In the wake of the Google manifesto, and the media frenzy that followed, I was looking for some inspiration. So I scoured the internet in search of inspiring stories of successful women in tech. I started with Forbes 2016 World’s Most Powerful Women. Sixteen of them are in tech. I then came across The Business Insider article listing 52 of the most powerful people in enterprise tech in 2017. There are seven women on the list with Diane Greene, SVP of Goggle Cloud, making it to the top 5. And finally, I checked out the Time.com list of 20 most influential people in tech right now. Five women are included. Mark Zuckerberg is #3 on the list. After looking at the list and doing some reading about the accomplished women who made it to these distinguished lists, and yes, the numbers are not looking good for women in tech, something was nagging at me. I distinctly remembered that Mark has a sister who was working at Facebook. I recalled reading that she was the one credited with the idea for Facebook Live. While Mark was a college dropout, she graduated from Harvard. I was curious to learn more about her.
Fortunately, I came across Rebecca Jarvis’ podcast “No Limits” and her interview with Randi Zuckerberg on August 3rd. I found my inspiration! Jarvis spoke with Randi about her journey from college to early career decisions, to her current venture as CEO of Zuckerberg media. They talked about Randi’s struggles, success, and advice (good & bad) she received throughout her career and hers to others, especially from the perspective of someone who was often the only woman in the room. It was the first time I heard about the little tech-savvy Dot, the picture book and TV series (they came out after my kids were at the appropriate age to consume, and hopefully it won’t be relevant by the time any grandkids come along.) I highly recommend the podcast and feel I should pass along the chat’s nuggets of wisdom I think are worth sharing.
The first idea is that a “no” can be a gift. Randi was not accepted into Harvard’s music program, so she majored in psychology instead. As disappointing as rejection might have been at the time, it set her on the path to career success, not only as measured by money but also in being at the cutting edge of innovation and having real impact. I think that this is something we can all relate to. We are tormented by rejection from a very young age at school, in our relationships or love, and in our career. You’d think we’d all be experts in handling rejection, but the truth is that it always sucks. It is always painful. However, often when we think we are being rejected or have failed, we are actually being re-directed to better opportunities. Success is measure not in how many times we fail, but how many times we get back up and keep forging forward. To use the fashionable Silicon Valley term – how many time we pivot. Whenever something goes wrong, we have an opportunity to make it right if we pivot to something new. There’s always another role, another job, another company, another chance.
Another concept that was new to me was Randi’s “pick 3 formula.” She talked about the entrepreneur’s dilemma of being pulled in many different directions trying to juggle many different priorities. She advised to pick three areas to focus on and win every day. Now that’s a novel idea! I’ve always tried to do it all. But it makes sense: family, work, friends, fitness, fun, and sleep – pick 3 a day. And every day is a new day bringing new choices.
The third thing that really resonated with me was Randi’s declaration that she brings a mix of passion and data to everything she does. We are told from a very young age to find our passion, discover our greatest motivation and take action. Passion energizes us; it is what gets us excited to start each new day. Indeed success starts with a dream and passion. However, in every venture we need to combine our passion and judicious use of data to make good decisions. Just like the song “love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage.” Passion and data are the yin and yang of career success. We need both.
Lastly, I loved Randi’s reminder for the need to be interesting. In whatever we do, there are likely to be other people vying for the title. Keeping it vanilla won’t cut it. We need to find our authentic voice and look for ways to differentiate ourselves and stand out from the crowd. The connections we form are based on our unique brand: who we are, what interests us, and the value we bring. Being true to self will help us attract the opportunities we seek.
And I’d like to end with Randi’s powerful question: is the most interesting thing about you is what you do for a living?
