I’m sending this blog from Sydney International Airport where I’m waiting to board a big bird to Kuala Lumpur where I’ll be attending the Womens Summit Malaysia at the invitation of the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Dato'Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.  I am one of two international keynote speakers at the Summit, the other being Aviva Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20First and Author of Why Women Mean Business and How Women Mean Business.  

The theme of the summit is Challenging Mindsets. Transforming Lives. and my brief is to educate the 1,200+ participants on the Networking Advantage for Malaysian women - as networking is a relatively untapped strategy in Malaysia, particularly for women.  

Although I would normally turn to my friend Robyn Henderson for advice on networking, I was contacted by the Minister’s office off the back of a press article about me and asked to share my experiences of setting up the award-winning sphinxx community and building a strong following that now spans close to 10,000 contacts across our various online and offline channels.  

I will share my personal story of having made a strategic decision (while working for a global consulting firm in my twenties) to create a strong professional network in lieu of the old school tie that eluded me, because I could see this would be essential for a successful career in professional services.  

It should be an interesting couple of days this week as the various stories from speakers unfold so be sure to follow me on Twitter (TheSheEO) to follow the discussions (at #WomenSummit)