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Episode 41 - Monica Garza, Global Vice President of Product Creation
45 Plays2 months ago
In this episode, Sade is joined by Monica Garza, Global Vice President of Product Creation - where they discussed Women in Leadership.
Topic discussed:
- Obstacles faced as a Woman in Leadership
- Biases experienced
- Masculine vs. Feminine traits, the pros and cons of both
- Gender gap in leadership positions
- Confidence at work
- Overcoming obstacles and being bold
- The Importance of building a community
- Defining your own success
I hope you enjoy this episode!
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Women Talk Tech.
Obstacles and Confidence for Women in Leadership
00:00:17
Speaker
Today I'm joined by Monica where we discuss obstacles faced as a woman in leadership. Monica shares her own personal experience as well as the biases she has experienced. She then shares her advice to women who are looking to be more confident at work and the importance of being bold in your career. I hope you enjoy it.
Monica's Career Journey: Tech to Global Business
00:00:35
Speaker
So Monica, tell me a little bit more about yourself. Thanks, Ada, first of all, for having me. So just to tell you a little bit about myself. So I started 15 years ago. I ah started as a business technology executive and I have worked in different industries, starting from cosmetic, automotive, steel industry, and lately into consumer goods. And I took very early in my career two main decisions. One was to move from technology into business and economics. And the second decision that I made was to look seek for global opportunities, those that could expose me to a multicultural and diverse business environment. Yeah, wow, wow, wow. And of course, we'll kind of dive a bit deeper into that later on in the episode.
Importance of Diversity & Inclusion
00:01:18
Speaker
But, you know, what does D&I mean to you personally? And and why do you think it's important to you? Well, diversity and inclusion is really about creating a workplace that brings every every individual feels respected and valued and able to contribute with their unique perspectives. For me, it's just more than numbers. It's about really about fostering an environment that everyone can thrive and innovate and bring their bring their whole selves to the to the workplace without any discrimination or bias. Yeah, yeah. And what about on a wider
Innovation through D&I Beyond Gender Equality
00:01:49
Speaker
scale? Of course, you've now, you've worked in kind of global companies as well. Why do you think it's it's important for companies? and and And yeah, what's the kind of consensus there? Well, I think that for companies, it's crucial to foster a culture that it's really inclusive and that can bring innovation and creativity along. It's about bringing a variety of perspective and ideas that can lead to better problem solving and to build more innovative solutions. I think it also boosts and attracts to retain top ah top talent and enhance employee engagement. Diversity really encompasses and it's more than just ah talking about gender. Yeah, totally. I couldn't agree more. I think we're well now, well, I would hope anyway, we're now past diversity just being kind of like equality foot foot for men and women. It's so much more than that. And I think the more we kind of talk about it and the more we kind of accept that, that's kind of when we're going to have the biggest impact. Absolutely. Yeah,
Leadership Bias and Confidence Disparities
00:02:47
Speaker
yeah. And, you know, I was really keen to kind of go through the obstacles you maybe face as a woman in your career, especially in leadership, right? So, you know, maybe describe some of the obstacles you face in your career. That's a very good question. And I think that throughout my career, and I don't think that it's an individual obstacle, but I think that we all women face. I think that I would like to mention three of them, and especially starting with a leadership bias. Normally, when you ask someone to to picture a leader, ah most of the people picture a male leader. So there's still a societal expectation and gender stereotypes in leadership roles, which is definitely an obstacle that we all face. I think the second one, it's still gender gap. If we look into representation of woman there's underrepresentation of women, of women in power. And um looking into the statistics, right, it's not just in the in the business, but also political space. You look into the Fortune 500 list of companies and there's only 8% of women in position of power. and And the last one
Female Leadership Traits and Societal Expectations
00:03:53
Speaker
that I would like to mention, which is also an obstacle, is about confidence. um There's um different research done and early stage in the career, women are rating themselves less confident than men yeah wow wow you're so right and I think the biases is one thing it's kind of like you know you've probably seen something very similar as well where um kids at school ask to draw a picture of a doctor and they all draw men and I think it's something like that you know it's the biases which we have in our society. You know, what are some of the biases have you faced personally? but Definitely um looking into the leadership bias, I think that when you need to to describe leadership skills from women and leadership skills from men, and basically when they are, um let's say, give feedback on on their performance. The connotation to describe um maybe a woman which is more authoritative or more decisive in their in their leadership skills, there's always a negative connotation towards how they describe these leadership skills in women compared to men. So I believe that still there's this gender expectation, right? And when we look into women, there's more questioning on their leadership performance and their leadership skills. Yeah, totally. And I guess, you know, on that note, the kind of masculine and feminine traits, you know, I think there's pros and cons of both, right? I guess from your own experience, how have you found kind of the masculine versus feminine traits, the benefits, pros, cons, any kind of examples you can give where you've had to use your masculine or feminine traits?
