Meet The Disruptors: D Sangeeta Of Gotara On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

When you set your goals high, and you are determined, no force can stop you!

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing D. Sangeeta.

D. Sangeeta is the founder and CEO of Gotara, a global career growth platform for women in STEM+. Its mission is to close the gender gap and help STEM+ women stay and thrive in their careers. It’s a passion for Sangeeta because she came very close to being one of the 40% of STEM women who leave their careers within the first five years.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

At 29, I was at the end of my rope, about to quit a STEM career I loved because I couldn’t navigate the roadblocks that were being thrown in front of me — as a woman, as an immigrant, as a person of color. Luckily, a mentor reached out, guided me, and I stayed in my career for another two decades, achieving 26 patents and leading global teams of 5,000+ with budgets of more than $200 million. I’ve mentored other STEM women, but I could only help one woman at a time. That’s why I’m building a scalable, for-profit career advice platform so 30+ million STEM women around the world have access to the advice they need from top professionals so they can stick with their careers and thrive.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

Our approach is disruptive because we’ve re-imagined the mentoring and coaching model and created nano-learning training, which is bespoke, actionable and affordable. Gotara’s nano-learning solutions help retain and grow women in STEM+ fields. Our approach truly helps organizations move from “check the box” to real actions making business impact — shifting from risk management to true business management.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Building a team virtually requires some imagination. Once we tried to have a happy hour, but with a global team it was early morning for some, mid-day for others and the middle of the night for the crew in India. We still call our virtual gatherings “happy-hours,” but the emphasis now is on sharing stories about our lives and sharing milestones like the birth of our first Gotara babies!

This isn’t really a mistake, but I always found it an amusing challenge, when I’d ask my CTO to share his opinion in one minute. He has the kind of brilliant mind that when you ask him for the time, he tells you how the watch is made. He’s become more succinct, and I’ve also learned to appreciate how his coding brain — with all its complexity — is the reason we were able to launch an enterprise platform in record time. And that’s the time that matters most!

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

I’ve had several mentors in my career — some of them were senior to me, others were peers, and some were juniors. I’m a big fan of reverse mentoring. The mentor who has had — and continues to have an impact — is Dan Heintzelman. I met him early into my career at GE at its Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. He was the corporate officer at GE Aviation and had come to review projects his department was funding. Mine was one of them. At the end of the review, he tapped me on my shoulder and asked if I would be interested in a marketing role at GE Aviation. I looked down at my lab coat, the goggles in my hand, and steel toe boots and thought, ‘Marketing? What’s that? I’m a scientist?’ I was anxious but excited that such a senior leader took an interest in a junior scientist.

I didn’t realize then that he was my sponsor at GE. At the time, I didn’t even know what a sponsor was, never mind how to build a network or find mentors. Dan was truly an angel that came in and swooped me up into a career that I am very thankful for. It was his role as a senior leader to spot talented employees and to help them grow into leaders. It was a big part of how a senior leaders’ success was measured at GE — and for me, it was life-changing.

From that point on, I took on new roles every two years and eventually became a general manager leading both technical and business organizations. Today, I can lead my company, Gotara, because of the early lessons I learned about leadership and business at GE. My global experiences at Nielsen and startup experience at Amazon prepared me to run a startup that is global and virtual!

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Sometimes disruptions are needed, and sometimes they genuinely are unnecessary. Let me share a few examples from my career.

I was asked to lead a data science organization that was having challenges related to its talent, processes and approach to innovation. It needed a major disruption if it was to be respected in the company and by the customers. It was a diamond in the rough, and I wanted to transform it into the crown jewel.

Here’s what we did:

1. We broke the rules related to promotions and improved diversity by giving double promotions to women leaders who were highly talented but ignored in the past.
2. We upgraded the job requirements for the scientists in the organization, which made some existing members very uncomfortable because they either had to upskill or leave.
3. We established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to run the organization, which were non-existent. We started measuring all activities and made everything visible to the team and our stakeholders.
4. We launched a bold initiative on innovation resulting in a 100% increase in the intellectual property we created.

Here’s an example where the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” maxim made sense, at least to me. I was working at an organization where we had a leadership change at the top, and this new leader wanted to change the organization structure. When we discussed whether this change would positively impact customers or the organization, the answer was clear. It wouldn’t. In fact, it would be disruptive in a negative way because productivity would take a hit. I stood my ground and didn’t let that happen. Phew!

