OWL: Bias in the Workplace

Professor Joan C. Williams, Hastings Foundation Chair; Director, Center for WorkLife Law; University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

I had read Joan's book - What Works for Women at Work - and LOVED it, so I was so happy to see Oracle brought her onsite! Her book was well researched and science based, and gives lots of great everyday strategies for women in today's workplace.

She interviewed more than 100 successful women, and did additional research. Ninety-six percent of all women interviewed had experienced  at least one type of bias at work.

She wrote an article for Harvard Business Review, "Why We Hate Our Offices: And how to build a workspace that you can love".

The first type of bias is "Prove it Again!" syndrome, experienced by 68% of the business women and scientists she interviewed.

One gentleman she interviewed had transitioned from being a woman, and stayed in the same field of science. He overheard people, who were confused about who the female was with the same last name, that "his work s so much better than his sister's". He doesn't have a sister - that was his work, published when he was a man.

There is the "stolen idea" syndrome - you expect great ideas to come from men, so don't hear it when it comes from a woman.

Women's and men's mistakes are remembered differently, and many of these same biases also apply across racial lines. For example, people were asked to review a legal memo - the same memo, with the same errors - but when reviewers thought they were reviewing a document by a black man - they found more errors.

What's the most important factor in determining networks?  Similarity, attractiveness and location.

How does this play out in the workplace? In an org where people on top are a certain demographic, they are going to sponsor people who are like them (A sponsor is a mentor that is willing to spend their political capital to help their mentee's career).  Men tend to be judged on their potential, women on their results. This gets them stuck in the "prove it again" loop.

Women of color trigger two sets of negative stereotypes: gender and race.

When they interviewed scientists they were surprised that women of Asian descent reported the "prove it again" strategy more often then white women, even though we thought their was a stereotype that Asians were good at science. Apparently the women in this group were exempt from that positive stereotype.

So, how to get out of it? Well, prove it again - but try not to burn out. Keep careful, real-time records that track your accomplishments.  When you get compliments? Forward the email to your sponsor and manager.

How can manager's level the playing field for women?  Look around - who are you sponsoring. Is there a certain patter? do you need to widen out the group.  Male managers sometimes worry that taking a woman out to lunch or coffee would look "weird" - it doesn't. If you would do it with the men you were sponsoring, then it should be appropriate for women. Now, if you do a lot of your bonding in the men's locker room... then you need to think about doing this in ways where it wouldn't matter if you were sponsoring a man or a woman (mentoring, etc0.

Imagine you are sitting in a meeting and you see the stolen idea occur. How do you intervene? Lot's of ideas, but saying something is better than nothing. Something like, "thanks, Paul, for going back to that, I've been pondering that ever since Pam brought it up"

What if you are sitting in a meeting and you see men being judged on their potential; women on their performance - how would you intervene? This happens a lot when it comes to promotions, women are often already doing the job before they get the promotion.  One idea for getting around this: suggest evaluating the engineers first by their accomplishments, then by potential. Another: Are we being consistent here?  Or, now that we know what we're looking for, let's go back to the top of the pile and re-review everyone.

Often the most savvy way to call out bias is not to mention that's what you're doing :-)

What works for organizational prove-it again: set up precommitment to what is important (for promotion, for example), and when someone varies from there they need to have justification.

Women are expected to be nice and communal - and nice. Men are expected to competent and "agentic" (assertive, direct, competitive and ambitious).  Nobody thinks of a strong leader as "nice", so women often aren't even considered for leadership positions.

This varies by culture - US/Canada and UK believe a leader should be independent, risk takers, direct and focus on tasks. It's opposite in India/China/Japan: Interdependent, certainty, indirect and have a focus on relationships.

Ben Barres, the transgendered scientist, noted that "by far, the biggest difference is people treat me with respect. I'm interrupted less" since becoming a man.

How you stand and sit telegraphs power or submission. To demonstrate authority, stand with feet apart - stable.

Ellen Pao was described as both as "passive, too quiet at meetings" and "entitled, demanding".

Women get pressure to be deferential or play the office mom - always deliver, but never threaten. Women are pressured to do the office housework: planning parties, getting gifts, note taking, scheduling meetings, mentoring, and do the undervalued work (paperwork, etc).

But, if you're stern or say no - you're not modest or nice. You become the "B" word.

As a women, you need to claim your seat at the table and practice power poses. You need to learn how to get a word in edgewise - learn how to politely interrupt: "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were done."

What works for one woman won't work for another. You need to be authentic, and no when to say no (and how!).

Managers - how to handle "office housework"?  Don't ask for volunteers - women will be  under gender stereotype to volunteer. Assign true admin and housework to admins or true support personnel.  Possibly, for things like minutes, do a rotation.

Spread the load and set norms. For example, everyone does one "citizenship task" - sitting on committees, and everyone does their own ordering, billing, etc.

There was a non peer reviewed study on performance evaluations. Men got specific feedback. Women got things like "bossy, abrasive, strident, aggressive, emotional, irrational" - very strong prescriptive gender bias.

Women also are impacted by maternity bias - mothers are 79% less likely to be hired, are held to higher standards for punctuality, offered lower starting salaries and promoted less.

Indisputably competent and committed mothers are seen as LESS likable, particularly by women.

Mothers are not offered stretch positions because people assume she's busy with kids. Managers: don't assume! If she's the best person, offer it - and let her know that similar positions will be available in the future if now is not a good time.

There is this false sense that only one woman can get promoted, get an award, etc - so they will compete with each other, instead of working together.

A study found that not one female legal secretary expressed preference to work with a female lawyer as a boss.  "Females are harder on their female assistants, more detail oriented, and they have to try harder to prove themselves, so they put that on you."

Older women in the workplace discourage younger mothers from working part time after maternity leave, because "I worked full time right away and my kids are fine". That is, "I did it the hard way, why can't you."

One study found that women without children work more unpaid hours of overtime than anyone else in the workplace, seen as a pathetic spinster - so why can't you work these hours?

To get organizational change: do a "4 patterns assessment" - is bias playing out in everyday work interactions? Then develop an objective metric to test whether what women think is happening is, and make adjustments.

Example: given the study of performance reviews, companies should be reviewing their reviews for this language and see if it's mentioning bias based negative personality traits? Look at objective metric: promotion rates.  Interrupt: have someone trained to spot bias read all performance evaluations (or use an app), and redesign evaluations and provide workshops for your managers.

We all have unconscious bias. This is usually not malicious. But if you are ignorant, who's fault is that? We need to be aware and take action to counteract it.

GHC15: Transforming the Culture of Tech

 Fran Berman notes that this is a really hard thing to do - transform a culture. Things are moving so fast - easy for things like diversity to become sidelined.

Clara Shih, CEO and Founder at Hearsay Social

Attended her first GHC 10 years ago in Chicago, with just 800 attendees and wasn't sure what to do - grad school or business?  She was super inspired. She has since worked at microsoft, written an app that went viral, had a New York Times featured best selling book - then started her own company!

She's learned a lot of lessons in 10 years. She immigrated here as a kindergartener - she could not speak English, so...  she was a really good listener.  This is important to listen to your customers and your direct reports. A 360 review is hard, but so valuable - you must listen to the feedback, though.

It's important to accept yourself as you are - it's okay to be different.  A colleague at MS asked her why she was trying to be one of the guys?  He noted he respected her for her technical prowess and vision. She's felt more accepted by being authentic.

Relationships are so valuable. Mentors, sponsors, friends.  Remember, mentorship is a two way street - it's important to give back. And it's not just women, make and keep relationships.

As an example: at her first tech entrepreneur event, 7 men came up and asked her administrative questions: where is the bathroom? Where do I get water? Where are badges?

Instead of reacting as her 20 something self (crying to her mother), or her 30 something self (tell them to stop being so sexist) - she reacted simply with wonderment: "I'm also looking for the bathroom, I also need water, I also need my badge".

