{"id":6365,"date":"2020-08-21T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsknews.autodesk.com\/?post_type=stories&p=6365"},"modified":"2020-08-19T19:49:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T23:49:35","slug":"leading-through-challenging-times","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/adsknews.autodesk.com\/en\/stories\/leading-through-challenging-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading Through Challenging Times: Perspectives from #WomenInTech"},"content":{"rendered":"

From a global health crisis that has changed the way we work to racial injustices that deserve our attention and action, leaders at Autodesk are navigating new ways of doing business. We\u2019re not alone. Our counterparts at other technology companies are also rising to the occasion, and we can all learn from each other. This summer, I had the pleasure of joining an online panel of #WomeninTech Leadership to discuss leadership strategies and philosophies in a new world. It was hosted by ModelExpand<\/a>, a consulting firm that helps companies attract, hire, and support underrepresented talent. Panel topics ranged from team building in a virtual office setting to handling \u201cimposter syndrome.\u201d My co-panelists were refreshingly candid, often humorous, and provided great ideas on how we can turn today\u2019s challenges into opportunities for a better tomorrow.

\"#WomenInTech

Autodesk\u2019s Susanna Holt joined ModelExpand in July for the #WomenInTech Leadership Breakfast panel discussion<\/p><\/div> <\/p>\n

Watch the #WomenInTech panel discussion<\/a> <\/div>\n

Several of the panelists had a similar path to leadership as I did: they didn\u2019t plan it out. I started as a software engineer at Autodesk in 1995 and remained an individual contributor for many years. When I relocated from the UK to the US in 2017, I experienced the world through a different lens, which, along with working with different people accelerated my career. As the VP of the Forge platform team today, I\u2019m passionate about bringing out the best in our people, but today\u2019s work-from-home environment requires us to do much more to stay connected. My advice is to be intentional about team building. It\u2019s easy to default to focus on \u201creal work\u201d, but if we don\u2019t look after our people now and make sure they are thriving rather than just surviving, we\u2019ll pay the price later. Another panelist, Erin Figueroa from Slack, shared the importance of normalizing the clash between work and life. Due to COVID-19, Erin and her wife are working from home full time, sharing a desk, and managing three kids.

\"Virtual

Virtual meetings have blurred the lines between work and life for many in the tech industry.<\/p><\/div> \u201cMy team now knows that if I have a virtual background, my wife is on an equally important call from our desk, and I\u2019m on the bathroom floor,\u201d said Erin, who is Slack\u2019s Senior Director of Program Management. \u201cIt\u2019s a real blending of life. When my team could see our kids interrupting meetings for a snack, it normalized for everyone that they don\u2019t have to keep it together all the time.\u201d We never imagined inviting colleagues into our messy homes and displaying unfolded laundry behind us on video calls. These unanticipated intrusions also offer an opportunity for connections that would not have taken place under normal circumstances. In addition to new leadership strategies for a virtual workplace, the panelists shared how they\u2019re addressing questions about racial inequality<\/a>. I appreciated the response from Devika Chawla, Director of Engineering at Netflix. She said it\u2019s crucial to create a \u201cforgiving environment\u201d where people can ask questions freely and \u201clean into\u201d learning. \u201cIf we don\u2019t do that, we\u2019re not going to make change,\u201d said Devika. \u201cWe all need to do our part to understand systemic racism and how to be anti-racist.\u201d Panelist Shanea Leven described herself as one of a few Black women to lead a developer tools company. Shanea is the founder and CEO of CodeSee. She acknowledged the burden shouldn\u2019t be on the Black community to educate others about racism, but \u201cas a leader, that is<\/em> my job,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve personally decided to bring people along, to educate. Because if I could educate a hundred people, and they could educate a hundred people, we could actually invoke change.\u201d I agree with Shanea: this is our responsibility as leaders \u2013 to commit ourselves to learning and to opening space and time for our teams to develop. We closed the discussion with some specific ideas on how people can move into managerial and leadership roles. In summary, take calculated risks (Shanea); be honest about where your strengths can have the most impact (Devika); drive results without excuses (Erin); and network and observe how leaders at the next level think and operate (me). <\/p>\n

Learn more about Susanna and her career journey<\/a>. <\/div>\n

Are you still wondering about how to handle imposter syndrome? The panel was unanimous: everyone has it. There\u2019s power in accepting it, owning your strengths, and asking for help when you need it. I want to thank my fellow panelists for being so open and insightful throughout our conversation. With women like these leading technology companies, I\u2019m encouraged that we\u2019re all going to grow and succeed through these challenging times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From racial equity to the COVID-19, how four tech stars are changing the way we do business <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":6368,"template":"","categories":[29,295],"adsk_tags":[],"class_list":["post-6365","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categories-our_company","categories-people_and_culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLeading Through Challenging Times: Perspectives from #WomenInTech | Autodesk News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/adsknews.autodesk.com\/meast\/stories\/leading-through-challenging-times\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leading Through Challenging Times: Perspectives from #WomenInTech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From racial equity to 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