December 14, 2012 Ted Liefeld Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Harvard Women in Technology December 2013
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Transcript of Harvard Women in Technology December 2013
Perry HewittDecember 12, 2013
Beyond the webgrrl:
5 common traits of successful
women in tech
Disclaimers: Not an expert on workplace gender
issues Observations ≠ statistically sound
data Has never worked in IT (but all
around it!)
Credentialers: Is female Has worked in a lot of tech
companies Managed software developers 15+
years Enjoys building and managing
cross-functional teams of any and all genders
Communicate and amplify Harvard’s mission of excellence in teaching, learning, and research while making the University and its contributions relatable and relevant in an always-on world
Enable communications and engagement approaches to live digitally, and often digital-first to enrich our constituents’ experience of Harvard
build amplify
aggregate curate
COPEship
measure iterate
mobile data
social video
http://youtu.be/yRNt7ZLY0Kc
December 2013: Still no progress after years of no progress
1. Find your voice
I’m sorry if this is a dumb question, but I was wondering …
This is probably off-topic, but …
I’m not sure if anyone else agrees
with this, but …
You’re defining the problem as X. From
my experience…
I’m going to jump in here, and add…
Here’s my question: …
Social media as connecter and amplifier
So! Getting women to submit content: easy? Um. When I’d talk to men about the conference and ask if they felt like they had an idea to submit for a talk, they’d *always* start brainstorming on the spot. I’m not generalizing — every guy I talked to about speaking was able to come up with an idea, or multiple ideas, right away…and yet, overwhelmingly the women I talked to with the same pitch deferred with a, “well, but I’m not an expert on anything,” or “I wouldn’t know what to submit,” or “yes but I’m not a *lead* [title], so you should talk to my boss and see if he’d want to present.”
– Courtney Stanton, geekfeminism.org
2. Invest in your own technical expertise
Quiz time! Who is the most invested in your career advancement?
Your boss Your company’s HR The trainer hired for your
professional development Your colleagues Your family Your direct reports You
Seek informal and formal learning opportunities
Identify unexpected “teachers”
Apply and ask, apply and ask
Focus only on discrete technical skills
Wait for formal credentialing to be in place
Lear
ning
-firs
t app
roac
hT
raining-first approach
Develop industry knowledge broader than your technical training
Consumerization of IT means … Web/digital trends Business Intelligence Mobile ecosystem and behaviors Emerging standards Measurement best practices
Your professional development is your responsibility.
3. Build your professional/personal support team
“Figure out the people around you that you want to work with for the rest of your life. Figure out the people who are smart & awesome, who share your values, who get things done—and maybe most important, who you like to be with and who you want to help win. And treat them right, always.”
-- John Lilly, Greylock
82% of executive businesswomen played organized sports after elementary school – what does that imply about teamwork and resolving workplace differences?
photo credit: rose lincoln
4. Perform, but also tell the story / cultivate / steward
photo credit: renee s suen
There’s still value in watching a pot to keep projects on track …
photo credit: warriorwoman531
… but recognize that firefighters get rewarded, however the blaze
took hold
A card, a call, a letter a day.
Your achievementsColleagues' achievements
5. Make smart compromises
photo credit: rich900
Not everything can be dialed up to 11.Where can you compromise to meet overall
business goals while recognizing that requirements may shift over time?
Selected Resources
A selection of books about
work
The Power of Habit
Thinking Fast and Slow
Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People
Women Don’t Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation
Catalyst 2013 Census of Women in Fortune 500
What Works for Women at Work
Lean In