Inspiring the Next Generation: The Future of Women in Technology

PRESENTER 1: For me, the real privilege of working in games is facilitating storytelling in a way that is so immersive, in a way that not only facilitates the ability to tell people a story that matters to you but let them interact with it, let them engage with it, and build entire worlds around it.

PRESENTER 2: I looked around at what I could do and then found game dev programming, which was particularly graphics programming, which really piqued my interest. So I looked into that, ended up doing it, and found my way into games.

PRESENTER 3: In the future, I really do want to go into a production cycle of making either a game or a film. I'm really excited about working in a studio and making something that people can enjoy and also meeting a lot of people who bring ideas to life.

PRESENTER 2: A technology I'm really excited about is VR, because that's what I work in. So at the moment, I do not just headset stuff but also projections in VR. So stuff like you see in music festivals or at Vivid. So art exhibitions. I make that stuff. I'm the programmer that puts that together for you to see.

PRESENTER 4: I've got so many great teachers, and they're all just really helpful in terms of working through and getting everything done. And I feel like I've learned so much.

PRESENTER 2: ended up finding groups of people that I could use as like a group of mentors. So lots of different people in different industries all end up covering everything that I was doing. And I found that was really beneficial.

PRESENTER 4: I've had a lot of people who have really, really helped me out along the way. And there's a whole smorgasbord of support going on that I have really appreciated.

PRESENTER 1: It gave me the belief in myself. Mentors are invaluable. If you can see it, you can be it. And so often we don't see women of power in the games industry, women of influence in the games industry. The more we elevate those people and not only elevate them but connect them directly with entry-level women, the more women we will see succeeding in the industry.

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LYNELLE CAMERON: Welcome, everyone. So great to have a full room here. And thank you for all being together over here and a few of you over there. So it's great. I am Lynelle Cameron, and I lead our sustainability and foundation work here at Autodesk. So we were thrilled with the keynote this morning, talking about more better with less.

And I'm here substituting for Minette Norman. She was going to be moderating this panel. So for those of you who really wanted to see her, she's not able to make it. She is one of my favorite colleagues at Autodesk and has been absolutely instrumental in the work that we do as a company around helping advance women.

So thrilled to jump in for her, especially on this topic, because it truly is one of my favorite topics. I have been mentored, been a mentor, and it's a really, really important part of how I see my role as a professional woman these days. So really excited to be here.

That video was created by students at the Academy of International Entertainment, which produces and prepares students for careers in the gaming industry. And these young women are embarking on careers in one of the most challenging industries and fields to break into. So kudos to them for making that video for us.

So if you're here in this room and chose to come to the session, you probably already understand the enormous challenges that women face but also the opportunity that we have to really make a difference for all the women that are following us in the workforce.

A few statistics. Women make up more than half-- 57%-- of the labor force here in the US. I'd love to know what that statistic is globally. I'm sure it varies dramatically by country. Yet women hold only 26% of professional computing occupations. So much smaller in that space.

Women hold merely 11% of executive positions at Silicon Valley companies, and women only own 5% of startups. So we've got some work to do. I'm thrilled at Autodesk that we have two new members of our leadership team, both of whom are women. So that's been super exciting. We're moving the needle on that front. Go Autodesk.

But there are many things that we can do and opportunities that we have. And so I was asked just to say a few words about Autodesk and our program. We do have a match program, where we match employees with mentors. That's both men and women, but that's been going on for a very long time.

We also have an incredible program called AWIL, Autodesk Women in Leadership, and I'm going to embarrass her but ask Chelsea just to stand up so you can find her afterward. Right here. Chelsea has been absolutely instrumental in starting the program really and helping it gain traction as a very young professional at Autodesk. So it is really a core part of what we do, and I'm sure my colleagues will talk a little bit about that.

