#122 Women & tech transforming systems with Kelley Steven-Waiss

"You must really develop the muscle for resilience because you will need it"

Resilience is a key leadership ingredient in today's complex world, whether you are inside or outside an organisation, however, for women in the business world it is even more important. Kelley and I explore invaluable insights into navigating these 2 paths of intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship, especially for senior female leaders in tech.

Entrepreneurship requires resilience, resourcefulness, effective problem-solving, and a strong sense of self-belief. Women often face additional challenges, yet they can draw strength from perseverance and intentionally building and nourishing their support systems.

Kelley’s successful acquisition by ServiceNow exemplifies how AI skills can benefit companies globally, and we discussed the need to passionately advocate for women supporting one another, and helping other women rise daily. AI’s potential to enhance diversity and inclusion by focusing on skills rather than backgrounds is a crucial takeaway. Organisations must adapt to recognise diverse capabilities for equitable advancement.

Generative AI offers a promising future by enhancing human creativity and potential, urging us to align with core values for impactful change.

Kelley shares her own insights and learnings, and her vision for a future where women in tech are empowered, and innovation knows no bounds!

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Intrapreneurship is about developing and innovating from the inside - the pros are having an immediate lab, a captive customer, funding and resources, and speed of trust. The cons are having less time (due to the day job), encountering resistance to internal change, and only having the existing resources.

-      The cons of entrepreneurship are that it is scary, lonely and offers no safety (net) or support. It requires key skills from both personal and professional life, i.e. resilience; resourcefulness; vision; aggression; creative problem-solving; humility; an ability to listen, influence, and persuade; charisma; be an inspiration for customers, investors and employees; be well networked.

-      Overcoming multiple rejections and setbacks requires a strong belief in yourself and the project/purpose. Senior female leaders and tech founders do not generally receive validation or recognition from others so must be self-driven.

-      A female leader needs a personal ‘board of directors’, i.e. a group of people they trust, can be vulnerable with, and who can offer skills and advice. Women must help each other in the corporate environment through mentoring and opening doors (build networks by maintaining relationships, having a genuine interest in people, investing the requisite time and effort).

-      Women are socialised to find the win-win via empathy, sensitivity, and incorporating others’ needs – they sell a solution rather than a product, often addressing major problems in society, e.g. medical, social, or economic issues, motivated by the meaningful impact.

-      A frustration with the lack of software to solve HR problems was the reason for building a solution to transform the workforce using AI to make the invisible visible by removing bias and focusing solely on skills. This connects leaders with underrepresented categories and also fosters diversity and inclusion.

-      Transcending bias creates a more level playing field and counters systemic bias. Organisations must change rapidly but people have hidden skills and are boxed in by their roles. Generative AI is a gamechanger in that it can unleash human potential and creativity.

-      AI has gone from diagnostic to predictive to generative; the next step is a gentech AI – with bots completing tasks – and an opportunity to look at what is uniquely human, how we add value as humans in the loop, and how it can make us more creative/generative.

-      Resistance to AI will recede if we understand human motivation and the strategy/core values of the organisation, and are willing to address structure, governance, leadership and people and make the necessary changes.

-      The best approach to transformation is to create a guiding coalition within the organisation that is committed to the change, and then operationalise it. Build the energy first, find the right people and then use tech to extract the good.

-      Women can have it all but not all at once – the rallying cry is to never stop learning, look for a way to help a woman every day, and believe in themselves.

-      Vision for women in tech in 2030 – women being brave to change the world, being funded as male-led ventures are, and having more female innovators (either on the inside or outside).

Find out more about Kelley and her work here :

https://kelleystevenwaiss.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Girls-Lessons-Founders-Silicon/dp/B0CN2G9B97/ref=sr_1_1

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Gig-Boundaries-Unleashes-Organizational/dp/1928055605

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelleystevenwaiss/