ALLIES | LIFT

Allies lift others up.
Allies lift others up.

From an early age, women are socialized more often than men to mute their accomplishments, be overly self-critical and avoid self-promotion.  This is the phenomena that leads most women to avoid applying for jobs unless they believe they meet over 90% of the qualifications whereas men will typically apply if they meet just 60% of the qualifications and is what holds women back from negotiating for equal pay.  This lack of confidence leads many women to leave the technology field and in many cases never even enter it.

Linda Babcock, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University and the author of Women Don’t Ask, has found, in studies of business-school students, that men initiate salary negotiations four times as often as women do, and that when women do negotiate, they ask for 30 percent less money than men do.

As part of my series on ALLIES, I want to share more insight about the second L in ALLIES, “Lift and why that is important to drive for gender equity.  

What allies do, is that they focus with intention to lift up the individual.  They help the individual to build their own self confidence through encouragement.  Frequently point out her talents, strengths and accomplishments.  Give her credit for her contributions and make sure she knows that she is valued for her ideas, contributions and impact. 

I have learned how to lift others up, build their confidence and shine a spotlight on their accomplishments even when they are too humble to do so themselves.  Personally, my confidence has been shaken many times by the “tear down” test that plays an overly prominent role in high tech teams.  It is predicated on the belief that great ideas come from “tearing down” someone’s idea and picking it apart.  If an idea can withstand the “tear down” test then it must be “good”.  This assumption is flawed.  Ideas become better when we build upon each other’s ideas and offer alternative points of view to examine from all sides.  The effect on the individual who brought forth the idea when faced with the “tear down test” is that it does not just throw question on the credibility of the idea but it can destroy the confidence of the person who brought it forth. 

According a study by Dunning and Ehlinger The Confidence Gap – The Atlantic @Katty Kay and @Claire Shipman share that “men overestimate their abilities and women underestimate their abilities.  Their performances do not differ in quality.”  They also share “Having talent isn’t merely about being competent; confidence is a part of that talent.  You have to have it to excel.”

Women are also more likely to be interrupted and misheard than men in meetings.  As an ally as a counter measure can find opportunities to encourage a woman.  Let her know when she has a good idea, makes a good point, acts in an assertive way.  Assure her of the positive impact she has.  Not coddling, not rescue behavior but genuine positive feedback.

I would like to introduce you to two people who will share their story with you about the impact of these confidence building actions.  My esteemed colleague, Dawn Marie Elder, who is an entrepreneur, technologist, and industry leader. She is currently the General Manager and COO at @SIPPIO leading sales, marketing and channels focused on enabling voice capabilities to increase the value of collaboration solutions allowing partners and carriers to build a healthy recurring revenue practice.  Today, Dawn Marie will share her story of allyship and how it has made a difference in her experience and confidence in building her career.

I would also like to introduce you to her ally, Michael Gorriaran a globally experienced technology sector executive with a 30 year career spanning Microsoft, Xerox and now serving as President of Arjuna Solutions, a Behavioral Economics and Artificial Intelligence services provider helping nonprofits expand their impact.

Both of these individuals have led impressive businesses and hold executive roles.  But we are going to play Monday morning quarterback and take you back to a time in their history when they were just connecting and the road that was paved by Michael’s intention to become an ally for Dawn Marie.

For more insights on how to become an ally, visit dev.mieche.net/gavriella as we share more stories.  And tell us, who are your allies?  What have they done to support you? 

Recent Articles

ALLIES | INCLUDE

Allies Include with Ken Lamneck, Glynis Bryan, and Gavriella Schuster

As part of my series on ALLIES, today we are going to talk about the I in ALLIES, Include. 

Inclusion is about creating a culture where everyone feels like they belong.  They feel safe to share their perspective and valued for what they say and do. 

How do you ensure you are being inclusive?  Look around your team, organization and the meetings you are in and take mental note of whether everyone who should be represented is present.  When you walk into a meeting, a team, or a group, seek out those not sharing their ideas and work to include them in the conversation. Look around the room and encourage everyone to contribute. When someone does speak up, demonstrate that their opinion matters.

Go out of your way to invite female colleagues in informal meetings that happen over lunch or drinks where they may not feel comfortable inviting themselves.

I would like to introduce you to two people who will share their story with you about the impact of these actions.  My esteemed colleague, Glynis Bryan, who is the CFO for Insight. She is known for delivering results and for her commitment to driving customer and partner satisfaction.   Glynis is also the winner of the 2021 Women in Cloud Allyship award herself but today, Glynis will share her story of allyship and how it has made a difference in her experience and confidence in building her career.

I would also like to introduce you to her ally, Ken Lamneck who is the former Chief Executive Officer for Insight.  

Both of these individuals have led impressive businesses and hold executive roles.  But we are going to play Monday morning quarterback and take you back to a time in their history when they were just connecting and the road that was paved by Ken’s intention to become an ally for Glynis.

Recent Articles

ALLIES | ELEVATE

Allies Elevate with Gavriella Schuster and Lori and Steve Borg

In this episode in my ALLIES series we are going to talk about the E in ALLIES, Elevate.

I would like to introduce you to two people who will share their story with you about the impact of ally actions.  Today I am joined by Lori Borg and her ally and husband Steve Borg.

Lori Borg has spent nearly 25 years working alongside Microsoft, has built and sold two companies, has been a seller, a Sales Leader, a founder, CMO, CRO, CGO and CEO.  She was a  Global Head of the Microsoft Alliance for one of the worlds largest technology firms (Cognizant). Lori’s first company, Northwest Cadence, was Microsoft’s first Gold DevOps partner in the US (Northwest Cadence), her second was Microsoft’s largest Azure partner in the US (10th Magnitude), and today Lori is serving as the Chief Growth Officer at MCA Connect.

I would also like to introduce you to her ally, Steve Borg , who started his career in the Microsoft ecosystem as an early MVP on Visual Studio Team System (Microsoft developer platform). Steve is an entrepreneur who co-founded a small .NET training and consulting company, and quickly became know for his public speaking, writing, and thought leadership in the DevOps / Developer community. Steve was the co-founder of Northwest Cadence alongside Lori and today Steve leads the product team at Microsoft who is building Microsoft’s first medical imaging platform on Azure.

Both of these individuals have led impressive businesses and held executive roles.  But we are going to play Monday morning quarterback and take you back a few years back when Lori was the CEO of her own company and Steve took intentional action to make sure her position was elevated and valued. 

When you elevate someone you are providing them opportunities to be more visible.  That can be as easy as amplifying their voice and making sure they receive credit for their ideas or looking for new projects or opportunities for the individual to demonstrate leadership and become more visible.  It is about elevating them and their position.   You might think a CEO does not need an ally in this respect but you will hear otherwise. 

There are several ally actions you can take without anyone’s permission.  Actions like advocating, listening and lifting others up (to learn more see my blog posts on those).  However, when you act as an ally and elevate someone, I consider this to be proactive allyship.  That means that you must have their position as you are taking intentional action to put them in the spotlight, give them more responsibility, visibility and a higher level of inclusion.  This requires that the person you are supporting and empowering agrees that they want this level of attention.  If you have not already discussed your potential actions with the individual, it could have the opposite impact of what you intended.  They could feel overwhelmed, and underprepared.  That would not be the situation you want to put them in.  But when you do have permission to elevate them, their work and/or their position, acting in this way could be a game changing move. 

As you listen to the full interview below, consider how you might take action to elevate those around you who may not be getting the credit, the visibility or the support they need to breakthrough in their role. 

Recent Articles