Later that day, during introductions, when those men all realized their mistake and that she had raised as much money as they had for her start up - they were embarrasssed. They came to her and apologized and they ended up building lasting relationships. They are still making it up to her. :-)

She realized she was probably the first woman at this conference. They made an honest mistake. they probably will not again. Because she avoided confrontation, they now have a relationship.

The most important lesson: the future is on us.

Every time we take the time to lift up another woman - we are lifting all of us up.

At Hearsay they mentor non technical women into engineering positions.  If we all could just mentor one woman this year, what sort of impact could we make?

Blake Irving , CEO of GoDaddy

Addressing the big question: what is he doing here after the disaster of the male allies panel last year?  He's here to address our tweets.

Everyone knew that GoDaddy was a terrible company, bashed on their ads.  The sad thing was - those ads brought in a tremendous amount of revenue. That's why they did not stop until he took over.

People assumed that no women worked there - but, not true. Their numbers were about the same as other tech companies.

Before he took the position, he visited headquarters and found it was full of amazing people - not reflecting their corporate culture.  He wants their brand to match the values of their employees and the customers they serve.

There is empirical evidence that tech built by diverse teams is just better - and he likes better!

If you see a problem and do nothing to fix it, then you really didn't think it was a problem in the first place.

This means hiring senior women engineers, putting them on your board.  Empower your staff so they can do what is right and know it will be rewarded.

Inspire and speak out.

It's our job as leaders to shine a light on this industry.  Bad things die in the light.

Then he showed us the improvements in recruitment and retention they have made since last year, since they began publishing numbers.

Then ... he showed us how women's salaries stacked up against men's! First I've seen!

Overall, at GoDaddy, women make .75% more than men... except in management roles, women make nearly 4% less. They are finding that the women they are hiring are inheriting low salaries from their previous company (NOTE: I've heard you should never say what your current salary is while job hunting for this reason).

They also saw that the percentage of women in engineering roles diminishes as the role becomes more senior.  They are looking into why this is.

No advice this year for women in tech - but he does have advice for tech CEOs. Shine a light on your issues, publish your data, and fix the issues.

Megan Smith, United States Chief Technical Officer

As tech evangelists, we need to go where we are underrepresented.

Since she last visited us - she has dug up Grace Hopper's archive and found lots of neat stuff, including Admiral Hopper's original nanosecond.

The CTO Office has to work on things like patent reform, encryption regulations, and "innovation nation".

Tech jobs pay 50% more than average jobs in US - so we want to get more people into them.

Kathy Pham, US Digital Services - is now working for the US Gov to help veterans. Doing things like working on their digital record systems. VAs treat 8 million veterans.  Use open health care software! And giving back!

Mina Hsiang - democratizing healthcare digitally. 16 million people now have access to healthcare since ACA went into effect. 70% of the people say they could use more information - let's get it to them!
The ACA is helping people, like Diane, who had to drop out of school even though she had a 4.0, because she could not afford college and health care.

Next speaker: how can we make applying for immigration less painful? Right now process is almost entirely paper - visas, bringing loved ones from other countries, marriages, etc.  Have to radically rethink and redesign. The online forms that exist online were impossible to understand and navigate. She has been working on simplifying it  Found a form on the train from someone trying to work out how to bring their family here - so many forms listed, and large costs - and obvious concerns about meeting the poverty income.

Sarah Allen - Open Data by the People for the People. Never thought she'd join the government - she thought that's where bad ideas went to die. :-)

They have built a college score card - includes an API, so others can use the data, too. it's based on how successful your degree with make you - it's the surest way to enter the middle class.

Cori Zarek - Open Gov for and with the People. She wants a transparent and open government. Transparency and  collaboration are critical. Check out data.gov. Her office additionally created an analytics site so they can see what sites are getting used.

Join them at http://archives.gov/citizen-archivist

Meg Smith needs more smart people - so consider doing a "tour" in a tech job for the government.

then ... a panel of all of the above speakers!

Meg: we need to move diversity up in importance!  Meetings for "important things get on the calendar - other things do not.

Blake: it has to come from leadership, but they need to be held accountable.  Hold your leaders accountable!

Fran: How do you keep diversity on the agenda?  What if you're not at the top?

Clara: The "runi rule" - must consider a diverse candidate for every position. When she was looking for CFO, she wanted to see two diverse candidates for each white male. It's work at first, but as many of your employees come from referrals, this will impact change.

Blake: We've been observing teams. Watching words - seeing how words turn into action. Need to give rewards and recognition for positive changes. You can bias simply by lack of thought. It's important to listen to people who have more experience than you.

Meg: we need to learn how to mitigate the bias.Talking to NIST: could there be standards about bias? This is holding us back in the US.

Fran: Culture change is sometimes perception or the environment we operate in. Looking at social media, it can be so toxic for women sometimes.

Meg: Referenced a book - "the Internet is not a thing, it's us." How did the web get weaponized?  talking about campus sexual assault - this is not just digital, it's physical. The web is often a reflector. We need to raise consciousness and develop empathy.

Clara: bullying online is getting out of control. It's a digital manifestation of an analog problem. we need to teach our kids why they should not do it. If it does happen to them, teach them how they should respond. They should not suffer alone.

Blake: I've seen the effect has on both of my sons. they both left Facebook.. but then came back. They didn't like how they were being treated, but missed the good things.  We need to have an empathetic view. To the attacker - it seems anonymous. The the victim, it's just as real as if it was happening in person.

Fran: how do we change the culture of our organizations and the culture of our society?

Meg: You're doing it here! Focusing now on history. Think about a family picture - if you had missed that event, you won't be in the picture. Everyone knows you had a conflict now... but what about future generations? You'll disappear from history.

Technical women - their history is missing. When they make movies about Apple, the women are left out. there's a classic photo of the Apple Pyramid - 7 men, 4 women - but the women are almost always left out of the movies.

"Women have always been annual par of the past. We just haven't been a part of history." - Gloria Steinem

"Declaration of Sentiments" - signed July 1848 at Seneca Falls. this is an important document about equal rights. We know it existed because Frederick Douglas brought a copy to the US where it was signed.  But the original is missing... help Meg #FindTheSentiments

Post by Valerie Fenwick, syndicated from Security, Beer, Theater and Biking!

BHUSA15: Black Hat Panel – Beyond the Gender Gap: Empowering Women in Security

Kelly Jackson Higgins, Executive Editor at Dark Reading (panel moderator)

This is a growing industry, but women are leaving. We need more people, so how do we empower the women we have?

Panelists:
Justine Bone, Independent Consultant
Joyce Brocaglia , Founder Alta Associates (executive search firm for security, etc)
Jennifer Imhoff-Dousharm, co-founder, dc408 and Vegas 2.0 hacker groups
Katie Moussouris, Chief Policy Officer, HackerOne

All of the women here come from different backgrounds - hacking (black hat and white), executives, startups, big companies.

Justine learned a big hard lesson when she dropped out of industry to work on her own startup - at the same time as having kids.  While she was working her butt off, she wasn't showcasing her work or engaging with her peers - everybody thought she'd taken off time to have kids, totally unaware of the hard work she'd been doing. Lesson: always engage, promote, etc.

Joyce mentioned that she sees a lot of Employee Research Programs that are more checkboxes than actually beneficial programs for women. She noted that a company might pay Alta  $100-$150,000 to find a new executive, but when she asks if they'll pay $100,000 for leadership program with a proven track record - the same company will say "we don't have that kind of money." (note: sigh)

Katie started up a bug bounty program at MS - it was hard.  Big companies had vowed to never pay ransom for security bugs - she had to present this in a different way, to get it to line up with their goals, getting organizational empathy (when is the best time for devs to get vulns). Hence, IE 11 Beta Bug Bounty - which ran for 30 days. Alas, folks would hold on to their vulns until after beta was closed, forcing MS to release vulnerability reports.

