What I learned from the Women of the Cloud Get Together at IBM Interconnect!
With over 1000 women joining us for the Women in the Cloud event at IBM Interconnect, we heard Ted Talks from:
- Lisa Seacat DeLuca - IBM's Most Prolific Woman Inventor
- Maria Winans - IBM's VP of Marketing
- Marie Wieck - IBM's GM of Software
- Laurie McCabe - CEO / Founder SMB Group
- Frances West - IBM's Executvie for Accessibility
- me!
Here's my Top 10.5 Top Aways!
- Learn how to say No! Not every opportunity is a good one so don't say yes to everything. Pick and choose those with the highest Return on Investment or Most Joy!
- You Can have it ALL but you have to define what your ALL is. What brings you joy and excitement should be your bar, not what others desire.
- Exercise! Almost all of the TED talks valued working out to de stress and stay healthy!
- Prioritize yourself. The analogy I used was on a flight and in life, put your safety mask on first. Then you can help others. Sometimes it is ok to make you a priority.
- Have a support structure. All of us need help and so when your daughter comes home with that last minute tea and you have a big presentation, have a support team who can sub in when needed. You’ll need a strong support network for your personal life to meet the challenges of integrating work and life. Ask help of those around you – friends, family, and neighbors
- Take risks. Stretch opportunities, coaching and placement in roles outside of your “comfort zone” is critical to building leadership attributes
- Have fun. Many examples of where women excel more when they loved what they were doing. Do what brings you joy!
- Move from "can it be done" to "how can I get it done". Attitude and tone is really important but for your teams and you!
- Believe in yourself. Make sure you have confidence in you and your abilities and those crazy ideas.
- Give yourself permission. Don’t feel guiltly about decisions Make a decision and stand behind it. As one executive put it, “Don’t spend your time feeling guilty afterwards because you may be putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.”
10.5 Get a massage weekly!
