Global Women's Leadership Conference, at Newstead Guest House, starting on Wednesday.

But interest in the topic is so high, that organisers have planned a public session on Wednesday evening at The Harmony Club in Paget. Reservations are required by noon today.

Both events, organised by Bermuda Cultural Service, will be led by Dr. Nancy J. Adler of the School of Management at McGill University.

Dr. Adler is a Professor in the Faculty of Management at the Canadian university in Montreal.

She conducts research and consults on strategic international human resource management, global women leaders and managers, international negotiating, culturally synergistic problem solving, and global organisation development.

She stated: "No one doubts that the world needs wise and insightful leaders to guide the global community into the 21st century.

"Yet while many people continue to review historic patterns of success for male leaders, few have begun to appreciate the equivalent patterns of success for women leaders.'' At the Bermuda conference, she will explore with senior women leaders just who the women are who are leading countries and major trans-national companies, worldwide.

Discussions will include their paths to power, their styles of leadership and why, at this stage of human development, there is an increase of women in political and corporate power.

There will also be discussions on useful strategies to assist senior placed women in maintaining their effective leadership roles and what structural dynamics are at work in organisations which attract and promote women of high potential to the senior-most levels of authority.

These matters were discussed at the last Global Leadership conference in June in Brussels, Belgium.

The author of more than 70 articles, Dr. Adler has also produced a film entitled "A Portable Life'.

Her book "International Dimensions of Organisational Behaviour (3rd edition, 1977) has over 100,000 copies in print in English, French, Chinese and Japanese.

It is being used in executive and management development seminars and in graduate and undergraduate courses.

She has also published "Women in Management Worldwide'' (1988) and "Competitive Frontiers: Women Managers in a Global Economy'' (1994).

The BBC focused on Dr. Adler and her work in a television documentary on multi-national teams.

Dr. Adler has consulted with international companies and government organisations on projects in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Asia.

She has taught executives in the People's Republic of China, held the Citicorp Visiting Doctoral Professorship at the University of Hong Kong, and taught executive seminars at INSEAD in France and Bocconi University in Italy.

She received McGill's first Distinguished Teaching Award in Management and was its recipient again in 1990.

Dr. Adler has served on the board of governors of the American Society for Training and Development, the Canadian Social Science Advisory Committee to UNESCO and a number of other organisations.

She has won numerous awards for her outstanding work.