FountainBlue

FountainBlue's "When She Speaks"

Women in Leadership Series Notes

At FountainBlue, we support transformative leadership, one conversation, one leader, one organization at a time. We produce our monthly "When She Speaks" Women in Leadership events to convene high-impact, high-integrity men and women in high-tech and life-sciences fields interested in celebrating leadership, making connections and learning from others.

We hope that you enjoy attending the meetings we produce when you are able to attend, and that you make some valuable connections at our events. In addition, we make the notes available to interested others in our community who were not able to attend, and hope that these notes stimulate conversations with others in your network.

You have our permission to forward the notes, intact, to interested others, with proper acknowledgement for our speakers and to FountainBlue. If you would like to publish the information on your web site or blog, or in other publications, please e-mail us requesting permission to do so.

We welcome your continued participation and input and hope to see you at an event soon.

FountainBlue's June 12 When She Speaks event was on the topic of Working with Millennials and featured:

• Facilitator Lisa Orrell, The Generation Relations Expert, The Orrell Group, author of Millennials Incorporated
• Panelist Urvi Bhandari, Sales Manager, AT&T
• Panelist Megan Campi, Customer Service Relationship Manager, Cisco
• Panelist Kristen Dearing, Leader of Strategic Sales, Global Communications and Media, Sun Microsystems
• Panelist Claudia Galvan, Lead, International Program Management Group, Microsoft
• Panelist Shalini Govil-Pai, Lead PM, Google
• Panelist Lori Smith, Director of HR, Cisco

Working with Millennials

The Millennial Generation, otherwise known as Generation Y, is no longer made-up of just kids and teens. Born in the early 80s and 90s, the eldest are now graduating college and entering and impacting the professional workforce. As the earliest Baby Boomers are starting to reach retirement age, and with the increasing pressures for organizations large and small to recruit and retain in key talent from the millennial generation, it is becoming increasingly more important to understand and work with this generation of workers.

Millennials are in general energetic with a plethora of ideas and a direct, assertive style in communicating them, without necessarily following established business etiquette or without respecting chain-of-command expectations (speaking to top management over direct bosses for example). They are globally-minded and techno-philic, leveraging social media tools such as YouTube, FaceBook, texting and Twitter. They are used to multi-tasking (texting during meetings, committing to many work and life projects and juggling multiple priorities), to confidently speaking what’s on their mind (directly communicating their goals and objectives), and to being global in their interests and connections.

With all these strengths, a noted weakness is that many Millennials are more interested in generating ideas than in seeing them through to results and conclusions, often distracted by the next idea. There was also a conversation about the perceived sense of entitlement that many Millennials have, and how to better understand and work with Millennials who are perceived as having a sense of entitlement. There was general agreement that it is more a perception based on the confident, direct, salary- and role- centered communications and desire to move quickly and make a positive difference than an ACTUAL desire for privileges and rights and title, etc, without merit. Therefore, the suggestion from the panel is for Millennials to understand how they are coming across and folks of younger and older generations to understand the Millennials’ perspective and therefore be less likely to take offense to it.

The panel shared some sage and practical advice on how to recruit, retain and communicate with Millennials. The overall emphasis was on training managers to be more resourceful, more communicative, and more flexible in understanding what motivates Millennials, and in keeping them engaged in projects which interest them, and specific suggestions are listed below.

• Leverage the strengths and global interests of Millennials to direct them into leadership opportunities outside work, while also keeping them engaged at work.
• Challenge managers to make their projects appear more compelling and exciting to Millennials.
• Encourage managers to open communication channels between Millennials and senior management as an opportunity to share ideas, motivate Millennials and even provide reverse-mentoring opportunities.
• Initiate friendly competitions leveraging social media will help Millennials participate in strategic conversations ensuring that technologies and ideas address the needs of younger target audiences, for example.
• Help Millennials to develop patience while building successes and skills and personal brand as they strive to achieve their short-term and long-term career objectives.
• Provide continual feedback and communications to Millennials as they were raised in an age of instant communication and crave this level of feedback.
• Leverage global communication technology to better attract and retain Millennials.
• Take every opportunity to mentor and support high-potential Millennials, for they are our future leaders.
• Welcome and encourage play in the workplace, from scooters to XBoxes for example, as part of the corporate culture.
• Engage Millennials in strategies to better communicate with other Millennials and every else, through social networking channels.

Leaders and organizations will find that following the practices noted above is not only going to better attract and retain Millennials, but it will positively impact workers and overall culture. Indeed, Millennials speak for other workers when they express displeasure or ideas for change, but they are more vocal and direct about expressing their ideas, and less tolerant if change doesn’t happen. Listening to the needs of Millennials and making the changes will positively impact working conditions for all.

Resources:

• Order one of Lisa Orrell’s Books, Millennials Incorporated by visiting http://www.amazon.com/Millennials-Incorporated-Lisa-Orrell/dp/1932279822/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194980814&sr=1-1. FountainBlue members may also receive a 20% discount off Lisa’s speaking and training services http://www.millennialsincorporated.com.

