The Messy Middle

The Messy Middle

by robynmward Diversity/Equality Personal Development

I learned the term “The Messy Middle” via my work with Shelley Zalis and The Girls Lounge. The Messy Middle refers to the pipeline problem that most corporations experience, where the number of men and women in junior roles is fairly even and then, as you move up the ranks, there is a major drop-off in women. This is due to the gender wage gap, unconscious bias, and other corporate issues, as well as women leaving the work force to start families and not returning (which can often be tied back to poor corporate policies and culture).

What I didn’t realize, until an Oprah-style “A-Ha” moment I had whilst lunching with a dear friend, is that I have been in my own version of “The Messy Middle.” And I am not even at a major corporation. Nor do I have children (outside my furbaby Joanie).

I am a 40 year old woman who has been in the startup space (both operations and investment) for close to two decades. These past few years I have been going through what I will call “a transformation” – which has mostly been very powerful and positive. But a lot has been going on in my head and my heart, which has been making me feel a bit, well, ”messy.” Indeed, life itself is messy, but this middle time, at middle age, seems particularly so.

Now “middle-aged” is not a moniker I like and/or associate with. And, in this day and age, 40 isn’t even middle-aged anymore (right?). But what I have discovered while having some deep conversations with my female friends (mostly ranging 35-45), is that all of us are doing a great deal of self-work. We all seem to be spending a lot of time and energy examining: 1) the nearly two decades of our work selves, 2) our priorities, passions and purpose and 3) how we define happiness.

Yes, middle age seems like a perfectly logical time to be assessing the first half of your life and making adjustment/improvements for the second. But for women, it is more than that. At 40, we find ourselves serving multiple roles:

1. Career women (who have often had their heads down working twice as hard as men to get recognized, promoted and paid equally)
2. Wives
3. Mothers
4. Single people who, whether grappling with marriage and child-bearing or not, are constantly barraged with inquiries as to why we are single and childless
5. Care-takers to our parents

Playing all these roles is exhausting and impossible to balance (yes, I hate that word too). The only savior is to really spend time in one’s own head and heart evaluating what’s most important to your own fulfillment – which is usually quite different from when you last checked in during your 20’s and 30’s.

The good news for women here is that we are open communicators and have nurtured deep support systems to help us along the way. If I did not have a kickass group of women that I trust and respect to talk to, this messy middle would be a whole lot lonelier and great deal messier. Also, I found that when I was sharing what I was going through, not only was I not alone, I picked up terrific advice and actionable tools for re-assessing and re-aligning.

I share some of my “self-work” in this post. Hopefully, it helps others work through some of their “messy” to make whatever adjustments they need in order to live their best lives.

As my dear friend Shelley says, #PowerofthePack.

My 30 Day Self Work Challenge / 5 Ways to Recharge and Realign

My 30 Day Self Work Challenge / 5 Ways to Recharge and Realign

by robynmward Personal Development

If your summer social feeds were anything like mine, you saw lots of folks enjoying sun-filled beach vacations. You also saw lots of “30 Day Challenges” (Whole 30, 30 days of Push-ups, 30 days of Rose, etc.). I dig challenges, so I decided to do one of my own, dubbing it “30 Days of Self Work.”

Why did I decide to prioritize “self work” this summer?
You may be guessing that I was unhappy, but I wasn’t. The convergence of a great many things (turning 40, illness/loss experienced by friends and family, attending the United States of Women Summit, several amazing travel experiences, this election) had begun to really impact the lens through which I view the world, myself and my purpose. As happens over time, my passions, perspectives and priorities were evolving, and I realized I needed a “tune-up”.

Over the course of August, through various activities I will share later, I began to solidify what I needed to work on to be the best version of myself I can be, and to serve myself and the world in the best way I can. They are:

1) Dialing back my “doer” and “thinker” and nurturing my “be-er” and “feeler”
2) Giving time to all the dimensions of life that are important to me
(which entails learning to say “no” without feeling like a horrible human)
3) Focusing on Fulfillment, as opposed to Achievement

Why am I writing about my experience and why, on earth, am I sharing it?
I am writing this 1) for me (and to hold myself accountable), 2) for anyone with whom this may resonate and help on any level, and 3) because my dear friend, and badass startup founder, Kat Markov, suggested I share my experience (particularly when I told her I made an appointment with a numerologist).

What I did?
Disclaimer: I am fully aware that creating a Self-Development Summer Intensive is exactly how a “doer” and achievement-obsessed person would tackle growth. Baby steps folks;) In this case, the ends justified the means.