So with that, I am so thrilled to have this panel. I've never had a panel like this. So we have a panel here of three different companies from three different continents with a mentor and a mentee. Fantastic. So I'm going to ask each of the panelists to introduce themselves and to tell us a little bit about how mentoring works at their company. Every company is different. So just give us a few words about the program. Why don't we start down there with Allison.

ALLISON SCOTT: Is this on?

LYNELLE CAMERON: There you go.

ALLISON SCOTT: Hi, everyone. My name's Allie Scott. I'm the Director of Market Strategy for Skanska's Construction Division and our Innovation Team. And I've been with Skanska for seven years. I came up through technology, went into architecture, and found myself in construction where I get to marry all the best parts of all of those jobs.

So at Skanska we have what we called our Women's network. It's been around since 2013. It started off with a chapter in New York and it has since grown to a national organization with over 1,000 active members. We do mentorships in a few different ways. We have a lot of informal programs, but we do actually have a formal mentorship program-- it's fairly new-- where we try to match seasoned leaders with young professionals that are coming up.

And there is an emphasis in encouraging and supporting and advocating for women in leadership roles. So it's a really exciting time for Skanska. We're really putting a strong emphasis on diversity and inclusion, because we know that from diversity of thought comes new ways of working. So it's a lot of fun.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Excellent.

JENNA KELLER: Hi, everyone. I'm Jenna Keller. I am new to Autodesk as a BIM 360 Adoption Specialist. And I previously worked with Allie over here in the innovation group at Skanska and also worked in project management and operations in construction as well. And my educational background is in architecture. So I went directly into construction from there.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Thank you.

ELIZABETH HARPER: Hi, everybody. I'm Elizabeth Harper from GHD. I've been with the firm for seven years on the global CIO. I guess when we look at GHC with respect to women, we have a very strong program around women in GHD. We have a strong diversity and inclusion program. Our mentoring is little ad hoc, and often what we see is that it's really a few strong leaders who are driving that mentoring approach and identifying people who really deserve that coaching, mentoring, and advocacy to take them forward in the organization.

CHRISTINE ALVIS: Hi, I'm Christine or you can call me Tine. I came from Manila. I work with GHD with Elizabeth, and I've been with the company for four years. And I'm working as a Specialized Application Support Manager. And I'm also part of the diversity and inclusion team in Manila.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Great.

SIGRID BAYER: Hi, my name is Sigrid Bayer. I am Global Sales Operations Services Director at Autodesk. I've been with Autodesk for 16 years. And I actually started my career in something completely different. It was hospitality industry. So nothing in technology, but I ended up there. And our mentor program Lynelle has already mentioned it, so we have a matching program, and it has been running for quite a while and is frequently used.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah.

CIARAN GOLDSMITH: OK. Hi, and I'm-- oh, loud. So my name's Ciaran Goldsmith. I'm the Senior Director of Premium Support Services at Autodesk. I've been here for 18 years. I'm based in Switzerland. Obviously, from my accent you can tell that I'm not Swiss. I'm actually originally Irish. And similar to what people have said about Autodesk, I think we have the matching program, but I think what we've really focused in on recently is diversity and inclusion. And I think we're using that as a means to drive innovation. And so new ideas from new people from outside of our normal networks is what we're looking for. So I think this is a great topic to kick it off.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah, great. So I'm going to start with a question for our mentees just to talk broadly about how your mentor has really helped you in your career and brought new opportunities for you. And you can jump in at any order. Do you want to start, Jenna?

JENNA KELLER: Yeah, I can start. So for me, working with Allie, she has really inspired me to discover my own path and to build my own success. I think that it can be overwhelming when you're first starting at an organization, being brand new, to whether you've been there for a long time, that there are a lot of challenges to overcome. And to figure out your next steps can be very challenging.

So Allie started guiding me in my current position, being brand new at Skanska and fresh out of college, to being successful within our group. And then later our conversation had shifted at one point to where do I fit into more of the broader industry? So as being mentor-mentee, our relationship also shifted to being friends as well.

