SheTO Summit 2023 (pictures and highlights)

Summary

Friday the 13th may be considered spooky to some, but for roughly 200 of us, it was the day to attend the inaugural SheTO summit in the bay area.

Full details about the summit can be viewed at sheto.org/summit and you can see LinkedIn posts through the #SheTOSummit and #SheTOSummit2023 hashtags, and blogs that attendees write, such as this one.

Attendees state that the summit was inspiring, authentic, empowering, comforting, ignited, powerful, incredible, electrifying, relatable, electric, and more. I can confirm that goosebumps from the event lasted with me long after the event ended. I don't live in the bay area, so I traveled for this workshop.

Special thanks to my employer UtilityAPI , who weeks into my tenure said of course they'd pay for me to attend if I wanted to.

Most images are also links to more information, unless otherwise stated.

Also, I'm not a photographer, I don't even play one on tv. I'm mostly using images I captured at whatever angle and distance I took them from, or borrowed images from others.

Flyer and Schedule

Welcome

The welcome was given by Sushma (Sue) Nallapeta , who was the emcee and event guide.

During the welcome, she explained the plans for the day. Inbetween the rest of the events, she would give a highlight of the session that had ended, and transition to the upcoming session.

I've seen Sue moderate many SheTO events, yet was still unsurprisingly amazed at her skills that day.

Keynote: Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Nidhi Gupta shared her career path. Some highlights:

• She used discomfort at various stages in her career to advance. She didn't wait for that knock or tap on the shoulder.
• For opportunities that did come along, she didn't wait to be 'perfect'. She went for them anyways.
• All of that experience, she is now using as the CEO and founder of SheTO .
• To create opportunities for ourselves, we should raise our hand, remember there's no such thing as perfection, be fearless, and always always be uncomfortable.

Panel: Scaling Leadership for Success and Impact

Panel: Claire Hough , Michael Lopp , Hassan M. Sharif

Moderator: Bavyaa Vasudevan

Some highlights:

• When thinking about scaling, the words that the panel shared were people, passion, and alignment.
• Change is constant, yet we all fear it.
• Culture is created by leadership and what they do for employees. It's about behavior and setting examples.
• It is important to align passion with objectives, have a shared vision, and collaborate.
• Happy people perform better. Happy leaders lead to happy teams.
• Especially with startups, scaling leads to shifting, and it's important to identify the inflection points and how to handle them.
• Biggest takeaway - Delegation: Give responsibility, accountability and power to others.

Panel: New Gold Rush: Prospects in GenAI & Tech Evolution

Panel: Yousuf Khan , Priti Youssef Choksi , Amy Cheetham

Moderator: Lizzie Matusov

This discussion was mostly about how AI has shaped investments, from an investor's point of view.

Some highlights:

• There are a lot of good products / businesses coming out of the AI gold rush, but what Venture Capitalists (VCs) care about is whether it's a good business.
• Eventually, AI may be so ubiquitous that you don't ask companies if they use AI similar to the way we no longer ask companies if they are a mobile company. Existing companies are using AI to improve internal processes. And there are industries (including healthcare and cybersecurity) where AI can have a big impact.
• Some of the most interesting apps in the App store came 2-3 years later, so we might see similar things with the AI gold rush.
• There has been a platform shift since last year, and platform shifts can also lead to more companies solving tangential problems, similar to how the cloud led to companies handling cloud costs or cloud security.
• There is still a big deficit on AI skills, so VCs want to know how companies are solving for that.
• Investments are flowing. The panel provided some examples of companies they are investing in.
• Panel also talked about diversity in investments.

Keynote: Leadership Evolution: Path from from Engineering Leader to GM

Keynote by Meg Bear

Some highlights:

• Purpose: Meg encouraged us to understand our unique strengths and values, and reminded us that the world needs our gifts, so not to play small.
• Growth: Meg reminded us to build the skills we need for our future selves.
• Squad: Meg reminded us to build and use our squad of advisors and support.
• Imposter syndrome: This imposter syndrome slide is so good! Ignore the empty bullet item after the image - LinkedIn wouldn't let me me remove it :shrug:

Panel: GenAI on the Horizon: Prospects and Pitfalls

Panel: Surbhi Kaul , Maria A. , Ashish Thusoo

Moderator: Lakshmi Baskaran

Some highlights:

• The panel discussed whether customers were ready to use Generative AI in products.
• We also discussed concerns such as data privacy, and how reliable Generative AI is.
• More highlights on Jessica's blog.

Fireside Chat: Building your Sphere of Influence

Guest: Kirthiga Reddy

Moderator: Monica Bajaj , who has a blog about Sphere of Influence

Some highlights:

• There is a difference between Authority and Influence. ”Authority is the power to dictate, but influence is the ability to inspire”.
• Kirthiga encouraged us to not be hesitant to be first, and discussed how she has had many "firsts" in her life.
• Influence and Authority are not taboo topics. It goes beyond jobs and how you make others feel.
• Skills needed to influence are to (a) Do great work (b) Focus on success of your clients, your organization, and your team. Your success is a byproduct of that. (c) Job descriptions are irrelevant, do what needs to be done.
• Remember that careers are not linear. Do what drives you. Live your life. Take career breaks if needed.
• Remember the 5 Cs: Credibility is your currency, Communication is your catalyst, Connections are your conduit, Collaboration is your symphony, and Consistency is your amplifier.