Since I decided to embark upon this journey, I also decided to be completely open to any suggestions that came up along the way. As my friend , the wise soothsayer Ara Katz, said to me, “It doesn’t matter what type of work it is, it only matters that you are doing it. Whatever works for you, is a good thing for you.” So now, without further adieu, I am sharing my “Toolbox for Getting Real and Growing.” Take some of these practices or leave them. Everyone has their own path:

1) I did brand work. Yup, you read that right. When is the last time you wrote down your (not your company’s) core values, mission statement, and vision statement. Other great questions to ask yourself: What do you stand for? How do you define who you are? How do you want to impact the world? This is a challenging and powerful exercise. If you are not doing things – in either your professional or personal life – that align with your values and goals, it is time to make changes. Thank you Liz Heller and Robin Fisher Roffer of Big Fish Marketing for showing me the way.

2) I cut back on the countless articles, books, podcasts, and videos on the tech /startup space I consume daily. I supplemented my reading with content on personal growth and development that I read in 30-45 minute allotments in the morning and evening.

In the age of the Internet, social media and the smart phone, this is VERY hard to do. Nuzzle, Pocket, Facebook, Twitter, TechCrunch, Pando, The Information, The Verge, Upload VR… I read them all, often. I love reading about tech and innovation and, of course, it is part of my job. I didn’t stop reading about my industry altogether, I just checked myself from doing it incessantly. Like when I wake up at 2 am and read for an hour, which I put the kibosh on for good!

In addition, I deliberately re-visited impactful content I had consumed in the past, as well as sought out new information from people I know to be experts in the self-development space. Interestingly enough, I found that shifting my focus opened me up to discover (or at least pay attention to) all kinds of amazing pieces relevant to my “challenge.” I consumed so much important, impactful content that I cannot share it all. Below are some of the folks that helped me get in touch with what I wanted to improve upon and how I might do so.

James Altucher –
I stumbled upon an amazing Medium post by James Altucher a few months back. James is a hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, writer, and podcaster. To be honest, I had no idea who he was at the time I read the post, but I knew it spoke to me so I followed him. During my 30 days, Medium suggested other posts by James, as well those under the topic of “Personal Growth” (thank you, Medium!). At this point, I have devoured an insane amount of Altucher content, all of which has been super helpful.

One of my favorite posts is called “I Miss Nothing.” You can read it here. Best quote of the article: “Stillness ultimately creates, Doing often destroys.”

I also read a great post titled “13 Things I learned from James Altucher.” They are all gems but the first one will stick with me far beyond these 30 days:

“Acknowledge that it’s not your external life that needs to change (you have little control over that), but that external changes flow from the inside.”

I also suggest reading James’ books, “Choose Yourself” and “The Power of No.”

Brene Browne –
I revisited Brene Browne’s Ted Talk on vulnerability. It resonates with me on so many levels, as Brene is a self-proclaimed Type A perfectionist. This is a Ted Talk I will visit frequently as I am working on allowing myself to be more vulnerable. If you also need to work on this, watch and bookmark this video NOW.

Tony Robbins –
Admittedly, I have never quite understood the phenomenon of Tony, but his documentary hit Netflix the first week of my “challenge.” In addition to being a sucker for a great documentary, I figured it was time to learn why millions of people, including many successful business leaders I revere, swear Tony helped them better their lives. Watching “I Am Not Your Guru” blew my mind. It helped me to recognize that to better understand myself I’d need to go deep into my childhood. This exercise is not to place blame, but to understand some of the driving forces of your life and to release what is not working for you. I had never really done this in a concerted way so this took some real work, which ended up being real helpful.

With my newfound admiration for Tony Robbins, I sought out more from him. I came across this podcast he did with Tim Feriss. So much of what he says really hit home for me. The gist is that “We get the science of Achievement, but don’t pay enough to the Art of Fulfillment…… its an art because it is different for everyone.” He also says, “the principal that makes us fulfilled is growth because we are most alive when we are growing and growth gives us the ability to give and feel like we are making a contribution to the Universe.” Amen Mr. Robbins.

3) I made a pie. No, not that kind – I cant’ bake (or cook for that matter). More specifically, I made a pie chart. It consisted of the things in my life that are most important to me. Mine were: Family, Friends & Dog, Job/Career, Love Life, Fitness & Health, Travel & Fun, Service, and Learning. I first drew the chart according how I have spent my time in the past. No surprise here that the career slice of my pie was exceedingly large. I then drew my chart according how I want to allocate my time going forward. I now have a visual in my head , and on paper, to check myself if/when I fall out of balance.

