Starr Rey

My team had the privilege of hearing from Microsoft's Dawn Beatty as part of our #GTOTogether offsite and- no surprise- she had some great tips for how we all take ownership of our careers. The top takeaways that stood out to me from our conversation: - Focus less on what you want your next title to be, and more on the skills and capabilities you want to enhance. This rings even more true in the age of AI where the tasks and skills associated with all of our job titles are blurring and evolving. Embrace the squiggly lines of your career, take on new challenges, and embody a growth mindset and you’ll end up where you’re meant to. - As talent professionals, we need to remember to put our oxygen mask on first. We’re on the frontlines of the meatiest challenges facing all of us at work. It’s easy to absorb that energy and take it home. Remember who you are outside the job, and take care of yourself. It’ll allow you to show up as the best coworker, manager, and leader. - Embrace micro moments of learning and before you know it, you’ll be an AI expert. It’s no secret that AI is changing how we all work, so the sooner you integrate these tools into your day-to-day, the better. Whether it’s asking Copilot to help you prepare for a speaking engagement or give you a headstart on an email, upskilling can be in the form of small ten minute efforts throughout your day.

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Last week I flagged the ongoing #manel challenge and received so much support. Many men vociferously engaged and supported, but the majority of comments were from amazing professional women, who continue to face years of frustration. I urge people to engage and comment. I think male #allyship is crucial, and wish there were a better term. For panels: anyone can regurgitate a #policy position. Our job is to share information, debate and also to entertain. How else can all these people stay seated listening to us? For engaging talks, we need quality, diversity of thought, positions, gender, origin and approach. Not to tick a box but to have real #discussion and ideally enlighten. An #organiser doesn’t invite a woman to just have a woman, but to have her #experience and #expertise. For anyone who wasn’t comfortable to #comment, there are many relevant places to look, very close to #European #policy. For panels, jobs or anything else it can’t be about #tokenisation, just like it can’t be about reverse #discrimination. It’s about knowing how much great #choice is there, to remove excuses. The first is The Nine. I’ve been fortunate to go to a few events and talks and am hoping to do much more to help. The second is the The Brussels Binder. I’m still learning about it, it’s a great place to start and consult for speakers, and for best practices, which I’ve also done. Plus my team is on it, and they are all experts and great speakers! And then there are initiatives like WOMEN IN TECH ® Global in tech and I know they have a huge impact. I’m sure I’m missing many initiatives even close to home so would be delighted for people to post below and I’ll incorporate into this post. I’m focusing specifically on women, not other important parts of society, because this was so “in your face” last week that I think we can come together and do more and better! I can also commit to never being on a manel again (I’m sure I have been sadly). More soon! Every little bit helps 🙏🏻

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Last week on "Leadership: The Next Level", I was fortunate to interview Sirisha M. about her experience as a tech leader. She gave really excellent advice on how to approach your manager when you have a question or problem to solve. This is in line with many conversations I've had as an executive coach recently. If you're trying to improve your relationship with your manager, or trying to coach your direct reports, this is a great technique: "When you have problems, don’t go with an open question but go with options of solutions, because that’s what makes people know that you’re not just blindly throwing problems over the wall. You’re coming with "There are three options on the table. Here are the pros and cons of each and I think I might want to go with option 2. What do you think?" If someone on my team comes with options 1, 2, and 3, and asks me, "Which one do you think we should go with?", you’re giving more of the work to me at that point in time, and I’m not sure you’ve thought through the scenarios well enough. To come with a pros and cons table, and have an opinion, shows me you have an opinion and you have data to back up your opinion." For AnitaB.org members, you can watch the recording of the event here: https://lnkd.in/ghZyhHXR

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