Posted by Megan Muir on February 24, 2012

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Megan Muir
megan.muir@dlapiper.com 

Aileen Lee, partner at the famed venture fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and a former CEO herself, has a great post on TechCrunch with reasons companies should considering adding women to their boards of directors.  Among the benefits Lee notes:

By adding new blood to the boardroom, these companies are getting a four-fer, or more:

  • gender diversity, and in most cases, age diversity around the table;
  • better understanding of core customers;
  • Social-Mobile-Local expertise and insight into digital platforms like Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, Twitter, Path, Square, Flipboard and Pinterest that are fundamentally changing business; and
  • hyper growth and rapid innovation DNA.

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Posted by Megan Muir on February 23, 2012

Megan Muir.jpgCONTRIBUTED BY
Megan Muir
megan.muir@dlapiper.com 

I came across this Bianca Bosker interview from last fall with Padmasree Warrior, the CTO of Cisco, and thought she had an interesting take on being a woman in a technical field, working among mostly male colleagues.  “I always tell women that the fact that you’re different and that you’re noticed, because there are few of us in the tech industry, is something you can leverage as an advantage,” she said.  She also talks about some of the challenges women in tech face.  Read the full piece here.

On a related note, as part of her response to Gigaom's questions regarding her "Resolutions for 2012", Ms. Warrior included a desire "to be more of an advocate for women in technology at all levels . . . to make sure we don’t lose the progress and momentum that women have made in technology."

 

Posted by Megan Muir on September 18, 2011

Penny Herscher.jpgMegan Muir.jpgCONTRIBUTED BY
Megan Muir
megan.muir@dlapiper.com 

Penny Herscher, President and CEO of FirstRain, a search-driven business and analytics research firm, has a recent blog post that summarizes a talk she gave to women leaders of a hardcore semiconductor company in the Valley.  She’s talking from what she knows – she started out as an R&D engineer at TI – and has held leadership positions in tech companies for nearly 20 years.

Her 5 keys to leadership as a woman in tech (although her ideas are not exclusive to women or tech) are excerpted below.  Read the full piece and other entries on her blog The Grassy Road.

1. Embrace making decisions

“Companies need people who are decisive and courageous.  A common issue with new entrepreneurs and young managers is that they hesitate to make decisions.  It's tough when you don't know what to do, but it's better to make a decision quickly and decisively, and be ready to change it if you are wrong, than to hesitate, hash it over many times, or wait for someone else (your board, your team, your boss) - or even worse time and delay - to make it for you.”

Trust yourself and your judgment, and surround yourself with strong, smart people you trust who will challenge you when you are wrong.

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