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Last active May 3, 2019 20:11
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Women of Silicon Valley Conference

How to work more collaboratively

  • so many different tech tools, but people are hard to work with!

    • tech tools cannot fix the human problem
    • need to understand one another on a human basis
  • "no, and" saying no is difficult, feels surrounded in negativity

  • "yes, and" is additive, more diverse, collaberative

    • creates more open atmosphere
    • less afraid of making a mistake
    • provide sense of positivity
    • encourage people to listen to one another
    • makes the ohter person feel heard by contributing to their idea
    • build trust amongst team Understanding others
  • people aren't typically out to get us

    • if they are difficult, there is usually a reason
    • competing comitments: why are they acting this way?
    • is there soemthing they assume about me?
    • do they have expectations coming from somewhere?
    • am i communicating in a way that resonates with them?
  • how do we communicate?

    • MBTI (Myers-Briggs)
    • The color code
    • insights discovery
    • 5 love languages

Are You Biased Against Yourself

Caroline Winnett

  • need to train our brains to think differently
  • why are our brains hard to train?
    • brains developed to deal with predators
    • brains constantly take in information
      • conscious mind can only take in about 40 bits per second
  • "thinking fast, thinking slow"
    • System 1 - System 2
    • brain wants to stay in system 1
  • bigger stronger animal walks into the room, you will pay attention to it
  • brain does not like unfamiliarity (raised in same race)
  • No matter where you are on the spectrum of loving / hating group speaking
    • can own the room with authenticity
    • passionate
    • informed
    • practice

What works

  • in-group / out-group (not-included)
  • Show and Tell organizational commitment
  • train, coach, iterate
  • network!

Creating Growth Mindset to Tackle Imposter Syndrome

Nisha Kumari

Imposter Syndrome

  • feelings: Dismissed success, dont belong, tricked others, someone else is more qualified
  • based on a false perception of reality
  • termed in the 1970's
  • 70% of people experience it at some point in their lives

Combat

  • set goals
    • remember we are at different parts of our career, stop comparing
  • it is okay to fail
    • learn from the failure, have a growth mindset
  • reframe thoughts
    • "you dont deserve this" vs "i will one day deserve this"
    • "I just got lucky" vs "I am a hard worker"
    • dont put pressure on self to know everything
    • raise your hand in the meeting to ask that question!
  • track achievements
    • tangible way to reinforce self
  • open up to peers and mentors
    • challenge negative self-talk

First Impressions

Danielle Sporkin

Dress for success

  • dress the way that matters to the people who matter
  • judged on how we look before we open our mouths
  • take on the culutural ques, feel empowered
  • you only get one chance to make a good profession
    • business casual and weekend casual
    • spend most business wardrobe dollars on the waist up (sit it most meetings)
  • have a power outfit for feeling strong / confident

Come across with confidence

  • dont bury the lead: say the need first
  • speak and write in an active voice (no "going to" / "probably", instead "will")
  • dont be wishy-washy ("like", "just", "I want", "I feel", "perhaps")
  • use jargon sparingly

Interviewing

  • get asked back for a 2nd interview
    • may not always be sure about the position
    • always give 100%
    • they may remember you if you purposely do poorly
  • come prepared, look at website, talk to someone who works there
  • you are interviewing the company as much as they are you
    • culture, work / life balance, co-workers
  • ask questions, come prepared
    • what are the next steps

Networking

  • be sure to learn the name, repeat it back to them three times during initial conversation (start, middle, end)
  • hand shake, confident, firm
    • no iron grip, dead fish, lobster claw, endless shake
  • review guest list in advance
    • if you like someone, reach out to them in advance
  • quality not quantity
  • quickly find common ground
  • if you walk in and everyone is already in a conversation
    • find a way in, build up confidence
    • its awk for everyone

Nurturing relationships

  • follow up quickly
  • make it personalized
  • track connections
  • sporadically reach out

meet for coffee

  • separate the advisors from the connectors
    • advisors: will give advice, drive career
    • connectors: not directly in your field, but can connect you
  • dont be transactional, ask about other parts of life
  • be gracious
  • believe in networking karma

stand out to senior leadership

  • excel at what you do
    • understand what you bring, keep track of what you complete / do
  • raise your hand
    • meet new people in the same company
  • find a way in
    • kick of a conversation with someone you are interested in
    • get them engaged

when meeting with an exec

  • come prepared
    • what is going on in the organization, what you do / what they do
  • ask questions, like the interviews
    • where do you see the company going
  • what can I do for you?
    • they may want to understand something / know what is going on
  • need a crew of brave / honest people to hold you accountable and remind you who you are

Accelerating Career Growth by Embracing the Uncomfortable

Grace Francisco

  • you need to look for diversity, actively recruit
    • open application process does not work

ROI of Balanced Leadership: The role of men in bringing women into tech

Beate Chelette

  • learn what existing business is code is costing company
  • skyrocket your people ROI
  • know five elements for diversity and equality
  • in 1985 35% of women were in tech sector
  • in 2016 18% of women are in tech sector
    • what changed? Now is holy grail

We want

  • inclusion, men - buy-in and participation, exectutive leadership, team function
  • want men to look at women and think
    • that is someones daughter, wife, mother, sister, partner
    • have a moral obligation: can terrorize women at work and go home and tell daughter to be strong

disengagement

  • 51% of workforce is disengaged
  • 16% are actively disengaged
  • avg tech salary is 75k, loss is 23k - 50k
  • loss for disengaged (-30%)
  • loss for avtively disengagement (-50%)
  • if not seen or heard at work, will not get the best work
  • staggering cost

Solutions

  • put one woman on the board of directors 66% ROI capital
  • women are good for business
  • it is bad for women in organizations
    • "we hire & promote most qualified candidate"
    • when airbags came out they be-headed children and killed women
      • no women on engineering team
  • diversity of thought
    • experiences, values, innate personality, gender, EQ, culture environment expectations
  • no single person is the most important on the team
  • women are majority of American population, why spoken about as a minority?
  • team intelligence increases with women
  • we dont want the same, want what is equal
  • can a system be built 100% by men and account for women?

What we do

  • train women, train men, collaborative team training
  • men lead on Power, Strategy, and Pursuasion
  • women lead on compassion, uniqueness, and empathy

The State of D&I in tech: how far have we come in the last decade

Rahnold Thomas

Be yourself

  • be who you are to make a difference, stay true to who you are
  • being who you are can open conversations to diversity
    • queer, trans, race, etc.

equality drives innovation

  • since year 2000, 52% of Fortune 500 companies have failed
  • 76% of leadership says they regularly empower employees to innovate while 42% of employees agree
    • mismatched
  • systemic oppression across country and all levels
    • broken at highschool level (acceptance of diversity into school)
  • when compensation was fixed at Accenture (presenters company), within 2-3 years the gaps were back
    • inherent bias!
  • All kinds of advantages: Economic, color, gender
  • Ask "How am I contributing to a system of oppression?"
  • Have company wide goals:
    • Achieve gender-balanced workforce by 2025
    • Grow percent of women managing directors by 25% by 2020
  • Diversity needs to come from the top down
    • If senior leadership does not support, will not happen
    • Middle management can not control
    • have an honest conversation with leadership, anonymous feedback
      • No diversity in leadership (leadership doesn't look like us)
      • Not enough women
    • Interact with people who don't look like you
      • Challenge boundaries, get comfortable with being uncomfortable

D&I Fatigue

  • Does not agree
  • Change concept from D&I specifically to investing in people as a whole
  • Create an Action plan
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