Speak out, step up and sacrifice - top tips on diversity
- Summary:
- Diversity was a dominant theme at this year's Dreamforce. Madeline Bennett sums up some of her top learnings from the week.
At this year's Dreamforce conference, diversity was a running theme. Here are my top takeaways from the sessions I attended, which offered a mix of insights into the current diversity situation in the tech industry, tips on how firms can tackle the challenges and practical advice for individuals wanting to progress their IT career.
Don’t be afraid to speak out
Tracy Young, CEO and co-founder at PlanGrid, which builds software for the construction industry, believes that the sexist, chauvinistic or racist attitudes she has encountered as a female working in the construction and software industries are not deliberate, and encouraged others to tell people if they’ve made an offensive remark. Young noted:
We don’t know how they were raised or what was brainwashed into them. I have to physically remind myself they probably didn’t mean it, they’re just not aware of it. Some things people have said are completely screwed up - I think you’re too short to be in construction, you’re not tall enough to be a CEO, you’re not smart enough to be a founder.
If I don’t acknowledge it, it festers, sometimes it festers for a year. I tell them that that really hurts, and if they keep adding more negative comments, then that’s not someone you want to be associated with or work with.
Be ready to make sacrifices
At a panel on Leading as a Woman in Tech, female executives shared the challenges they faced to get to the top. Theresa Kushner, a vice president at VMware, advised women they faced tough choices ahead:
You have to decide at those essential parts in your career whether you want to sacrifice or not. I’m not telling you it’s easy. You’re going to have to say, I’ve got to get some help at home to take care of my kids. I’m going to have to sacrifice to make those choices to go up the rungs of the ladder.
You’re going to have to be very sure of yourself if that’s what you want. It’s the one thing we have to decide as women – what do you want.
Step up and be a role model
Ron Guerrier, CIO of Farmers Insurance, called on others to give young people from minorities and disadvantaged backgrounds different role models from the stereotype:
I remind them that when it comes to Dr Dre, he made his money from investing in technology and selling Beats to Apple. He didn’t get billions from NWA, he got the billion from working with Silicon Valley investors. It opens their eyes. It’s all about a different image of who a black person can be in a professional setting.
PlanGrid's Young urged others to follow that lead and become more visible, even if it’s out of their normal comfort zone. She said:
Construction and technology, if it predominantly looks a certain way, it means that we’re missing out on so many great builders, so many great engineers and so many great leaders, if we believe intelligence and great work is evenly distributed across race and gender.
The best thing we can do is be good examples to the next generation. As a female construction engineer and a female CEO, if anyone needs an example, if I can do it, you can do it too.
Hunt down mentors outside of your normal circle
Candice Petty, director of litigation at 24 Hour Fitness USA, said that if you’re working in an industry where you don’t fit into the ‘norm’, it’s vital to form relationships with people outside of your comfort zone:
I went after the people who did not look like me and forced them to deal with me. While I did have mentors and allies of people of colour, the people I deliberately went after to be my advocates were older white men as that’s where the power is. Once you have the actual relationship, a lot of those biases fall away as they know you and trust you. Too often people and women of colour tend to stick together, but you need to seek out other people, then they see past that.
Celebrate your uniqueness
Maria Jose Lloret Crespo, Commercial CIO at GE Aviation, pointed out she is still the only women in many of her business meetings among 25 men, and the only woman from outside the US. But rather than try to fit in, she feels it is the job of the majority to change their attitudes:
We need to do more work from the other side. I’m a bit tired and exhausted thinking about how should I talk, how should I behave, instead of asking everyone else to reconsider why do I feel that unique, why do I need to take that extra effort to feel part of the team. Don’t feel bad if you are unique. The problem is not with me, it’s with everyone else.
Don’t give up
Sylvia Acevedo, rocket scientist, White House commissioner and interim CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, revealed that in her first engineering job, it was such a male-dominated environment there weren’t any bathrooms for females. She encouraged those facing similar situations to persevere as eventually people will change their attitudes:
I worked around this. I carefully monitored my fluid intake and made sure I knew where the nearest bathroom was. It took them about six weeks and they finally relented and realised I wasn’t going to quit. They got me a porta potty, which said ‘Hers’. I realised things can only get better than this. Persistence pays off.
Look in different places for talent
Cindy Robbins, Executive Vice President, Global Employee Success at Salesforce, who has been a key driver of the firm’s diversity efforts, explained that a core part of Salesforce’s next steps around diversity in recruitment will center on seeking out potential candidates in the less traditional places. This will be vital for organizations faced with IT skills shortages by opening up a new avenue of workers. Robbins said:
I’ve spoken to many women recently who became working mums quite a long time ago. Previous to that they held professional jobs, and for whatever reasons they need to now enter back into the workplace and really want to enter back into the workplace. But they are really struggling with what that entry point is. They need companies to help them and take a chance on them when they’ve been out five to 10 years. This is one area that is very top of mind with me.
Part-time work is another avenue, it’s a conversation that needs to be elevated. There are a lot of women out there who need a flexible type of schedule and they still want to continue to work. We don’t have a formal programme to announce, but these are areas that are top of mind when I think about what is next, and what does the future of work look like for working mums and how do companies step in and help.
And don’t exclude men
Robbins also noted that Salesforce has made sure men are integrated into any gender programmes, as they are still in the decision-making positions:
All the piloted programmes were assigned a mentor, and most of the mentors were generally male as that was the population at the time in the leadership areas, and that obviously still is the case in most companies. So we made them part of the process, and I think that was the key differentiator, that they were part of the program, that they had a role to play and it was a very significant role.
Further reading
Derek du Preez’s article about intersectionality - the idea that for many people there are overlapping issues that relate to their race, class or gender.
Stuart Lauchlan’s exclusive interview with Salesforce’s first Chief Equality Officer – in the form of former Microsoft exec Tony Prophet.