, influence, collaboration and change in technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They challenged stereotypes while celebrating each generation’s unique strengths:<\/p>\n\n\n\n