FountainBlue’s May 8 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series was on the topic of The Mentors in Our Lives and featured:

• Facilitator Kim Wise, CEO, Mentor Resources
• Panelist Martha Galley, Senior Director, Windows Live Business Development, Microsoft
• Panelist Ruth Gaube, VP and Deputy Executive Council, Symantec
• Panelist Amy Gonzales, Regional West Coast Director, Women Unlimited
• Panelist Shivani Govil, Corporate Strategy Group, Office of the CEO, SAP
• Panelist Darcy Kiefaber, HR, LifeScan

Below are notes from the conversation:

Our esteemed panel shared their perspectives on the importance of mentoring for their personal development, for the resiliency of their organizations, and for the general support of the network and ecosystem. Their view is that being a mentor supports your organization, whether your mentee is within the organization or outside it; and that being a mentee is an investment in your own success and leadership. Serving in both roles provides benefits to all parties. Mentorship benefits include skill development, confidence building, soft skills, political astuteness, etc., and can support successful career management, competency development, personal and professional development, etc., Below are some pearls of wisdom shared from the experience of being a mentor and being a mentee:

• Believe in yourself, have self confidence.
• Choose what you do: just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD.
• Manage a Work/Life Balance.
• Trust your instincts.
• Lighten up, keep things in perspective.
• Be comfortable taking measured risks.
• Listen to the advice that you give to others.
• Appreciate your personal skills.
• Broaden your perspective by engaging with people at all levels and backgrounds.

In general you should be strategic about the best mentoring strategy for you – considering factors such as why you’d like to be mentored, what your strengths are, what objectives you have, who you should approach, etc., With that as a given, there are a wide range of successful mentoring relationships – mentorship across roles, across organizations, across geographies, etc., So be strategic about how you’d like to grow through mentorship (as a mentor or a mentee) and flexible about how you get those benefits.

As you seek the right mentor for you, be specific about your goals and your skills, and consider tactical factors such as location and time commitment etc., before reaching out to your targeted list of potential mentors, generally who are two levels above where you are within an organization. Then have the confidence to approach the targeted mentor and impress with your clarity on goals, objectives, roles, etc., and they will be more likely to make that mentoring commitment.

Remember that mentoring relationships are dynamic and interactive, and be flexible enough to change your mentors and your goals and relationship as you progress. Mentors may become mentees for example, another mentor might be needed in another area, work/life balance challenges might become more or less important, etc.,

Many of the best corporations are invested in the success of their workforce and support structured and grassroots affinity and mentoring circle programs designed to support the staff. Investigate what your organization is doing in support of its people, and how you can contribute to it and benefit from it.

Whether you’re within a corporation, in a start-up, in transition, or on your own, develop a mentoring plan that works for you, benefiting yourself, your organization, your community.

FountainBlue’s April 10 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series was on the topic of Leading with Power, Influence and Integrity and featured:

• Facilitator Camille Smith, Founder/President, Work In Progress Coaching
• Panelist Erna Arnesen, VP of Global Services, Channels and Alliances, Cisco
• Panelist Nina Bhatti, Principal Scientist, HP Labs
• Panelist Nancy Long, Sr Vice President of Human Resources, Hitachi Data Systems
• Panelist Alexandra Woody, Sr. Dir. Program Management & FPLC, Flextronics

Below are notes from the conversation.

About Leading with Power, Influence and Integrity

• Power, influence and integrity are three inter-connected circles.
• Whereas there are many ways to describe power, the concept of integrity is more nebulous. It refers to a concept of wholeness, of alignment with your personal values, as well as that of your organization and your team.
• Defining leadership moments are not easy. There will be conflict, resistance, difficult circumstances. You may test a relationship, or even jeopardize your job. If you are up to the task and doing the right thing based on your personal assessment, your personal moral standards, it will prepare you for more of these opportunities to learn and grow and lead.
• Leading with power, influence and integrity takes the strength and intelligence to make plans and the courage to execute on them, especially under difficult circumstances, especially when many variables impact the right course of action.
• Leadership goes well beyond positional power, where someone has the authority to manage other people or projects and might rightfully use coercion as a strategy. People can also gain power by becoming an expert/authority on a specific topic, by encouraging/reinforcing others around them.
• Even if you have positional power, use that power judiciously. Empowerment and engagement are much more effectively at getting things done and building positive relationships.
• ‘Power over’ is about coercion, being domineering. ‘Power to’ is more about affecting change. ‘Power with’ is centered on collaboration. ‘Power Within’ is centered on yourself.

• Don’t shrink from any conversations with yourself, with others. Have the confidence and ability to speak up and keep speaking up until you have nothing further to say.
• Insist on a seat at the table.
• Proactively manage your relationships with others, AND your relationship with yourself.
• Focus on people as they are the most important assets.
• Surround yourself with people who can support you and believe in you.
• Leadership is not painted in black and white. Be aware of the nuances of behaviors and interactions and manage accordingly.
• Be passionate and hold to your true north values, your personal moral standards.
• It may be perceived that adhering to your moral standards would make you less powerful, but actually the opposite is true. When you act with integrity people take notice and give you more power, more influence.
• Figuring out what’s right and wrong might not be as difficult as deciding between one of two good things.
• Focus both on your core values but also on the core values of your organization. Ensure alignment when you’re considering joining a company, and as you work with the company.
• Consider strategically who will be impacted by actions and decisions made and plan accordingly.
• Be aware that a lot of people are watching what you say and don’t say, what you do and don’t do. Your next opportunities, indeed your reputation, will be impacted by the actions and decisions you make day to day, every day.
• Bring a skill of value to the table.
• Accept but manage your emotions. Most people are less effective at getting things done if too much emotion is distracting them from doing the tasks at hand, or the strategic thinking needed to achieve objectives.
• Say what you will do, and do what you say you will do.
• Leadership is about doing the right thing, even though no one’s going to know. Oprah Winfrey
• Have the discipline and control to influence your power over others’ lives. Clint Eastwood

FountainBlue’s March 13 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of Agility - The Key to Building a Successful Career and featured:

• Facilitator Sandra Wales, President, Wales Investments, Inc.
• Panelist Pat Cross, Vice President, Career Management, Right Management
• Panelist Lisa Dearborn, Vice President, Leadership Development, Hitachi Data Systems
• Panelist Lisa Jing, Program Manager, Integrative Health, Cisco
• Panelist Patricia Wimberly, Sr. Manager, Solutions Practice, Global Services - Western Division, EMC Corporation

In this century, it is much more difficult to plan your career path, as there is more fluidity within and across corporations, across global markets, plus better acceptance of people moving from one role or industry to another. This month's panel will focus on agility as the key to building a successful career, featuring women who have changed roles and industries, positions and companies. They will share their stories of successes and challenges, and also share how they are supporting others to do the same.