And throughout that time, she's always been encouraging me to keep staying curious and learn as much as I can, to grow my professional network, and just to say challenged, and continue pushing myself. So working with Allie, she's really giving me, I'd say, the confidence and really the tools to be able to chase my goals and find my unique path. So thanks, Allie.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Great. How about Tine.

CHRISTINE ALVIS: Yeah. For me, actually I have been here working with Elizabeth for four years. But I am working closely with her for I think five months since we started the leadership team in Manila. And I'm also lucky to be mentored by her mentor. So actually right now, when I came here, when I found out that I will be a speaker, I was so nervous and I panicked. I really hate speaking in public. I've never been to any public speaking and this is my first time. So--

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Thank you. And with the help of my mentors, I am here. I am shaking, but yeah. I am brave. Yeah, I am. And I got that from Elizabeth.

LYNELLE CAMERON: That's great. Thank you. Yeah, we talked to Tine earlier and said it's really important to share your story, and it's wonderful that this is your first speaking opportunity. So thank you for being here and paving the way for others to follow and inspiring others.

CHRISTINE ALVIS: Shaking is OK.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah. Shaking is fine.

CHRISTINE ALVIS: Yes, it is.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah.

SIGRID BAYER: Actually, I have to take you on that, because my first experience in speaking to a wide crowd of people it was actually a male organization. It was 500 people in Morocco-- in Marrakesh-- and I was on a world tour before. So I had packed like really nice dress and shoes and everything just for this event. And I was traveling from Singapore, Malaysia, through Paris.

But anyway, my luggage got lost. So I had carried that all my way through that and then I arrived there, I had nothing. I was like in sneakers, jeans, and a sweaty T-shirt. So then the hotel sponsored me with one of these typical Moroccan gowns or however you call that. And like I have sandals from them, also typical Moroccan. So I was standing there in front of 500 people giving my speech in an outfit I was not prepared to be in. Thought I'd confide of that. What was the question?

LYNELLE CAMERON: About your mentor.

SIGRID BAYER: Mentor, yeah. So Ciaran and myself, we actually were for the longest period together now, and I think the most what I got out-- at the beginning at least-- we didn't officially have mentoring-mentee, like written it down here like a contract. It was, he gave me really this self-awareness to what I wanted to do or what I didn't want to do.

And I always had my self-confidence. I was sure-- the job I did, I had my confidence I do a good job. I never thought about a career. It was not important for me to get a director's title or whatever. It was always, for me, important to do a good job and that people respect me because of me, not because of my title.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Thank you. Yes. I've never done a panel with this many panelists. So I've asked everyone to do really quick, concise responses and then we want to allow time for all of you to ask questions as well. And of course, we'll have a whole networking opportunity as well. So Ciaran, you have been at Autodesk for 17 years and have been a mentor for much of that time. So first of all, thank you. That's wonderful. Can you talk about a time when you had a real impact on a mentee, whether Sigrid or others, and how that impacted them but also yourself.

CIARAN GOLDSMITH: Yeah, sure. I think, as Sigrid said, we've worked together since-- well, 16 years, 18 years in the company. I think we formally started working together in 2007, and over those 10 years we had the opportunity of having a lot of conversations. We talked about listening, we talked about coaching, we talked about delegation and empowerment.

And to what Sigrid was saying, none of our conversations were really sitting down and saying, hey, we're going to have this relationship. Here's the contract. Sigrid worked for me, so we had a slightly different relationship in that perspective, that it was sort of that managerial relationship. But it truly became, not just one of a mentor-mentee, but also a friendship.

And so I had the pleasure of seeing Sigrid go from somebody who was very competent to somebody who was very focused and actually knew what she wanted and so to this concept of I knew I wanted a career, to be able to help map that out. And so we saw ourselves grow from managers to senior managers to directors. And so I think it wasn't a one-time event. It was a journey of growing together. And as Sigurd got things from me, I got things from Sigrid. And so I think it was a very beneficial relationship.

