The Pilgrim s Progress A Brief Retrospective of One Engineer s Travels in Diversity-Land

1. The Pilgrim�s ProgressA Brief Retrospective of One Engineer�s Travels in Diversity-Land Steve Tolopka* Senior Principal Engineer Corporate Technology Group Intel Corporation

2. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 2 Why Am I Not Here?

3. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 3 Why Am I Here? Asked to share thoughts on: My evolving understanding of issues faced by technical women Leading change in organizations My plan: A �portmanteau� talk! Sketch one organization�s progress & pitfalls with culture change Share some things I�ve learned � often the hard way!

4. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 4 April-May 2002: The Awakening The Fateful Seminar: Unlocking the Clubhouse (Fisher & Margolis)

5. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 5 July 2002: First Report-Out Presentation Reprised the data Proposed 3 - 5 year plan Embed improved mgmt practices Measure progress List of action areas & draft actions Recommendations Recommended punting WLE for now Asked for commitment to program

6. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 6 Sept � Nov 2002: Building Support

7. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 7 Feb 2003: Public Roll-Out

8. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 8 Rest of 2003: Lab Director Ownership Initial programs executing, starting with CTG Staff training Labs report out on status, local issues, next steps �What will you PERSONALLY do to make a difference?� Plans for hiring recommendations, mentors Employee Bonus goals with representation metrics Task force formally constituted as CTG Diversity Council First discussions with Director of Corporate Diversity First external engagement: Anita Borg Institute �image campaign� Telle Whitney fills CTO Pat Gelsinger�s ear during plane flight Maria Klawe, John White, Cindy Goral, �

9. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 9 2004: Solidify Gains, Reach Outward CTG programs continue to ramp up Hiring actions: Staffing synergy, candidate tracking, strategic hires Regular detailed metrics reporting First workshops to build skills & community NCWIT formation & engagement (more later) Jerry Sternin: Look for �positive deviants� �It�s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.� Working group for Grace Hopper Celebration

10. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 10 Who Are These People? 1946 University of Pennsylvania ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

11. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 11 Grace Hopper Celebration 2004 A minority guy in a sea of ~800 technical women Observation #1: More excitement, buzz, fun than usual conference Observation #2: More hugging! An amazing array of talent Kay Mauchly Antonelli (one of those 1st programmers) Fran Allen (IBM Fellow Emerita), Adele Goldberg, � Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley �My work and life were never, ever balanced. Work is the ultimate seduction � Work isn�t something you do when you�d rather be doing something else.� �Choosing the right life partner is very important. I was recently talking with a friend and remarked that my husband is an angel. �You�re so lucky�, she said, �mine�s still alive.��

12. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 12 2005: Institutionalize, Start to Role Model Aggressive diversity goals for external hires Retention & progression assessment Departures tracked by Lab Directors: Lab Staffs are on board! Strengthened engagement with Fellows Office Rallying cry: �Multiple female Fellows in 5 years� Formation & co-chair of NCWIT Industry Alliance

13. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 13 National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Mission: Ensure that women are fully represented in the influential world of information technology and computing WA Goal: Professional workforce parity in 20 years 2005 WA Accomplishment: Agreement on mission and name!!!

14. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 14 2006 CTG Prevent backsliding! Management Training, Management Leadership Pipeline Women�s Leadership Coaching Council established and strongly executing Able to talk about culture change (not just programs) Intel Fellows Office holds first forum for tech women Justin Rattner (CTG Director, Intel CTO) seeks spot on ABI Board of Directors GHC 2006: Program Committee, 2 strong panels, Corp Diversity presence NCWIT Intel Foundation grant to NCWIT Denise Rousseau (CMU): �Losses are more painful than gains are good�, �Diverse cultures have broader (alternate) models of success� First WA programs executing Policy engagements

15. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 15 2007 Host Anita Borg Institute Tech Leaders Forum! Scale out our ability to �tell the story� via Reader�s Theater* Execute a program where CTG is a �prototyping lab� for Corp Diversity NCWIT WA: Harvest first Data programs, move firmly toward �doing� Develop recommended actions on �retain individuality�, gender schemas

16. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 16 A Little About Schemas* Schemas are implicit, often non-conscious, hypotheses that we use to interpret social events (Fiske & Taylor, 1991) A natural part of the way our brains work Allow us to categorize the people, objects, and events in our environment. Many flavors of schemas Social groups, age groups, ethnic groups, chairs, skyscrapers, � We develop expectations about a thing based on its category Helps us orient ourselves, know what to expect, make predictions These expectations color the way we evaluate ourselves & others We see what we expect to see NOT a blatant intent to discriminate unfairly

17. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 17 Women Face Additional Challenges Gender schemas are hypotheses about what it means to be male or female � and these hypotheses direct & skew our perceptions Some studies on gender schemas: Height Experiment (Biernat, Manis, & Nelson 1991) Students shown photos of men/women (matched for height) consistently overestimate height of men, underestimate height of women Head-of-the-Table Experiment (Porter & Geis, 1981) Students shown slides of 5 people seated at table, described as working together on a project, and asked to identify the leader In same-sex groups, person at head of table identified as leader In mixed-sex groups, man at head of table seen as leader. Woman at head seen as leader 50% of time, with man elsewhere equally likely. Same judgments & results regardless of the observer�s gender Orchestra auditions (Rouse & Goldin, 1997) Women 50% more likely to advance out of prelim rounds if audition is screened Swedish Medical Council Post-Doctoral Fellowships (Wenneras & Wold, 1997) 46% of applicants were women; 20% of awards went to women Model showed women needed 100 �impact points� to receive same rating from judges as a man with 40 impact points

18. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 18 Lessons Learned: Own an Agenda Not just an interest, not just a project, more than a vision Paraphrasing Denise Rousseau: A hallucination is a private pleasure, a vision is a shared experience � an agenda is a vision with intent Be able to explain your agenda crisply. Make it personal, passion is your ally. Preach it everywhere � opportunity & impact come from the most unlikely places �Hi, what�s new?� Not �Same old, same old,� but �Here�s where I�m going� Janet Tolopka, on starting the week out right, 21 July 2003: �Nothing has hit the fan yet this morning. I may have to be the one to turn the fan on and get it going.�

19. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 19 Lessons Learned: Cultivate Senior Sponsors Enroll senior sponsors that can clear the way, supply resources Speak their language, understand their needs. Listen to guidance even when it�s painful. Craig Kinnie, on how you know when guidance has been constructive: �The arrows you have in your back are directional.� Be succinct, clear, concrete. Make them believe you have an executable plan Then � make sure you do execute to solidify confidence Retain senior sponsor interest � especially AFTER initial success Lots of other stuff will vie for their attention. Keep tuning your agenda so that it�s not yesterday�s news Even worse: �Aren�t we through with that thing yet?�

20. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 20 Lessons Learned: Keep Execution Rolling Data (e.g., #�s vs parity, hiring progress, turnover data) is key Never have enough for the worst skeptics, but it moves the rest Don�t wait! Do what you can do now, the rest will follow Use your organization as a pilot / role model Pretend everyone works for you until proven otherwise Take advantage of corporate air cover � but don�t count on it See �don�t wait� above! Make it a business issue Drive and own from the business (e.g., not from HR for diversity) Organized: regular meetings, minutes, ARs, new process training, � Do! People will learn more by behaving than via classes Latter can help bootstrap mindshare & visibility

21. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 21 Lessons Learned: Upheaval Ain�t Easy Tolerate ambiguity! Andre Gide: �One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.� Paul Sappho, The Institute for the Future: �Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.� Grace Murray Hopper: �A ship in port is safe � but that�s not why ships are built.� Rolling Stones: �You can�t always get what you want. You can�t always get what you want. You can�t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find You get what you need.�

22. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 22 Lessons Learned: Make Friends, Persevere Make friends & build champions � up, down, sideways Link your agenda to theirs where you can Sooner or later, you�ll need new folks to �break trail� Be patient & persistent, don�t lose heart Expect to get discouraged � lean on buddies Winston Churchill: �If you're going through hell, keep going.� Janet Tolopka, 23 March 2005:  �Regardless of whether there�s hope, there is lunch in about 30 minutes.� A long perspective matters � only way to see progress Celebrate and reward success Craig Kinnie: �Clarity and persistence almost always prevail.� Expect to get some things wrong Coleman Hawkins: �If you don�t make mistakes, you aren�t really trying.� NCWIT CEO Lucy Sanders: �I�m making this all up, you know.� Barb Waugh (HP): �If you knew what you were doing, we�d only get as far as we got before.�

23. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 23 Lessons Learned: Take & Share Credit Learn to name-drop in useful ways Learn to take credit in ways that don�t feel like bragging Brag when you need to! Report agenda progress, not project status Be generous in sharing credit � but take your fair share! Alternate success models don�t fit the usual schemas It is in your best interests to facilitate a fair evaluation by clarifying accomplishments & impact and putting them in context Put your best foot forward in self-evaluations

24. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 24 Lessons Learned: Get Out of Your Own Way Act like you belong there. Sit at the table. Speak up. Just because everyone tells you (repeatedly) that you�re crazy doesn�t mean they�re right. You may be the only one who gets it. You have unique insights & talents. No one else will see the problem exactly like you, no one else will attack it exactly like you. Help others who are in the same boat Try �reverse micro-inequities.� Give full attention to speakers, call the room�s attention to what they say, etc. Take your own advice! It�s too easy to ignore what you know is right.

25. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 25 You Are Today�s Pioneers

26. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 26 Questions / Discussion

27. ABI Tech Leaders February 2007 27 Citations & Resources Fischer, A. & Margolis, J. Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001. Waugh, B. How to Do Reader�s Theater, http://www.hpl.hp.com/hosted/wbirl/readers/. Valian, V. Tutorials for Change: Gender Schemas and Science Careers, (Hunter College, CUNY) http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/gendertutorial/about.htm Valian, V. (1998). Why so slow? The advancement of women. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Fiske, S. T. & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition, 2nd ed. NY: McGraw-Hill. Biernat, M., Manis, M., & Nelson, T. (1991). Stereotypes and standards of judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 5-20. Porter, N. & Geis, F. L. (1981). Women and nonverbal leadership cues: When seeing is not believing. In C. Mayo & N. Henley (Eds.), Gender and nonverbal behavior. New York: Springer Verlag. Goldin, Claudia and Rouse, Cecilia E. Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians (January 1997). NBER Working Paper No. W5903. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=225685 Wenneras, C. & Wold, A. (1997). Nepotism and sexism in peer-review. Nature, 387, pp.341-343.