Five powerful women in the Federal and industry technology sector said this week that the key to making their mark in the male-dominated field revolves around inclusivity and mentorship.
During the Dell Technologies Forum in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24, Senior Research Analyst for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Elham Tabassi said that diversity is critical when creating or leveraging new technologies that are going to impact certain communities.
For example, Tabassi explained that when she was on the NIST team creating the AI Risk Management Framework, having diverse sources of knowledge at the table – like women – was very important.
“What we learned is how important it is to bring those different points of views, those different understandings of the problem and their solution to that,” Tabassi said. “And how does diversity of not only geographic diversity, demographic diversity, but thought diversity and making sure all of them are included – all of the voices are included in the process is really important.”
“The thought processes, the background in terms of the knowledge is also diverse, is an extremely powerful thing and it’s extremely needed for where we are going with the technology,” Tabassi said.
Not only mentorship, but also sponsorship is another piece to empowering women in tech, said Amrita Maguire – a senior principal engineer and a distinguished member of technical staff at Dell Technologies.
“What I think is critical is that at every stage of your life, you need to engage with people; you need to go seek those role models,” Maguire said. “Why mentorship and sponsorship is important, particularly for women, is there are not that many women in leadership roles.”
“I would say mentorship is critical, but sponsorship becomes the key to promoting you because once you engage with people, they know they trust you, they value you, they know what you can do, and then they speak up for you when you’re not in the room,” Maguire said.
Long-time Federal leader Renata Spinks – a U.S. Army veteran and high-ranking Marine Corps tech official, said that “leaving the door open” for women to trailblaze behind you is the best way to break down systemic barriers.
Spinks served more than two decades in the government – most recently as the deputy chief information officer for information, command, control, communications, and computers at the Marine Corps – before stepping down last month.
“The door swings both ways, but when you have people who can trailblaze before you and say ‘you can do it, it’s okay. Yes, you made a mistake. It’s going to be all right,’ but then also praise you. I think that probably was the game changer of my entire career – whether that’s my service to the military in the Army, whether that was the Marine Corps, whether that was my Federal service and any Federal government agency that I assisted,” she said.
“There’s just so much to the barriers and if we allow it to stagnate us, we won’t ever innovate,” Spinks emphasized.
Alexis Bonnell, the recently appointed and first-ever chief information officer for the Air Force Research Laboratory, shared a similar sentiment as Spinks, noting that women possess the empathy needed to lead the technology industry and create a culture where it’s safe for others to learn.
“[We can] ensure that our focus remains on not maintaining a facade, but on the essence of leadership, continuous growth, curiosity, and fostering collaboration. Leaders who don’t think they know it all are more permeable to new ideas,” Bonnell said during her keynote speech at Dell Technologies Forum.
“Instead of resting on the laurels of past achievements, or already established knowledge, they remain voracious learners, forever curious and endlessly adaptable,” she said. “This perpetual quest for understanding, accepting what we don’t know, and embracing that we want to know more propels us into the realms of innovation and creativity that others may overlook.”
Suzette Kent, who served as Federal Chief Information Officer during the Trump administration, concluded the “Make Your Mark: Breaking Barriers and Driving Change” panel by acknowledging that because the pace of innovation and technology is moving so quickly, both the Federal government and industry must do a better job of inviting women to the table.
“When I look to the future I think about the pace, and the pace is moving so quickly,” Kent said. “We have to be intentional about making sure that all the right people are at the table.”
“Both the pandemic and the technology everywhere has invaded a lot of spaces for us,” she said. “And so we don’t ever think we can turn it off. And when we’re not turning off and we’re doing stuff all the time, sometimes we’re not being as thoughtful as we should.”
