 Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE. Cover EMC World 2016, brought to you by EMC. Now your host, John Furrier. Okay, welcome back everyone. We are here live in Las Vegas for EMC World 2012. I'm John Furrier, the founder of SiliconANGLE and host of theCUBE. And we are extracting the signal from noise. And one of our traditions at EMC World is to do a conversation and panel discussion around women of the world, with Stella Lowe, who is VP of Global Communications for EMC, and Susan Tardinico, who is the founder and CEO of Authentic Leadership. Stella, every year we do this, it's one of my favorite things. As we wrap up EMC World, soon it may be Dell World or Dell EMC, whatever that kind of turns into. I wish you can't comment because you're communications. Is to talk about kind of the human side of what's going on. And the theme for EMC World is modernization of enterprise, infrastructure speed, performance, scalability. And you've taken this theme this year with women of the world to modernizing your career in an era of change. And tell me about what that was this year. Yeah, absolutely, John. So we're in this tech industry is changing all the time. But right now we're in this kind of unprecedented change. There's going to be a lot of consolidations is the thinking over the next two years. A lot of people find, a lot of companies finding their dance partners. In some ways we've already found our dance partner, which is Dell, but there's going to be a lot of that going on. And there's definitely a lot of change happening here at EMC. So we wanted to make sure that we were focusing on how to own, modernize and direct your career within this sea of tremendous change. So Susan, I want to get your take on this because we are living as the theme of the show is, is a transformation happening? Which means there's certainly change. And there's big bets being made in the business that requires people process and technology transformation. People's a big part of it. And people have to be bold. There's some gambling, there's some bets. And with that will come maybe some missteps or some failures. And how you can overcome that will define ultimately your success to take maybe little failures, not big failures, but like, but this is part of the evolution of innovation. You are so right. How does that affect people? Specifically women as they're in this now converge workforce, men and women coming together. What's your thoughts on this? Well, men and women alike, change is hard, right? So as industries converge, as mergers and acquisitions happen, you know, the industry itself is in such a massive transformation mode. It's requiring people of all levels and in all fields, but particularly in the world of technology to completely redefine their skill sets, their relevance, the way they're going to actually help sort of step into this new era of digital technology. So it's causing, you know, ripple effects of reinvention and change all over the place. And, you know, we all relate to changes human beings at a very personal level. What does it mean for me? And so a big part of what we discussed today at the conference was just how do you sort of lean into that change? And how can you begin to look at your own potential and your own skill sets from with a different lens? You know, we tend to box ourselves in as far as our potential goes. We say, okay, I've been in this functional area for all of my career. So I guess my opportunities sit squarely in this box. And we talked a lot about the value of sort of reinventing and taking a hard look at our transferable skill sets. So the attributes that we have as human beings that could let be leveraged into other roles or expanded roles and the skill sets that have made us so successful in what we're doing today. So how might we bust that open and find new opportunities in this world of change? And it's really important that we do it now. I mean, it was announced just a few days ago that in 2015, there were 359 new CEOs announced in the top 2,500 companies around the world. Only 10 were women, John. 10, 10 out of 359, it's shocking. So if we're going to reverse that trend, we've got to start reversing that right from now. And that's pretty consistent though across all industries, even venture capital, which is really highlighted in Silicon Valley where we live and that's, you know, obvious a male nominee, but now there's now women VCs now, cowboy ventures with a bunch of them that are coming in and goes and hey, we can play ball with each other. But what is it? What is surprising that there's less women learning about tech now or learning, you know, in tech education now than there was in the 80s. I mean, so we've got to really got to grapple with this and change the course of this and women have got to start taking responsibility for their own careers and their own direction. Well, what are some of the stories that you've heard this week at your event? As you guys talk with each other, what are some of the common patterns and stories that you're hearing? So we're certainly hearing from the women in the room, but they see that the impending change as exciting, as an opportunity, but there's also some anxiety around that change. There's definitely fear there. That's what we're seeing. You know, people need to take that fear and use it as a catalyst for positive change. Right, right. I mean, people tend to shut down when they're in environments of fear. And one of the