Friday, February 20, 2015

WOMAN CEO SPECIAL................ "THINGS ARE AS HARD FOR WOMEN AS THEY WERE 25 YEARS AGO"

"THINGS ARE AS HARD FOR WOMEN AS THEY WERE 25 YEARS AGO"


Intel's President Renée James on why the global IT industry needs more women and what the company is doing about it 

Intel began 2015 on a good note. The Santa Clara-based tech giant reported record revenues for 2014, introduced Curie (a button sized module that can be used in accessories like glasses, rings, bracelets) at tech fair CES and also committed $300 million towards workforce diversity. The company hopes to increase the population of women, African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities by at least 14% in the next five years. Diversity, however, is a global area of focus for Intel. Leading the charge on this front is Intel President Renée James who has been with the company for 27 years and is a regular on women power lists. In an hour long chat with Corporate Dossier in Delhi, James spoke about why the IT industry needs more women in its workforce, how that can happen and took a shot at that tough question: “Can women have it all?“ Edited excerpts:
Corporate Dossier: Intel began 2015 by committing $300 million towards increasing workforce diversity. What made the company think of making a commitment like this?
Renee James: We've been working on diversity for a long time now. We've had a decade long program. In the US, some companies publish their data and others don't. We've always done it. But in ten years of working on it -asking our managers to make our workforce diverse and inclusive -we've not made as much progress. We've stayed flat over a decade. So, we decided to do two things. One, we will continue our efforts and do a better job -improve on the things we had tried so far. Two, we decided to go public, so that other companies in the IT industry, worldwide, would begin to work on this issue. Broadly, we have a couple of problems. The IT industry is driven by consumer demand. And more than half the consumers are women and 70% of purchase decisions are made by women. If you don't have women working for you, you really don't know what the people who are buying from you really want. We also need to broaden the pipeline of women who are getting educated and who are trained for IT jobs -and that's beyond Intel. We need the community of IT companies and governments around the world to focus on this.
CD: Do you see facets of this programme extending to India?
RJ: Absolutely. We are already doing a lot of education and training for girls in India, which will continue. We also have technical leadership programmes for women because we have a large R&D site in India. We are also looking at investing in women owned startup companies, which is something we haven't done before. We will be doing this worldwide through Intel Capital.
CD: You started your career at Intel 25 years ago. Have things changed a lot for the better for women since then?
RJ: I would like to tell you that things have changed a lot in the last 25 years but that would be a lie. It's as difficult today for a woman in tech to progress in her career as it was 25 years ago. In some ways it is harder.The business has got bigger; it's a force in the world of growth. In many countries, IT is a pillar of growth and attracts a lot more competitive talent. Plus, there aren't more women coming out of engineering on a percentage basis for the top jobs. CD: In India, about 30% of the IT workforce is women. Yet, only a handful of them are CXOs. Research shows that women tend to drop out of the workforce after marriage and childbirth. Are they any lessons from the West that we can replicate in India to address this?
RJ:The data is exactly the same in the West.Here's the thing: they are not leaving because they got married or they are having babies. They are leaving because it is a convenient time to get out because they can't stand it anymore. And, they don't come back. We have had post exit interviews with women who left to have a family. When we spoke to them at length, they would say: `I am back at work. But, I am working at a non-IT industry.' They go to industries which are more supportive of their lifestyle. First, you have to attract them and then, retain them. And then, there is an environment issue where women get to a certain level and don't promoted further. And that's the thing that we are going to work on: what's keeping women from being promoted?
CD: How do you address that issue?
RJ: It's hard. It's a cultural issue. What we are doing now is having listening sessions with managers and employees about is really going on. It's really scary for some of these women to come and talk about what's going on in their workgroup. We find most of the senior managers are men and that starts to create a dynamic. So, we are training our managers. We are restarting our trainings on inclusion and diversity and micro-inequity sensitivity. It was something we used to do but stopped, for some reason. Part of the reason why we are going public with these issues is that if we don't talk about it, it's never going to change. In this industry, there are days when I can go on meetings and not meet a woman through the day. (sighs)
CD: Facebook and Apple are talking about covering the costs of their female employees freezing their eggs, so that they can continue to focus on their career without sacrificing their chance of having children later. Would Intel would look at that?
RJ: We have a lot of wonderful benefits like maternity benefits. We have recently announced bonding leaves for all our employees ­ male and female ­ so that they can spend time with their newborns. Even though we support IVF treatments, paying for freezing eggs isn't something we have looked at so far.
CD: There has been a public debate among women CEOs about: “can women have it all?“What's your take?
RJ: Having it all means different things to different people. I think it's an individual choice. Nothing is perfect. Everyone makes sacrifices. For me, it's worked out well. I have children. I have a very interesting career. But it's not for everybody. Not everybody wants be texting their 15-year-old asking how his maths tutor was. They would rather be home looking at how the maths tutor was today. But it is what it is. I think technology has made it easier.I have FaceTime and I can text my kid. He emails me his paper and at times, I look at it and wish I was there (laughs).Technology is not the same as being there but it's a lot better than nothing.
CD: What is your advice to women who want to move up the corporate ladder?
RJ: Develop resilience and be brave. There are days when it is very discouraging. You have to develop personal resilience to environmental things that come along.If you let every single environmental challenge knock you off your game, it's going to be very, very hard. You see a lot of women who take the negative things that come their way and let it slide off them, like they are coated with Teflon.
CD: In your early days at Intel, you were a technical assistant with the legendary Andy Grove, your mentor. How important is it to find a mentor?
RJ: Mentorship is crucial. One of the reasons I have been successful is because of my mentor. He is still my mentor. I still go to his office and he tells me how much personal improvement I need. That said he was a very success ful man and he never let me get away with saying: `because I am woman.' I think finding role models, irrespective of gender, is really important.Andy is a unique person with a unique worldview that shaped Intel. He was the COO of Intel for 18 years and CEO for a long time. He is very egalitarian and that's at the core of how Intel thinks about things.
CD: What would be your ad vice to companies who look at diversity as just another check box to tick?
RJ: There is a huge business case for diversity. You will be making products for people you don't understand, you don't interact with. If you don't have an inclusive, diverse works you myopic. As for the compa force, it makes you myopic. As for the companies who approach hiring women as ticking a checkbox ...part of me says,`fine, so be it.' But, those women are in the company and nothing stops those women from being successful, from making an impact. Once they are through the door, they are in--however they got there. So, I would encourage women ­ even if they think they are in the company to check a box ­ to do something. Don't stand still, don't be a victim, do something.
By TV Mahalingam  CDET13FEB15




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