And I think where it sort of came to me in terms of the real impact or what I got out of it and I think what Sigrid got out of it is, at the start of this year, I changed role. And it was obvious that Sigrid was the natural replacement. And so Sigrid became the leader of the organization I had before. For me, that was the ultimate reward of the relationship and the journey we had gone on for 10 years.

LYNELLE CAMERON: That's fantastic. And that's a common pattern with this particular panel, which is not the same as my experience, where a formal mentorship program is short in time but informal extends. And I think each of these pairs has had a relationship for four years or so. So Jenna, I was going to ask you, how did you meet Allie, and was it part of a formal program or did it grow organically and how has that relationship grown over time?

JENNA KELLER: Great. So when I first started Skanska, Allie was the welcoming coworker who sat around the corner from me. She was always encouraging my questions and introducing me to new people. But I was immediately drawn to her openness, and she was always willing to provide some great insight on my work. And she was very supportive. So she really made me just feel comfortable to approach her on any topic.

And as my role developed, she eventually became my day-to-day manager. And we quickly developed a close bond, both personally and professionally. She was able to balance not only being my manager but also my role model and an informal mentor. So working closely with her, I was really able to benefit from seeing her strategy on business, to managing complex relationships, and I really got to see her in action as a leader, which is great-- good to learn from, for sure, looking back.

And then she was also still an informal mentor to me and really helping me to reach out to others, to meet new people, and learn a lot from them. And I think seeing what I learned from you too made me realize that, oh, I should connect with other people and develop relationships with them too, which gave me a lot of insight into Skanska and how we worked. So as I moved on out of the group into a new role and at one point had moved across the country, we were able to easily stay in touch. And we would a message or just catch up on the phone here and there, but always available to get your insight on things.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Great.

JENNA KELLER: Yeah. So I think that really from this, I've grown and seen how this has affected me in wanting to be more open to others, wanting to be advocate for others and to give back what you've done for me.

LYNELLE CAMERON: This is going to be a love-fest. But we will get to some challenges.

JENNA KELLER: Sorry.

LYNELLE CAMERON: No, no. This is what this is about. You guys have had such positive mentoring experiences. So it just feels warm and fuzzy to me. So Allie, what have you learned from Jenna, and how has the mentorship really helped you evolve as a leader and a manager, knowing that you're a role model for many young women, I'm sure?

ALLISON SCOTT: So Jenna and I-- obviously she told you a little bit of the backstory. We were working really closely together, and actually it was a very informal relationship. It just kind of grew organically. And I was really drawn to her because for me coming up in the industry, I didn't have a model of what a woman in business should look like. There aren't a lot of us, right? Or there's more now, but even five years ago, there weren't a lot of us.

So I kind of had to forge my own path, and I was very lucky over the course of my career, and have been and continue to be, with having some really key mentors of my own that have helped me figure out what I wanted to do in my career. So I took a lot of those lessons that I had experienced and said, OK, here I have an enthusiastic young college grad in a VDC internship doing random stuff with me. How can I make sure that this experience is successful for her? And so she really challenged me to become a good manager and become a mentor to kind of walk into that role. And I'm still learning lessons today.

My direct report, Ricky, is standing in the back. She gets the benefit of my lessons that I'm still learning on how to be a good manager today. But I try to take from the experience I had with Jenna and say, OK, how can I make sure that the people that work with me and for me are having a good experience and advancing in their career? So I have her to thank for that lesson as well.

LYNELLE CAMERON: It is definitely a win-win two-way street, and I think for all of you who are in the audience as maybe mentees just to know that, boy, the mentors get just as much out of it, often, as the mentees. So Elizabeth, I want to turn to you. And Elizabeth is a CIO at GHD, so very high-powered female professional, with I'm sure many demands on your time. So what level of effort is required and how have you managed being a good mentor on top of your day-to-day jobs, and how can mentees help you as a mentor in terms of any best practices there?

