Research shows that companies with higher percentages of women in leadership roles outperform those that don’t. Yet, the number of women in corporate leadership positions continues to be disproportionately low.The implications are obvious: women in corporate leadership positions are good for business. This isn’t simply about gender equality; it’s about the bottom line. To bring about change, State Street Global Advisors called on companies in our investment portfolio to have greater gender diversity on their boards and created a fund to invest in companies with more women in leadership.

We also wanted to craft a bold message to draw attention to and ignite conversation about just how essential women in leadership positions are. We wanted to alter the course of corporate leadership, not with a gentle nudge but with a formidable push.

And we did. With one Fearless Girl.

Launching a gender diversity ETF and calling on companies to change their board makeup were strong actions, but spoke primarily to financial insiders. To challenge conventional thinking, we needed to gain broader support from businesses and the world at large.

The strategy was simple: choose the right moment (International Women’s Day), the right place (opposite Wall Street’s Charging Bull), and the right figure (a proudly de ant and expertly sculpted bronze girl).

During the night on the eve of International Women’s Day, we gave the symbol of corporate America — Wall Street’s Charging Bull — a new companion: a bronze statue of a young girl, appropriately named “Fearless Girl.” Fearless Girl was designed to represent the power of women today and tomorrow. Hands on hips, chin high, she stands strong in a place the business community couldn’t ignore.

We designed a stance that women and girls could easily emulate and share to express their own fearlessness. Along with the statue launch, our social media campaign started with a behind the scenes lm and the launch of #FearlessGirl across our social media platforms and female financial influencers. We invited people to use it in joining our fight for women in leadership, lending their voices and sharing images of the statue.

With this campaign, we created the opportunity for Fearless Girl to be more than a single statue, but a unifying message that transcended her place on Wall Street, a rallying cry for fearless women and girls everywhere.

Instantly, Fearless Girl became a symbol of female empowerment, the icon of International Women’s Day, and a piece of powerful city art. On social media, millions of people across the world emulated her stance as an expression of personal empowerment.