Below are notes from the conversation:

Thoughts on Why Agility Is So Important

• Being agile helps you leverage your skills in different industries, and will help you better leverage your abilities and strengths and better grow and expand yourself into new areas, skills and networks.
• Being agile displays your leadership ability and flexibility, your ability to lead and succeed using skills which are transferable from a variety of situations.
• Being agile helps you position yourself for new opportunities in new companies, roles, countries, industries.
• Being agile may provide huge financial benefits.
• In the best case scenario, career agility can help you progressively become all that you can be personally and professionally.

Thoughts on How YOU can adopt a more ‘agile’ philosophy for your career

• Think about the skills and strengths that you have and how they can be transferred to another role, company, industry.
• Get clarity about what makes you special, what you’re passionate about, and plan on embracing opportunities which would help you shine.
• Be open to new possibilities, even if they weren’t planned. Sometimes a negative situation is a positive one in disguise! As one panelist remarked, ‘Welcome the opportunity to get thrown into the deep end!’
• Take the opportunity to get the education you need to succeed, whether it’s an MBA, a conference or lecture, informational interviewing, in-depth reading, etc.,
• Partner with current management on your short term and long term goals. Ask what it would take specifically to get to the next level of your career, and be proactive in your management of your career.
• As you proactively plan your career, ensure that you keep focusing on your strengths, and moving in the direction of your passions and intentions.
• There is generally no need to remediate a missing skill, unless it would interfere with your ability to achieve your goals.
• Embrace new opportunities with energy and enthusiasm, and sell to your strengths.
• Don’t be intimidated about your lack of deep technical or industry knowledge, and do sell how quickly you learn, how your current skills are an asset, and how energetic and passionate you are about what you’re doing!
• Network with people of similar interests.
• With that said, also network with people with different interests!
• Surround yourself with people who believe in you and will proactively support you. Be willing to reciprocate.

FountainBlue’s February 13 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of Juggling Work-Life Balance in Demanding Times and featured:

•        Facilitator Francine Gordon, FGordon Group and SDForum Women's Group

•        Panelist Jennifer Hall, VP of HR, Intuit

•        Panelist Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue

•        Panelist Kristi McGee, Senior Director, Open Work Services Group, Sun Microsystems

•        Panelist Phyllis Stewart Pires, Director of Community Experience, SAP Labs

With the many demands Silicon Valley women leaders are challenged by the corporate and business pressures of high-stress, high-impact positions, while still juggling the personal demands of life and family. In today’s streamlined, fast-moving workplace, it’s more important than ever to make the most of every day and every moment. Below is advice for juggling work-life balance from or panelists.

Advice for Juggling Work-Life Balance

Successful, balanced, corporate women are not just leading in the board and meeting rooms, they are also making the time to engage fully with their families, contributing meaningfully to their communities, and investigating in their personal development, health and welfare. They integrate work-life issues and challenges and consider both when making decisions on short term and long term goals. They look at contributing their skills to maximize value for the organizations, communities, people they touch. And they encourage and empower others to do the same, generously sharing their time and advice.

Being Self-Aware

Being self-aware, considering what your thoughts and feelings are, will help you proactively manage your work-life balance.

Knowing your own values, desires and skills is a first step to developing that work-life balance. You must know who you are (your values, what’s important to you), what you want (what’s a must-have, a nice-to-have and by when), why you want it (why are these things important), how to get there (what’s the plan to get there and who can help?) etc., in order to achieve that balance of sometimes competing desires in your life.

Setting and Communicating Expectations

Once you know what you want and have a plan for getting there, transparently communicate that plan to others and set their expectations on what you will do and when, and enlist their participation and support of the plan. This may take some negotiation, but ensure that they know what you will be contributing and how that would benefit them as well, to make it easier for them to get on-board. With that said, listen to their feedback and suggestions and be willing to work together to find an alternative win-win solution. Also modify your communication style based on who is receiving the message, and what style works best for them, while remaining direct and transparent in your communications.

This strategy works when in a corporate situation, but the challenges are slightly different for personal, long-term, especially relationships with children. It is important for our children to understand the career choices we make, why we are passionate about it, and even expose them to the people, company and processes we face day to day in a corporate setting. As they grow, it is also important to encourage them to make the right work-life choice for themselves, choosing a career that would fulfill their needs, their interests, leveraging their strengths.

Planning Your Time, Yet Remaining Flexible

When you’re self-aware, as you set and communicate expectations, it’s important to plan your time to honor your objectives and commitments. Calendar regular times for things that are important to you. Ensure that you have sufficient time to be available to the important people in your life. Transparently communicate your schedule to others so they know how and when to connect with you.

With that said, be fluid and flexible enough to change your plans and your schedule as things do not always go as planned! Plus the plan should be a ‘living document’, ready to be changed as the needs of others change. No matter how things change, focus on how your actions would impact your personal and professional goals in the short term and the long term.

Proactively Multi-Task to Achieve Your Objectives

Your time is limited, so your choices must be informed and conscious. Consider creative ways that you can integrate your work and life objectives and demands. To better integrate your work and life, it might be easier to think of yourself as a full-time career mom, with no delineation between two main areas of your life.

