What are the key milestones on your path to leadership?
After coming out of studying at Cambridge for my MBA and having established strong friendships and relationships with entrepreneurs, I took the plunge to start my own business. Always fascinated my advancements in new technology, I felt now was the time. I expected to work hard, but what I didn’t expect was just how much my values would be put to the test. The stakes are higher, pace is faster and those rapid fire decisions directly impact the livelihood of others. I believe it’s called ‘founder’s despair’, after the honeymoon stage when you realise that working hard just isn’t enough. Leadership is far easier when you have nothing to lose. When everything is at stake, those actions are character defining. I hold my integrity like a lifeline. I expect to be held accountable to my values. I want to exhibit those behaviors day-in and day-out. As a leader, my driving force is that I don't want to cross the finish line on my own.
Referring to a second milestone, I've always been taught that my impact goes to the collective and beyond the individual. I was raised in a traditional Chinese family. Parents who immigrated with very little so their children could have more. I struggled moving away from the province let alone to London. Guilt turned to a wish to see them more often. At one point, my father became unwell and I made a decision to change jobs, wanting to fly home if and when I needed. That’s why I ended up accepting an offer at American Airlines because of the flexibility it offered. I was very explicit about what I wanted, not only professionally but personally. It was the first time I let my conditions be known and that did not come naturally.
And the final key milestone was when I came to Capgemini. I’ve always loved how emerging technology had the power to make the world and people better. I’ve moved across industries and thought ‘why not solve complex problems across all industries in this way?’ There’s nothing more powerful than finding the familiar in problems that feel unique and uniting around a common purpose. I’m proud to say that my purpose is aligned to my company’s purpose which has been recently updated to “to unleash human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future.” Four years ago when I joined the Applied Innovation Exchange, the team was comprised of three people and now we are 27 strong made up of product managers, product leaders, data scientists, developers, user experience designers and innovation consultants. I feel a sense of gratitude for my talented team to have joined us on this journey, and for our clients that chose us as a partner with the trust we’ll do what we can to solve their most complex problems. It really is the greatest reward to see people come together to make extraordinary impact and the impossible, possible.
What are the key challenges you have faced as a leader?
This year has been a challenging year for all of us with Brexit, the pandemic, and Black Lives Matter movement. As a leader, I’ve learned just how important it is for us to address these issues in the moment. When we walk in a room, we are bringing the context of the world in which we live. There’s no hiding or pretending it does not live with us.
Earlier this year, when news was coming out with police brutality against black people, I read those headlines but then carried on working as normal. One of my employees said she wasn’t feeling well and I remember checking in on her to see that she was ok. It really did not occur to me that it was based on the videos of Eric Garner. It was discomforting for her that although we talk about the pandemic as a shared experience, we don’t speak of this news. We act as if it was just another day. I didn’t unacknowledge it and if anything put it in the back of my mind, not knowing how to respond. I wasn’t thinking about the impact this had on her because it did not have the same impact on me.
Empathy knows no bounds. The farthest test of this world, is to be able to connect with someone that is vastly different from you. As leaders, we can’t expect our people to produce results in a vacuum, they exist in the world where conditions change. We must adapt. This cannot be done without empathy, understanding, conversation, and a real sense of humility of what we could do better. We have more open conversations as a team, creating safe spaces but also as leaders being more human and transparent. We address what is happening in the world as impacting the people we care about -- and reaching out to do our part to support and stand by injustices while also admitting what exactly we will do better.
What are your core values as a leader?
In three words, it’s authenticity, curiosity and courage.
As a leader, my driving force is that I don't want to cross the finish line on my own. It gives me no sense of accomplishment to receive individual accolades. No one ever does anything alone. And that is not the narrow impact I want in my life. The impact I want is how I evolve, how I can help people be the best they can be. Because I know that my individual contribution is nothing compared to what a ripple effect across a wider community.
To be that type of leader, I have to be unafraid of being vulnerable. Vulnerability is to be human and authentic. For example, I encourage my team to challenge my opinions and to give me at least two points for improvement. I will not accept ‘nothing’.
This also forms a part of being curious and being courageous. It’s even more important for a leader to ask their team. Create a safe environment for your employees to be direct and ask. Be specific around ‘one situation where I can improve, or what am I doing that I don’t see I’m doing?. Most importantly asking for feedback often. A big milestone, deliverable or presentation so it’s fresh and relevant.
