Female Tech Exec

This episode is intentionally missing the podcast intro music. It's intended as a guided visualization for you to use to create powerful change in your career and life by feeling into the identity you're trying to become - whether an executive, a CEO or an entrepreneur.  The guided visualization starts with you picking a role model you'd like to emulate and practicing intentionally becoming them for a moment, in order to pick up how this person thinks.  

I couldn't think of a more uplifting story and episode to share with you before this Thanksgiving Holiday (and at an economically challenging time for many when it's easy to feel down) than this conversation with Sabrina Ruelle.  

I met Sabrina on a LinkedIn text message thread where she struck me with her thoughtful, well-articulated and insightful answers to my simple question: "What is the biggest challenge facing you in your career now?".  She sounded way wiser than her years and I knew I wanted to talk to her.  

It turns out Sabrina's story is a unique one.  She was placed in foster care at 12 years old when her mom had to battle addiction and she spent the next few years defying the expectation that she would underperform in the system.  After high school, the only college that would accept her was a community college but she didn't let that deter her either. 

She ended up getting her master's degree at Boston University, and today, at 32 years old, is a Senior Director of Program Marketing and Management with a healthcare device startup.  She's one of the best storytellers I've met and shows you what's possible when you choose career paths that follow your passion - healthcare for Sabrina, because of her mom's struggles.  

Tune in to hear Sabrina's inspirational story and to see what's possible when you are determined to put down roots, bloom and count your blessings in any environment.  

In this episode, I break down the trend that we're starting to see in tech - companies using creative "performance management" strategies to cut costs and people in order to avoid labeling them as layoffs and avoid paying severance.  These strategies also help companies shift the blame for a downward trend and buy time with investors, while you're left holding the blame bag.  

Tune in to this episode to find out:
1) How to recognize a "sneaky PIP (Performance Improvement Plan)" is coming,
2) Why most companies use sneaky PIPs during downturns to conceal layoffs and hiring freezes and buy time with investors,
3) How to proactively manage your situation in a way that saves you money and time.

Getting support during this time of your career is critical.  If you're interested in joining a confidential support group of female peers in tech who are affected by these trends, please indicate your interest by filling out a 1 minute confidential survey here: https://forms.gle/xvwfQV4SMLnLTQRV9

In this episode, I review the lessons learned from my most recent trip to Japan, where the environment is so calm and peaceful, it's easy to feel grounded and centered.  In our more hectic reality in tech in the Western world, I offer you three simple strategies for cultivating a calm and peaceful attitude - the most important advantage you can have in your career.

Tune in to learn how to:
1) Cultivate a presence practice,
2) Cultivate a straight spine,
3) Adopt the Rule of One

In this episode, I challenge an often-held belief that success is working hard at a job you hate in order to retire early and not work anymore. I talk about the example of the late Queen Elizabeth who was working into her mid-90s until 2 days before her death at 96.  

We examine the path of finding work you enjoy doing forever and how to use the little-used and little-understood concept of VALUES to accomplish the seemingly impossible feat.

In this episode, I discuss something that a lot of us tend to overlook but can destroy even the best thought-out career plans and roadmaps, and I show you how to effectively manage it. 

Join me for a conversation with Shyvee Shi, a PM at LinkedIn and a LinkedIn creator with over 50,000 followers, to understand how to create content successfully and grow your LinkedIn follow-ship while holding a full time job.  Join us in an information-packed interview to learn:

• What type of content should you create and how often,
• How to choose your topics and audience based on your career goals and objectives,
• Tools and strategies to sustain the pace of your content creation,
• Why daily or even weekly content production may not be for you and what you should do instead to be successful with a less frequent content schedule,
• How to apply to become a LinkedIn instructor,
• How to overcome any doubts and fears you may have about not having done it before, not being an expert, not being a native English speaker, having an accent, not being confident and other challenges you may face in becoming a content creator. 

Here are resource links generously shared by Shivee.  An accompanying LinkedIn newsletter article will be posted shortly. Subscribe to the newsletter HERE.  