ELIZABETH HARPER: I think one of the most important things is you work out what the rhythm of it's going to be, how often you want to talk to each other, what the issues are that you want to address. And I think then behind the scenes is a senior leader in the organization. You can pull a few strings as well and create opportunities for the people to really stretch their boundaries and to recognize the opportunities that they can't see in themselves and facilitate that to go through.

So how long does it take? It's up to what's required between the partnership. And I've mentored many people over the years, and there are some people that might be for a few weeks, sometimes it might go for months or years. It really depends on what both parties are getting out of the relationship.

For me, the real positive is that we can make a real difference in the lives of those people but also for our organizations in terms of the outcomes that we can achieve as a result of bringing that diversity in. So yeah, it's up to how much of it you want to make.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah. How many people in the room are either a mentor or a mentee? Just a quick show of hands. OK. So more than half of you. That's fantastic. Do you have more to say? No. OK. I would echo what Elizabeth said. Each mentor relationship is different and, some might meet for an hour and a half or two hours every quarter, some might meet for a shorter period of time every month and just working that out and kind of having a contract before you start. Here's what it's going to look like and then sticking to that schedule.

ELIZABETH HARPER: And sometimes it's when do we meet next?

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah.

ELIZABETH HARPER: And making that work and what are the key things that we want to deal with? It will be different. And I think one of the things I've really learned is it's up to the mentee to make it work. Your comment about the amount of time we have. You're right. It's very limited as senior executives in our firms. And so as a mentee, expecting the mentor to set the program and all of that, no. It's your development program, and you have to step up and say, this is actually, I want to see you every month or every quarter. I need help with this.

LYNELLE CAMERON: And do you, and maybe for all the mentors, expect the mentee to come to the meeting with the topics and the agendas and the things that they want to talk about?

CIARAN GOLDSMITH: Yeah. I think that's really important. I think, to what Elizabeth was saying, is that it is a two-way-- it's like communication-- it's a two-way street. And if you're looking to the mentor to do it, it's very easy for us to prioritize other things. It's very easy to allow that meeting to slip or to reschedule it. And so I think it is important that the mentee comes and sort of shows their commitment to it and that the onus is not on the mentor to try and impart knowledge but that it's an exchange that both people feel completely committed to.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah. So Tine, I've got a big question for you. What do you see as the challenges that young women are facing today? It's just a small question.

CHRISTINE ALVIS: I know. It's a small question, but it's really hard to answer. It's broad.

LYNELLE CAMERON: It is a huge question.

CHRISTINE ALVIS: Actually when I read the question, I was thinking about it, and I had trouble answering it because in the Philippines we have equal opportunity for everything. So the salary for moms like me, we can still work and still take care of our babies as soon as we get home. So everything is equal. So the challenge is that what I've observed from young women is the fear, the fear of making mistakes, like now, my fear of talking and maybe I might say something wrong or maybe the fear of being judged. So if we compare women and men-- so men are more confident. So for example, for job opportunities-- well, that's in general.

[LAUGHTER]

LYNELLE CAMERON: He's afraid too.

CHRISTINE ALVIS: I always see that whenever there are opportunities, men are more confident to grab it than women. So women, there's always this question will I be able to do it? So there.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah. Thank you. I saw a lot of head nodding with the fear comment, so yeah. Excellent. So Ciaran.

CIARAN GOLDSMITH: Yes.

LYNELLE CAMERON: As the only man on the panel--

CIARAN GOLDSMITH: [INAUDIBLE]

LYNELLE CAMERON: Well, I'm actually not going to go there. And we have a number of men who are mentoring as part of Autodesk Women in Leadership, which is wonderful, and you were probably instrumental in kind of kicking that off. But as a man mentoring a woman, what have you learned about the challenges women face and how has that shaped your leadership more broadly in your role?