We have a shortage of engineers, why aren't women coming in?  Jennifer said she doesn't see it as a pipeline problem - she noted that women that grew up in the 80s were exposed to computers (yay, Oregon Trail) and didn't hit the "cootie" program until they entered corporate America. It's scary to be the only person like you in the room - you don't realize it until you are that only woman. It doesn't matter how strong you are or how much you lean in, you have to carry that weight of diversity.

Justine noted the "DefCon problem" - it's annoying that everyone asks you "who are you here with? who's your boyfriend" - it gets exhausting. (Note: YES - happened to me every year, after my bf & I broke up and I continued to go alone).  Explaining over and over that you deserve to be there, what you do, that you really are technical.

Katie noted there's a challenge as well that you are expected to be a representative of ALL women, irregardless of how different we all are.  She hates the question: "what's it like being a woman in security?" - stop asking her about the least important aspect of her job and her personality, she is so much more than just "a woman in security."

Joyce notes that she sees job advertisements all the time that will literally use the male gendered pronoun, "he will be responsible for X, Y, Z". Knowing that men will apply for a job where they only meet 6/10 of the qualifications, and women require 9/10 before they will apply.. adding "he" to the description is one thing off the bat that the woman will not be.  Confidence matters as much as competence - men tend to have more confidence, which may help explain why women are not making it to the higher levels.

Companies need to invest in younger women to make these changes - they are an investment.  Women and men need sponsors, but companies should make sure that it's not only men getting them. If women are raising their hands for stretch assignments, but getting skipped over... is it their fault?

Justine noted that we also need to be willing to accept help - if someone tries to bring you into the "old boys club" - GO! Joyce cautioned, though, don't wait for it.

Justine says she's always criticized for her travel for work, by friends, family, etc. How could she leave her kids? She notes she's on these flights with a ton of men doing the same thing - and nobody criticizes them.

Can you have work and family?  Yes, but you need help - nannies, families, etc. "Women have the capacity to multitask and get shit done," Joyce.

Personal space at these events is important. Katie had a run in with "Handsy McMansy" last night - fortunately, she's adept at profanity to throw at him. The men around though seemed shell shocked and didn't know what to do. "I don't need somebody to fight for me, I need them to fight with me."

Joyce had a run in last night that was similar with a male executive, sloppy drunk, asking dumb questions and hanging on people. If a woman did that - she would be shamed by the men around.

Joyce noted that women still don't get taken seriously at booths at events like RSA.  People don't want to talk to the women, even if they may be the one making purchasing decisions.

Justine looked at the Black Hat review board this morning - there is only ONE woman on the review board. Not saying the men on the board are not skilled and talented, but they need diversity.

Joyce noted that women need to submit talks, start with smaller conferences and get practice, confidence, etc. 

Men should talk to women at conferences - acknowledge them, don't question why they are here - but actually engage. Like, "what do you do at your company?" vs "who's your boyfriend?"

Joyce noted that older generations of men are lacking the emotional intelligence to understand why what they are doing or saying is not okay. She has high hopes for the younger generations, who grew up with working mom's, etc.

Katie noted that women need to stop denigrating yourself - the world will do that for your. Speak about your work in positive tones, not "well, I don't do kernel work, I don't do... ". Believe in yourself and don't be afraid to tell the world about what you do.

BHUSA15: Executive Women's Forum

Alta Associates hosted Black Hat's Executive Women's Forum! The discussion was led by none other than Joyce Brocaglia, CEO of Alta Associates and Founder of EWF.  This was a great opportunity to network with other women working in security and hear more about the programs of EWF (and lunch was good, too!)

EWF focuses on women making decisions in security and privacy, hosting an annual conference where women can spend time with other women working in security. Women who have attended past conferences note how awesome it is to be surrounded by so many intelligent and security focused ladies. It's very inspiring to see the success stories and see how they got there and learn about their road blocks.

In addition to the major EWF conferences (this year's is October 20-22, 2015 in Scottsdale, AZ), they do local events as well.

This year's conference's theme is Big Data, big Risks, Big Opportunities, with talks on negotiating, opportunities and innovation in healthcare big data, data sovereignty, global cybersecurity policy and government control and the voice privacy conundrum. Also, includes a themed dance party!

EWF provides mentors to help junior and middle managers get to the next step, as an inspirational conference is good to get things started, but not maintain progress. They've got a program called The Leadership Journey. It's a year long program! Covering things like establishing your leadership vision, optimizing emotional and social intelligence, managing stress and cultivating resilience, work/live integration (because there is no balance).

The soft skills are actually the hard skills - lots of people are good at coding, but not any good at the truly hard stuff - the "soft skills".

This was followed by a fun Q&A with Theodora Titonis, Vice President of Mobile at Verac01de.


Recommended reading: The Confidence Code.


 

OWL: Understanding the Hidden Language of the Subsconcious

Oracle Women's Leadership group brought in Master Hypnotherapist/Three in One Behaviorist Dylan Rumley on June 18 to help us learn how to shift negative experiences into positive ones by harnessing the hidden language of the subconscious to our favor.

The evening started out with drinks and hors-d'oeuvres and networking with other women from Oracle. As it was held at our headquarters, I had the opportunity to meet many women I normally would never cross paths with. Everyone I talked to was so interesting, and friendly. A fantastic environment!

Dylan was an energetic and thoughtful speaker, who is focused on one goal: She wants to bring peace and calm to as many people as possible, using a whole brain approach, for adults and children.

Dylan spoke of her work with adults and children alike, and her discoveries she's made through her training and work with clients.  The brain loves to play! Without stress, learning can be easy for anyone. Think about how much fun you have and how relaxed you can become when looking through a kaleidoscope.

Dylan spoke of three brain states: the brain we know, the heart and brain together (coherence), and the psoas muscle. Wait, what? Yes, the psoas muscle - the one that many of us work on relaxing through yoga and tension release exercises.  Dylan believes all of these things should be used and taken care of to use your "whole brain".

There is a myth that some people are right brained and some are left, as we all need both hemispheres for executive functions and creativity. Sure, some people may find more inspiration from one side or the other - but if you can learn to use both, you can do more with your life.

Confusing, right? Let Iain McGilchrist explain it all to you:

Both hemispheres of our brain need to work together, but as we've evolved, the connections have been broken or shrunk.  The focus of the right hemisphere is broad, the left is narrow.

Dylan reminded us that it takes 21 days to change a pattern.  She had to remind her client, Wesley, as well. He came to her with extreme panic attacks when he tried to get on an airplane, bus or train. He was convinced that his claustrophobia was incurable. After exhausting doctors, medication and conventional therapists, he thought he had nothing to lose by seeing Dylan. She told him that if he could get himself into a true whole brain state, he would not be able to panic.

Dylan and Wesley worked together in an intense schedule for 21 days - and at the end of that 21 days, they got onto a plane together. Wesley was able to then fly across country to see his child's college graduation. :-)

One way to get your brain hemispheres to communicate more effectively is from doing cross patterning exercises.  Doing this helps the subconscious disconnect from your conscious and complete filing away emotions and events that are blocking you. It doesn't mean that you will forget these events, but that they will no longer stop you from moving forward with your life.

Dylan taught us a handful of cross patterning exercises and recommended we do them every day for 21 days - to create new brain habits.  All of these exercises involve keeping the body moving in some fashion (hands or eyes in the two we learned), which will help you from getting into the "freeze" mode in an uncomfortable situation.

Dylan additionally talked about the Behavior Barometer - how to manage your feeling words. For example, Anger is a really important emotion. When harnessed correctly, it can help you discover things.

