Karrieretipps von 5 starken Frauen aus dem Silicon Valley

Dies ist ein gesponsertes Gespräch, das ich im Namen von Audible geschrieben habe.
The opinions and text are all mine.

Sure, I could kick off this article with all sorts of glum stats about the lack of women in top spots in business in general and in the IT fields in particular. Heck, I’ve been in tech since I was 15, so I know it firsthand. This is the most shocking of the bunch: women hold just 11 prozent der Führungspositionen in Technologieunternehmen im Silicon Valley. Stellen Sie sich all diese Besprechungen am Sitzungssaal – und all diese getroffenen Entscheidungen – vor, bei denen auf neun Männer nur eine Frau im Raum kommt. Blech. Es ist düster, ich weiß.

Aber es wird besser.

Möchten Sie einen Beweis? Kasse dieser artikel aus dem New Yorker, in dem detailliert beschrieben wird, wie das Loch in der gläsernen Decke größer wird. Ja, es gibt offensichtliche Probleme mit der Geschlechtervielfalt in den Technologiebereichen und ja, wir haben noch viel vor uns. Aber einige Frauen haben es an die Spitze geschafft und stärken mit ihrem Erfolg eine neue Generation von Frauen in der Branche.

Die gleichstellung der geschlechter liefert nicht nur vielfältige ideen, sondern fördert auch die nächste generation weiblicher führungskräfte, indem sie gleichgesinnte vorbilder und mentoren bereitstellt, die oft entscheidend für den eigenen erfolg sind.

Frauen müssen Frauen zum Erfolg verhelfen. Und in diesem Sinne werfen wir hier einen Blick auf fünf der einflussreichsten und inspirierendsten Frauen im Silicon Valley. wie sie dorthin kamen und ihre Ratschläge, die die Glasdecke sprengten:

Sheryl Sandberg

„Ich denke, jetzt ist unsere Zeit. Jeder sagte meiner Mutter, dass sie zwei Möglichkeiten hätte: Sie könnte Krankenschwester oder Lehrerin werden. Die externen Barrieren sind jetzt viel geringer. Wenn wir anfangen, die wirklichen Probleme anzuerkennen, können wir sie lösen. Es ist nicht so schwer." – Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg ist die lautstärkste und erfolgreichste Verfechterin im Silicon Valley (und vielleicht sogar auf der ganzen Welt), wenn es darum geht, Frauen dabei zu helfen, Führungspositionen zu erreichen. Ihre Bücher Lehnen Sie sich rein und Lean In für Absolventen(die Sie über eine anhören können Kostenlose Testversion von Audible) sind eine unverzichtbare lektüre für jede frau, die berufstätig ist und/oder eine karriere beginnen möchte.

In der High School unterrichtete sie Aerobic und war „immer die Beste ihrer Klasse“. Sie hat ihren Abschluss gemacht summa cum laudeVon Harvard und erhielt den Preis für den besten Absolventen der Wirtschaftswissenschaften. Während ihres Harvard-Studiums war sie Mitbegründerin einer Organisation namens Women in Economics and Government. Ihr damaliger Professor Larry Summers rekrutierte sie als seine Forschungsassistentin bei der Weltbank, wo sie etwa ein Jahr lang an Gesundheitsprojekten in Indien arbeitete, die sich mit Lepra, AIDS und Blindheit befassten. Anschließend arbeitete sie mit ihm zusammen, als sie unter Präsident Bill Clinton Stabschefin im Finanzministerium war.

Nach einer Tätigkeit als Unternehmensberaterin für McKinsey & Company und einer anschließenden langen Tätigkeit als Führungskraft bei Google kam Sandberg 2009 als COO zu Facebook. Derzeit ist sie Mitglied des Vorstands von Starbucks, dem Center for Global Development, Walt Disney Studios, V-Day und Women for Women International.

Mit ihren Facebook-Aktienoptionen wird Sandbergs Vermögen auf mehr als eine Milliarde Dollar geschätzt und das Time Magazine zählte sie zu den 100 einflussreichsten Menschen der Welt.