things that we talked a great deal about was how do you sort of turn that around and use that as a catalyst to take stock in not only sort of what your inherent capabilities are, but your vision for your life and the values that you hold dear and say, okay, so if my job serves my life, then what is my end game and what steps and choices can I make? You know, putting myself back in the driver's seat versus letting this change that's sort of at both the macro level and the micro level like sweet me under and create a sort of a victim mentality. We talked a lot about sort of that empowerment and the accountability to sort of take charge of your own destiny. Yeah. It's interesting, you mentioned leaned in earlier. So Cheryl Sandberg's in my community in Palo Alto, Facebook friend, you know, where I'm involved a lot with some Facebook stuff. And I've been following her lean in. And I want to bring this up as you mentioned the word fearless. You know, I've been called fearless. You're fearless. That's a guy thing, right? Guys can be fearless. Is it okay for women to be fearless? And is lean in a fearless kind of vibes? It's not so much, I don't want to get semantically tied on fearless, but this brings up a point that people get stuck on the semantics, but that kind of is a biased thing. Be more fearless and you'll get ahead versus lean in is a guest could be construed as a female version of fearless. The words matter, but at the same day, how does a woman become fearless? And does it matter? Yeah, so the other speaker that we had on the panel today, we were very lucky also to have Reshma Sajani. And she has founded the company Girls Who Code. And she says that women were brought up to be perfect, whereas boys were brought up to be brave. So it's okay for a boy to climb a tree and go to the top with girls. We're like, no, no, sit in the chair, but pretty, be nice, but be perfect. And so women are very scared to go into areas that don't know because they're worried about making mistakes. And what we were trying to get over today was imperfection is okay. It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to, you know, and you've got to kind of get over that fear to do that. And it's the attribute, Susan. So a woman and a man, they have different attributes. So maybe fearless might, oh, he's fearless, he climbs to the top of the tree. But every attribute in a diverse environment can contribute to a common outcome that makes it better. I mean, that's kind of the theme that I'm seeing. It's true. Fearlessness in, you say, words matter. The concept is kind of the same. We talked a lot about self confidence and the contrast in the sexes when it comes to self confidence. And then so many women seem to sort of stop short of having that self confidence to step out and you say be fearless, to take risk, to just sort of seize that moment and say, you know what, if it doesn't work out, I can choose again. We just seem to stop short of being able to do that where guys seem to be a little bit more comfortable and part of it is the way we're raised, you know, women to be perfect. And we tend to be very, very quiet about those failures. And so it kind of sends that message, like I really need to stay away from those arenas where I just, I might not be a stunning success. So there was some discussion around men versus women and the imposter syndrome, which tends to afflict a lot of women, particularly women in business where we kind of doubt our own worth as a leader, as a professional. And there's this fear that, you know, at some point we're going to be found out that we're really not as good as others around us think we are. And that drives a certain kind of behavior in the workplace. So, you know, workaholism, perfectionism, procrastination, just so afraid to make a mistake and be found out. So, you know, that seems to be more characteristic of females than males. There are just a lot of, there's a lot of complexity around females. Well actually a lot of guys that are faking it that will be found out and maybe there's a thing there. But modernizing your career though, that's the theme. What is the pattern that, what does that mean? I mean, how do you talk to that? Because everyone wants, I mean, who doesn't want to be modern, right? And we're in a modern era, we want to be hip, we want to be cool, we want to advance. So okay, advancement means you're climbing a ladder, you're trying something new, which means you will fall and stumble, we all stumble when we learn. Is that part of the modernization is dealing with the environment and the change and the failure? Yeah, it is. In fact, the first thing that we talked about was the need to be incredibly strategic in this environment. We're business people. And when facing any business challenge, you tend to do scenario planning, right? You say, well, if this happens, here's my strategy. If that happens, here's my strategy. So you say worst case, best case, likely case. And when you start to develop strategies around how you're going to navigate those things, it gives you additional power and confidence to sort of move forward in your redefinition. So that's sort of that first step in modernizing your career. We also talked a bit ago about understanding where you might have some self-limiting beliefs about where you might play. What arena where you might sit. And so starting to sort of broaden your horizons. Definitely, I mean, women will look at a job spec and have a completely