Alex Scimecca

Amanda Gerut

<p>It&#8217;s about damn time, <a href="https://fortune.com/conferences/fortune-most-powerful-women-2024/Speakers">said</a> Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit co-chair Maryam Banikarim as she introduced the singer Lizzo for a Q&amp;A before a live audience.</p><div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



<p>The four-time Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter is on a break, and she broke the news to the crew of high-powered women that she had <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/10/14/lizzo-voting-kamala-harris/">voted</a> for Kamala Harris in the presidential election.</p>



<p>“There’s so many important issues on the ballot this year. And I just want to encourage everyone—I know everyone in this room is going to vote—but please, anyone who’s going to see this video or hear this, please vote.”</p>


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54067955671_5da16345cc_o-e1728964503672.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" alt="Lizzo" class="lazyload wp-image-4039919" src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54067955671_5da16345cc_o-e1728964503672.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" width="1024" height="683" original-width="2880" original-height="1920"><figcaption>Lizzo on the main stage at Fortune&#8217;s MPW 2024.</figcaption><div class="image-credit">Stuart Isett/Fortune</div></figure>



<p>The singer&#8217;s lively interview with MPW co-chair Ellie Austin capped off an evening that began with a discussion between fellow co-chair Emma Hinchliffe and actress and wine purveyor Cameron Diaz. After taking time off to focus on her family, Diaz embarked on a <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/10/14/cameron-diaz-took-a-break-from-hollywood-and-shook-up-the-wine-world/">new venture</a> in the wine industry with friend and fellow aficionado Katherine Power. </p>



<p>“It felt like something I had to do to reclaim my own life,” said Diaz of the break. “It really comes to: What are you passionate about? For me, it was building my family.&#8221;</p>


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54068123188_7431bddb18_o-e1728961329857.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" alt="Cameran Diaz" class="lazyload wp-image-4039898" src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54068123188_7431bddb18_o-e1728961329857.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" width="1024" height="683" original-width="2880" original-height="1920"><figcaption>Cameron Diaz discusses her journey from films to wine and back again at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit on Oct. 14, 2024.</figcaption><div class="image-credit">Photograph by Stuart Isett/Fortune</div></figure>



<p>The first day of the seminal event began bright and early with a beach trip in Laguna Niguel, Calif., where friends old and new bonded over a brisk walk and morning breeze.</p>


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54065567097_ae945c38e7_o-e1728948129604.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" alt="" class="lazyload wp-image-4039725" src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54065567097_ae945c38e7_o-e1728948129604.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" width="1024" height="683" original-width="2880" original-height="1920"> <div class="image-credit">Stuart for Fortune</div></figure>



<p>One of the themes that emerged from the day is the idea of grit. For many women, their grit is a source of power, and for a lot of them, they learned it playing sports as children.</p>



<p><a href="https://fortune.com/company/deloitte/" target="_blank">Deloitte</a> chair Lara Abrash defined grit as that hard part on your elbow that gets built up. “You can’t teach someone grit. They’re not born with grit,” she said. “So these experiences, particularly for women who are often told they can’t do something, actually teaches them they can.”</p>


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54067670658_b6b9cd7692_o-e1728948399705.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" alt="" class="lazyload wp-image-4039724" src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54067670658_b6b9cd7692_o-e1728948399705.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" width="1024" height="683" original-width="2880" original-height="1920"><figcaption>Ilona Aman, Chief Marketing Officer at Athleta.</figcaption><div class="image-credit">Stuart Isett for Fortune</div></figure>



<p>Women also shared tales of how they got into the most powerful boardrooms in the world. </p>



<p>Former Black Entertainment Television CEO and now corporate board member Debra Lee <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/10/14/diversity-business-boards-strides-stall/">recalled</a> being asked to join a board years ago after a CEO saw her at an event and told her she was attractive. The company was a beauty brand, and Lee became the third woman on the board, which was made up of mostly older white men who would pass around the lipstick trying to determine the shade.</p>



<p>Lee now serves on the boards of Marriott, Procter &amp; Gamble, and Warner Bros. <a href="https://fortune.com/company/discovery-insurance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Discovery</a>. She founded Leading Women Defined and cofounded the <a href="https://monarchscollective.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monarchs Collective</a>. </p>


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54066570272_acaa33d696_o_309d1a-e1728948475992.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" alt="" class="lazyload wp-image-4039723" src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54066570272_acaa33d696_o_309d1a-e1728948475992.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" width="1024" height="683" original-width="2880" original-height="1920"> <div class="image-credit">Stuart Isett for Fortune</div></figure>



<p>An always popular topic among business leaders is the burgeoning challenge of adapting to work with Gen Z. The social-media-savvy demographic is tricky, and they care more about working for a company that has a mission they agree with than getting a packed paycheck.</p>


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54067944394_a1b01cd4c7_o-e1728952760866.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" alt="" class="lazyload wp-image-4039815" src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/54067944394_a1b01cd4c7_o-e1728952760866.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" width="1024" height="683" original-width="2880" original-height="1920"> <div class="image-credit">Stuart Isett for Fortune</div></figure>



<p>Similarly, business leaders want to understand how AI will shape the jobs of the future, without panicking employees into thinking they might lose their jobs if an AI-based system can do it more efficiently. </p>