Ursula Burns

“You have to have a very strong opinion with some facts and data to stand it up, you have to prove that you are right more times than you are wrong, and then you better walk into the room with something to say because otherwise you don’t really add a whole lot of value to the group.  So if you are going to be in the group, I want you to actually come in … and have an opinion. And I don’t mean just opinion like, ‘I like blue or I don’t like blue.’ This is, ‘We have this problem. Here is my take on the problem, here’s what I’ve learned. My experience is telling me this and this is how I would approach it.’” – Ursula Burns

Ursula’s story is a true American dream story. Burns was raised by a single mother in the Baruch Houses, a New York city housing project. Both of her parents were Panamanian immigrants. Burns worked her way up from a lowly intern at Xerox, to executive assistant, and now serves as Chairwoman and CEO of Xerox. Incredible, right? As such, she is the first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company. She is also the first woman to succeed another woman as head of a Fortune 500 company, having succeeded Anne Mulcahy as CEO of Xerox. She serves on numerous professional and community boards, and is a mentor to many. In 2014, Forbes rated her the 22nd most powerful woman in the world. Rightly so!

Marissa Mayer

“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.” – Marissa Mayer

As a child, Mayer was “painfully shy”. In high school, she was on the curling team and the precision dance team, and excelled in chemistry, calculus, biology, and physics. She took part in extracurricular activities, becoming president of her high school’s Spanish club, treasurer of Key Club, captain of the debate team, and —get this— captain of the pom-pom squad! Really. They were state runner-up. She also worked as a grocery clerk during high school. Always the overachiever, while studying artificial intelligence at Stanford, she danced in the university ballet’s Nutcracker, was a member of parliamentary debate, volunteered at children’s hospitals, and helped bring computer-science education to Bermuda’s schools. Oh, and somehow still had time to get honors grades.

Marissa Mayer was Google’s first engineer, a Stanford University alumni with a specialization in artificial intelligence who would eventually be responsible for some of Google’s most recognizable achievements. She was instrumental in developing aspects of Google’s user interface, including its recognizable search page, but was also a critical developer for Gmail and Google Maps. While Mayer was working at Google, she taught introductory computer programming at Stanford and mentored students at the East Palo Alto Charter School. She is now CEO at internet tech company Yahoo!, which the Wall Street Journal notes comes with a hefty compensation package valued at $42.1 million a year. From pom pom squad captain / grocery clerk to shaping the way people use the Internet: You go, girl!

Virginia “Ginni” Rometty

“I learned to always take on things I’d never done before. Growth and comfort do not coexist.” – Virginia Rometty

Once the president of her sorority, and now the CEO of IBM, Rometty has been a practically annual fixture in finance and business magazines’ “Most Influential” and “Most Powerful” lists of notable business people. Her more than 20 years with IBM saw her play an instrumental role in revitalizing the tech giant at the beginning of the century with a transition from hardware to tech services.

Rometty also holds the distinction of also being the first female CEO in IBM’s century-long history. She has been named to Fortune magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” for ten consecutive years, ranking #1 in 2012, 2013 and 2014. An inspiration to women and men alike, she (and the movie Legally Blonde, of course) reminds us that hard work and determination do pay off. Oh yes, and it’s worth noting that she (like I, and many other modern women have) decided not to have children.

Meg Whitman

“Remember that you can do anything you want to do. Don’t let anyone say, ‘You’re not smart enough… it’s too hard… it’s a dumb idea… no one has done that before… girls don’t do that.’ My mom gave me that advice in 1973. And it allowed me to never worry about what others were saying about my career direction.” – Meg Whitman

Meg Whitman has built her reputation in a corporate world still largely run by men. She worked for a number of companies doing brand management and strategy including Disney and DreamWorks, Procter & Gamble, and Hasbro. After that, she served as CEO of eBay. During her 10 years at eBay, she oversaw its expansion from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue.

In 2008, she was cited by The New York Times as among the women most likely to become the first female President of the United States. She is the fourth wealthiest woman in the state of California and she spent more of her own money running for governor of California than any other political candidate spent on a single election in American history. After failing to win the California governor’s race in 2010 she was tapped to run computer giant Hewlett-Packard. She is now the Chairwoman, President and CEO of HP and, in 2014, Whitman was named 20th in Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

Change Is Underway

My mom is famous for her “What glass ceiling?” stance. “There’s only a barrier to success if you acknowledge one,” she’d tell me (or something like that). While many would argue that there’s more to it than that, the great thing about the tech world is that you can start a company and, as long as your idea works, it can just as quickly become uber-successful regardless of if you’re a man or woman.

Forbes published some ideas on how to promote female advancement in tech and other STEM fields, which is worth a read. In the meantime, though, I’m grateful these women have paved the way and shown us what can be done.