When multi-tasking, me constantly aware of what is unique to you – the qualities and abilities you bring to the table. Think then about how you can add value in any situation, personally or professionally.

Choose a Company That Supports Your Work-Life Choices

Even if you follow all the advice above, you cannot succeed with your personal and professional work-life choices unless your company supports you personally in making those choices, and the company culture encourages you and others to do so.

Sometimes middle managers or the executive team may not quite understand how encouraging healthy work-life choices in all employees support the bottom line. As a leader, you may be able to forge some change in this direction, especially considering that it will no longer be a woman’s issue, and considering that companies that are more flexible with attract and retain higher quality employees.

Choose Quality Family and Personal Time

Make conscious choices between spending time with the baby versus how much time you can spend on your career knowing that time will fly and babies will grow quickly.

Make time for yourself every day, so that you can reflect and appreciate and get centered before you again engage in the juggling act.

Leverage Resources

Successful women must develop a network of others who share common challenges and who are committed to helping you honor the commitments you’ve made to company, family, community. Don’t expect to do it all, and don’t feel guilty because you can’t do it all!

·         Partner with others in the workplace and at home to support each other.

·         Delegate non-essential tasks to others who would benefit and learn from the additional business, even if it wouldn’t take that much time; even if you ENJOY doing it). Then you can focus on core business issues which need your attention, and continue to learn and evolve and stretch yourself too.

·         Ask your friend to pick up your sick child, but also be willing to watch their kids when you’re available, like on the weekends.

·         Stand in the background and let the PTA take the lead, but be willing to volunteer your strength, like fundraising to corporations, so that you can also contribute.

·         Reach out to others you work and live and play with. Whether you’re facing family, company, life-change (like going back to work post-baby), or other issues, you will find that you are not alone in the challenges you face, and perhaps you will build some connections and a network so that we can together better address these challenges.

·         Delegate things like kid transport, housekeeping, and other non-essential services that need to be done, yet don’t need to be done by YOU.

·         Negotiate with your husband and family to reset their expectations about who does what around the house and enlist them to support you in re-assigning household duties as necessary.

·         Accept that you can’t always be there for your kids, for example, but make up for that by being totally present when you are there, and making time for special activities with them.

Accept Yourself

Research shows that best mothers are mothers who are comfortable with the work-life choice they made, without second-guessing themselves, without feeling guilty, without constantly comparing themselves to others. Indeed, the happiest people accept their best efforts as good enough. They don’t compare themselves to others, especially others that they put on a pedestal. They make conscious choices and own the decisions they made. They constantly focus on ‘how will they remember me’ and make choices that help others remember them in the most favorable light.

FountainBlue’s January 16 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series, on the topic of Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling and featured:

•      Facilitator Jo Miller, CEO, Women's Leadership Coaching Inc.

•      Panelist Sheri Atwood, VP of Global Solutions and Programs, Enterprise Marketing, Symantec

•      Panelist Nina Bhatti, Principal Scientist, HP Labs

•      Panelist Jennifer Bleakney, VP, Worldwide Distribution and Customer Support, National Semiconductor

•      Panelist Jan Schlossberg, Senior Mgr, Intellectual Property & Compliance, Cisco

Below are notes from the conversation.

About the Glass Ceiling

• It is experienced differently for different people, at different organizations. It could be fixed and hard for some, or more fog-like and fluid, or more of a labyrinth for others. The ceiling might change as people rise within an organization, go to other groups or organizations, etc.,
• Advice on How to Overcome Internal Barriers (Sticky Floors)
• Have the confidence to ask for what you want. And when you get it, perform above expectations/prove your value and you’re more likely to get what you ask for the next time you ask!
• Focus on what makes you extraordinary and build those skills, rather than focusing on just improving your areas of weakness.
• Take charge of your own career path rather having a victim mentality about glass ceiling limitations.
• Connect with people who will help you to identify and overcome your own barriers to success.

• Be a woman who helps other women, and build a corporate culture where others want and expect that.
• Enlist men at the top to mentor and support you and other women within the organization.
• Encouragement gender-independent performance measurement so that the right people will rise to fill specific positions.
• Formalize the process for advancement – where you want to go, how you will get there, what you will do to close the gap.
• Encourage women to network together in a safe environment.
• Encourage women to work with men to overcome corporate barriers to having women advance. It’s not an ‘Us vs. them’ mentality. Male executive members might plan an integral role in making this happen.
• Support diversity programs as it is proven that they stimulate both innovation and revenues.
• If your corporation does not support advancing women, perhaps it’s not the right organization for you.

Advice on Climbing the Corporate Ladder

• Decide what you want and what the holes you might have for getting there. Then build the network of relationships to support your efforts, do the hard work it takes to excel, and communicate strategically to others about your accomplishments.
• Be clear on what your objectives are. It’s OK to consciously choose parent-time first, and coast career-wise.
• Know yourself, and continually ask for feedback from respected others on how you can better perform.
• Consider identifying some problem areas and present a plan of action for addressing these problems, while also showcasing your unique abilities.
• Adopt a visible project where your impact will be clear. Then work hard to deliver, and market well that you have done so, particularly to people who have the influence to give you your next challenging project.
• Make your superiors look brilliant.
• Choose your battles.
• Select a high-impact communication style.
• Study the culture of the group, team, organization and adapt a communication style that you’re comfortable with and works with them.
• Turn everyone you meet into an ally. Speak with their language; understand their point of view. You can then think about how your might help each other.
• Be direct in your communication style.
• Focus on what specifically you can improve to increase your promoteability. It might help to ask others what that might be as well.
• Exhibit leadership and others will notice it.
• Sometimes you have to make tough choices and work long hours. Sometimes it’s lonely at the top. Build a support network to help you through the rough patches. Choose the path you’re on.
• Learn from your mistakes.
• Identify the opportunity in your challenge.

