WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.335 --> 00:00:05.672 There is a fact today, which is that 2 00:00:05.672 --> 00:00:10.051 there are less women in tech than men. 3 00:00:10.051 --> 00:00:15.056 And this can become, some days, a belief for some people 4 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:19.227 that it's going to be very hard 5 00:00:19.227 --> 00:00:23.857 to get women in tech because there are less trained women 6 00:00:23.857 --> 00:00:25.900 for the tech companies. 7 00:00:25.900 --> 00:00:28.361 Actually, I would challenge that belief. 8 00:00:28.361 --> 00:00:33.366 When you look at the users using tech, 50% are women. 9 00:00:33.491 --> 00:00:37.245 You do represent 50% of the users of tech. 10 00:00:38.413 --> 00:00:40.415 And I think that just thinking about it 11 00:00:41.916 --> 00:00:45.754 increases the relevancy of how we sell tech, 12 00:00:45.754 --> 00:00:48.590 how we teach tech, how we 13 00:00:48.590 --> 00:00:50.592 think about the product. 14 00:00:52.385 --> 00:00:55.972 Women have a big, big role to play there, 15 00:00:55.972 --> 00:00:58.141 in making tech more relevant 16 00:00:58.141 --> 00:00:59.934 for the users and for the world. 17 00:01:03.063 --> 00:01:05.523 What is important to me is that women don't think 18 00:01:05.523 --> 00:01:07.317 they have limitations. 19 00:01:07.317 --> 00:01:09.778 I used to think that I'm not part of the big table. 20 00:01:09.778 --> 00:01:12.447 If I go to a big meeting, if there was a lateral 21 00:01:12.447 --> 00:01:15.158 set of chairs, I would always sit on the side. 22 00:01:15.158 --> 00:01:17.577 And I remember once, I was going to a meeting 23 00:01:17.577 --> 00:01:20.080 where we were 14 men and myself. 24 00:01:20.080 --> 00:01:21.664 And I was a bit nervous about that. 25 00:01:21.664 --> 00:01:24.751 So, I asked advice to mentors, now for me. 26 00:01:24.751 --> 00:01:25.877 I said, "I'm going to a meeting, 27 00:01:25.877 --> 00:01:29.339 I'm new to engineering, I'll be sitting with 15 men 28 00:01:29.339 --> 00:01:32.801 in a room, and they all said, “Make sure you talk, 29 00:01:32.801 --> 00:01:33.802 and you keep talking. 30 00:01:33.802 --> 00:01:36.805 Make sure you interrupt, you get your voice in. 31 00:01:36.805 --> 00:01:38.223 And when you're making your point, 32 00:01:38.223 --> 00:01:40.058 make sure you finish and you complete it." 33 00:01:40.058 --> 00:01:43.269 And I started behaving more vocal, and probably gaining 34 00:01:43.269 --> 00:01:46.106 some of the self-confidence that I didn't have when I was younger. 35 00:01:49.442 --> 00:01:51.945 When I was younger and I would walk into a room, 36 00:01:51.945 --> 00:01:54.322 and be the only woman, 37 00:01:54.322 --> 00:01:55.949 I would try to 38 00:01:55.949 --> 00:01:57.826 not stand out. 39 00:01:57.826 --> 00:02:02.122 I would not ask questions, I would sit to the side. 40 00:02:02.122 --> 00:02:04.165 I would observe. 41 00:02:04.165 --> 00:02:06.960 Looking around the classroom, I saw very few women, 42 00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:10.004 I saw very few people who hadn't been programming 43 00:02:10.004 --> 00:02:13.216 since they were 12 years old, and I sort of chickened out, 44 00:02:13.216 --> 00:02:16.636 and I thought to myself, well, it's probably 45 00:02:16.636 --> 00:02:18.263 gonna be too much of an uphill battle. 46 00:02:18.263 --> 00:02:20.849 And I should stick to something where 47 00:02:20.849 --> 00:02:24.144 there's more likelihood of people like me making it. 48 00:02:24.144 --> 00:02:28.022 And so, I switched to economics and management. 49 00:02:28.022 --> 00:02:33.027 And then when I joined BCG, I was exposed to experiences 50 00:02:33.027 --> 00:02:36.656 that allowed me to experiment in a safe space 51 00:02:36.656 --> 00:02:40.076 with technical topics, and actually allow me 52 00:02:40.076 --> 00:02:43.580 to build that confidence around people 53 00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:45.540 in a technology function. 54 00:02:45.540 --> 00:02:49.294 Like the leader actually of our global IT practices, 55 00:02:49.294 --> 00:02:51.129 as it was called at the time, 56 00:02:51.129 --> 00:02:54.841 said to me, "You really would be great 57 00:02:54.841 --> 00:02:57.260 to be in our technology practice." 58 00:02:57.260 --> 00:02:59.012 And I thought, yeah, but I don't have a degree 59 00:02:59.012 --> 00:02:59.971 in computer science. 60 00:02:59.971 --> 00:03:03.266 So, am I really eligible for that? 61 00:03:03.266 --> 00:03:06.269 And that was, I think an aha moment for me to say 62 00:03:06.269 --> 00:03:09.898 you don't need to have a degree in a technical topic, 63 00:03:09.898 --> 00:03:12.233 but building that expertise, building that 64 00:03:12.233 --> 00:03:14.068 experience base over the course 65 00:03:14.068 --> 00:03:16.863 of my professional career would be kind of 66 00:03:16.863 --> 00:03:18.615 enough to form a basis. 67 00:03:18.615 --> 00:03:23.620 I think now, walking into a room where I'm the only woman, 68 00:03:24.370 --> 00:03:28.291 I actually feel like it's my duty to stand out 69 00:03:28.291 --> 00:03:29.125 in a way. 70 00:03:29.125 --> 00:03:32.003 And to be the curious person, to ask questions, 71 00:03:32.003 --> 00:03:35.632 to convey that I have an opinion that matters. 72 00:03:35.632 --> 00:03:38.301 And the reason that I want to be more visible 73 00:03:38.301 --> 00:03:41.763 is not for myself, but for the fact that I know 74 00:03:41.763 --> 00:03:44.098 that my contributions might inspire, 75 00:03:44.098 --> 00:03:47.810 and might be something that just twigs in the back of 76 00:03:47.810 --> 00:03:49.771 another woman's mind who wasn't in the room, 77 00:03:49.771 --> 00:03:51.105 that they should have been there, 78 00:03:51.105 --> 00:03:52.440 or that they could have been there. 79 00:03:52.440 --> 00:03:55.735 It's about making technology as inclusive 80 00:03:55.735 --> 00:03:57.779 for the widest amount of people. 81 00:03:57.779 --> 00:04:01.991 Having a diverse leadership team is as important 82 00:04:01.991 --> 00:04:05.245 as having a strong and growing business model.