“Christine came and broke the glass ceiling. I came after her. No scratch.”
That was my favorite moment of Day 1 of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. It’s Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, describing being the second woman to lead the IMF after Christine Lagarde. Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist and a lively presence onstage, even brushed off her shoulders for emphasis.
Her conversation with my colleague Diane Brady kicked off the Summit—and brought home to me what’s so special about MPW. We get a moment like that, one that fits in perfectly alongside intense discussion of global trade wars (see more on that below). Georgieva can be her authentic self and know that having a bit of fun doesn’t make anyone here question her expertise. Perhaps it was slightly different from the other meetings Georgieva was in Washington, D.C., for—the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF, with its 191 member countries.
More highlights from Day 1:
Georgieva dismissed the impact of Trump’s trade war: “Trade is like water. You put [up an] obstacle, it goes around it.”
Brené Brown had the room mesmerized with her take on the “myth” that our uniquely human skills are what will help us survive AI. “We’re sh*t at being deeply human right now,” the author and researcher says. “We can’t stand each other.” Still, to succeed today, companies must reject “Welchian” (as in Jack Welch) strategy; human qualities are not liabilities to performance, Brown argues.
Toni Townes-Whitley, the CEO of the Fortune 500 defense tech company SAIC, says the biggest threat to U.S. national security is that much of the country’s defense strategy is outdated. Other countries can use their entire industrial bases; the U.S. can’t. Townes-Whitley is one of two Black female CEOs in the Fortune 500; she also spoke to a group of female veterans transitioning out of the military about her own family’s military background.
Stay tuned for more from today’s programming, like Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the CEOs of Best Buy, Land O’Lakes, and Ulta Beauty, how the courts are influencing American business, and much, much more.
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. Subscribe here.
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ON MY RADAR
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PARTING WORDS
"If you’re trying to be perfect, if you’re trying to be balanced, you’re always going to fail in one area."
—Ouai haircare founder Jen Atkin on work-life balance