Resource:

• Ask For It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want, by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever http://www.amazon.com/Ask-Women-Power-Negotiation-Really/dp/0553383752 
• It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s the Sticky Floors: Seven proven strategies for getting ahead in your career. http://www.shambaughleadership.com/stickyfloorbook/

• It encourages individuals and organizations to think and act differently.
• It fuels growth.
• It provides opportunities to stand out.
• It embraces learning and keeps people engaged and developing. We are only limited by the constraints we put on ourselves.
• Innovation is not just in technology, but also in social structures, in processes, in other things.
• Innovation is distinct from new knowledge or invention or creativity. The difference is that innovations are actually adopted and change people's lives.

• There is no prescription/path for creating innovative leaders. They come from a variety of backgrounds, some traditional, some not.
• Innovative leaders:
  • Foster innovative thinking and leadership in others, 
  • Approach problems in new ways, 
  • Focus on delivering business and social results, 
  • Leverage their diverse background, training and experience and apply that knowledge to new situations,
  • Are flexible enough to take advantage of opportunity as it arise,
  • Are passionate and committed,
  • Are advocates and ambassadors who know how to build partnerships
  • Consistently drives movement/momentum for their teams and organizations,
  • Surround themselves with people with complementary skillsets
  • Know their own abilities and limitations

• Surround themselves with people from differing perspectives
• Communicate transparently and clearly objectives, abilities, desires,
• Balance the need to plan the the need to be spontaneous,
• Embrace failure, are wary of complacency,
• Reward risk-taking in their team and organization,
• Encourage out-of-the box thinking 
• Actively seek inspiration from other stakeholders, even/and particularly if they do not share their own perspective,
• Understand the perspectives of other stakeholders and communicate to them based on understanding their motivations
• Celebrate and showcase the successes of others.

FountainBlue's September 13 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series on the topic of Leadership Styles: What's Gender Got to Do With It? featuring our facilitators:

• Moderator Bonita Banducci, Banducci Consulting
• Panelist Carolyn Crandall, Vice President Marketing and Channels, Seagate
• Panelist Pat Cross, VP, Career Management Consulting, Right Management
• Panelist Eileen Fussner, Vice President of Channel Sales for the Content Management & Archiving division, EMC Corporation
• Panelist Vinie Zhang, Vice President, Hitachi Corporate Ventures

• We must speak in generalities, as not all women and not all men fit the descriptions of typical male or female leadership styles. In other words, we think about archetypes rather than stereotypes.
• As an archetype (rather than a stereotype), women, in general, are more collaborative, more ready to share information, communicate more between functions (multi-tasking), more attuned to the customer voice, make more values-based decisions, and consider 'fire-prevention' more frequently.
• Women are more sensitive to nonverbal communications and may therefore read people more accurately. This is not formula-based, more intuitive/instinctual.
• Women tend to value relationships and people more, and value integrity.
• Women tend to emphasize communication

• Women in general tend to consider work/life balance issues and questions as they advance the corporate ladder.
• Women in general tend to multi-task and think/drill down deeply about ramifications of a particularly issue. This may be perceived negatively by men and women as a trait which hinders progress, however, it might be the right thing to do at the right time.

• First understand, appreciate and value the impact of their leadership styles on the organization, and then communicate it to others within an organization in a positive way that gets noticed.
• Support other women in communicating directly and diplomatically our needs and intentionally lobby for our needs.
• Blow our own horn! Positively position yourself and communicate successes without shameless self-promotion. Think of promoting yourself as framing a relationship in a different way, which might be especially difficult given the way girls, particularly Asian girls are acculturated.
• Consider the right time and place to think about the big picture and to think about working out the ramifications/details of a proposed plan.
• Understand what you bring to the table - Your strengths, attributes, things that you want to work on, what you want, what you're passionate about.
• Frame your assets and attributes in the context of  your performance review so that your strengths and accomplished will be better recognized and appreciated.
• Balance listening and speaking - Listen first, but then speak to show that you heard and will integrate their words into your actions and plans.
• When negotiating, be willing to walk away.
• Open your heart while in communications. It helps to build trust in relationships.
• See issues from everyone's perspectives and help people communicate their perspectives to everyone else. Find the middle ground. Be the peace-maker.
• Insist on finding the right job, the right boss, the right company, the right industry for you.
• When dealing with conflict, remember that being loud doesn't make the other person right. Try not to take the conflict personally. Have confidence in presenting your position.
• Taking acting or improv classes may help to build the resiliency to handle conflict, work with strong emotions, creatively problem-solve relationship issues on the spot.

• What are some archetypes you have seen with women leaders from your network and experience? Which of these traits would you adopt for yourself?
• What is your skillset and  your passion and interest?
• How can you clearly appreciate and acknowledge your accomplishments without standing out in a negative way?
• What and who will help you stretch yourself?
• How can the focus on relationships vs. the focus on differences help resolve day-to-day issues?