different perspective from men. So men will look at it and they'll say, well, I can do about 38% of this. So I'm going to go for this job. Women will look at it unless they can do 85% of it or they've done, they have experience in 85% of it, they won't even go for the job. So we have to start to really broaden our view of the types of jobs we can go for, the types of opportunities we can go for and start to think more, much more openly. So be more aggressive on the job, applicants was one. Yeah, broaden your horizons, think about the transferable skill sets that you have that you can take into other areas and don't be fearful of things that you haven't done before. So I had a public failure startup that was very funded and then there's a public failure and it's traumatizing and I dealt with that and this whole failure is rewarded in Silicon Valley. That's BS in my opinion. People tolerate failure but they love the comeback. That's part of learning is coming back. And so I had to deal with that and I dealt with it in my own way as a guy but there's a post in Silicon Valley going around today around a woman who failed and she didn't know whether she should be vulnerable or just be that, what do you call it, the imposter syndrome, fake it till you make it. And she was saying, no, I want to be vulnerable because what she found is by being vulnerable people were helping her. So that brings up the concept of vulnerability, male, female and two, in the modern world we have social networks now. So leaning is a great example of some gravity around peer groups. Can you guys talk about that? Does that come up at all on your radar in terms of the dynamic there around men versus women being vulnerable versus being strong? And also the notion of networks and how that could be supporting. Well I think vulnerability is often tied to shame and that fear of shame causes people to hold back in sharing their real stories. You said something very important and that's that people care about what you've learned along the way. They don't necessarily care about what you know, they care about what you've learned. Most people are comfortable talking about what they've learned when they're on the other side of that. So it's not in the middle of that failure. When you are just feeling horrible, you're feeling like a failure, you're feeling embarrassed, you're feeling shame. So the ability to kind of step up to that is it's a tall order. Now, you talked about social networks. In this environment of social media, authenticity is so important, right? So it's that happy balance. If you're not all that comfortable with being completely naked in that vulnerability, maybe there's a happy medium where you can share some of the challenges and things that you've been facing while not necessarily going all the way down to the bare nub of it. I think we're in the middle of an evolution, right? So authenticity will track the right alchemy of help or relationship as a way to signal to people. And I guess, I mean, I love this concept. I mean, I feel like I just get you guys as my life coach. I'm going to get seasonous my life. So this brings to the next one. So, okay, so that's cool. I love that theme. I love this topic because that really helps you get through to the other side. And getting to the other side, you're on the comeback. That's a learning, what you've learned and applying what you've learned is a growth mindset. Now, there's a lot of women my age, I'm 50, that have gone through the ranks and they get up to the top and you mentioned the numbers aren't that significant on the seed level of women. It's lonely. Yet they're being asked to be mentors down to the new generation of ladies coming up or women. But they're lonely at the top. How do they deal with that? As you're moving closer to the top. Have you, do you talk about that? It is lonely at the top. And I, like Stella, I was a senior executive at a big company and found that loneliness to be quite palpable, right? It's part of the choice you make to be in that arena. Stepping up to that position of leadership, it often means that you're distancing yourself. You're more concerned with being respected than you are being liked. And there's a new game, right? New parameters around your relationships. Like CEOs who find solace in their peer relationships. I think that same goes for women. You need to actively cultivate your formal and informal networks. They may be with peers outside of your company, outside of your functional area. Those relationships though are so important because you can become isolated and insulated. People may not always come to you with the truth. And so making sure that you keep those lines of communication and mutual support open is really pivotal. Now you mentioned mentorship. I think it is incumbent on senior women to reach down and find opportunities to mentor other women and sponsor other women. You know there's mentorship and sponsorship and both are crucial in terms of sort of direct feedback and developmental advice on the mentorship side. But then sponsorship, literally, actively opening doors for other women and reaching a hand and helping them come up too. Because that's often where we find a gap. People think I had to claw my way up. It was a lot of work. So I'm just going to sort of protect myself and hang out and let everybody else kind of go on their own journey. We talked a lot today about the need to sort of reach down and help other women along. So