This final example demonstrates that, like most things in life, timing is key. If I had launched Gotara 5 years ago, there wouldn’t have been a market for our nano-learning platform. But now, employers aren’t just offering bromides about wanting to close the gender gap in STEM. It costs them billions to replace these women, so now they’re investing in diversity and inclusion initiatives and in training that helps them grow and retain these women. Our approach is disruptive because we’ve re-imagined the mentoring and coaching model and created nano-learning training, which is bespoke, actionable and affordable.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

1. Take feedback with a pinch of salt
   When I had my first 360 review as a young manager, I was disheartened that some people felt I was too strong at making executive decisions and not delegating enough. I spoke to a senior leader at GE Aviation, and he said, ‘Look, you have risen to this level in your career for a reason, don’t stop doing what you are good at. Take the feedback with a pinch of salt and make moderate changes as necessary.’ I did make changes, but I didn’t fundamentally change my style without losing the “superpowers” that had gotten me to this point in my career.
2. People buy benefits
   In my first role after completing my graduate degree, I was trying to sell R&D contracts, and it was drilled into me that people buy benefits. This insight has stayed with me ever since. Whether I’m working with my team, peers, leaders, or customers — it’s always about highlighting the benefits to them. This principle works like a charm!
3. Take the most challenging job that no one wants
   Early into my career at GE, I was encouraged to take on challenging jobs that no one else wanted to tackle, like risk management. At Nielsen, it was data science. In both cases, I built a diverse team and stellar track record that set us apart.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

Hey, I’m still in the middle of a shake-up with Gotara and loving it. Let me briefly explain what’s shakin.’ First off, our global career growth platform for women in STEM+ is disrupting the mentoring and coaching world! We have reimagined how employers can offer affordable, personalized training to grow and retain their female STEM+ talent and create a robust pipeline of future leaders. Instead of “off-the-rack,” one-size-fits-all e-learning courses or costly or ineffective 1:1 coaching sessions, we offer bespoke In-depth STAR nano-learning courses to layer into their talent strategy plan. And — here’s what every employer wants to know — we give them insights into how to help make each participant more effective and productive, insights into how to retain them, so they don’t have to resort to “dive-and-save” strategies which seldom work.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

Absolutely. Here are my top three.

1. Bold by Peter Diamandis & Steven Kotler
   This book is truly about disruption and being bold enough to take big risks and dream big! I leveraged this book and did a session with my team in Data Science to disrupt our thinking so we could make our organization more innovative and customer-centric. As I always say, “No Risk, No Gain”!
2. Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath — When I was managing a global organization with people in 20 countries, this book on communication was key to helping me figure out how to engage, motivate, and inform in real-time. We became known as one of the most sought-after organizations to work for. After an employee survey, my CEO asked how we got such high scores on keeping the global team members stay so close to the customer. The secret was communication that was genuine and kept everyone on the team informed and motivated.
3. Hidden Brain Podcast by Shankar Vedantam on NPR
   I have always had an immense interest in understanding the power of the human brain! This podcast explores human behaviors in various areas from scientific and human perspectives. It also provides excellent insights on how to be an effective and successful leader.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land amongst the stars!” — Les Brown.

When I look back, there are many high points in my career and life that I would have thought impossible, but I achieved them. So did many of my team members! When you set your goals high, and you are determined, no force can stop you!

Here are four of my favorite “shoot-for-the-moon moments.”

1. I was the first in my family to leave the country for higher education.
2. I am one of the few STEM women to succeed and reach executive roles in male-dominated industries.
3. I achieved 26 patents and two books in 4 years.
4. I’ve thrived (and soared) through many major inflection points in my career: GE scientist to a marketer, Left aviation world to enter the world of market research at Nielsen, and to my latest shakeup from senior tech leader at Amazon to founder and CEO of a startup.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

GOTARA!!!!! I am already on it! My movement is to address the gender gap in STEM+ fields. Here’s why this movement is so important.

1. Right now, 40% of STEM women leave their careers within the first five years. Gotara will help them stay and thrive, which leads to their financial independence and a sense of intellectual accomplishment.
2. We’ll save employers money. Every time a resignation letter lands on a manager’s desk, it costs them. In the US alone, it adds up to $9 billion annually in attrition-related costs, including lost productivity. Then there is the dampening of intellectual curiosity and stifled creativity when teams lose the diverse minds that spark innovation.
3. GDP growth for the country. In 2016, McKinsey & Co released a report that suggested it will take a century before women close the gender gap in senior roles in Corporate America. Here’s the real kicker. They found that advancing women can give the economy a boost. Enabling a genuinely female-friendly workplace could generate an additional $2.1 trillion in the US economic output in 2025.
4. For society, there’s an economic boom, which translates into healthier, more engaged communities. Consider this: It’s predicted that AI will replace up to 80% of decisions made by humans today. Today, 78% of the global AI workforce is also male. If this dramatic imbalance isn’t corrected, we’re faced with a future seen and shaped primarily through the lenses of men. It’s a bias that will only further entrench the gender gap.

How can our readers follow you online?

Website: www.Gotara.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gotara-women-in-stem/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gotara_stem/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Gotarawoman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gotara_stem

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!