• Moderator Theresa Wilson, Partner, Lighthouse Blue
• Panelist Brenda Hendricksen, AMD
• Panelist Tracy Meersman, EMC
• Panelist Joni Podolsky, Director of Community Programs, The Entrepreneurs' Foundation
• Panelist Kathy Wheeler, Senior Manager, Global Community Involvement, Cadence

• Historically, companies have moved from just being philanthropists and benefactors to becoming active partners in the community, providing everything from co-program development, to active volunteerism from corporate executives and staff members, to providing space and services to partner community organizations.
• Companies that actively participate in the local community and proactively participate as global citizens are better perceived by the partners, customers, staff, etc.,
• Companies that earn high marks on social responsibility have measurably better employee retention rates, a great benefit to the bottom line.
• Companies that are active partners in the community are more likely to get public official support at the local, state and federal levels, which is very important when issues such as import/export legislation, traffic/zoning questions, etc., arise. Resolving these types of issues directly or indirectly also impact the bottom line.

• There are two converging directions for creating an integrated social responsibility program: a Grassroots approach and a Compliance approach. See description and chart below.
• The grassroots approach can lead to employee relations where employees decide what they're passionate about supporting in the community, strategic planning in partnership with community organizations, and even to strategic grant-making.
• The compliance approach can move to employee relations and services (addressing the harassment and other policy-oriented compliance issues around employees), governance and ethics questions and issues, and then to transparency to all stakeholders.
• Contact Joni Podolsky with your questions and thoughts as she develops and expands her theory on creating an integrated corporate social responsibility program.

• Companies are able to articulate core values and model business behavior that reflects those values, they can do well while doing good, benefiting investors, customers, partners, employees as well as other stakeholders. Example: AMD's core value of people first, products and profits will follow
• Companies that proactively look for the intersects between community needs and business goals are more likely to succeed with their corporate social responsibility program.
• Companies that partner with their employees to support issues and causes they're interested in, those that are in alignment with corporate goals, are more likely to succeed.
• Social responsibility cannot be legislated beyond the current and general anti-discrimination and environmental responsibility policies. Through senior executive leadership, companies scoring high on social responsibility are defining and articulate corporate values, values which executives and staff and use when making critical business decisions.

• Use corporate intranet to provide info about how to easily get involved in the community, partnering with HR
• Junior Achievement/National Semiconductor model, you stay at your desk, but kids come in.
• Adopt a family program
• Bowlathon for Junior Achievement
• Host off-sites for nonprofits
• Add more socially conscious investments to 401K
• Ask managers to do team building exercises
• Combine company celebrations with volunteer places
• Shelter Networks - Holiday wishes are $25/person

• http://www.BringLight.org, where it feels good to do good
• http://www.energystar.gov/, protect our environment for future generations
• http://www.Handsonbayarea.org, volunteer opportunities working with children
• http://www.IReuse.com, donate excess office equipment, equipment, technology and supplies
• http://www.OneBrick.org, a friendly and social atmosphere around volunteering
• http://www.volunteermatch.org, matching volunteers with the needs of the community

• You might be interested in attending this event as well:

Event Topic: TAKE ACTION ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Sponsoring Group: SBODN

Date and Time: Friday, October 19 from 8:30 – 5 p.m.

Location: Sun Microsystems Auditorium in Santa Clara, CA

Cost: Early Registration by August 31st is $165.

Information and Registration: http://www.sbodn.com/conference/2007/index.html

• Contact Theresa Wilson of Lighthouse Blue if you're interested in hearing a presentation on 'Ten reasons businesses get involved in the community'. meringo4@yahoo.com
• Contact Joni Podolsky to find out more about the Entrepreneurs' Foundation and how they help early and later stage companies develop and implement their corporate social responsibility plans. JPodolsky@efbayarea.org
  

Our July 12 When She Speaks event was on the topic of Women at the Top of Their Game. 

• It provides mental sharpness and clarity, important for effective productivity, leadership and decision-making.
• It inspires emotional confidence.
• The conditioning provides the energy and endurance to perform at your best in work and personal settings.
• It supports clear communication, particularly in team sports.
• It can provide opportunities to network and meet people or connect with people regularly, which is very important in stress management and quality of life.
• It provides opportunities for collaboration particularly in team sports.
• It provides opportunities to build self-knowledge.
• It can be fun. It will also give you the opportunity to enjoy food.
• It teaches commitment.
• It is a gift to yourself.

• Always make forward progress and immediately address issues which stall progress with direct and clear communications.
• Communication is key. Communicate goals, roles, strategies working as a team.
• Building relationships on the field is like building teams in the workplace.
• When you're recovering from an injury/going on leave, find a way to maintain your work relationships.
• When under stress, use your ability to focus, see clearly, to manage the situation and also your relationships with the people involved.
• Have the stamina and perseverence to succeed despite setbacks in the workplace.
• Focus on the goal, the business results.
• Understand what your sport/your work means to you.
• We can't choose what's in front of us, but we can choose what we can do about it, in sports and at work.
• Find a way to fit in, even if it's in a male-dominated sport/business.
• Set realistic objectives/stretch goals for yourself in sports and in business.
• Take the time to have fun and enjoy your sport and your work!

• Pace yourself
• Cross-train
• Make it fun, use music or other things you enjoy
• Motivate yourself to do it - Want to do, don't make yourself do it
• Buddy up with others
• Get quality equipment like shoes
• Manage your diet
• No guilt
• Change your paradigm about what's exercise - incorporating exercise into caring for children for example
• Use exercise to manage stress
• Make it convenient to exercise, like keeping shoes at your desk
• Personal trainer
• Keep it simple 

Our June 14 When She Speaks Women in Leadership event was on the topic of Optimizing Your Team, featuring:

• Moderator Rossella Derickson and Krista Henley, Corporate Wisdom and SBODN
• Panelist Sheryl Chamberlain, Global Alliance Manager, EMC, Director ATW Mentorship Program
• Panelist Vickie Grove, Development Director, Child Advocates
• Panelist Amy Heidersbach, Vice President, Product and Merchant Marketing, VISA
• Panelist Hali White, Director Process Excellence Office, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Build Community within Teams

• Build connections between team members
• Celebrate successes
• Make sure that everyone sees everyone's interests/agenda
• Make sure that everyone feels valued, doing the kinds of things they want to do and are good at
• When there's conflict on the team, address it head-on and quickly

Successful Team Members Have Emotional Intelligence

• Good team members are engaged in helping others on the team to succeed
• Good managers and leaders find ways to showcase everyone, get everyone's performance peaked, within setting up a competition between team members
• Good team members have the confidence and emotional maturity to see the world as one of abundance, (when others succeed, the possibilities get bigger for everyone else) rather than one of scarcity (when others succeed, there's less of something for everyone else). Good managers understand that and work with that reality.