Balancing Assertiveness and Empathy in Leadership
00:05:33
Speaker
Well, I believe that, well, if we believe that the masculine traits is about assertiveness and decisiveness, ah well, these are really important um leadership ah traits which can drive to better decision making and action. And if we believe that the feminine traits in leadership is about empathy and collaboration, of course, it's it's really important to enhance team cohesion and understanding. So I do believe that the recipe is a balance of both and having the complement of each other to lead for an effective leadership. Yeah. And I guess like, you know, not knowing when's the right and wrong way, because I i think, you know, naturally there is a separation with traits. There's no doubt about that. But you're right. I think it's about knowing when to exercise them and when to to kind of maybe tap into your feminine side versus when to tap into your masculine side and using it to your to your benefit, right? You know, that's what it's there for. Absolutely. And looking for your leadership signature. I think navigating the different circumstances, hello you can learn about which skills and how you want to deliver the develop your leadership traits. Yeah, yeah, totally. And I guess that that also depends on your upbringing, right? You know, there's probably masculine traits I have just from being around my dad versus feminine traits I have from being around my mom. and And these are all things which impact how you are as a leader and how you are at work, for sure. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And onto the kind of gender gap in leadership
Systematic Barriers and Gender Gap in Leadership
00:07:01
Speaker
roles. Of course, like you said, we've seen in kind of the FTSE 500, you know, we see a lot of women in junior positions, but not at the top. I guess from your own experience and kind of you climbing that ladder yourself, why do you think this is the case? Well, if you look into the gender gap, it still persists due to biases, lack of mentorship, systematic barriers, and it's harder for women to advance. That's a fact. um Organizational cultures still favor traditional male leadership traits, and there's a societal expectation about gender roles that contribute to this disparity. So I do think that women face greater challenges in balancing professional and personal responsibilities, which of course has an impact on the career journey. Yeah, yeah, that that's a good point, in right? Because, you know, let's be honest, the kind of caregiver responsibilities, whether that's for your own family, for mom, dad, children, whatever the case may be, they do often fall on women, which does then affect how they progress. Even if you think about pregnancy, right? um You know, pregnancy will affect your career or for example, example menopause men most not most but i i spoke to actually a lovely lady uh called nicola brewer and she's a and she gave like of course most people that are moving in to see sweet roles are also going through menopause at exactly the same time so there are so many barriers that can affect how you kind of tackle this kind of leadership leadership role of course and there's not not a one size fits all. So we need to understand what are the needs ah to really empower and embrace women to take ah those positions of power? How are we investing on talent management? How are we investing on developing their leadership traits? What are the needs so they can, once they have their personal life develop and have children, then how can we facilitate as a company that they can come back to the to their former role and do not feel this backlash because of being out for some time? Yeah, totally, totally.
