Being in the Presence of Women and Technology for a Weekend

A week and a half ago, I had the unique opportunity to attend two separate events that centered around women, technology and opportunities in the workplace. The first celebrated the exemplified accomplishments of Cathy Engelbert, Chief Executive Office of Deloitte, at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management Annual Executive of the Year Luncheon. The second event brought together women specializing in risk, technology and information security at the 4th Annual Women in Cybersecurity (WiCys) conference.

This was the first time in my professional career that I participated in events that focused on celebrating the advancement of women in technology and the workplace. Why had I not participated in this type of women-focused professional events prior? That is a good question and one I mull over. Perhaps it was the fact that I was a young post-college grad working hard to “make it” in Los Angeles and kept on working. Perhaps it was that I did not actively realize the presence of such groups and initiatives that are dedicated to the advancement of women in the workplace. The circumstances of the past weekend might have been happenstance but lead to a revelation, a “wake-up” call so to speak, that I will carry with me going forward as a professional women in a digitizing workplace: the impactful presence of women in technology is shifting how economies operate and businesses flourish. We, as women need to learn from this, embrace this and foster this movement. From this revelation, I recognize my present and potential impact as a professional woman.

As Cathy Engelbert spoke to the audience when she accepted the Executive of the Year awad from the Eller College of Management, she reminded everyone of their impact and the journey to self worth. As I spoke to different recruiters and participants at the Women in Cybersecurity conference, the women spoke their passion for making a difference, not only in the workplace but for other young women and men aspiring to lead careers in the technology field. Despite each event having its own mission and purpose, both events shared a few core values that resonated deeply with their respective audiences, including myself:

1. Be Bold. Be Confident: Advancement and growth in business in challenging, daunting and even at times, frightening. You know more than you think so be confident in your abilities. If you want to do something, do not be afraid. Raise your hand and take on the challenge. Improvement is derived from embracing the discomfort, practicing skill-sets and believing that you can and will accomplish the task at hand.
2. Do Not Apologize for Being You: As stereotypical as it sounds, it still holds true - life is not perfect. You will not please everyone and you will not do everything perfectly. Sometimes, you will receive harsh and sometimes, unjustified, criticism. That does not mean, however, you have to apologize for who you are, how you did something or what you did. You are you. Be open to determining “what is missing” in a situation or conflict. Find the balance. Improve on the circumstances and move on to greater things. Never apologize.
3. Keep Learning - as Cathy Engelbert termed it, “Never graduate.” As the world grows and markets expand, there is always something new to learn, particularly in the exponentially growing field of technology. Someone will always know more than you. Leverage these connections and learn even more that you can apply in the future. The world’s a pretty fascinating place. Let’s go learn about it.
4. Perfect the Small Things and the Big Things will Fall into Line: This line of thought goes hand-in-hand with how to make impossible tasks possible. Break down the issue into smaller tasks and work through them. Perfect these small tasks, the “small things” so to speak and those big, sometimes “impossible” things will fall into line.
5. Do Not Fear Failure: We naturally yearn to succeed and improve our conditions. Such a need to succeed sometimes sways us, including myself, to choose the proven path of success but what is success in today’s evolving world? Money? Power? Notoriety? I fear sometimes that I will not know enough to complete a job or do a job, hence why I strive to continue to learn but it’s a vicious cycle of learning, improvement and then potentially, with confidence...doing. But sometimes, people, like myself, just have to suck up the courage and take the plunge, so to speak. If we fail, we learn and then apply those lessons learned to future endeavours of success.

I’ve read numerous articles, videos and social media that continuously echo the aforementioned sentiments, mentally noting “yeah, yeah...isn’t that obvious?” Opportunities come and go. Some I seized, others I retrospectively realize, I did not grasp as I did not have the confidence. I’ve apologized to a new client for the way I normally managed project development. I’ve focused too much on larger-than-life obstacles, only to recognize a second too late that such an obstacle was in fact possible if I broken down the obstacle into its smaller, more manageable bits. These mantras can apply to women and men alike. For personal or professional growth. It’s moments like this that we should seize, realize and embody for future so don’t be afraid to fail, speak up and confidently take on the world.