• Shyvee's LinkedIn Learning course: Personal Productivity for Product Managers
• 10 steps to create a LinkedIn newsletter from the LinkedIn Learning team
• Creating LinkedIn Newsletters – a 21m course from Gemma Leigh Roberts, a popular instructor on all things emotional resilience and whose own LinkedIn newsletter has 500K+ subscribers —shares tips on how to create and publish newsletters on LinkedIn
• Apply to become a LinkedIn Learning instructor
• Creator Weekly newsletter published by LinkedIn's Editorial team to get a sense of trending topics
• A form to subscribe to receive emails about LinkedIn Trending Topics to write about to be featured (click "Yes" in the last question)

My conversation today is with the author of Adventures of Women in Tech: How We Got Here and Why We Stay - Alana Karen, a tech leader in Google and an articulate and successful woman in tech.  In her book, she interviews 80 women and traces their triumphs, challenges, fears and misconceptions about tech and what it takes to be successful in the field.

In my conversation with Alana, learn:
1) What she learned from talking to 80 women about whether the myth of "it's hard for women to be successful in tech" and the #metoo articles presented a true picture or not,
2) Her advice to her younger self starting out in tech,
3) The gifts and pitfalls of responsibility and loyalty for women in tech,
4) How to ask for what you need,
5) The 5 tools in Chapter 8 of her book that will help you transition through the most vulnerable part of the journey - your mid-career,
6) The questions to ask if you're convincing yourself to stay at a job "too long" and how to get unstuck,

And much more!

Alana Karen is an award-winning tech leader, author, and speaker whose work impacts many of our everyday lives. From Google Search to Ads, Fiber to Google Grants and beyond, Alana has been leading the charge to develop, scale, build and drive team and product development that has seen a rippling industry impact. Alana has spoken at conferences and summits on technology, leadership, DEI, talent and innovation. Her award-winning book, Adventures of Women in Tech: How We Got Here and Why We Stay, aggregates hundreds of stories on these topics as well. She lives with her three children, husband, two dogs, and a cat in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

More info and mailing list at:  www.adventuresofwomenintech.com

Connect or follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanakaren/

Dalia Ramos Guerra is the Head of Build and Test for the BWT Alpine Formula 1 team, one of the most successful teams in Formula 1.  She's also one of only 11% of females in the space and one of even fewer women in a management position.  In her role, she is responsible for the last part of the process before the championship cars are delivered to the track every weekend race. 

Dalia radiates a high degree of professionalism, combined with a refreshing curiosity and seeming fearlessness. She thrives on solving thorny problems. That's her job and it takes nerves of steel to do that at the round-the-clock pace that the role demands.

In my conversation with Dalia, we explore:
1) The drive to mastery and the secret ingredients behind her success,
2) The importance of childhood conditioning,
3) How she cultivates a trait that is shared among all top CEOs (and how you can too),
4) How to not believe people who may doubt you,
5) Finding the right culture that will support you and why that matters,

and much more!

You can connect with Dalia at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daliacarolinaramos/

In this episode, I talk about my experience working with the famed Prof. Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma" and "The Innovator's Solution" and one of the most influential business thinkers of the past 50 years according to Forbes.

In 2014 I had the privilege of collaborating with Prof. Christensen and 18 other people, including Heads of Innovation for major corporations, other Harvard professors and a few alumni of Prof. Christensen's class on his work on the "Capitalist's Dilemma".  It resulted in me being named a "community thought leader" in the Harvard Business Review in June 2014.

But more importantly, my interaction with Clay taught me a few valuable lessons beyond innovation, business and the theory of capital, including how to:
1) Lead and get the best out of people
2) Think in a disciplined way
3) Get amazing mentors who believe in you
4) Not get crushed by the pressures and expectations of your job

Tune in to listen to my lessons from working with this amazing person - the episode was recorded on what would have been his 70th birthday.

Books and resources:

-  The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M Christensen (NY Times Best-seller, 1997)
- The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M Christensen (2003)
- Seeing What’s Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change by Clayton M Christensen (2004)
- How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M Christensen (2012)
- The Capitalist's Dilemma by Clayton M Christensen and Derek van Bever + collaboration by Lisa Kostova and other alums (2014)
- Investor's Business Daily: Clayton Christensen's Thinking Revolutionized Innovation (2022)- - The Christensen Institute: https://www.christenseninstitute.org/