CIARAN GOLDSMITH: Yeah, I think it's, very simply, words matter. And I think-- when I say that, I mean to exactly what you just said there. So use the example of men are confident. And I don't think that women are not confident. What I learned a lot of the times is you take a situation, and depending on whether you're talking about a man or a woman, people read the situation very differently.

So I sit there, and we look at two people having exactly the same opinion on something, and somebody will turn around and go, wow, that person's really passionate, and the other one will go, wow, that person's really emotional. And I'm sure you can imagine who they're talking about in terms of the male versus female.

And another simple thing is if I defend my team, I'm confident or I'm leading. In If Sigrid defends her team, she's mothering. And so I've seen all of this, and I think what I really learned is you've got to challenge that unconscious bias. You've really got to think about what you're saying and how you're saying it and how it's going to be perceived and put yourself into other people's shoes and say, well, how would you feel if somebody described you that way because of that reaction?

And I think I've learned-- certainly it's been very interesting-- I was saying this too before we started-- when I worked with Sigrid in the previous organization, we were about 70% female. And I moved to the technical organization, and we're 9% female. And that's a massive change, and you can really see the difference in how we approach things and how we talk about things and how we react to situations. So I've learned to be very conscious of the dynamic of what people are saying and how people are, you know, what they really mean and look beyond it.

ELIZABETH HARPER: Can I just build on that confidence one a little bit? Research actually shows that when men see a job advertised, if they can do 20% or 30% of it, then they'll put their hand up and say, yeah, whereas women, we want to be able to tick every box and say, yeah, we can do the whole lot before we'll actually put ourselves forward.

And so I think one of the things that we need to learn is we don't actually need to be able to tick every box and say, yeah, I can do that. I'm going to put myself forward. And I think that is part of that confidence thing, and it is quite a fundamental difference between men and women. And as women, we need to recognize that and stand up.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah. We need to learn that, and we also need to nudge our fellow women to take that risk in that job and kind of reminding them of that. So Elizabeth, maybe I'll stick with you for a minute. So we're talking about women and encouraging women, but there's also a lot of work that needs to be done around diversity and encouraging diversity in our respective organizations. And mentoring is just one way that we do that. Can you talk a little bit about what GHD is doing in terms of diversity and other ways that you're helping women or minorities?

ELIZABETH HARPER: Oh, absolutely. We have a very strong formal program around diversity and inclusion, and we started with gender, because I think that's where everybody starts. However, we have programs around indigenous participation and in Australia quite a strong reconciliation program, which is a formal program, to bring more indigenous folks into the workplace. We have an LGBTI program, which has been massively controversial, which is sad in many ways, within the organization but actually highlights why we need these sorts of programs.

And it's a really interesting thing, because the diversity and inclusion program of work is making it a better place for everybody to work. We've introduced a whole range of measures around maternity/paternity leave, which are consistent regardless of gender. So the men can take an equivalent level of paternity leave as women would take maternity leave, obviously apart from one event. And so it's farm more balanced from that perspective.

We're also running a lot of training around unconscious bias and really understanding unconscious bias, which is, in many respects, the decisions we make when we promote people or hire people which are in the image of ourselves, in many cases, rather than someone that is a little bit different and understanding that we're naturally attracted to people who are much more like us than people who are different to us. And yet the real strength in our organizations comes from that diversity.

I wouldn't say we're perfect by a long shot, and it's an interesting challenge. We have operations in 11 countries, from Australia through Middle East, and what you can run in terms of a program in Australia or the United States is radically different to what you can run in this sort of program in the Middle East. So being able to tailor the program for the environment is also critically important.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Great. Thank you. And I'm just wondering, is Danny Guillory here? OK. Danny is our Diversity Officer at Autodesk and has done some amazing things to foster diversity and inclusion, and he'll probably be at the networking hour this afternoon. So Allie, I was hoping that you could talk a little bit about the conversation we had around mentor versus advocate versus champion and how those rules are different, because yeah--

ALLISON SCOTT: We were having a good conversation earlier. And I think something that I've learned, and it's something actually that Beth Comstock talks about. And Beth Comstock, for those of you who don't know, is a vice chair at GE and she runs their innovation program. And there is a fundamental difference between somebody who is a mentor versus an advocate or a champion and somebody who is a coach. And this is something that I've sort of recently been thinking a lot more about.