<p>At private equity firm <a href="https://fortune.com/company/tpg/" target="_blank">TPG</a>, global head of human resources Anna Edwin poised one of the most burning questions for business leaders in thinking through their future talent strategies. </p>



<p>“Everybody is grappling with the same question: How do you create something that is sustainable and doesn’t freak people out that it’s going to replace their jobs?” said Edwin.</p>


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/MPW-2024-Future-Leaders-54068026774_a3ae5dc2b8_6k.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" alt="" class="lazyload wp-image-4039849" src="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/MPW-2024-Future-Leaders-54068026774_a3ae5dc2b8_6k.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683" width="1024" height="683" original-width="2880" original-height="1920"><figcaption>Future Leaders panel is a program for a select group of high-potential women seeking career guidance from women from the MPW community as they transition from active-duty military service to civilian life.</figcaption><div class="image-credit">Kristy Walker for Fortune</div></figure>



<p>The momentum continues on Tuesday with Day 2 of the event at 7:30 a.m. PDT. The live stream will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. with MPW&#8217;s famous meet-and-greet. Stream the live event <a href="https://fortune.com/article/fortune-mpw-summit-livestream-2024/">here</a>.</p></div>

Day 1 of the premier event for women leaders convened in Laguna Niguel, Calif., with visits from singer Lizzo, Hollywood icon Cameron Diaz, and more.


The most powerful women on leading a future-proofed workforce, learning to fail, and Lizzo's next album

<br><br><b>Who will be next to lead the Fortune 500?</b> See who made our list of the <a href="https://fortune.com/ranking/most-powerful-rising-executives/?&itm_source=fortune&itm_medium=article_tout&itm_campaign=MPRE">25 Most Powerful Rising Executives.</a><br><br><br><br><br><br>

F-Conference

MPW Summit

Conferences

The most powerful women on leading a workforce into the future, true grit, and Lizzo’s next album

The most powerful women on leading a future-proofed workforce, learning to fail, and Lizzo's next album | Fortune

Mahnoor Khan

Olympian Jordan Chiles is setting her sights on a new goal: raising awareness of type 1 diabetes

/well/2024/12/26/olympian-jordan-chiles-raising-awareness-type-1-diabetes/

Emma Hinchliffe

Exclusive: This 31-year-old Google alum raised $75 million for a frontier tech fund backed by Marc Andreessen and a cofounder of OpenAI

/2024/12/12/topology-ventures-frontier-tech-marc-andreessen-google/

Paolo Confino

Melinda French Gates will donate $150 million toward women in the workplace—and one-third of it will go to AI

/2024/12/11/melinda-french-gates-150-million-donation-women-in-the-workplace-ai/

Sallie Krawcheck, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ellevest Financial Inc., during an interview for an episode of Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein in New York, US, on Friday, April 12, 2024.

‘Most powerful woman on Wall Street’ Sallie Krawcheck steps down as Ellevest CEO following a recent diagnosis

/2024/12/10/most-powerful-woman-on-wall-street-sallie-krawcheck-steps-down-ellevest-diagnosis/

Matt Brown

The Associated Press

Trump’s cabinet is set to be one-third women and include some historic firsts

/2024/11/26/trump-cabinet-one-third-women-include-historic-firsts/

Natalie McCormick

Brooke Shields holds her first up while in conversation.

Brooke Shields: ‘I am really, truly, slightly terrified’ about the misogyny in our culture

/2024/11/12/brooke-shields-terrified-daughters-losing-agency-culture/

Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was Google’s first female engineer—only because she tried to delete a recruiter email and accidentally opened it instead

https://fortune.com/article/former-yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-was-googles-first-female-engineer-by-mistake/?itm_source=parsely-api

Ryan Hogg

A year after Bayer got rid of bosses and asked staff to self-organize, its CEO says attrition has fallen

https://fortune.com/europe/2024/12/24/year-after-bayer-got-rid-bosses-asked-staff-self-organize-ceo-attrition-fallen/?itm_source=parsely-api

Orianna Rosa Royle

Gen Z and millennials aren’t buying lab-grown diamonds because they’re ‘sustainable’ says Pandora CEO, they only care about price and design

https://fortune.com/europe/2024/12/26/gen-z-millennials-lab-grown-diamonds-sustainable-price-bigger-ring-design/?itm_source=parsely-api

Alicia Adamczyk

The new retirement is no retirement: Baby boomers are keeping jobs well into their sixties and seventies because they 'like going to work'

https://fortune.com/article/the-new-retirement-is-no-retirement-baby-boomers-are-keeping-jobs-well-into-their-sixties-and-seventies-because-they-like-going-to-work/?itm_source=parsely-api

Zack O’Malley Greenburg

Nicolas Rapp

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' deflating net worth—from billionaire to jail inmate

https://fortune.com/2024/12/27/sean-diddy-combs-net-worth-billionaire-jail/?itm_source=parsely-api

Dave Smith

Mark Zuckerberg insists the 5,000-square-foot underground structure in his secret Hawaii compound is not a 'doomsday bunker'

https://fortune.com/2024/12/27/mark-zuckerberg-hawaii-underground-doomsday-bunker/?itm_source=parsely-api