Launch of the Network for Strong Women

During the Network for Strong Women event on 8 May at the Galgenwaard, the stadium of FC Utrecht, these very questions took centre stage. Together with over a hundred women and a small group of men, clients, colleagues and partners, Conclusion and FC Utrecht organised an evening full of honest stories, sharp insights and meaningful connections. Speaking on stage were, among others, the Mayor of Utrecht Sharon Dijksma, former international Liza van der Most, and several female leaders from Conclusion and FC Utrecht.

The common thread throughout the evening? Being strong does not mean you never doubt. It means you keep going, keep learning, dare to ask for help and make space for others.

During the first panel discussion, Conclusion women Anneke Zijlstra, Milou Saraber and Corianne Visser explore entrepreneurship, visibility and leadership. One of the key themes is not making yourself smaller in order to fit in.

Anneke Zijlstra explains how she consciously broke with the unspoken rule that leaders should always be certain, tough and rational. “There is also space for emotion and doubt.” Corianne Visser shares how she learned that leadership does not have to be loud. “The real impact lies in giving space to others, in equality, in asking sharp questions and in maintaining direction,” she says. Milou Saraber speaks openly about negotiations in which she was the only woman at the table and was regularly interrupted. What helped her? Someone simply saying, “I would like to return to what Milou just said.” Giving each other the space to be heard is what matters.

The panel resonated strongly with the audience. It touched on bias, visibility and opportunities that you sometimes have to dare to take yourself before someone else believes in you. One statement that lingered was, “You are not ready when you know everything for certain. You are ready when you are willing to learn.”

Afterwards, Colinda van Dijk from the Centre for Mental Strength takes over the stage for an energetic session on focus, change and mental resilience. The message is clear: mental strength does not mean that you are never uncertain. It means that you keep moving anyway. The audience actively takes part in exercises and insights into how our brain works. We are asked to look around and find heart shapes in plants, clothing, jewellery or other small details in the room. Within a few seconds, everyone spots at least one. The message is that your brain recognises what you focus on. “You do not see reality. You see what your brain is trained to see,” Colinda explains. It is a powerful metaphor for how we look at ourselves. If your brain is used to searching for what goes wrong, it will always find evidence for that. If you train yourself to see opportunities, growth and connection, your perspective changes as well.

Work with FC Utrecht Women is also discussed. How do you turn 23 players and 11 staff members into a real team? The results are impressive: according to the measurements, the team grew by twenty per cent in mental strength. But perhaps even more important was the normalisation of the topic. “There is still a taboo around mental support, even though mental training should be just as normal as physical training,” Colinda emphasises.

Sharon Dijksma on courage, boundaries and authenticity. One of the highlights of the evening is the conversation with the Mayor of Utrecht, Sharon Dijksma. Open, sharp and remarkably personal. She shares how she used to be a shy child and how strong women in her family taught her what leadership really means: stepping forward when needed, staying modest when possible and standing up for others.

She speaks about her role as mayor with great honesty, including the difficult aspects. She talks about dealing with aggression, criticism and making unpopular decisions. “If you make a difficult decision, you should never shy away from it,” she says. At the same time, she makes an important point about female leadership: stop adapting yourself to a male ideal. “I will not become a man. And I do not want to.” This resonates strongly with the audience, after which she adds, “Adapting is capitulation.” According to Dijksma, people instinctively sense whether someone is authentic. That is why staying true to yourself is essential, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Safety for women is also addressed explicitly. Dijksma speaks about the responsibility of municipalities, organisations and society to set clearer boundaries and make women feel safer. She concludes, “Utrecht must become the safest city for women.”

The final speaker of the evening is former international Liza van der Most. While many people primarily see her success, Ajax, the Netherlands national team and World Cup finals, she speaks instead about the mental pressure behind high performance sport. About being introverted in a tough football environment. About fear of failure. About the feeling that emotions were not allowed.

“At my first call up for the national team, my main thought was: I do not want this at all.” Yet she kept going, because she had learned that you have to keep going. At the same time, this sometimes meant she also lost sight of herself. Liza explains how important equality in women’s football still is. She talks about players who have to work alongside their sporting career, about facilities that fall behind and about the importance of visible role models. “We train just as hard as the men. Sometimes even harder.”

Her story forms a strong bridge to the match between FC Utrecht Women and SC Heerenveen Women later that evening. Because that is where everything came together: ambition, teamwork, mental strength and visibility. In an exciting match, FC Utrecht Women show this on the pitch as well and win with 5-1.

What made this evening special was not only the programme, but also the combination of open conversations and shared recognition. Both before and after the sessions, discussions emerged about leadership, loss, ambition and how women can better support each other. As one of the speakers put it so well, “If you are in doubt, find a supporter.”

With the new Strong Women Network, Conclusion and FC Utrecht are also taking the next step in building a sustainable network in which women continue to meet, strengthen and inspire each other. And perhaps that was the most important conclusion of the evening: strong women do not exist because they do everything alone. They exist because they continue to lift each other up.