Communication Skills are Essential

• Understand the motivations of all team members and partners
• Take each members'/partners' motivations into account
• Continually inspire and empower others to succeed.
• Leverage technology to facilitate communications. Conference calls and WebEx solutions are an important part of team communications, but in-person meetings are very important, particularly in the formative stages of a relationship.
• See also the list below as communications is a critical aspect of leadership.

Leading Great Teams Involves Vision and Execution

• Communicate organizational, team, and individual objectives regularly and effectively. (See also communication tips above.)
• Manage conflict to ensure that the objectives of all team members and partners are met. This might mean facilitating difficult conversations, providing consequences for non-productive behavior, constantly engaging and inspiring everyone to 'get with the program' and do their share to contribute to a common cause.
• Set high but achievable expectations, leveraging the strengths of everyone on the team.
• Make tough choices.

Great Teams Create Collaborative, Win-Win Solutions Engaging Others

• Defines role based on ability and passion and interests.
• Get buy-in from all team members and partners.
• Manage to the person, enlisting everyone's support for the objectives of the person, team and organization, and communicating how each person's tasks/roles supports the objectives at all three levels.
  

• Moderator Catherine Ngo, General Partner, Startup Capital Ventures
• Panelist Joan Banich, Brand Identity Manager, Cisco
• Panelist Katy Dickinson, Director, Business Process Architecture, Sun Microsystems
• Panelist Shelli Hendricks, Education Consultant, EMC and Director Mentorship Program, ATW
• Panelist Carol Muller, Founder and CEO, MentorNet
• Panelist Eileen Sullivan, Group Director of IT, Cadence

• Great people have become great with the support, encouragement, connections, advice, etc., of other great people.
• Great people are also willing to help others to develop, providing they prove worthy of the time investment, because great people are also busy people!
• Successful mentoring relationships have led to better promotion, better retention, better job satisfaction, better community etc., so there's a good business case to invest in corporate mentoring programs.
• Successful mentor-mentee relationships are very rewarding personally and professionally.
• See statistics at http://www.mentornet.net/documents/about/results/evaluation, 
  http://www.mentornet.net/documents/about/experiences/Contest/ and http://www.mentornet.net/documents/about/results/0506stats.aspx.

• Know what you're looking for: Be specific about your needs, Research who can address those needs, Investigate how to best approach that person.
• If there is a support infrastructure that supports your organization, use it. Examples include Cadence's Women's Forums or Cisco's Women's Action Network grassroots programs, Sun's mentor-mentee matching program which matches you with one of 15 mentors you identified yourself, or EMC's list of tools and resources to help support the mentor-mentee relationship.
• Gender of the mentor is not as important as the goal/strategy for the relationship.
• Stretch your comfort zone about who would be a good mentor for you. Maybe working with someone with a different gender, ethnicity, role etc., would be more beneficial.
• Remove the word 'mentor' when approaching someone you're not comfortable with.
• Consider making 'situational' instead of a long-term relationships.

• Encourage the type of mentor-mentee relationship and community which supports empowerment as empowering one is empowering all.
• Help those in your group connect with resources and people within the organization as well as external associations and organizations like FountainBlue, ATW, GWLN for additional connections and resources.
• Create tools and resources to help people participating in mentoring program identify mentors, manage the logistics of the relationship, establish and revisit goals, measure results, build the mentorship relationship, sunset the relationship etc.,
• Be flexible about developing the program - mentors and mentees vary in their needs, so the focus is on how to help them communicate objectives up front, continue to develop the relationship, etc., not on enforcing a specific program to cover specific topics over a specific period of time.
• Create a mentoring circle so you can leverage the perspectives of many.
• Connect with others running mentor-mentee programs, both formal and informal/grassroots ones. Share ideas and resources.
• It helps to have an executive sponsor.
• Help people ensure a good ongoing mentor-mentee match. Continually evaluate and communicate the value of the relationship, how to address conflict, how to move on when the relationship is no longer working, etc.,

• Facilitator Michele Bolton, a founding partner of ExecutivEdge of Silicon Valley, LLC, http://www.executivedge.com, an executive development and management consulting firm. Michele is a former professor of management, having recently retired from nearly twenty years on the faculty of the College of Business at San Jose State University, having taught MBA courses in visionary leadership, strategic management, entrepreneurship, and team building. She is the author of The Third Shift: Managing Hard Choices in our Careers, Homes and Lives as Women.
• Panelist Jan Schlossberg manages the Hardware Product Standards team at Cisco System, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco employs more than 47,000 employees worldwide, 24% of whom are women, and frequently appears on Working Mother magazine's "100 Best Companies" list. Jan will share the joys and challenges of standardizing hardware innovations across 80 product families while raising young children in a dual-income family
• Panelist Jennifer Gill Roberts is currently a partner at Maven Ventures. Having served as a serial VC for high technology companies across the valley and beyond, Jennifer has helped a wide range of early- and later- stage start-ups with access to funding and consultation on their business strategies. Jennifer will share how she juggles the intense business demands while raising three children alongside her husband.
• Panelist Nivisha Mehta is currently the development director for South Asian Heart Center at El Camino Hospital http://www.southasianheartcenter.org/. Nivisha will share how she has successfully juggled her work interests in support of nonprofits across the region and her growing young family.
• Panelist Kristi Royse is currently President of KLR Consulting, http://www.klrconsulting.com a successful consulting practice focusing on team and organizational challenges for executives in the valley. Kristi will share how she successfully balances her business interests with that of her family.