the takeaway there is develop your formal, informal networks. That's a foundational, really critical linchpin to the whole success. Yeah, absolutely. What about now, as we look at the progression going forward, the skill development. You mentioned the job applications. A lot of these jobs that are going to come in the next Industrial Revolution, as Michael Dell was pointing out, don't even exist today. So there might be an opportunity here as we look to the future. Did that come up at all on the radar of your sessions? Well, I think it comes back to really transferable skill sets. You need to take a look at what you do and who you are, bring it up a level. Because I got to tell you, if you can manage well in ambiguity, if you can lead and motivate people. I mean, there are certain attributes that pick the job. If you have those attributes and those skills, you can learn a discipline. But those inherent leadership skills are going to pay off a big time as this industry continues to redefine. And as you say, jobs that we don't even know exist yet suddenly come onto the table. What surprises you the most in the conversation around modernization? As you talk with folks out there, what's a trend that surprised you that you kind of knew about, but oh my God, it's really more acute or more explosive in a good way or in a bad way? Anything you can share, I think, to literally like, wow, this is really more pressing than I thought or this is actually more amazing than I thought. Yeah, one of the things that Reshman talked about is women supporting other women. I mean, sometimes we are, you know, the worst critics of other women. And female bosses can be harder on female employees and so on. And I think there's got to be that kind of sisterhood around all of us women. Bring women up, as Susan has said, support other women. Make sure that you are watching their back and they are watching yours. And it will help with the loneliness factor, but it also helps to bring women forward. And I think that's always a surprise to me that women don't want to do that and that they don't want to get involved in that. We should be paying that back and paying it forward. Is there anything that surprised you looking back at, and then the conversation here? I think I would echo what Stella said. It's important to understand the role you may be playing in the plight that faces you. So, you know, we talk about women sometimes being their own worst enemy and trying to, again, modernize and redefine what that relationship looks like and what that success looks like and how accountable we each are for, you know, moving forward and pushing the envelope. Okay, final question. If you guys could each answer, this would be great. What advice would you give the people watching here live and then on demand? Things that they could do to modernize their career in this change. Advice that you can surface and share insight around their opportunity. Things that they could do differently or new or... Yeah, I'll let Susan have the last word on this because she'll have some fabulous advice. But, you know, one thing I would say is be comfortable in your imperfection. You don't have to be perfect. Go for it. Widen your sphere of opportunities and, you know, chart your way and dream bigger. And if you dream bigger, you'll get somewhere bigger. Very good. I would say first and foremost, one of the best things that you can do is challenge some of the beliefs that you might hold about what your potential next steps or career path might be. Get clear on what your end game is for your life and what your values are because that becomes a very important lens to which to view future opportunity. Get really clear that you can always choose again. I think this fear of making a mistake and that you talked about fearlessness. You know, I think people tend to limit their opportunities because they think, wow, if I make this choice and it's a mistake, then I'm done. But you can just turn around and make a new choice and begin again. And there are limitless choices that you can make. So a lot of this I find is mindset related. You know, we're heading into, we are in a highly turbulent time. It's going to continue. We need to be agile in our thinking. Part of that is getting grounded in who we are and what our potential could be. Getting clear on what we want because our jobs serve our life, not the other way around. And really sort of getting into the driver's seat versus letting whatever the change is, whether it's up here at the industry consolidation level or whether it's down in, whether we're in the middle of a merger or we've just gotten a new boss that we don't particularly click with, we can default to a victim mentality. So part of this is just saying, you know what? I am going to pick this thing up and I am going to manage through the change myself. We are living in a world where there's great opportunities, women of the world, great segment. Thank you so much, Stella. We thank you so much, Susan. Really great to have you guys sharing your insight here on theCUBE. Congratulations again. Always my favorite conversation. I learned a lot. And I love, I feel like I'm learning so much. And this is a world of diversity and it's great. And the outcome of diversity is fantastic. I think that's what everyone's seeing. So congratulations on the great work. This is theCUBE here at EMC World 2016. I'm John Furrier, you're watching theCUBE. Looking back at the history of...