And a mentor is this opportunity to develop a personal relationship with somebody that you want to model some of their experience and learn from. I've been really lucky to have a few different mentors over my career. One of them is actually sitting in the room right here, Mr. Jim Becker. He was a senior leader of Skanska for a very long time, somebody who actually brought BIM to our Skanska USA organization, and I've learned a lot of really strong lessons from him.

But the difference in being just a mentor and building a relationship and then having an advocate or a champion is knowing that with an advocate or a champion you have somebody that can go to bat for you, that can actually step up and say this person needs to be doing this and fight for you to do something that maybe you can't fight for yourself for.

And I think that that is a hugely important thing for advancing women in our industry, because I can teach Jenna all the lessons. I can share with her my experience, give her good life lessons, good professional experience lessons from my experience, but if I can't also try to give her a leg up somewhere or fight for her in some way, then it's a disservice eventually. I think about what you did for Sigrid, Ciaran. That's being able to coach her and give her experience, and then you're taking over his old role, that's a beautiful example of being a mentor and an advocate.

So the other component is a coach, and I would say that my day-to-day manager that I work with now, our SVP of Innovation at Skanska, is my coach. He's the guy that I can pick up the phone-- he might be in Switzerland or Sweden, and I say I'm dealing with this issue. What exactly should I do?

And he can give me that quick feedback. OK, this is how you deal with this person. Write this email and then do this, and then we can figure it out from there. It's like a coach and being a professional athlete. When you have a professional athlete and your coach is telling you, OK, those technical cues. So having somebody that can also give you that quick instant feedback on how to do a good job in your performance is also really critical.

Sometimes all three of those capabilities can be in one person, but also sometimes they're different people. So I think if we as women, as we think about that, I think that's really important in our careers to have the people that can fill those roles.

LYNELLE CAMERON: And sometimes you ask for that, right? You know that this particular-- I have one at Autodesk who I really consider to be a champion of mine and telling her that which you want and having asking her to go to bat for you. And more often than not, people are really, really happy to do that. So it's a really important role.

So Sigrid, I want to come back to you. What are some of the most important things that leaders can do for women in general? So we heard about coach and advocate, and what has been your experience at Autodesk? What do you want to see more of?

SIGRID BAYER: For me, the key thing is really that the people trust in you, the trust that you can do something, that you are self-confident, just give you the self-confidence that you-- it's all about building your self-confidence and also let you fail or backing you up.

If something goes wrong, you only can learn when you also have the chance to do it your own way and also that people do not impose their own way on you. You have to do it this way, because I did it that way, and I was so successful in doing it that way. There's always an alternative. So let people explore their own way of doing things. That's, for me, key.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Excellent.

SIGRID BAYER: And it's also important then from the other side that you are able to articulate your own way what you want to do and how you would do it and why you would do it that way.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah. Advocating for yourself.

SIGRID BAYER: Exactly.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Yeah, absolutely.

SIGRID BAYER: I think that's one of the key things probably like when we talk back, advice for people who start their careers is like learn to advocate for yourself, work on your self-marketing. I think women are really bad on self-marketing when it comes in some companies to salary increase. You were embarrassed to ask for that, even if you know you earn it. And men just would go in and say, yeah, I want more. So the self-marketing and the self-positioning and work on yourself, and don't rely too much on others.

LYNELLE CAMERON: And ask your mentor to help. It's really about building your own brand.