I admire those who can be bold. Pioneers who paved their own path. They inspire me because when there was no evidence it could be done, they did it anyway. That boldness takes courage. Confidence may or may not be there, but courage to act and make the difficult decisions is vital.
A great deal of empathy is also required, because the truth is there's a lot of C-suite that aren't sure whether their businesses are going to make it in the next 10 years. Most Fortune 500 companies worry about this. So I think everyone is going to face this imposter syndrome when it comes to trying to innovate, and being relevant. And if anyone's going to be in the industry to be advising on that, you've got to live and breathe that reality even more. This means re-learning and going from not knowing to knowing more frequently. Innovating is stress testing our capability as individuals, as a collective, to be as authentic and curious about things we don't yet know. And those of us who stay curious and authentic will go further. Curiosity helps us open our minds up to it, empathy helps us understand it.
What advice do you have for women who are trying to establish themselves as leaders?
We know there are things working against us, but the last thing we need is for our doubt to take over. We really need to address that fear. Or recognize that fear, but don't let it overtake you. If you're pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, doing something completely different, finding yourself in a position where very few women have been before, then you’re doing all the right things, but you're also definitely going to question yourself. So we're just going to have to get used to it. We're going to have to get comfortable with being very uncomfortable, but being able to make sure it doesn't take control over the actions we take. We should never do things out of fear. Because what we’re fearing is failure, but the failure hasn't happened, so we shouldn't act as if it did.
And also, I think women need more practice about telling our story - who we are and what we do - to help them grow into leadership. It’s about building that resilience to work against everything else that might not seem like it's going our way and being confident even at the early stages in your career. There is no silver bullet. It's going to be constant learning and we have to get comfortable with that.
For women who are planning to enter the innovation space - get ready, get even more equipped for that discomfort, because what we do, especially in consulting, requires a level of confidence and competence. It's a delicate balance of showing that confidence, and being authentic enough to say what we don't know, and what we will be exploring together. Because the truth is, it would be inauthentic to say, I know exactly what's going to happen in the next six months... let alone five years. I think authenticity plays a big role, which can give women a big leg up in innovation - to be so comfortable in our own skin and authentic to say, this is what I do know, and this is what we are going to explore together.
How would you advise organisations who want to foster diversity and gender equity in leadership?
The first thing I’d ask the organization is, ‘do they believe there is a problem?’. There are probably several systematic issues, but do they believe they have some responsibility and ability to solve for it? For instance, is the pipeline of women or people of colour coming through sufficient enough? I would say probably not. I've been to high schools and spoken to women deciding on what they want to study in university and I'm just always disappointed to see less than 10%, maybe even 5%, interested in the industry. And when asking them why that is, they didn't really know these roles existed for them. I actually don't blame them, we’re not keeping up with the pace of change which demands a different environment and culture. I know when they ask me what courses I took to get where I am, it’s a misguided question. Many of those classes are not relevant today. That's how far we've come. So that means the pace at which organizations, promote and support individuals must account for a more diverse group of people.
We need to support schools in getting a lot of the younger women to career sessions with people that they can learn from. It used to be career sessions where people that were 50 years into their career, but that’s too far removed. I’m talking about people five years in their career to show them what roles are possible. It's closer to what might be a reality.
So I hope that companies continue to encourage their employees to go to schools and share the kind of work they're doing. Shed a light on the kind of opportunities that are out there. Because it does make me sad. Tech jobs pay well, they provide a good lifestyle and if women aren't even considering them, they are putting themselves at a disadvantage. And there is a stereotype of them believing that it's just a bunch of guys on the computers working. And that is not what is or can be. So I think we need to myth bust as much as possible. And it's self-serving because then we'll get better candidates coming through.
How would you feel about the future of the innovation industry?
I think we live in such an exciting time. There was an announcement that we might be able to map the entire universe in the next five years, I mean wow! Einstein had predicted the existence of gravitational waves and a century later his theory is proven. We could have existed in a very different time where none of these discoveries were possible, just theories. And we are living in a time, where in any other era, our advancements would seem like magic.
A friend asked me, "If you had one wish to know something in the future, what would it be?" I would want to know how long humanity will survive in this universe. The world and universe will outlast us but I'm curious how long we’ll thrive and if we will leave the world in a better state. I am hopeful and optimistic.
And thinking about some things that we dream up in our team, I'm still surprised that what we can actually deliver sometimes outstrips our imagination. The thought that our only limitation is our lack of imagination. We are in a constant race of grasping what technology and people can really do, and that is really exciting.
