You Can't Fix What You Can't See Podcast

Fiona Blakesley, is the Director of PCG Customer Success and she also heads up the Intuit Women’s Network. In this interview she shares the three pillars on which the Women’s network stands and how those pillars build trust. Their leaders often use a journey line to introduce themselves to new teams. It makes the introduction more personal and allows people to see a more comprehensive view of a person. Fiona shares how one of her peers created a safe place to unwind called the Cozy Corner. We even take a trip to India while Fiona shares the amazing things Intuit’s doing in India with their Girl Child Project. We land back in Texas with the fun-est event, a trip to the Texas Conference for Women. You’ll see a theme develop as Fiona shares her stories, it’s in sharing experiences and working together that build the strongest bonds of trust. And that feeling of trust means, you belong, you’re valued, you are part of the team. And that’s the power of networks.

Scott Beth, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer of Intuit, started his career in finance and procurement but says this position is the best job of his life. In this interview Scott shares some interesting research. 61% of people hide some part of themselves from those they work with and it takes a tremendous toll in terms of energy and time. Scott notes that straight white men are not immune, 45% of them report “Covering” at work too. This is one of the human impacts of not being inclusive and it is a huge drain on people and productivity. Intuit has an interesting innovation model and he applied it to the Diversity and Inclusion role when he stepped into it allowing him to partner company statistics with real stories of people’s experience.  Intuit leadership team sets the “Tone at the Top,” with monthly metric reviews of where they stand. 1/3 of the Board of Directors, 1/3 of the executives, and 1/2 of the CEOs staff are women. Their percentage of women technologists has risen to 30% during Scott’s tenure.

Tracy Stone, the Global Leader of Tech Women @ Intuit, has an enviable job. She is responsible for an organization whose sole purpose is to attract, recruit, train, and advance women technologists. Note that this is not her “side” job in addition to her day job. Her strategic organization reports into the Chief Technology Officer. They have already accomplished a lot including pay equity for women on a world-wide basis. Tracy’s organization also runs their 500 person strong mentoring program, a returnship program which was started in India then transported back to the US. They encourage their women technologists to grow and last year had more than 15 speakers at the Grace Hoper Conference. To ensure the Tech pipeline stays full, they team up with Girls Who Code and host a summer immersion program to expose high school girls to tech and inspire them to pursue STEM careers. They are not stopping there, either. They are partners with NCWIT to understand the ties between influence and innovation. They are trying to understand how influence impacts innovation in companies and what can be done to ensure that all employees get heard and influence the direction of innovation.  

Lori Siegerman, Intuit’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Leader discusses how their Inclusive Leadership Model was created and what kind of results they are reaping. She goes on to talk about how their survey data gets used to identify areas of improvement and how it is changing a bit to get more granular data to guide future programs. Intuit has added several programs to help employees cope with the changes resulting from the pandemic. Some are as simple as shifting norms a bit while others have added extra benefits to help families. The goal, of course, is to help their employees so they don’t have to act like they are trying to do it all, while feeling like they are failing at everything.

Wrapping up this series with a summary of the actions SageGlass put in place to get them from 7 to 33% women in their professional ranks, 0 to 41% in their management ranks, and 0 to 25% in their senior leadership team. Their journey has been going on for 7 years, and it continues to be very fruitful. You’ll hear again from the CEO, Alan McLenaghan, sharing his philosophy on the differing perspectives of men and women. We come back again to the importance of trust as I share some of the highlights of my interviews with his team. Alan touches on COVID, the changes in the workplace, and more importantly the changes the leadership team should consider and how important it is for everyone to keep in touch with employees.