Roundtables: Build Your Personal Boardroom

For this session, we broke out into groups that the organizers had pre-arranged, and we chatted with each other about the questions below, so we could determine who among the group could help.

Which reminds, me I need to follow up with this group.

Panel: Influencing Product Strategy as Engineering Leaders

Panel: Rukmini Reddy , Sujata Kosalge

Moderator: Madhuri Dhulipala

Some highlights:

• Goal is for engineering leaders and product leaders to row in the same direction.
• If you're a new engineering leader to the company, first 90 days are about listening so you know how to be the best engineering partner.
• To influence after the first 90 days, remember that there are no quick paths and it's about pattern-matching. The principles and framework to keep in mind are about having a shared view of reality, a shared success, and transparency and authenticity.
• In some orgs, Engineering leaders, Product Leaders, and Technical Project Managers (TPMs) often work together. They should be one team with shared goals, respect each other, and use data for decision making. Trust is the foundation.
• It's best to gather facts and options. Try to get consensus, but sometimes someone has to make a decision.
• Three pieces of advice at the end: (a) Our magic wand is to understand the product. When possible, using the product ourselves helps with that. (b) Understand the person, and their currency/motivator. (c) People want to ignore the elephant in the room. Instead it's helpful to "hug the elephant". In one org they have weekly meetings to hug the elephant and that helps unblock issues.

Community:Your Gateway To Success

Monica Bajaj moderated this session, and emphasized that community is the alchemy that transforms.

She had three people come talk about their experiences within SheTO.

Shivali S. talked about the impact the Management Accelerator had on her. I've heard this from others, and I myself attended a Leadership Accelerator in 2022 as well as some events from the ExpHert Series.

Avital Arora , who I've had the pleasure of being on a panel with in the past, talked about 2 things:

1. The CTO club (a private channel within the larger SheTO community) and how it’s helped build a strong network and community of senior leaders to exchange ideas with.
2. Why we should all lean in as much as we can. Sometimes we have a lot on our plates and also need to lean back. SheTO has allowed her to do that - lurk all the time and participate when I can with no pressure. "It’s a rare one!" she says.

(In the first version of this blog, I said she talked about the value of mentoring. Error on my part as I didn't take notes then since I was about to go up right after her.)

Olubunmi 'Boomie' Odumade (oh wait, that's me!) talked about the support this the community provided during the 2023 job search. She (I mean I!) mentioned that a bunch of times in a blog about experiences during the 2023 job search.

Nidhi Gupta reminded us at the end do not do it alone. Build that community - even if it's not SheTO .

Workshop: Self Advocacy

Marni Heinz , as part of the #IAmRemarkable movement, facilitated some group exercises, along with assistance from Anastasia L and Tanvi Desai .

Some highlights:

• Be an advocate. We can all help each other recognize achievements and encourage self-promotion: (a) Attribute ideas correctly (b) Acknowledge achievements (c) Seek to understand (d) Examine your biases
• We were encouraged to do some follow-up exercises (a) Track achievements weekly (b) Get a group together for remarkable Wednesdays (c) Practice and act (d) Set a stretch goal by sharing accomplishments with people we normally wouldn't share them with.

Workshop: Executive Workshop

This workshop was in two parts listed below. Because I haven't figured out cloning, I was unable to attend either of these. Never fear though, you're in luck because Jessica has a nice summary in her blog.

(1) Unlocking Your First Advisory, Board Opportunity

Panelists: Coco Brown , Caroline Tsay , Yousuf Khan

Moderator: Nandini Easwar

(2) Navigating the Path to VP/CTO and Demystifying Executive Compensation

Panelists: Amy Reichanadter , Sam Wholley , Sushma (Sue) Nallapeta

Moderator: Nidhi Gupta

Overall Event: Highlights

It's hard to believe that this was the first summit. It was so well organized. I'm not usually a person who cares about swag, but the swag was very nice. There was a bingo game that was fun though I barely used my stickers cause I was so busy running to hug people I've been wanting to meet IRL (thankfully, I didn't run over anyone while running).

I mean, I caught a red-eye after the event and had kiddo's birthday party the next day sleep-deprived, and I would 1000000% do it again. :-)

Thank You

Thanks to the Organizing Crew!

Thanks to the organizing crew. When people thank Nidhi Gupta , she passes those thanks on to Monica Bajaj , Madhu Vohra and her co-founder Heather Broome .

Thanks to the Volunteers!

Thanks to the volunteers. From left to right: Kanchana Padmanabhan , Saskia Hoffmann , Shweta Behere , Lakshmi Baskaran (yay that we've now met twice), Nandini Easwar , Wen Hsu, PCC (yay that we've now met twice, let's make it three), Shriya Vohra , Dipti Shiralkar , Lizzie Matusov , and Anagha Todalbagi .

Thanks to our sponsors and partners!

Other Blogs About Event

• Event Review: SheTO Summit 2023 by Jessica Fritsch
• This family created ... Magic! by Nidhi Gupta
• Navratri: A Prelude to Empowerment and Celebration by Mamta Suri
• Three compelling ways the SheTO Summit stood out by Shine Garg

You can also search LinkedIn for #SheTOSummit and #SheTOSummit2023 for other blogs and posts.

Until next year.