硅谷面临的主要挑战

苏珊·巴恩斯76年
太平洋生物科学公司执行副总裁/首席财务官

I’m in the biotech side now, and among the biologists, biochemists, and entomologists, women Ph.D.理科博士后和男性一样. 但是在电子工程方面, 机械工程, 软件组, 这是一个不同的故事. 我在硅谷的35年里, I’ve observed more and more women feeling uncomfortable in the software areas, and I’ve never seen anyone break strongly into electrical engineering.

People from all over tell me, “We can’t find any women software engineers.“在今年夏天的一次晚宴上, 有人对我说, “Oh, we’re so proud at Stanford that 35 percent of our CS majors are women now.” And I said, “嗯, at 布林莫尔 it’s 100 percent.” So when recruiters talk about the frustration of not being able to find women, 我说, “去有女人的地方.”

Radhika Iyengar-Emens 1986年
DoubleNova创始人/管理合伙人 集团

At every point in every group that we work with in almost every ecosystem, 在茫茫人海中，我们看到的不是一个人，就是一个也没有. Women entrepreneurs face real challenges that I’d like to see change on both the entrepreneurship and the investment side. I’m in conversation with numerous investors in the Valley now: “We need to incentivize funds— individuals, 组织——关注女性创始人. Because when 30 percent of businesses are owned by women and yet 7 percent of venture capital is being given to women founders, 这是一个令人沮丧的数字. 这种情况必须改变.”

Jessica Schwartz ' 09
首席用户体验项目经理，谷歌公司.

The best advice that I have for dealing with a large group of men, 甚至是较小的团队, is to just demonstrate the type of behavior that you would want them to model. 训练, 被病人, but addressing issues quickly—it’s important to deal with people diplomatically.

A good example is trying to bridge the gap that can exist in a very diverse team made up of project managers and designers. 在我参与的一个项目中, the type of feedback we got at times was rooted in “I feel” and “I believe” statements. 但我不关心这个. 我需要数据. So in a non-antagonistic way, I said, “This is how we’d love for you to deliver feedback to us. And this is how we should always be delivering feedback to each other.“在我们讨论了其他一些话题之后, the lead of that group—someone I partner with—said, “The feedback message is the most important thing that all of you should walk out of here knowing.”

莎拉·凯特·威尔逊，79年
Associate Professor of Electrical 工程、 Santa Clara University

电气工程专业有12%是女性, but involvement in electrical engineering is going down across 
the country. 当我们问学生为什么, they say they prefer 机械工程 because it’s hands-on: You can see it, but you can’t see 
electrons and electrical signals.

但是，是的，我所在的地区仍然有大约12%的女性. 在会议上, 我经常是房间里唯一的女人, and I’m still sometimes mistaken for administrative staff rather than an engineer.

朱莉年代. 于88年拍摄的
高级副总裁，数据通信 工程、 Finisar 公司

在我的领域，我们主要招聘博士.D.电气工程学士, our pool is probably 10 percent women—pretty much the same as it was when I got my Ph.D. 20年前. 所以在这方面我没有看到很大的进步. 但我发现了一个有趣的现象. In both Singapore and Shanghai, my teams are close to 50 percent women. I always thought there’d be a fascinating sociology Ph.D. 理解这种差异.

What advice would you give to women looking to make that mid-tier level jump up?

杰西卡·施瓦茨: 首先，每一步都要陈述你的理由. 不要只是展示你的技能. Look at the next step and say, “What do I have now that might catapult me into that next category?“当你升职的时候, build the case for yourself and learn the art of negotiation by saying, “看, 这是我的成就.” Make the business case that you have what it takes.

不要害怕冒险. 如果你只接安全的项目, you will never have the opportunity to showcase what you have that’s different from everyone else. 顺便说一下, 风险可能伴随着失败而来, and being unafraid of failure helps build the path towards leadership. People who take risks make it into leadership circles.

苏珊•巴恩斯: Sometimes you have to be willing to step down to step up. 一度, 我想在苹果公司找一份会计部门的工作, 他们说, “嗯, 你不是成本会计.我说:“好吧，那就让我做一个吧。.” So when you recognize where you’re missing the skills, ask the organization to let you be on that learning curve. That position may not be at the manager or director level, but it could be at the level just below.

不要总是扮演你特定的角色. For example, someone in manufacturing had an issue I had encountered, and I worked with them. 你猜怎么着? 他们任命我为生产主管. 是协作, 表现出一些天生的领导力, and help solve problems for other people by listening and stepping into their shoes.

库马拉斯Iyengar-Emens: 做出明智的选择. 公司文化很重要. 如果一家公司有女性担任领导职务, women coming up are more likely to be in a strong situation.

莎拉·凯特·威尔逊: 虚心谦虚是有危险的. 很多人会说，“哦，不是我.” Well, how are they going to know unless you tell them? The idea that they’re going to promote you because somehow they recognize your wonderfulness without your simply stating your case is a false modesty.

库马拉斯Iyengar-Emens: 打造品牌. 当你建立了一个可信的品牌——写文章, 被出版, do something that is larger than your little role – those contributions stand out. The power of a brand can help you move up through the ranks. Every company likes people who are visible, who are out there, who have a strong brand. 它也会一路帮助你.

Some women in the workplace get coaching to help them navigate a male environment. 这是个好办法吗?

杰西卡·施瓦茨: 在谷歌, 我们有一个全女子项目, essentially a two-day training where we talk through and deal with the challenges women face in the workplace. It’s very therapeutic, but the real value of the program comes afterwards. 这种社区的感觉是非常宝贵的. We at 布林莫尔 understand the value of that support. 我从来没有做过一对一的辅导, 但是当你感到孤独的时候, 要去参加一个为期两天的小组, 然后是永久的, 是神奇的.

苏珊•巴恩斯: 训练 is a rare talent and I’ve seen people ruin their careers over personal coaches. 我是在苹果的早期成长起来的, 我最好的教练是我的同龄人, 我的女性同龄人, 因为他们了解文化. A personal coach can be much like your husband or your psychiatrist, where you tell your version of reality and they feed that version back to you. In 布林莫尔’s world, you reach out to your friends, your peers. 这在工作场所也同样适用.

我有一个关于教练的有趣故事. 我曾经和我丈夫一起工作过. 我们都有同一个老板，我回家时非常, very upset about a situation at work and he was saying, “嗯, 你应该这样处理这件事.” And I said, “No, I don’t want you to play the peer role. 我要你扮演丈夫.”