She stressed how important it was for us to feel fully, or warned us that we could get stuck. Boy, that's happened to me before - playing conversations over and over in my head, re-reading emails, thinking about a car accident I witnessed, etc.

We need to work with our subconscious, get those emotions and events filed away properly so we can move forward.

Looking at the Behavior Barometer, find your emotion. Look up the definition of your emotion in the dictionary. Look up the meaning of its Latin roots. Truly understand what you are feeling.

Take the Resentment section, for example, and imagine your consciousness is feeling offended. Find the word in the same position under the subconscious section: ruined. See where that is leaving your body: no choice. Stuck.

If you can own your feelings ("Yes, I am offended"), then your subconscious can let go.  the subconscious loves completeness, so give it to your brain.  Don't ignore feelings, acknowledge them - but stay there for less time.

Dylan noted that our subconscious also loves to heal. To help move this process forward, she recommends guided imagery, meditation, and cross pattern activities.

She ended the evening by taking us through her 20 minute guided imagery meditation, called "The Theater". Dylan recommends listening to this as you fall asleep at night. I found I left very relaxed and happy - so maybe that means I need to start meditating again!

Vote for Me!: Open Crypto Standards Talk at RSA

I would like to give a talk on PKCS#11 and KMIP and how you can escape vendor lock in by using open standards at this years upcoming RSA conference, but I can only do it if I can get your vote! This year, RSA is "crowd sourcing" a few talks - the most popular will be sent to their program committee. I only have a chance if I get your vote.

Voting closes on April 2, so please don't delay!

Attendees votes count for double, but even non-attendees can vote. Please check out my talk and vote for me. Thank you!

International Women's Day Breakfast at Google

I was so honored to be asked to join a breakfast for a small group of women at Google this past Saturday in celebration of International Women's Day hosted by the Women Tech Makers group.  It was a great place to get to know other senior women in the industry, with loads of time for networking.

I was so impressed that when Natalie Villalobos (our host) asked her boss, Meg Smith (now US CTO), about taking her 20% passion project to inspire women in tech and improve diversity in the industry to a full time job that Ms. Smith agreed and talked to others at Google to get funding for that as a full time position!  Now Ms. Villalobos gets to work on Women Tech Makers full time - what an awesome job!

I loved our keynote speaker, Suzanne Frey, Director of Policy, Trust & Security, Google Apps .  She was full of energy, was inspiring and super smart.  Suzanne Frey had the following advice for the women leaders in the room:

1. Ms Frey had learned about the cingulate gyrus - the part of the brain that does "look back" (ie how could this conversation have gone better, what if I had gone to that event instead of this other one, etc). Basically, she learned that women's cingulate gyrus fires much  more frequently than men's. The summary of the research was that more men are not focused on potential mistakes of the past, but moving forward, looking ahead.  Her advice? Stop ruminating on the past!
   
   As someone who has spent many a night tossing and turning thinking how I could've better handled a situation, how I wish I would've called my grandmother one more time at the holidays (I did not know she was sick and dying until it was too late and she had already passed), what if I had picked up my grandma's cat sooner - could I have prevented his FIP from flaring out of control and killing him? Was I too short in that text message to my friend? What if, what if, what if...
   
   I remember years ago complaining to my mother that my husband fell asleep instantly and she responded, "Men do that, they don't worry about the day behind them - they want their rest for the day ahead. Their minds are quiet at night."
   
   Of course, there is certain contemplation both men and women should always do, so that you can improve your future performance - but you cannot change the past or actions of others, and its better to learn the lesson and move on.
   
2. Have your own personal board of directors. Other women leaders you can bounce problems and ideas off of. Meet regularly.  She meets with hers every quarter - an international group, so meetings times can be at very irregular times for US.
   
   This is hard for me - when I go to event like this breakfast, I got so much out of talking to other female managers. We face similar challenges but have very diverse ways to look at things.  It's the keeping it going afterwards.
   
   Do you have a personal board of directors? If so, how did you set it up? How do you keep it going?
   
3. Your intentions and how you are perceived are not always the same.  Be aware of that, and it will impact how you take actions. It's important to believe in yourself - that will change how you are perceived!
    
4.  Start to reinvest in yourself. Do NOT do things that deplete you.  Use things like TaskRabbit. You are worth a few dollars a month - your time is worth so much more. Your energy and efforts are better spent on yourself and elsewhere then on housecleaning, etc.

Lots of great advice from around the table - including learning how to pick our battles, how to manage children/family and work and calendar management.

What tips do you  have for emerging women leaders?

GHC14: Male Allies Twitter Wrap Up

GHC14: Accountability and Metrics for Gender Diversity

Panelists: Laszlo Bock, SVP People Operations, Google; Danielle Brown, Cheif of Staff, Intel; Theresa Kushner, VP of Enterprise Information Management, VMware; Denise Menelly, Shared Service Operations Eecutive for Global echnology and Operations, BofA; J, Sr Directoreanne Hultquist of Strategic Initiatives, ABI.

At BofA, they talk about metrics at all levels in all positions - this stuff is important.

Lazslo Block noted that they didn't release their diversity data for business reasons, but because this was just the right thing to do. Google needed to be open and honest about this.  Diverse teams are better, we know that. We were hesitant to release the numbers for the same reason as everyone else: we were afraid to get sued! Simply the right thing to do.

Danielle brown noted that releasing these numbers is an important part of the conversation. Intel has been releasing the data for 10 years, but perhaps a bit quietly in the past. By measuring we know where we stand and where we need to go.

Denise Menelly noted the importance of these numbers - they aren't just numbers, you have to have actions behind them.  Every senior level manager is expected to have a score card: budget, project schedule and how they are performing against gender diversity numbers.  Not only do the managers have to report, but they need to say what they are doing to continue to increment in the right direction. It's very important to see what is happening, even small changes are important and need to be watched.

VMware is data driven - so it was an easy, short conversation. Theresa Kushner showed her new CEO the numbers and he instantly said, "Yep, there's a problem - we need to do something about this". Then senior management has a new responsibility - measure, track. What you measure is what you look at - so make sure you're measuring the right things.  It's not just a number, you also have to change the culture - but how do you measure that?

 At Intel, we often found that women were working in isolation.  Trying to address this by creating networks for women that start when they start.  Making sure they immediately have a network of support.

At Google we're looking at unconscious bias - for example, if a man leaves early to pick up his kids, everything thinks "what a great dad!" When a woman does the same thing? "Figures".  "Our tech population is 83% men - they have to behave differently." The unconscious bias training is starting to make an anecdotal difference - people are now aware they are doing this. 94% of Googlers surveyed said they will now step up and say something if they see someone demonstrating unconscious bias.

Denise Menelly noted this is taking too long. While they won ABI award, she was surprised as she sees there is so much work to do.  You're leaders -NOT just your HR/Diversity people - your technical leaders need to support you to come to Grace Hopper Celebration.  There is an issue that women will look at a job description and not see themselves as qualified (where a man will, even though they have the same qualifications.

Sergey, when he first started Google wanted 50% of his interns to be women (they hired 4 total interns in their first year).  Sergey also has his door open to women - he realizes that they have a perspective that he just doesn't have.

At VMware the executives don't just need to mentor women, but rather sponsor them. The execs need to have a plan for doing this and have accountability for their actions.

At Intel, EVERY employee will get a bigger paycheck this year if Intel improves their gender diversity.

At Google, every manager with more than 100 people in their org gets a diversity report and a visit to discuss. There are company goals here, and when people fail to make progress it can cause reduction in pay.  Some people are convinced of this issue, some people are just wrong. We'll need to work on forcing them out or keeping their wrong opinions to themselves.  The rest, they're in the middle and we want them to have the epiphany.

At VMware, we are working on diversity because it's good for business, it's good for innovation and it's good for our product line.

