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Creativity Leads to a Cultural Revival

/ Bold Marketing / 1 Comment

A few years back, I convinced a conservative and thoughtful CEO, that it was time to take some bold action if we were going to make big moves within the company. We started at the core-the people, the culture. Before you look at this work, it’s worthwhile to take you back in time to illustrate that innovation and inspiration were all but dead! Just 5 years prior, the company built the most innovative technology that solved many water and energy problems on a global basis. Our IPO was a huge success with valuations that were very attractive.

But times got tough and morale dissipated. Realizing that things needed to change, we tried to inspire our teams with a lofty vision & mission , re-branding the entire company. Yet, the halls were eerily quiet, the walls were bare and people were afraid to take risks. So like anyone who takes their profession seriously, I delivered a novel idea to the CEO. “Let’s make a music video!”, where all of the employees are actors/dancers/extras. At first, I was laughed at and scolded about expenses by some. No one signed up to be a part of it except a few bold souls. After about a week of thoughtful consideration and a little persuasion, we hired choreographers, top notch producers and built a studio right in our warehouse. I’m proud to say that this project offered a revival of sorts- cultivating new ideas, attracting high quality talent and energizing the culture with a renewed sense of identity. And the best part, it was a lot of fun!

Click link to see video: http://bit.ly/BoldCreative

Under pressue screen cap

A Solution to the Gender Issue in Tech

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A profound article (@carolinepreece) about the gender issue in technology made me think about my experience in mostly male-dominated industries. I fully appreciate the author’s points and add that a woman doesn’t necessarily have to work in the IT end of the tech industry to face these very same issues. I rose to the top of my profession as the Chief Marketing Officer of a Bay Area tech company in the energy space and can tell you first-hand that women face exactly the same challenges in all segments of technology-based industry.

The good news is that things are changing for the better. I founded a STEM program at our company and personally led a women’s executive support group. Over time, I have watched our corporate culture change for the better. The culture eventually became more appealing to women as we began to be able to recruit top-flight females with master’s degrees and PhD’s in engineering from the very best universities in the world. These brilliant women have already made significant technical contributions to the company and by doing so they have changed many hearts and minds within the company. This also helped to drive even more of a culture change.

With the right leadership from the top anyone can drive change. In my case – as a female public-company CMO – I recognized early on that I was one of the people at the top and that meant that I myself had to become a driving force for change. At times that meant helping the CEO to think and act differently about women in our tech-centric industry. The logic of harnessing the very best talent is sound and I’ve found that any good CEO will jump at the chance to hire great talent regardless of gender.

I’m proud to have risen to the top as a woman in the tech industry. I still see many daunting challenges facing women, but given the right programs and the right leadership, the future is getting brighter for women in all areas of the tech industry.