5 Things I Learned from Leaders in STEM
Recently, fellow MIDS student Sue McTaggart and I had the excellent opportunity to discuss diversity issues with three great female leaders in STEM. As DEIBJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Justice) representatives for the I School, we wanted to provide women interested in technology with access to people at the top of the ladder who have been advocates for diversity and women in tech. So Sue contacted Angela C. Williams (SVP, Chief Information Security Officer with UL Solutions), Jane Harper (Associate Vice President Info Security, Risk Management & Business Engagement, Eli Lilly and Company), and Sam King (CEO of Veracode), and here are some of the lessons we learned from them.
1. You will face several challenges being a woman in STEM, but your network will help you to overcome them.
“Imposter syndrome only seems to show up when you’re doing good things. When you’re not accomplishing anything […] [it] is nowhere around, but when you’re doing great things and you’re on the precipice of even greater things, it shows up. So sometimes, you also need to have a brag book, […] a scrapbook of all of the accomplishments that you’ve had over the course of your career, all the kind notes and the kind words and the acknowledgments, you just copy-paste them into that book and keep it so that when imposter syndrome shows up, you flip through the book and you remind yourself ‘oh I have done some great things.’” — Jane Harper
Imposter syndrome is a common challenge faced by women in STEM fields. We can find it hard to believe in ourselves, especially when we belong to a minority and have to battle stereotypes. This intersectionality may lead to women who are also POC not being hired or heard. One way to overcome this is by surrounding ourselves with people who believe in us and who want us to succeed. Our network is key in both building our confidence and pushing us forward. When this isn’t enough, we can boost our confidence with affirmations, like “I can do this, I am worthy, and I have accomplished many things”. We can put ourselves in the position of someone that is looking to hire, and read our resume with that lens. All these strategies can allow us to recognize when imposter syndrome shows up, address it, and then wrap it up.
2. Both top-down and bottom-up approaches are needed to increase the number of women in STEM.
“[We need to] cast a wider net than just STEM when looking to encourage women to get into the field.” — Sam King
Women are significantly underrepresented in STEM fields; in fields like data science, fewer than 30% identify as women. Getting to 30% is ideal because, at that percentage, people start to feel a sense of belonging, as you can test for yourself in this simulation based on Nobel Prize-winning game theorist, Thomas Schelling’s work. Top-down approaches to increase the number of women in STEM are actions like recruiting more women in C-suite, or senior, positions who, in turn, will hire more women. Bottom-up approaches include getting more women interested in STEM from an early age so that they will choose to go into STEM-related fields. Both types of strategies are necessary, if we want to increase the number of women in STEM.
However, women in STEM don’t necessarily need to have pursued a STEM degree because all kinds of skill sets are needed to be successful in this field, beyond the technical skill sets. For example, communication, marketing, and teaching are some of the skills that Jane Harpers’ employees at the Information Security, Risk and Business Engagement for Eli Lilly and Company hold. CEOs at cybersecurity firms even hold a degree in English. So if you’re reading this, and are interested in STEM but afraid that you don’t have the skill set to pursue a career in this field, maybe this is the sign you were looking for.
3. We need diverse strategies to elevate women inside tech companies.
“I used to say I’m not looking to be a trailblazer. I want to plow a runway. I want a runway wide enough for a 747 to land. So, women are coming in the door single file, we should be coming in masses.” — Angela C. Williams
Some of these actions are
a. Calling in women with a specific profile and asking them to consider applying for the job, even when these women try to talk themselves out of it. We don’t need to check every box in order to apply for a job.
b. Acknowledge the profound work women are doing for example: “so when Stacey has said something that is profound and then Rick repeats what she says and he is now the best thing since the microwave, with no acknowledgment for Stacey. I learned to say, Rick, it’s awesome that you agree with what Stacy said, or, it’s awesome that you built upon what Stacey said.” Jane Harper
c. Tracking how many women are at the company allows people in senior roles to evidence the gender imbalance and address it by hiring more women
d. Creating a Diversity and Belonging Group, which creates awareness.
e. Creating diversity-friendly programs, benefits, and policies.
f. Partnering with groups that promote diversity, like PowerToFly.
g. Creating a remote-first culture that is more family-friendly.
4. Storytelling is key for a leadership position
“When you’re in a leadership position where it isn’t just what you do, it’s what your team does or what your company does right, those outcomes are influenced not just by the actions you take in your sphere of control, but by how you can influence other people to do as well.” Sam King
Great communication skills are key to being a great leader and mastering the art of storytelling: if you can wrap that into a story that people can connect to emotionally, you’re going to have a much easier time doing it. Understanding your audience will help you pivot in order to get what you need. Using analogies allows leaders to be more relatable so that people will understand why a certain decision will impact them. Reading the room is key to understanding the whole message.
Along with excellent communication skills, a leader needs emotional intelligence. You will have conflict over the course of your career; emotional intelligence helps you to navigate around it. Listen with an empathetic ear, and lean all the way into actually understanding your team. Finally, a leadership position is also about creating a network and influencing the influencers.
5. To get to a C-role, you must advocate for yourself.
“When you’re that rockstar, sometimes a company does not want to unplug you from being the rockstar because then, who’s gonna be the rockstar when you go off and do something different?” Jane Harper
Getting to a C-role takes time and patience, but above all, a network of cheerleaders, mentors, and sponsors who can advocate for you. However, sometimes you need to advocate for yourself. You have to know your worth, especially when negotiating a position of higher responsibility inside your company, because your immediate boss may not want to lose their star player. You can talk to different leaders in order to get feedback, in order to validate your work and don’t be afraid of shopping around for other opportunities in other companies.
Networking, storytelling, and advocating for ourselves are just some of the ways for women to get ahead in the tech industry. But we also need allies, cheerleaders, and mentors. Having more women at the top implies helping each other out, recruiting people from diverse backgrounds, and getting girls interested in STEM from primary school onwards. We still have a long way to go, but having leaders such as Jane Harper, Sam King, and Angela C. Williams will make the path much easier.
This blog post was adapted from a panel, find the full panel discussion.
Juliana Gómez Consuegra is pursing an a Master of Information and Data Science at UC Berkeley’s School of Information. She also serves as an I School DEIBJ working group member, where she participates in committee meetings with faculty and staff, engages with prospective students in webinars and in-person events like prospective student visit days, and develops and manages student-led DEIBJ initiatives.