Denise  from BofA noted, yes, there's a pipeline problem, but that's not the biggest issue. We need to focus on fixing the culture and retention and making this a better industry.

At Intel, it was believed that the "issue" was women were leaving mid career - but when they looked at data, that actually wasn't the issue! Focus was in the wrong place, Intel now working on promotion and advancements.  The lack of senior women wasn't caused by women leaving - it was caused by them getting stuck at mid level.

Lots of good questions about pay data, when will we see more break down of what these companies mean by "technical woman", if women aren't leaving - why are they stuck, etc.  Panelists answered them all honestly - unfortunately, I was in line to ask a question (but we ran out of time) so could not take  notes.

Great talk - very inspiring! What are you doing in your org?  Do you think this could be handled bottom up?

This post is syndicated from Security, Beer, Theater and Biking!

Congratulations to Radia Perlman: Inductee to the Internet Hall of Fame

Radia Perlman was just inducted to the Internet Hall of Fame asa pioneer in Internet technologies.  Radia also frequently shared her genius with the security teams as well at Sun.

She's a brilliant and fascinating person that I've always been very excited to work with. I know many of you have worked with her in the past, so I wanted to share this with you.

Ms. Perlman has been such an inspiration to me and my area of focus.

Celebrating Ada Lovelace Day at Oracle

Lovely infographic including Ada Lovelace Day tweets from many Oracle team members - Enjoy!

Most Influential Books in my Life

These books have changed the trajectory of my life. I've read many other good ones and have a 2 foot stack next to the bed of "to-read", but these are the books I think back on, re-read, reflect on and have changed the way I live my life.  Yes, I mean that. Changed my life.

Influence: Science and Practice

This is a short book that's just jam backed with information.  This is a science based approach to understanding how to influence others and, most importantly, to realize when you're being influenced!  Robert Cialdini covers everything from salting tip jars to how a car dealer pushes you into a car sale.

I learned simple things to getting people to do what you ask: get them to verbally commit - or even better, in email/writing. People love to be seen as "consistent", so even if they get more information later they will stick with their original statement and even create reasons why it's the correct one.  It is great when I can catch myself doing this - but is also handy when you want people who, let's say, join a group to commit to performing a certain task.

[Aside: This is what gets politicians in trouble, in my book. They don't want to be seen as "flip-floppers" so even when they are presented with new information, they refuse to change their opinion. That's absolutely horrifying to those of us with background in science and those that know the value of data driven decision making.]

For example, this is why it is important for theater producers to make sure they get all actors to sign a form committing to the performance. Each actor has just now promised they will do the show, so it will take something extreme for most to back out of the show.  I know I've stayed in shows that I was not happy with for that very reason - well, and not wanting to get blacklisted from a theater group as well!

Having this knowledge also helps you to influence your peer group and others at work, and to protect your self from compliance professionals. This should be mandatory reading in all high schools and colleges.

This book is powerful, and when you read it, you MUST promise me you won't use it for evil.

Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide

This book was recommended by the incomparable Valerie Aurora, who even set up a scholarship for this book, so that more women could read it and get access to it.  Before I read Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever's book on Gender and the Negotiation Divide, I had no idea of what I was missing out on by just not asking for what I wanted!

As a good student, I was used to being recognized for my efforts - I'd get an A on a test for studying hard. Very simple effort/reward dynamic.  It's different in the real world.  If you work really hard on a project, but don't tell others why you are doing it (for a raise, promotion, comp time off, recognition, etc) - you may be lucky if you get a pat on the back in the end. You've got to say, "I'm working my tail off on this project, which is not what I'm really interested in, so you can see how dedicated I am and make me the lead of the next, more interesting project."  Or, "I really want to take a few extra days off for my honeymoon. I'm willing to work a few weekends to make sure the project is done before I leave, if I could then have a few more paid days off. Does that work for you?"

I was also blissfully unaware that most men do ask for what they want and need.  This isn't small potatoes, this stuff adds up.  A small salary negotiation before you start your job can make a big difference in your salary and retirement savings just 10 years down the road.

Most surprisingly?  Most people don't say "no" when you ask for something reasonable.  Since reading this book and "Influence: Science and Practice" , I've gotten discounts on furniture, appliances, clothing, shoes and services.

I'm by no means an expert negotiator, nor am I one of those annoying pushy people we've all met. Neither Women Don't Ask nor Influence are asking you to become pushy.

I just simply ask.

People do not read your mind. You must ask. You'll be surprised what happens.

Leadership Presence

My old mentor recommended this book to me - bringing two of my favorite things together: theater and corporate leadership. Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar use years of their own personal research and their study of theater actors into what makes a good leader.

Empathy and mindfulness are two big take aways from this book. How can you lead a team if you don't have any empathy with them? If you are not self-aware, you won't see the mistakes you're making or how you are making people uncomfortable - that's where mindfulness comes into play.

The anecdotes resonated with me, and I find myself reflecting back to them often.  How can I play a character that I can't relate to?  On stage, now, I always have a back story for my character. I always find some part of me in them and vice versa. For the first time, I've been able to cry real tears on stage.   Not stage tears. Not fake tears. Real tears.

I recall rehearsing for Best Little W*****house in Texas. I was playing a character named "Shy". She had run away from home because her father molested her.  I do not share that experience, so I read about the real women who worked at the famous Chicken Ranch. I read about how molestation breaks a young child. I listened to stories on Love Line. I found the pain, the heartbreak.

Running that scene where Shy tells the madam about her father over and over again in rehearsal physically and mentally exhausted me. Even now, I am tearing up writing about this.

Shy was not a real person, but her story was based on many real women who had lived this. I put myself in her shoes and I felt it.  [Aside: I'm in no way saying I truly understand what someone in that situation feels or went through, but merely just a slice of that. A moment.]

I do this as well in the corporate world now: I listen to my team members, hear what is going on with them, I listen for vocal variations and physical cues that tell me when someone might be uncomfortable. I take all of this in before I speak, and I'm finding it's easier to find out what works and what doesn't.

Additionally, when I do presentations now at work, I am actually acting. I think about people who I like seeing their presentations, and I simply take on that role when I get up in front of people. It's amazingly effective.

Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

I once got in trouble at work for saying "no" too often as the technical lead of Solaris 10 Update 1.  For those of you who have been a technical lead of a large project, you know it's your job to say no - when appropriate. You need to maintain high quality, meet the customers needs and stay on schedule.

This was very frustrating when my upper management didn't "get it" and told me that I had an attitude problem.  I was irritated and hurt.

One week, the program manager for one of the projects trying to integrate into my gate complained to my upper management about how unhelpful I was and how I didn't have good reasons for my "no".  That same week, the engineers and managers on that same team brought me a literal mountain of chocolate to thank me for my patience and helping them to understand why they weren't ready and helping them get to the place they needed to be. A little behind schedule, but with the necessary quality we demand. Of course, they didn't go and compliment to my upper management.

So, I had to take this class. Being the good student I referenced earlier, I bought the book in advance and started reading it.

Wow.

Okay, so I had every right to say "no" to some projects, but how I said it and how I listened - boy, that makes a big difference.

The biggest takeaway from this book, that I still use every day, is that humans use shortcuts. We have to. We're too busy. Part of that shortcutting is to tell stories to fill in the gaps of something you hear from someone or something you see.

For example, I might see a man hold a woman's arm and my brain fills it in with the story that they are dating, but really she may have just slipped and he was helping to stabilize her or she is blind. My story is wrong, but quick.

When someone comes to me with a demand at work, I could say that they are doing it because they are an asshole who doesn't understand the process and is trying to get someone else to do their job.  Or I could tell the story that they are overworked because their boss is out on emergency medical leave and they are suddenly on multiple projects, so they are seeking help.
Neither of those might be true, but being aware that each person has a motivation for their actions, and it's rarely "because I want to be an asshole" has again helped me to live for a moment in someone else's shoes.