SIGRID BAYER: That's With your own brand, and you can get your advice there or it could be from a coach, from the manager. Also it's important, like what you said, to have this other person, like a spokesperson for you, also on a higher level so it's not just in your local network, but that you probably have another VP or somebody else higher up outside of your own circle to be your spokesperson.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Great. So we are going to open it up for questions. I'm going to ask one additional question, but if folks have questions, you'll get a chance to ask those in just a minute. We've been talking about women in the workforce. What advice would you all give a high school girl today who's not in the workforce but will be, and what can we do to pave the way for those coming after us? And I'm interested in this, because I have a 9th grade girl myself.

ALLISON SCOTT: I'll start, if that's OK. I kind of go back to my own personal experience here because, frankly, all of us do that, right? But I think something that I would encourage a young person today, male or female, is that you don't have to be one thing. I think it's really easy for us to think that, OK well, I'm just an architect or I'm in construction or if you're in high school, I'm the theater kid or I'm the track guy, like that's all you are. You self-identify with this one group or identity. And I understand why it happens in high school, because we're all trying to figure out who we are.

But as you grow up, I would say allow yourself to be more than one thing. I came up going to a high school for theater arts and performance, and I got a bachelor of arts in theater and acting and arts management, ended up getting an MBA in design and innovation management. Worked for a technology startup and then went to architecture and construction.

So my experience was not linear by any means. So I really encourage people to remember that it's OK to expand your circle. It's OK to be more than one thing. And when you do, when you diversify your experience, you diversify your knowledge, and you can bring that with you with whatever you do.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Other thoughts about what you would tell a high school girl.

ELIZABETH HARPER: I would really recommend to focus on what you like doing. Pick the subjects for university, the things that you really, really enjoy, because you're going to get the most kick out of it. Join the Women's Network. Yeah, in Brisbane where I live in Australia, we have Women in Technology. And we actually have opened that up to young people to come in through the STEM programs. And so get involved and build on those networks, because ultimately the people that you meet in those networks are the ones who are probably going to give you a job later. So really start to form those relationships early on.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Jenna, did you want to add to that?

JENNA KELLER: Yeah, in between these two a little bit, I think it's important to just know that you don't need to have a straight path and a clear end goal, which is kind of what I thought going into architecture school and that you can find your passions and your strengths as you go. And for me, it was really important to also see the things that I don't like to do and move away from those and just keep fine tuning as you go. Yeah.

SIGRID BAYER: I think I have one thing to add on that, fully agreeing with the diversity, that you don't know at the beginning of your career where you want to go. And what I hated most, and when I started or came out of university, it's like one of my first job interviews. Somebody asked me, and where do you want to be in five years? I was like, what a stupid question. I'm out of-- But it's probably a question which is still asked pretty frequently. Don't get distracted by that question, because you can make up a story. I was like, yeah, I want to have your job in five years, and I'm very self-confident.

You don't know when you start your career. It's just the unknown, you know your strengths is, what your preference is, but it's a journey. Personally, I re-started my journey when I was just turning 40. So I started with Autodesk-- different industry, different company. I needed to rebuild my network. It's always possible to course correct or to do something new whenever you want to do it.

LYNELLE CAMERON: And I would just add on to that, just the importance of figuring out what it is you like doing, to your point, and what do you want to do next-- not forever-- but what do you want to do next? Because the universe is there to support you to get there, and I really believe that once you're clear on what you want in life or in your career, then things happen. But figuring out what it is that you want, whether it's I want a management job or I want to live overseas or whatever that goal is, just really kind of spending time with yourself to figure that out is a huge part of the challenge. Did you want to add to that?

CIARAN GOLDSMITH: I was just going to say I've got a young daughter as well. And so what I would say to her is very similar to what you're saying, which is do something that you love, do something that you're going to be passionate about, because you'll be good at it, and don't accept no. You can do it, and there is no inequality in your thought process. And so if you put your mind to it, you'll be successful doing it.

LYNELLE CAMERON: Great. You want to add one last-- yeah.

CHRISTINE ALVIS: Actually, I agree with all of you, and just the message if you want to do something or if you know what you want and do something about it.