Below is a Summary of Notes and Advice for your Creating a Work-Life Balance, drawn on the wisdom of our facilitators and participants. We also invite your comments on these notes.

• Set realistic goals about what you can accomplish, based on your resources and strengths and support networks and manage your activities based on those goals.
• Visualize success. Look forward, not backwards.
• Embrace the positives about yourself, don't focus on the negatives.
• If it's a goal worth achieving, focus on achieving that goal, even is it's harder than you thought it would be, and if it takes longer than you thought it would take.
• Be realistic and strategic about your standard for balance
• Define what you mean for balance in which areas (work, life, family, friends, etc.,) over what period of time (day, week, month)
• Define success for you
• Manage your activities and self-talk based on your defined standards
• Accept that you can't always keep all the balls in the air. One of them is going to drop. That's OK. Just pick it up once in a while and keep juggling.
• Being balanced is about being happy.
• Advice for professional women who chose to have a family
• If you have made a career choice, don't second-guess yourself if/when your children, for example, ask for more time from you.
• If you have young children and need to spend more time with them, considering finding a situation a work with the flexibility to do it.
• If you have chosen a high-pressure career which doesn't support raising a family, and you decide to do it, don't think too much about when a good time will be. Just do it and find a way to make it work afterwards.
• As business professionals, consider your opporutnities to volunteer and make sure that you can make a good impact which best utilizes your skills, acknowledges the needs of your children, and supports the organization.
• Tell your children why you are doing what they are doing. Share your work with them.
• Get your children invested in the success of your chosen career.
• Create an inspirational vision for your life and work, and strive toward achieving that
• Know yourself - your strengths, your passions. Focus on your strengths and build on them. Follow your passion. Enjoy what you do.
• Model your values in your work, in your life
• Live autentically, with curiousity, with passsion and with fun.
• Manage your energy so that you're happy, living the life you want.
• Delegate tasks, leverage resources for tasks that do not provide core value for people closest to you
• Leverage resources around you - family, hired help from gardener to babysitter to cook to handyman
• Build a support network to support yourself personally
• Continue the conversations with others
• Make time for your family and friends
• Work with your support network so that you can get personal time
• Enjoy each other. Take the time to communicate.
• Seek mentors. Learn from others.
• Dedicate time for your personal and physical health. Exercise can be a great stress-reducer for example.
• Do what you have to do to be successful at your chosen task. Enjoy doing it. It doesn't get any better than that!

• Michele's book is available at The Third Shift: Managing Hard Choices in Our Careers, Homes, and Lives as Women is available on Amazon.com
• For more information about Nivisha's organization, visit the South Asian Heart Center at El Camino Hospital http://www.southasianheartcenter.org/. The mission of center is to dramatically reduce the high incidence of coronary artery disease among South Asians, and save lives, through a comprehensive, culturally-appropriate program incorporating education, advanced screening, lifestyle changes, and case management. Join us in supporting this great cause by visiting http://www.southasianheartcenter.org/support/donatenow.html.

• Men and women from around the world life for under $2 a day
• There is a gender gap in entrepreneurship, over 1 in three entrepreneurs are women. Visit http://www.genconsortium.org for more information
• Women entrepreneurs are more likely to share their wealth and experience with their families and larger community.
• Where women are empowered, the country's general economy benefits

• Social entrepreneurship - innovative solutions for one of society's pressing problems coupled with action. Includes a model, an approach, a strategy for proliferation.
• Identify and support the many groups in the region and in the world support the cause of women entrepreneurship:
• Global Women Leadership Network: Whole Woman, Whole Leader, Whole World, http://www.gwln.org
• One World Children's Fund, http://www.owcf.org/
• Global Fund for Women http://www.globalfundforwomen.org
• Anita Borg Institute http://www.anitaborg.org/index.php
• E-mail us at info@FountainBlue.biz if you would like to join us in an ongoing effort to collaborate between technology companies in Silicon Valley in support of fostering women entrepreneurship in developing countries

Our Panelists for the July 14, 2006 "When She Speaks" event on "Empowering Others" were Sally Pera of PeraConnect http://wwwPeraConnect.com, Ysabel Duron of KRON http://www.kron.com, Cindy Padnos of Outlook Ventures, http://www.outlookventures.com. They offer the following advice:

• Follow You Heart
• Lead with Integrity
• Have Courage
• It's All In Your Attitude
• Keep Raising the Bar
• Leverage Your Strengths
• Persistence Pays
• Learn from Your Mistakes, Forgive Others for Theirs
• Collaboration is Key
• Celebrate Your Successes and Enjoy the Ride
• Sometimes you have to look the part, so do it
• "No" often means "maybe"—ask in a more compelling way
• Take 100% responsibility for your life—you are no one’s victim
• Practice the Law of Attraction to draw what you want into your life—see the film "The Secret" (www.thesecret.tv)

The notes above are copyrighted by FountainBlue in 2006-08 and all rights are reserved.

You have our permission to forward the link to this page to others, or to copy and send excerpts of the notes to others, provided that they are INTACT, and provided there is proper acknowledgement for our speakers and to FountainBlue.