Another great thing I learned was how to know when my brain was taking other shortcuts that weren't going to be good.  That is, when is the lizard brain kicking in?  For me, I get tense and get butterflies in my stomach.  Now when I feel this, I realize my "fight or flight" instinct is kicking in and that I need to be careful not to raise my voice, take a deep breath, and tell alternate stories for the others - or, heck, just ask them, "what are you trying to accomplish?"

Atlas Shrugged

Whether you love or hate Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy or the woman herself, you have to admit she had a novel way of presenting philosophical ideas to the masses.  An ex of mine told me he thought I'd like the book. I couldn't put it down (okay, I always skip most of John Galt's ridiculous 60 page speech), but this book changed the way I read fiction, opened my eyes to a philosophy that seemed to have great promise in impacting the way we all lived.  I joined the Objectivist club on campus at Purdue, met many intelligent people and had great in depth discussions on Ayn Rand's philosophy.  I never agreed with everything she said, and I must say I am greatly disappointed at people who have taken this philosophy to the extreme to the detriment of others.  I am disgusted by what has happened when classically public run things like prisons are privatized (for example, in AZ the private companies running the prisons lobbied for MORE laws so that they could get more prisoners and make more money).

But, beyond all of that, this book opened my eyes to a  new way of thinking. A place where rational thought and logic were supreme and had merit. Showed me that I could apply logic to making decisions about my life. I did not merely need to let things happen to me, but could control what was around me.  I didn't need to stay friends with someone, if the friendship was toxic, just because it was the "nice thing to do". I didn't need to work myself to the bone for someone else for no reward.

Yes, Rand's characters are very black and white, and the movie was just awful, but as a young college woman, these new ideas changed my life.


What books have changed your life? Thoughts about any of mine?

45% of gamers are women, but don't you dare suggest women be the protagonist in a game!

Maybe it's just me, but some days I really feel like things are getting worse in the tech industry.  These two articles came across my twitter stream this week that seem like they must've been written on different planets.

The first one is from SF Gate where Derrick Lang noted the low number of female attendees at the E3 gaming conference, and how that was surprising because 45% of gamers are women. Let me say that again: 45%!

This was explained away that E3 was more for developers and not consumers (back to my post from last week).

That aside, how can I now explain that in the same universe, Anita Sarkeesian was attacked online for complaining that the latest XBox console launch didn't include any games with a female protagonist.

The attacks included these gems:




How is 45% of the marketplace not a significant number?  How is it that more than 50% of the human population is neither interesting nor capable just because of their gender?

When Geeks Attack: Marie Claire Article, featuring me.

My heart has been broken over and over again by the recent news stories about women in tech simply being attacked online. What's worse, is when someone like Alissa Quart writes an article about the types of online abuse women face along with in person abuse at conferences, she herself becomes a target.

Let me say, that I've been to many awesome conferences where nothing worse than a bit of mansplaining occurred.  But I've also been to my fair share where people called me a "scene whore", constantly asked who my boyfriend was (because why would a woman attend a technical conference by herself?), and flashed me (yes, a man showed me his genitalia on the conference room floor), to know that not all conferences are equal.

+Valerie Aurora started the Ada Initiative to help conference organizers make their events more female friendly, and encourage participation of women in Open Source.  Those of you that know Val know how active she's been in Linux and Solaris kernel development over the years: she's smart and compassionate.

Val and I met at an early DefCon - 3 or 4? At the time, still a small community with mostly nice guys (I only got 1 or 2 creeper emails following my first DefCon - which was also the last one where I used my real handle on my badge).  The conference is much larger now, and has definitely had some growing pains. It's definitely a place where you'll meet really awesome people and learn fascinating things - but there are less savory people there as well.

I have my DefCon stories. After seeing the fallout on other websites about this article and to the Ada Initiative blog entry that seemed to shine the light brightest on all of this, though, I don't feel comfortable sharing the details at this time.



Val and I were both interviewed by Alissa and photographed by Nicolas Silberfaden, a strange thing for both of us.  Two nerds in a fashion magazine? And both named Val? 

Please do check out the article.  You can find it online, but neither Val nor I had our pictures in the online version. To see our pics, you'll need to pick up the June 2013 issue of Marie Claire at any store that carries magazines.

Update: There's a great article from The Raw Story about online and in person sexual harassment covers the odd phenomen we're all witnessing now where the harassment is seen almost as a game, and when someone like Val tries to speak out against it, she's seen as a "Feminazi" and being overly political.

Poised For Leadership

NetApp hosted the latest Jo Miller's Women's Leadership Coaching workshop: Poised for Leadership.  As always, I enjoyed Jo's workshop and was thrilled to be able to participate in a full day event with her for the first time.  The time spent here helps to reinforce things I have begun to put into practice and reminded me of things I need to continue to invest effort into.

As emerging leaders, we can often find our selves in a quandary: we an't get to a higher level job without leadership experience, but can't get that experience without the next job.  When you find yourself in this position, you need to take the steps to get the recognition you deserve. Do not be "the best kept secret" in your team.

To do this, you need:

• Organizational Influence
• Sphere of Influence
• Leadership Brand
• Visibility
• Influencing
• Self-Leadership

What does being a leader mean? Leading by example, developing a vision, not disheartened easily, genuinely cares about the people and the business, collaborates up, down and across for success.

Organizational Influence

Like it or not, "every workplace has an intricate system of power , and you can - and should - work it ethically to your best advantage." (Erin Burt, Seven Career Killers)

Don't think of this as Office Politics, but rather Organizational Awareness. Observe what's going on around you, and perhaps modify your behaviour and your language to adapt.

Part of this is being aware of the shadow organization.  Like you're standard org chart, but based on people's organizational influence. Take a look at your existing organization. Find people who work well together - a good solid relationship, and draw a line.  Find people who do not work well together. Then find the coalitions - groups of people that work well together. Finally, identify the key influencers in the organization.  See where you fit into all of this.  Are you reaching outside of your immediate organization?  You need to build robust, professional relationships with key people around you.

Don't count on your sphere through normal meetings. Set up lunches with individuals or small groups, don't eat lunch at your desk, bring in cake or chocolate to share: get to know people outside your immediate teams.

Be aware of the unwritten rules of the game. Something like, there may be a person that you cannot correct in front of others in a meeting, without burning bridges. In some groups, you may need to shop around new ideas before implementing them - or your group may be "Act first, ask questions later" type of org.  You need to know the specifics for your team.

In some organizations, it may the words you choose.  Your VP may not like any vocabulary that hints at entitlement for what you're asking for, or they may only want to take action on your ideas if you have data to back up your request.

Sphere of Influence

We've heard it a thousand times, but your network is so important to your success. You need to grow your sphere of influence.  You need connections. These connections and mentors will help you to enjoy more promotions, higher pay and greater career satisfaction.

Building these networks can help your next big job find you.

Don't build these networks with only your personal advancement in mind. Get to know different things about them, figure out how you can help them to advance, find opportunities for them.

Part of building your network is making sure you're adding key types of people to your network:

• The connector
• A true people person, knows and gets along with everyone, loves to open doors and make introductions.
• The Informational Powerhouse
• Keeps their finger on the pulse of the business, knows about changes before they occur, filters useful information from gossip or noise.
• The Influencer
• Not necessarily high-level or high-profile, but has the ability to make things happen.Their advocacy can get you noticed and guarantee success of your initiative.
• The Mentor
• To best take advantage of your mentor, be prepared with four types of questions for them:
• Stories about their careers
• Situations you're in that you need help with
• Self-awareness is important. Know how you're perceived. Ask your mentor to reflect back.
• Skill building: ask about any new skills you're trying to learn in your role.
• The Sponsor
• Echoing what Jo has said at every workshop I've attended: beyond mentors, you need sponsors.  Women tend to be over mentored and under sponsored. Sponsors should have the following qualities:
• Senior leader with influence
• Well-respected, credible
• Familiar with your strengths
• Track record of developing talent
• Provides exposure and protection.
• How to get a sponsor?  Outperform, make your value visible, ask around to see who has a strong track record of developing talent, network outside of your direct management chain and have clarity about your career goals.

