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Businesses thrive on technology, our day-to-day lives are shaped by technology and the world is ever-changing because of technology. Yesterday, we met some of the women who work behind this exciting industry at the inaugural everywoman in Technology Leadership Academy.
Held at the beautiful Cisco offices in Feltham, it was a day to hear from successful women working in the industry, learn about the opportunity that exists within the sector and allowed attendees to grow their confidence to excel as a leader in technology.
India Gary-Martin, Managing Director - Global COO, Investment Banking Technology & Operations of JPMorgan, provided the keynote address for the day. India, who never expected to end up in role such as hers, was personable, friendly and a character whom everyone in the audience could relate to, regardless of their level within the industry. Moving from New York to London, adopting two children and becoming Global COO of an international company have just been a few of her life highlights. Through all of these achievements however, she encouraged the audience to "know your personal boundaries" and to not compromise your values or yourself. She also emphasised the importance of "being yourself. Be who you are, and people around you will see something is great about you". Her work-life balance was incredible and clearly shows this was a key in her business success. She let the audience know that clearly someone saw something great in her, and that everyone in the audience had that in them too.
Following India was the panel session led by moderator Rebecca George OBE of Deliotte; with an introduction by Wendy Mars of Cisco. Rebecca was joined by Polly Burtinshaw from Cisco; Mandy Chessell from IBM; Sheila Flavell from FDM Group and Lyn Grobler from BP. The panel topic of how to navigate your path to success provided a great opportunity for attendees to ask direct questions to successful women working in the industry. Polly talked about the road blocks she has encountered in her career in sales and how to get past them, while Mandy stressed the importance of visibility within the company; sometimes a lack of visibility can cause one to not progress at the level they should be. Sheila encouraged everyone to pick an issue that was bothering them in their workplace and to make a change with it, and Lyn talked about how to make it easier for women entering into the IT industry. All agreed that women working in the industry should be committed to their jobs and assertive in their roles.
The lunch break offered some time for networking, before attendees began their afternoon masterclasses. ‘How to influence and communicate effectively in a male-dominated environment’ was hosted by Sara Parsons and covered how to make effective decisions, shift out of your comfort zone and stretch yourself in your career. She told the audience that you can’t influence others if you first don’t look at yourself – and the interactive tools she used made the masterclass that much more exciting. Kate Turner, who hosted ‘Learning to become a leader from within’ encouraged attendees to share the same views as their colleagues and to work hard to get their colleagues to share the same views as them. She expressed the importance of reinforcing to your team what you want people to demonstrate.
Closing off the day was the motivational session hosted by the vibrant Ros Taylor. Ros let everyone in the room know the perfect ingredients to create The Confidence Cocktail. Taking chances and challenging yourself were just some of the areas she wanted everyone in the room to focus on. She then went on to encourage everyone to think of four key words that explains them, and to use these words in the future to promote themselves.
Although a long day, the energy that came out of the attendees when the clock struck five was startling. The attendees’ enthusiasm showed that the day really did set out what it intended to do – it provided a great environment for women in technology to learn, grow and develop – something which is crucial in the industry.
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