4) I went to a Numerologist. Don’t really know what a numerologist is? No worries, I didn’t either. The fact that it floored several of my friends when I revealed I was doing this should tell you that I am not a numerologist kinda gal. That is, I wasn’t. But I am now.

I have since learned folks like Pythagoras and Gallileo believed in numerology. Seem like smart dudes, right?

I met my numerologist, Josh, at Le Zinque – a hot spot in Venice, not a tie-dye gypsy tent. He came highly recommended from my friend Leslie, who assured me he was not “hippie dippie” and that I would like him. She was correct. Josh is a math and science guy, who became obsessed with numerology 20 years ago. After exchanging pleasantries, Josh asked for my full name and birth date, which he wrote at the top of a plain sheet of paper.  He then went to work, like a mad scientist (err… numerologist). He began calculating numbers all over the sheet and then circled many of them, drawing lines across the paper to connect like numbers. It was all quite fascinating. Then, he looked up and proceeded to tell me all about myself. It would be apt to say, “he had my number.” He even called out certain years in my life that were years of transition/transformation. And he knew I was in one of those years right now.

Of course, visiting a numerologist isn’t going to magically change you. But anything that helps you get real and examine your personality traits and behaviors can certainly be helpful in making decisions and changes.

I have now referred a number of friends to Josh. All have been blown away by their experience. If you are open to trying it, message me.

5) I spent time with myself and nature.  Even as a single person, it’s tough to get alone time – at least quality alone time. Time where you can sit in stillness and just breathe and be present. In LA, we have alone time in our cars, but that is usually filled with planning the day ahead, business calls, road rage, and the occasional 80s rock song sing-a-long. The same goes with gym time. While I am a fitness nut, and love what it does for me physically and mentally, the group classes I take don’t really provide for peaceful introspection. During my “challenge”, I cut back on my group classes and opted for walks along the ocean and hikes in the mountains by myself. At some point along my scenic route, I would pick a peaceful spot to sit and meditate. Now, I have tried to meditate before and it has never stuck. So I am trying again and will keep doing so until I am the girl pictured below realizing all of the many great benefits of the practice.

Special thanks to Headspace for making something so difficult a little bit less so. Wish I was an investor!

During my “30 Days of Self Work,” I also did a bunch of other things that made me happy, made me feel grateful and made me….just feel. Things that involved the heart over the head. This included family and friends time, attending a wedding on an estancia in Argentina, dancing, and spending lots of time with babies and small kids (admiring their endless curiosity and excitement).

My challenge is now complete. I feel grounded, recharged, and more creative. Most importantly, I feel more in tune with what is important to me both personally and professionally.  It was an amazing 30 days, but the hard part begins now – with how to continue the work and sustain my current peace of mind and perspective. The key is to make it a priority and to make myself, and becoming my best self, a priority above all else. There is nothing more important than continuing to grow and to focus on living a fulfilled life. As the saying goes, “you only get one shot, make it your best!”

The United State of Women Summit

The United State of Women Summit

by robynmward Diversity/Equality Founders/Startups

Tuesday, June 14th 2016 was an incredibly special day. I spent it with 5,000 women. We discussed hard topics like violence against women, discrimination and the gender pay gap. We prayed multiple times for the victims in Orlando. But the United State of Women Summit was not a place of anger, sadness or frustration. Instead, it vibrated with love, optimism and the promise of a future, a not so distant one, where our daughters won’t face the same challenges we do.

It was amazing to hear from the likes of Kerry Washington, Patricia Arquette and Amy Poehler, alongside everyday women who had started companies against all odds and built organizations impacting change. It was a day of heroes, but the standout for me was “The Administration”. Collectively, I mean POTUS, FLOTUS, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi (and all the female congresswomen that joined her onstage), Megan Smith (CTO of the USA) , and Valerie Jarett & Tina Chen (who work for FLOTUS and serve on the White House Council on Women and Girls, which produced this historic, free event).

There has been no other time in history where we have had so many folks (women AND men) at the highest levels of government so whole-heartedly dedicated to advancing women and girls. Yesterday’s event crystallized this for me in a way that I am not quite sure I understood.

The morning started off with Vice President, Joe Biden. If you haven’t read Joe’s letter to the Stanford Rape victim, go read it NOW! Biden has been a powerful crusader in the violence against women fight for more than 25 years. In 1990, then-Senator Biden, introduced the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to Congress. The act was a landmark piece of legislation that changed the way our country responds to domestic violence and sexual assault. Since, its passage in 1994, rates of domestic violence have decreased by 50%. Upon accepting the VP position, Biden appointed the first ever White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. All Americans, especially women, should be grateful that we have had a man like Joe Biden serving our country as Vice President these past 8 years (and the many decades prior). Standout quotes from the VP were:

“We have to give women and girls a greater voice, but also have to assure their voices will be heard.”

“There is never, never, never a cultural justification for dehumanizing another human being “

Around mid-day Nancy Pelosi came to the stage. As the first female Speaker of the House, Nancy has an important place in history. Nancy is one tough lady. She told us war stories about rising through the ranks of the male-dominated House. They were stories the crowd could relate to – no matter field of work. At the end, she shouted, “when women succeed, America succeeds”, and then brought out a group of other women from the House onto the stage. The crowd stood in ovation for several minutes to honor these women. We need female representatives in government to make sure are voices and stories are heard and our issues are fought for. Unfortunately, the number of women in politics is going down, not up. Perhaps, HRC winning in November will reverse this trend. The power of “seeing is believing” can never be underestimated!

Shortly after Nancy’s speech, POTUS walked onto the stage (our Pres has some real swagger;) and kicked off his speech by proclaiming, “This is what a Feminist looks like.” He then proceeded to give a lengthy, impassioned speech. Mind you, in the wake of the tragic events in Orlando, he could have just stopped by the conference. That would have been enough. He also could have spoken to us for a few minutes. That would have been terrific. But he didn’t. He fervently delivered what should be considered a seminal speech for him on the advancement of women and girls. And it brought the house down multiple times. Here is a great clip where he is talking about his daughters and how they see the world and drops what will surely be a famous line, “Our country is not just about the Benjamins, its about the Tubmans too!”

At any other event, POTUS speaking would have been the highlight. But not at the United State of Women. FLOTUS, interviewed by OPRAH stole the show.  Michelle Obama exudes confidence and authenticity effortlessly. She is at once the most powerful, sophisticated woman in the room and a woman you could easily shoot the shit with over a glass of wine. In referring to herself and her husband, she said, “We are regular folks – we care about people, we care about family…..we have not changed…” When asked what she is most excited to do after The White House, she quipped, “Go to Target, I hear it has changed.”
Michelle Obama dropped so many gems during the interview that even Ms. Winfrey shared in the collective awe and admiration that overtook the room. Do yourself a favor and watch the entire interview, as I am sure it is posted somewhere. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite (approximate) statements:

“Our first job in life as women is to know and please ourselves…..Take time to know who you are.”

 

“Know your value. That will provide you confidence and bravery.”

“Surround yourself with goodness, get the haters out of your life.”

“The best revenge is success and good work”

“What can men do? Be better at everything…. Be good fathers who love your daughters, who provide a good example of what it means to be a man in the world….. Be a better husband, father, employer…….BE BETTER, BE BETTER, BE BETTER!”

“You can have it all, but often times its hard to it at the same time. And don’t beat yourself up and feel less than cause you aren’t having all.”

Back in February, David Brooks published a spot –on piece called “I miss Barack Obama”. In it, he writes about President Obama’s integrity, authenticity and sense of basic humanity.  The following sentence, in particular, speaks volumes after having attended the United State of Women Summit: “He and his wife have not only displayed superior integrity themselves, they have mostly attracted and hired people with high personal standards. There are all sorts of unsightly characters floating around politics, including in the Clinton camp and in Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. This sort has been blocked from team Obama.” As I stated earlier, the heroes of the Summit were all the folks in “The Administration” that, not only put on the event and gave powerful speeches, but do the work on a daily basis to advance women and girls (and all minorities). Michelle Obama said, “Being President doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are.” What the Summit revealed is that we have been incredibly fortunate to have a group of incredible people in our government incredibly dedicated to making women’s rights/human rights a priority.

Tuesday, June 14th 2016 was a special day. To “The Administration”, I say “Thank you!”  You will be missed. #TodayWeCanChangeTomorrow

**special thanks to The Girls Lounge for its unwavering devotion to the #powerofthepack and for bringing women across all industries together at events all over the globe.

The Time is Now: Making Progress and MAKERS

by robynmward Diversity/Equality

2016 is shaping up to be a year of epic progress for women and girls…and we are less than 40 days in!

In case you haven’t been keeping a running tally like I have, here are the highlights:

1) Obama announced in a press conference new rules aimed at leveling the “paying field”. Women earn $0.79 on the dollar compared to men in the same position. For women of color, the numbers are significantly worse. Now, companies with 100 employees or more will be required to report to the federal government how much they pay their employees broken down by race, gender, and ethnicity.
Transparency and accountability are key to fair pay. WIN!

2) The White House announced it will host a summit on “The United State of Women” on May 23rd. “The Summit will rally all of us together to celebrate what we’ve achieved, and how we’re going to take action moving forward.” Topics covered will include: Economic Prosperity, Health and Wellness, Educational Opportunity, Violence Against Women, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership and Visibility.
Community (public & private sector, women & men) is key to moving forward faster. WIN!

3) Obama pledged $4 Billion for Computer Science education in all schools. It just blows my mind that we teach biology, chemistry and physics in our schools, yet there is no national CS curriculum. Tech jobs make up the fasting growing sector of the US economy – and they are high-paying jobs. As the stats show, these jobs go to white men – and mostly middle to upper class white men. We need to get more girls interested in technology and coding. We also need to address/eliminate the unconscious bias we (parents, teachers) have that tells our girls “computer science is for boys.” In addition, we must bring technology and CS to low-income neighborhoods.
More people learning Computer Science will make our entire economy stronger. WIN!

On the heels of these epic announcements, I attended the AOL MAKERS Conference this past week. If you are not familiar with MAKERS, it is a women’s leadership platform that highlights the stories of groundbreaking women today to create the leaders of tomorrow.  MAKERS has created the largest collection of women’s stories ever assembled, which encompasses broadcast documentaries, web and mobile-first video content, and live events. When you finish reading this post, I implore you to immediately go to the Makers site and explore/watch it ALL. I have spent hours on the site – and am a better and smarter person, as well as a stronger, more impactful businesswoman, for it.

The MAKERS conference, put on by Dyllan McGee, Sammi Leibowitz and a tireless crew of AOL and MAKERS staff, was the most inspirational and impactful conference I have ever attended (and I attend a lot of events/conferences). The list of female rockstars that spoke was exceptional: THE Gloria Steinem, America Ferrera, Sheryl Sandberg, Carla Harris, Abby Wambach, CTO of the USA Megan Smith, US Treasurer Rosie Rios, GloZell, Caitlyn Jenner, Joanna Barsh, Joanna Hoffman, Shelley Zallis….the list goes on. These women shared their struggles and learnings with the hope and understanding that we can all learn from one another and that, as a community, we stand stronger and are more apt to achieve change than as individuals:

IMG_2129

America Ferrera – Hollywood celebrity and one super evolved and wise young woman!

“When I stopped thinking of other women as competition to me and started thinking about them as my partners in life…my whole experience of life changed.”

Abby Wambach – Soccer Phenom/#GOAT. Her next mission is to fight for a more equitable world…Watch out!

“It cost ZERO dollars to treat someone equally”

Also, kudos to Mattel for making an Abby Wambach doll. Let’s all buy 10 when they hit the market;)

Rosie Rios – US Treasurer responsible for getting a woman on our currency.

“This is not about one woman, it’s about the hundreds and hundreds of women that should be recognized everyday as part of our history ”

Carla Harris – Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Morgan Stanley. Holy moly this woman is the definition of the word POWERHOUSE!  She is chockfull of #carlaspearls.

“Perception is the copilot of reality”IMG_2180
“You can train people to think about you the way you want them to think about you. Think about how you want people to describe you when you are not in the room. Pick three adjectives – and make sure they are in line with what is important to your organization. Then display consistent behavior towards those three adjectives”

(I immediately went to Amazon and purchased this woman’s books – Expect to Win and Strategize to Win)

Shelley Zallis – Founder, TFQ Ventures and The Girls Lounge. Read this post to learn all about this fierce force of change.

“This is not a women’s issue, it is a social and economic issue.”

There were countless more amazing moments, conversations and workshops. And the great folks at MAKERS taped them all. Go watch them here and get inspired, as we are in the midst of true change to make the world a better place for women and girls (and everyone).

I’ll wrap up this post by quoting my new favorite badass, Carla Harris,
“Ladies, make 2016 the year of no regrets, put your foot on the gas and let it rip!

#thetimeisnow #makerswomen

 

Less Talk, More Action (My Trip to DC)

Less Talk, More Action (My Trip to DC)

by robynmward Diversity/Equality

I have been in the startup community (NYC and LA) for nearly 20 years, first as an operator and now as an investor. There has always been a diversity issue (a very big one) so I am, of course, thrilled that it has been getting so much attention as of late. Though I am eager to move from talking about it to ACTING to eliminate it.

I am a strong believer that each of us is responsible for putting into the world more than we take out. That each of us can, and should, make a positive impact – whether that means on a community, industry, state or global level. Obviously, it is easiest to make a difference locally, in an area that you are passionate about and familiar with. Starting out in early-stage tech in the late 90s, I have countless stories about being the only woman in my company, at a party, or at a conference. Because of my experience, I dedicate a good deal of my time to advising and mentoring both my female colleagues as well as the many existing and aspiring female founders I meet. I want more women to join / start / invest in tech startups. The more women that do so, the more that will follow in their footsteps (see my post “Choose Possibility”). Of course, we should all want this, not just women, as the numbers show that companies with women in management report higher returns on equity and better net income growth than those lacking female leaders.

Last year, I had the good fortune of meeting a “soul sister” by the name of Shelley Zallis. Shelley built and sold an online research company and, for the past few years, has been producing “The Girls Lounge”, a destination for female executives to connect and inspire one another, at a handful of major industry conferences. As everyone does, I immediately fell in love with Shelley. I believe our meeting was kizmet, as we met right at the time I began to think about gender equality on a national and global (not just tech ecosystem) level and right at the time Shelley was just beginning to think about how to build her Girls Lounge into a much bigger initiative.

Just before Christmas (and exactly one year after our first meeting), Shelley invited a group of 35 female executives to join her on a trip to DC. This was a venerable crew of badass women from Fortune level companies including IBM, Viacom, iheartmedia, Unilever, The New York Times, and Caterpillar (to name a few). I was honored and elated to be invited.

The purpose of the trip was to bring women from the public and private sectors together to begin to formulate a plan for moving beyond articles and studies and into creating an executable corporate roadmap for achieving gender equality. The first day we met with Megan Smith, the CTO of the USA, and discussed/brainstormed topics ranging from STEAM education to how to involve big media companies in bringing greater visibility to workplace diversity. The second day was spent with US Treasurer, Rosie Rios. She is the woman behind the initiative to get a female on our currency (if they see it, they can believe it!). Rosie had McKinsey & Company come in and present to us. If you don’t already know, McKinsey has a partnership with LeanIn.Org and, together, they produced a study called Women in the Workplace 2015.

The study is a short read, chock-full of charts and to-the-point summaries – definitely worth 15 minutes of your time. Check it our here. I will provide you with the take-away sentence that is most important: “Based on the slow rate of progress…it will take 25 years to reach gender parity at the senior-VP level and more than one hundred years in the C-suite.” 

This is absolutely NOT OK. That’s four more generations of our daughters being passed over for high-visibility projects/promotions, feeling like they cant take reasonable maternity leave without it impacting their performance reviews or career trajectory, and working just as hard (if not harder) than the guy next to her while earning 77 cents to his dollar.

The good news is that workplace diversity and gender equality are hot topics today. You can’t peruse the tech pubs on any given day without an article on this topic. And there have been a multitude of high profile articles on diversity (or lack thereof) in Hollywood this past year. These are the two industries in which I play – I am hoping, and assuming, the same goes for all industries.

The bad news is that we are at a stage where many companies are just providing lip service when they are publicly claiming diversity is a priority. In fact, according to the McKinsey study, “74% of companies report that gender diversity is a top CEO priority, but the message is not reaching the majority of employees. Less than half of workers believe that gender diversity is a top priority of their CEO, and only a third view is a top priority for their direct manager.”   One example here is Twitter. Twitter joined alongside several Silicon Valley heavyweights in releasing their diversity numbers (which were beyond dismal) and proclaiming that diversity was a key priority. Recently, an employee (now ex) posted this resignation letter that went viral stating that he was leaving the company because he believed its diversity initiative was more talk than action. To be fair to Twitter, tackling diversity in the workplace is a huge task and one that won’t happen overnight.  The company did release an apology letter and just this past week announced that they hired away Apple’s Worldwide Director of Inclusion and Diversity.

There have been lots of folks hired in the last year with fancy titles like the one above. But what can and will these people actually do to implement change. That’s where we are back to the good news. There are action items that can be taken – and companies like Facebook (go Sheryl), Salesforce, Netflix, Goldman Sachs, and Intel are leading the way. What we need is for these major companies to be transparent about what is and is not working – and to track and report their progress – all the way down to the bottom line.  We must prove to CEOs (and shareholders) that diversity strengthens a company in every aspect, including financially.

And this is where The Girls Lounge (consisting of leaders across multiple industries) and Megan & Rosie come back in. Having corporations and organizations tackle this issue in silos is a sure way to get to 100 years before we create the change we want to see. I will not share the plan for more unified action here – as it is still under construction and it is not mine to share. But it includes bringing together companies, organizations, and the government to evaluate, promote, and enact best practices for eliminating the gender/race wage gap, building corporate practices that promote diversity and eliminate discrimination (including changing Family Leave Policy – for more on this, watch this TED talk), and tackling the very difficult subject of unconscious bias.

As Shelley likes to say #TogetherWeCan  
As I like to say, let’s #GetShitDone   

Stay tuned….
And be sure to follow The Girls Lounge: Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

Notes:

 

Media Coverage of Women in Tech – #choosepossibility

Media Coverage of Women in Tech – #choosepossibility

by robynmward Diversity/Equality Founders/Startups

Last month, I participated on a panel at The Milken Institute Global Summit (watch it here) where the moderator asked if the recent attention on the low numbers of women in technology and investing was a good or bad thing.  Both Melody McClosky, founder of StyleSeat, and I agreed that, although the spotlight is mostly a good thing, we would both like to see less articles bemoaning the stats/struggles and more articles highlighting people/organizations making impactful changes towards creating more diversity. In addition, we would like to see more articles featuring the women leaders of today. There is nothing more impactful than young women seeing female leaders on the covers of magazines so they think “I can do that / I want to do that!”

I gave the example of Lynda.com, which was a “unicorn” level exit of a Southern California company founded by a woman (appropriately named Lynda;).  Her story is a terrific one.  A woman who taught herself computer skills and became very adept at web design.  The earliest version of Lynda.com focused on teaching design classes and then grew into a site offering hundreds of web, creative and business courses online – in multiple languages.  Lynda.com was really at the forefront of EdTech before we were even calling it EdTech.  But I didn’t see much press about Lynda upon the $1.5B purchase of her company by LinkedIn.  And I certainly didn’t see her on any magazine covers. I can’t help but think Lynda had two strikes against her: 1) she is a woman and 2) she is in her sixties.  The poster child for the tech scene is a white millenial male in a hoodie (a la Mark Zuckerberg), and Lynda didn’t fit the bill.  Seeing is believing and one cannot underscore the impact that stories like Lynda’s can have on our young women. IMHO the media should make a concerted effort to feature the stories of founders and investors that represent diversity of all kinds.

I am hoping that with the numerous articles over the past 12 months highlighting the stats we all know too well – just 2.9% of startup CEOs are women, just 6% (and by some accounts 4%) of partners at VCs are women – we are now moving into a period where more articles are discussing actual ideas and tactics for entrepreneurs, investors and companies to help improve diversity in the technology/startup ecosystem.

I have come across three such articles in just the last week.

1)  Kudos to Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, founder of Joyus, for posting a letter on ReCode which includes survey results from 200+ top female founders. It also provides a great list of ideas for increasing the rate of progress for women in tech entrepreneurship, stating “some ideas will succeed, others will fail, but we know that iteration matters in building momentum behind any large vision.” Her letter was signed by many top women in the tech ecosystem.  A big thank you to all of them!

Her list of excellent action items is below.  Be sure to check out the full article here.

*Entrepreneurs seeking to enhance their startup’s performance can choose today to add their first qualified female board member or investor. Diverse thinking can benefit private tech boards potentially even more than public ones, and there is no reason to wait.

*Startups seeking to attract women could choose today to create best practices in the areas of family planning and leave policies early and proactively. We can make this as easily understood as cap tables and free lunch programs among first-time founders.

*Venture capitalists (and their LPs) looking to understand their own biases and also their progress could choose today to track female versus male stats (pitched to funded) in their deal pipeline, and even publish it proactively.

*Venture capitalists seeking to attract the best entrepreneurs could choose today to be explicit in their term sheets on their own zero-tolerance policies for sexual harassment and other discrimination, as well as demanding the same of their portfolio companies. This is a simple signal, and it goes a long way to both genders of top-tier entrepreneurs.

*Investors and board members looking to grow the best companies can choose today to vigilantly treat female founders and CEOs with the same level of candor, directness, expectation and measurement that they would any other CEO or founder, rather than operating from a latent fear of “female emotion.”

*Women who are starting or working in a tech company can choose today to oversell their vision rather than underselling themselves, as they are competing for resources and mindshare with people who pitch big ideas.

2) Two amazing tech reporters at The LA Times (both women) then did a follow up story about the above letter (read here).  The below echoes my thoughts precisely.

“There are lots of women rising and succeeding in technology,” said Ruzwana Bashir, CEO of Peek, who co-signed the letter. “Instead of saying the challenges they face are insurmountable, why not focus on the women who have succeeded and understand what they did so we can have more people succeed?”

3) And this piece on Pandodaily is the type of story I really love to see.  It features a badass woman I had never heard of – CyPhy Works CEO Helen Greiner – along with the title “First Lady of Robots.”  I want every young woman out there to learn about this woman!

“I saw Star Wars when I was eleven and I wanted to build robots ever since. So I really went to MIT to learn robots, and I learned a lot of great things there. But it turned out, at the time, they really didn’t know how to build robots so I had to start a company to do that.”

I truly hope that these recent articles are an indication that we have turned the corner from focusing on the negative (like the article titled “How Companies Crush Womens’ Ambitions” in NYMag.com) to highlighting the positive and the possible. Discussions about proactive ways to improve diversity and articles/covers featuring the successes of not just women, but anyone who does not look like the poster child of tech, are the way to truly impact change.  I am optimistic we are moving in that direction:) #changetheratio #choosepossibility #choosepositivity

The Year of the Woman at Milken Institutes Global Summit

The Year of the Woman at Milken Institutes Global Summit

by robynmward Diversity/Equality Founders/Startups

Kudos to the Milken Institute for putting on an amazing Global Summit this year.  Yes, they do a great job every year, but this year was special.  They chose to place an emphasis on girls and women, both in their programming and in their attendance.  30% of the attendees were women this year, a significant increase from prior years.  Day 2 of the conference was particularly impactful as the lunch program (which everyone attends) was a 2 hour program that featured Patricia Arquette speaking about pay equality, Frida Pinto discussing how to help advance young women in India, and Willow Bay moderating a panel called “What Would You Do to Make the World Better for Women and Girls? A Conversation and Call to Action”.

I was honored to be on a panel alongside a handful of powerhouse women called “Women Challenging the Status Quo.”  Check out the video below:

RIP Muriel Siebert / Women For Change

RIP Muriel Siebert / Women For Change

by robynmward Diversity/Equality

My first job was as an investment banker. Yes, I wore banker blue Brooks Brothers suits for 2 years (Shhhh, don’t tell anyone;). This was longer ago than I’d like to admit. There were few women in finance, but the numbers seemed to be growing. Back then, there were a select handful of Wall Street women at the forefront, in senior roles paving the way for the rest of us. Muriel Siebert, who passed away at age 84 yesterday, was one of the few, and she was truly a pioneer. She was the first woman to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, having been admitted in 1963. I had the pleasure of meeting her once. She was whipsmart and a force for change and good.

Unfortunately, change in the finance industry has happened much slower than either Muriel, myself or womankind would like or expect. Rachel Sklar wrote an amazing piece on this yesterday that inspired me to share my own thoughts here. Rachel’s piece included the below Siebert quote:

“Firms are doing what they have to do, legally,” she said. “But women are coming into Wall Street in large numbers — and they still are not making partner and are not getting into the positions that lead to the executive suites. There’s still an old-boy network. You just have to keep fighting.”

Muriel said this in 1992, nearly 30 years after securing her NYSE seat. I feel like this quote could have just as easily come out of my mouth in 1999. And I, sadly, have the feeling that some form of this quote is still being uttered by women up and down Wall Street today.

So what’s going on here? Where is the change? Where is the acceptance/acknowledgement that women, who are graduating college at higher rates than men, are more than qualified to make it to the senior ranks? And, of course, that women are worthy of, and deserve, equal pay. It turns out that change, on a societal scale, happens slowly. This is not just evidenced by gender issues, but also that of race and sexual preference.

It is sad, but true, that women in finance (and tech and government and lots of other industries) often have to work twice as hard as men, and still don’t achieve the same title/responsibility/pay. It is also sad, but true, that when women write about it, men often quip that we are having a pity party (as evidenced by several ridiculous comments by men that appear below Rachel’s article). But, as Muriel stated, “we must keep fighting.” Be a “Doer”, as actions speak louder than words. Take charge, push through the bullshit, and become whatever your version of Muriel Siebert or Hillary Clinton or Marissa Mayer looks like.

This is why I am 110% in support of Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” initiative. I don’t agree with everything Sheryl says or writes, but I am in full support of a resurgence of the Feminist Movement. And for those of you that don’t like the word Feminist, call it whatever you want. The word is less important than the belief and the action and the coming together of women to help and support each other and our own cause. Ladies, lets keep fighting to be the change we wish to see in our industries – and the world.

Learn more about Muriel Siebert here.
Read Rachel’s post here.

The One Book Every Entrpreneur MUST Own

The One Book Every Entrpreneur MUST Own

by robynmward Founders/Startups Personal Development

Business Model Generation is the book I refer to as “The Entrepreneur’s Bible.” I have one at home and one at work. If you don’t have this book, buy it HERE NOW. Along with a terrific Website, the brilliant BMG folks have recently released a new “toolbox” called The Strategyzer that helps you build a better business model. Check it out HERE. Trust me, you will thank me later for this tip 😉