Leadership Brand

Knowing your current brand is important. Do others see you as you see yourself?  You can learn this by:

• 360 Review
• Ask friends and colleagues for 3 things that describe your positive traits, one thing to work on.
• Ask your mentor, friends, tweeps, etc

Most importantly, though, you must be ready and open for this feedback.

You need to identify what you're passionate about and what you're good at.  What do people complement you on that you think was "easy" to do? That could be one of your key skills or talents.  When this lines up with something that your company or industry needs or values - then you've found a career sweet spot.

Funny, quite a few women in this room know what their skills and passions are, but they cannot find how it fills a niche in their current job.  As an aside, everyone here is very successful and on their way up in their careers - so are they really in the wrong place?  Or not seeing the fit due to low self confidence? Or possibly, they haven't found the right end goal quite yet.

You may already have a brand, and it may fit what you're doing now - but it's not your long term goal. Then it's time to update your brand.   Shop it around, let people know what you want to do and where you want to go. Bounce ideas off of your colleagues.

Brands evolve. Entry level brands could be things like: team-player, valuable contributor. Examples of mid-level brands: strategist, innovator, subject matter expert, change agent, fixer.  Senior-level: Visionary, leader who develops leaders, rainmaker.  What do you think your brand is? What would you like it to be?

Visibility

No matter how many accomplishments you make, if your accomplishments are not visible, you will not be rewarded.  Hard workers attract more work, which won't necessarily get you any recognition.  Part of getting this visibility means spending a little less time working on the minutia, and work on making your accomplishments more visible.  Resist the tendency to talk about the busy work. Share the strategic high impact stuff. You'll attract more of what you talk about - so it seems like an obvious choice.  Along those lines, work hard on the right projects.

It's important to share this appropriately - who needs to know what you're doing?

To do this, it's important to choose the right projects. Find things that will showcase your brand and demonstrate your ability to deliver results.

Once you've got all this down, then you need to promote your accomplishments!

This is tough - you don't want to be that annoying person that seems to never shut up about all the little things they do (minutia!),  so think back to what needs to be known and get it in front of your organization.  Here are some easy tips:

• Present in meetings, invite leaders
• Send out a newsletter or regular status updates
• Submit article to your organization's newsletter
• Write a blog or paper
• Ask to be nominated for an award (or ask a colleague to do so, and reciprocate)
• Forward kudos emails to your management chain
• Water cooler conversations, lunch table topics.

Influence

You can't just drop into a meeting and influence decisions - first you have to set yourself up as a person of influence. People have to know who you are and respect your thoughts.  That can be done by simple things - show up to meetings, be engaged, make sure people around the table know who you are. 

Our behaviour teaches others how to treat us.

"It's not what you know, or who you know.  It's who knows what you know." - Norah Denzel, Intuit.

Jo sees there are 6 major sources of influence:

• Positional Influence
• Influence that is inherent in your job title and role.
• Expertise Influence
• The influence that comes from your background, qualifications, experience and accomplishments.
• Sharing your accomplishments is good: speak on panels, at conferences, and in the media. Volunteer for high level assignments, etc. Get your expertise out there!
• Resources Influence
• Negotiating the resources you need to do your job well.
• This will help you accomplish what you need to do, and demonstrate that you use your resources wisely
• Master matrix management
• Suggest special projects as developmental opportunities.
• Informational Influence
• Having a finger on the pulse of what is going on in your organization, industry and profession.
• Keep up to date with current events in the industry - this helps you be on the look out for new projects and opportunities, setting the direction for your team.
• Direct Influence
• Being firm, professional and direct when someone's behavior is detrimental to the team or the organization.
• Be direct and concise while delivering tough news
• Share a vision of their future potential.
• Relationships Influence
• The influence that comes naturally with having a network of authentic relationships across your organization, industry and profession.
• AKA Your Sphere of Influence!

How many of these do you have? Can you think of ways to expand into some of these other spheres of influence?

Your Pitch

Prepare yourself a 30-second commercial:

• Name
• Job title and/or brand
• I am responsible for ...a, b, c
• Come directly to me when you need ... x, y, z

This is an important thing to have in your back pocket. I've written this done a few times, but haven't memorized it. As I won't literally have this written down in my back pocket, I need to take the time to do this.  What's your pitch?

Principles of Self-Leadership

• Confer Leadership Upon Yourself
• Don't be afraid to take the lead. Start with leading yourself: set schedules and meet them. Look at ways you can lift others up around you and lead them to success as well. You don't have to be in an official leadership position in order to do this.
• Act "As if"
• Remember, much of your ability to lead has to do with wether or not others see you as a leader.

Book Recommendations

From my table and from Jo Miller.

• Leading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions By Knowing What To Ask
• I'd Rather Be in Charge: A Legendary Business Leader's Roadmap for Achieving Pride, Power, and Joy at Work
• Her Place at the Table: A Woman's Guide to Negotiating Five Key Challenges to Leadership Success
• Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers (A NICE GIRLS Book)
• Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman: What Men Know About Success that Women Need to Learn
• Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition) (One of my personal favorites: MUST READ)

OWL: Getting More of What you Want in Your Career: Patty Azzarello

Patty Azzarello, author and coach, joined our Oracle Women's Leadership talk on Risk Taking today to help us learn how to take risks and still enjoy our lives.  If you're enjoying your life, you're actually better at your job!

She tends to break things into 3 categories:

• Do better: Are you thriving? Are you having impact?
• Look better: Are you invisible? Being invisible is not a good thing.
• Connect better: Do you have the right support?  If you're the only person that cares about your career: that's a big risk! And not a good one :-)

In order to do better you need to really get better about assessing risks, and stop worrying about looking foolish. There are risky career behaviours we all do that stop us from taking the right risks.

Early in her career, Ms. Azzarello had turned a project team around, taking a seemingly doomed project to a successful outcome. At the end of the year, when she went in for her performance evaluation and big rewarding raise, her boss had to let her down - nobody knew who she was. He couldn't get the raise for her.   If nobody knows what you're doing, it's difficult to get rewarded for it.

You need to realize something very important: the things that come easily to you are the things you're good at. Build on those strengths, people will be impressed.  We all only have so much energy to spend on our improving ourselves, so try to focus on what you've already got a knack for.

Be your brand - who you are. That does require you know what you're good at doing and aware of your strengths. Don't apologize for who you are and let other people know!

Ms. Azzarello reminded us that we can tune our jobs to suit our strengths.  I've done this myself many times over the years.  I'd been in the same position, on the org chart, for about 10 years... but had done at least 7-8 distinct jobs.  Sure, you still have to do the tasks you don't like - it's called work for a reason, but tune your job so you do more of what you love and less of what you hate.

When you get blocked at work, never blame your failure on the fact that your boss is stupid. Could be very career limiting. :-) Instead, use the voice of others - win others over to your side, get them to help you convince others.

You need Ruthless Priorities. Do FEWER things! [Note: I really need this!]  Think about it: what adds the  most business value? how bad is it if you fail or don't do this thing at all?  If something really cannot be dropped, prioritize the important things - protect them and do them. Get famous for doing important things, not for being busy.

[Note: that last paragraph seemed to be directed to me! see my recent post on out of control email... is that really my number one priority? Will I get an Oscar for reading it all?]

But, doing the right things yourself is not enough. You need the right team. The best project with the wrong team is just not going to be successful. Get people in the right jobs, delegate power and let those people be amazing.  A really smart person in the wrong job will be miserable and won't be productive.  They won't have the opportunity to be amazing.  Give it to them.

A risky behaviour Ms. Azzarello  has seen too many times is people avoiding clarity to avoid conflict. Big ambiguous fuzzy goals do not get action.  You need clarity - that might lead to conflict, but it is necessary for action.

Being invisible and ignored can kill your career in its tracks.  Put yourself out there, make sure your boss knows what you and your team is doing. There's a balance - you need to be visible without being annoying.  Steer away from shallow publicity - every little thing does not need to be announced, but excellent work should be shared.  Make sure your work is relevant - which may require translating what you do and why it's important into lingo someone outside of your immediate team will understand.

Ms. Azzarello gave us a great example of this. Gartner surveyed CEOs for their top 10 priorities and the same companies' CIOs for their priorities. She put the lists side by side on the screen, and there was only one common *word* between the two -  "business". She then made two new lists that combined the two separate ones. The CEO priorities were the headings, and the sub bullets were the CIO priorities and, combined, they made so much more sense as a cohesive strategy for a company. I could actually understand the CEO priorities when I saw technically relevant items underneath.

Ask your boss for their business initiatives, listen to their words and fit your projects into their initiatives using their words. Use this in real life! Magic :-)

Back on the visibility topic - She notes being shy is okay, but being invisible is not. She, herself, is an introvert on the Meyer's-Brigg's scale, yet she's on stage talking to us. It's performing - not presenting.  I do that myself. I am very shy (really), but when I'm somewhere I need to network or when I need to do a presentation - I act as if I'm someone that does that thing.  I love acting, so I just apply it when I'm presenting - I'm pretending to be someone that enjoys presenting and that does a good job.  Now, is my acting good enough to cover it?  Not always, but the more I practice the better it gets. :-)

Another risk Ms. Azzarello talked about is the experience paradox.  That thing where women will explain how if they aren't perfectly qualified for a job and they will talk themselves out of a position, when a man will often say, "Sure, I'll do the job" - even if they are actually less qualified than their female equivalent.  Someone once told her: Every CEO was a CEO for the first time in their lives at one point. You sometimes have to dive in and learn on the job.

Finally, and I've heard this so many times in the last 2 years: get a sponsor.

I really enjoyed this talk and hopefully can take a few things away from it and apply at least one or two in real life.

How well do you do about delegating and prioritizing? Any tips or suggestions?

OWL: Risk Taking Panel

Oracle Women's Leadership group, OWL, brought us Risk Taking panel yesterday here on our Santa Clara campus with three esteemed panelists, Meg Bear, VP Oracle Cloud Social Platforms; Rodrigo Liang, VP SPARC Platforms; and Nandini Ramani, VP Java Client Development with Pamela Parish moderating.

Mr. Liang and Ms. Ramini both started out with a reflection of things that were happening during the Oracle merger and the risks they needed to take to get the best output for their teams and their own careers. With so much going on at those time, quick action was required.  From the continued momentum of Java and SPARC platform, I'd have to say some of their risks definitely paid off.

They all addressed a recent study that showed women regretted taking risks and what we could all do to be more comfortable about taking a risk. Ms. Bear noted that she didn't think women were weighing the downsides of the risks properly. Women seem to view the same potential of failure with more dread than a man would, and the panelists seem to agree: you don't know until you try it!

Ms. Ramini shared a lesson she learned while learning to ride a horse that her instructor gave her: if you've never fallen off a horse, how do you know what it feels like? Or that it will ever happen?

Ms. Bear noted the best opportunities she's had for professional development seems to have been when she was thrown into a situation she knew nothing about. It can be terrifying at the time, but she found those were the times she learned the most.  We shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes.  Ms. Bear recommended we all check out Seth Godin's blog, particularly his latest entry on mistakes.

Ms Ramini noted that for almost all women she knows would not consider it "risk taking" to make a brand new recipe for a large dinner, but somehow similar risks in the workplace that would have the same severity of consequences, have made her nervous in the past.  Fortunately, a manager years ago chided her for not speaking her mind in a meeting when someone was doing the wrong thing and she knew it, but was afraid to speak up and risk being embarrassed - said she hasn't shut up since. :-)

Ms. Ramini noted that when you do take a risk, you have to be willing to take "no" as an answer. When that happens, don't let that "no" be a forever no - just for that one thing.  Continue to take risks!

As a manager, the panel recommends helping to guide your team in taking risk. You can't constantly challenge the status quo and try to change directions of your team, that becomes tiring for all involved. They all agree to keep an open door for their teams and let them approach you with any idea, be a sounding board. Also, as a manager, you need to keep an open mind to these suggestions and be willing to change.

Remember to take risks when things are going well. While stated before, you don't want to change the status quo simply because you have nothing better to do - though staying still can be a risk, too.  Sometimes a little change is all that's needed to keep things on track or to even greatly improve the outcome of a project.

Ms. Ramini encourages people to work with others outside of your direct group, brainstorm, and keep your eyes on what others are doing - that's where innovation comes from.  You wouldn't want to be caught still using tcl/tk because you failed to notice the world had moved on ;-)

Mr. Liang noted that part of being the leader is about moving the group. It doesn't matter if you have great ideas if you can't get anyone to come along. It needs to be civil, of course. You can't force people to follow you - not in the long haul, anyways.

Ms. Bear mentioned that even being a risk taker, there are still times she's neglected to take the risk as soon as she should have. For example, she recently changed her role - something she's needed to do for a long time. While she was waiting for the right opportunity to come along, she could've perhaps pursued it in a different manner and made the change sooner.

Someone in the audience asked about making the jump into management. Ms. Ramini noted to make sure it's really something you want to do, as it's not for everyone. Talk to people who are managers, talk to people that know you and make an informed decision.

For career/role change in general, Ms. Bear said you need to convince yourself first that you're the right person for this new role, before you ask for it.  Find others that can help you ease into a new role, if that's a possibility.

Ms. Bear says she has seen women preventing others from making career growth, unfortunately, and pleads with all women to not do this.  Ms. Ramini hasn't seen this nasty behavior herself, but still noted that she tries to make sure that men and women on her team are given the same opportunities.

A great panel, followed by a great talk from Patty Azzarello - blog coming Monday. :)

Have you regretted not taking a risk?  What risk taking behaviour really paid off for you in the past?

Support the Ada Initiative and Drink Beer!

Two of my favorite things to talk about, all in one place! The Ada Initiative, which supports and encourages women participating in Open Technology, is holding a meetup tonight, Wednesday August 1st, at the Tied House in Mountain View, CA (which now has 14 beers on tap!) so we can all learn more about what the Ada Initiative is up to and socialize while drinking beer!

So, if you're curious about open technology, women in open tech, or just want to support this great organization, come on by!

Check out the Ada Initiative's event registration page for more details.

See you there!

Early Bird Registration for Grace Hopper Closes Today!

I know, it seems so far away, but the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is just around the corner!  The conference will be held in Baltimore, MD, October 3-6, 2012.

I'm particularly excited about the Security technical track - something I've been asking about for years. The security related topics are always very well attended, and there's so much more to learn (for all of us) in security.

Whether you're student who's curious to learn about different technologies you can work on once you graduate, or a more experienced woman looking to expand your knowledge, there is something for you at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

This is an amazing place to exchange ideas, meet other women working in your field, learn, network and remind yourself that you are not alone as a woman in technology!

What talks are you planning on going to? 

Are you Going to Grace Hopper?

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is less than two weeks away!
Do you have a blog? Are you planning on taking notes of the sessions you attend on your laptop? Please consider sharing your blog entries and notes on the Grace Hopper wiki. For more details, please see Charna's latest post, and sign up for the sessions you're planning to attend.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is less than two weeks away! Are you ready? I'm not, but I'm getting there.