SageGlass wanted a vibrant Women’s Network. Chuck Hayes, VP of HR (and everything else), shares his story of trying unsuccessfully to get one started. It’s a fascinating story and one the that lead to much learning. We share these ‘real’ stories, so other organizations may not have to “pay the dumb tax,” as Chuck calls it. One of the most important lessons was “You’ve got to do the journey”. And the second times a charm, and Sage now has a Women’s Network. Listen to how, after one simple act; the network, now networks for the company. “This was a dividend I certainly didn’t expect to get. There are a lot of subtle nuances in this lively conversation. At one-point Chuck reiterates how important it is for us to pay attention when something doesn’t feel right. Many times, something is going on, and it is better to address it immediately rather then ignore the cognitive dissonance. He also shares how the Women’s Network helped him to create one of the best parental leave policies. For Chuck, “It’s about creating a culture that allows people to be their authentic selves and to be excellent in all the areas of their lives.”

Monique Salas has only been a with SageGlass for a year. Yet, she was able to spearhead the effort to create a new healthcare vertical for a company with an alternative product with a slew of hidden benefits. That, by itself would be enough for most, but Monique had to take it one step further. She was also able to turn her first healthcare contract into a portfolio deal including both the SageGlass product as well as other sustainable construction components from their parent company, Saint Gobain.  How’d she do this? “First, you’ve got to organize so the team can win,” according to Monique. “We started with a great culture and people that were open to collaboration. Then we had a management team that knew they needed to get out of the way and let us run, while waiting in the wings to see what else might be needed.” Plowing new ground is never easy, but Monique believes that all challenges are opportunities for self-evaluation and she believes that we should be asking ourselves, “What kind of society do we want to create for ourselves?” 

Chuck Hayes, VP of Everything Else at SageGlass a Saint-Gobain company, shares the journey and motivation that led this startup company to drive for gender equity. It was simple, according to Chuck, “We needed the BEST People!” SageGlass is a STEM business with a high-tech manufactured product and they have gone from 7% to 33% women in 7 short years. An incredible leap for a high-tech startup company that was also acquired and is powered by Saint Gobain. In this session, Chuck discusses the drivers, the implementation, and the actions they have taken. It is an amazing story with some phenomenal results. One of their groups, an R&D organization was able to achieve gender parity! And what’s more, this group is delivering some serious innovation results. In 2019 they exceeded the number of patents they filed in the previous year. And, get this, they are already on track to exceed the 2019 results in 2020, in spite of the corona virus!

Perhaps one of the most amazing results came when they unleashed their R&D leader into an executive role and asked her to take the lead on their Covid-19 planning. She made a most amazing discovery, that will, no doubt, be putting them ahead of their competition. It may indeed be greatly beneficial to you as well!

Starting with the company as an Intern, Priya Paul found compelling reasons to return upon graduation. One was the obvious effort SageGlass was putting into diversity and, of course, how that was reflected in the culture. She speaks swimmingly of their Women’s network and the opportunities this brought for growth and development. Trust emerged as another key aspect of the culture and it goes two ways. “They trust me, and that belief in me, makes a huge difference,” says Priya. At the same time, they have built trust with me through transparency, creating personal development plans, and being connected with the leadership team.  Priya speaks about a couple of the development opportunities she was offered and what that meant to her. Imagine standing in the new concourse D at the Nashville Airport, an area that used to only exist on a blueprint, and know that you responsible for bringing it to life. Talk about job satisfaction!

CEO Alan McLenaghan shares not only his philosophy on women in business but also how his life experiences delivered him to this place. You will hear how he sought out one of his executives, knowing that she could help take the company to the next level (You got to hear her side of the story in the previous episode).  Alan openly discusses how he prioritizes and spends most of his time focusing on his people. That, of course, includes recruiting and you will get to hear his stance on making sure to look at what pools you “fish in” for your talent. The foundation of the culture starts with the values the company is striving toward. He responds to the question, “How do you support your women,” and spends some time on women’s self-beliefs and what actions he takes to support them. Alan even shares how he interfaces with his leadership team and the focus he takes in his one-on-one meetings. This is a delightfully refreshing interview, packed with the fundamentals that are embedded in the SageGlass culture.