Speaking Up and Building Confidence for Career Advancement
00:09:02
Speaker
And I guess onto the last obstacle, which which you mentioned confidence, confidence level woman at work, describe your take on this. So more and more when I'm thinking about confidence, and as I was describing earlier, it's really important to speak up and to have, and and ah there's a statistic, as I was saying earlier, that in the early stage of a woman career, the confidence, how we rate o ourselves, it's it's lower. So that can negatively, of course, affect us in our career progression. First of all, because of speaking up at in ah in a meeting room or um putting ourselves there out of our comfort zone and going for a job position. So I think that it's really important that we look and pursue for leadership opportunities and understand what we need to do ah to invest for the woman in early stage in their careers to build their self-confidence and how we can empower. There's ah different ways when we're posting different job description descriptions, looking for ah not any gender bias job descriptions, looking for even ah in our workforce, how do we want to build this supportive network where they can discuss about the different challenges um on on speaking up in meeting in in a meeting or the different challenges that we have in early stage in our careers about how I can develop myself, what type of education do I need to pursue? I think that this is crucial. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and that kind of goes on to like overcoming these obstacles, right? You know, being bold and and educating yourself, you know, all of these things are are ways we can overcome them. But I guess from your side, but you've been through it yourself. How have you maybe overcome some of these obstacles on your side?
Stepping Out of Comfort Zones and Recognizing Contributions
00:10:50
Speaker
Well, for me, being bold is about stepping out of the comfort zone, taking risks, speaking up. So I go out of my... I live in different countries and I have definitely pursued to work in different industries. So I i did needed to reinvent in different cycles of my career. And I think it's important that women gain visibility and that they are being recognized in their contribution. Everyone needs to define their own way of going out of their comfort zone. Of course, in my case was go to go to different countries, explore, or go for different positions. ah But and I think uniquely, let's say every woman needs to understand what is their their comfort zone and how they can take educated risks, right, that they can advocate for for for oneself and look for opportunities that really lead them into that career progression and ultimate goal that they want to achieve. Yeah, I think what you mentioned there in terms of educated risk, that that's kind of the key, right? Because you want to make sure what you're doing and the risk you're taking is is going to benefit you. But equally, you're at risk are there to be taken. So hopefully it would pay off. But even if not, the the kind of learning experience you get from that is is probably, if not more important than than it actually going well. Absolutely. Yes.
Mentorship and Supportive Networks
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And what about building a community? Because, of course, some decisions which we take, we may not know. Like I said, we may not know if it's going to be the best best way to go about it. How would you how have you found kind of building a community, especially when it comes to making a decisions? So i think it's when we look into building a supportive network it's a really one that can really provide mentorship advice encouragement and that you can mirror back i do think that looking into role female role models can help us understand what were the obstacles what were the challenges seek for advice ask questions and um and have this um it would ultimately let's say with network peers would have valuable insight that would boost confidence and that we can feel this sense of solidarity and support on on different challenging times yeah totally totally and i guess kind of then when it comes to, you know, you overcome these obstacles, you know, defining your own success is probably a massive part in in actually feeling confident and kind of feeling like you've you've done a good job, let's say. I guess from your side, how have you found the kind of idea of defining your own success compared to maybe social norms or family expectations?
Self-Defined Success and Personal Growth
00:13:23
Speaker
I do think um in terms of success, ah again, in this one is, again, ah there's not one size fits all. And everyone, I have a true believer, of course, everyone is unique. And I'm a true believer that everyone needs to decide and define ah the success in their own terms. You have a different background, you have a different history, you have a different ambition, passion within your life. And all these components needs to be taken into consideration so you can define what success ultimately looks for you and what's the legacy that you want to leave behind. So I think going out of societal expectations, I think it's more meaningful when you look into yourself, make an introspection and define what success means to you as an individual. Yeah, totally right. Because we spend half our life comparing ourselves to others in everything we do, let alone when it comes to the success of our lives as well. And I think that's what's really, really important, just to kind of find what's going to be successful for you. And it and kind of once you get there, you know, really do celebrate that, because I think that's what's, we're always comparing ourselves to others. And we always think there's more to do. But we don't, we never enjoy that they're kind of small wins we have on our way up, should I say, for us, that's what's most important. Of course, it needs to be meaningful for you. So you can find this ah successful and and it's it's really about your your own history. You don't want to compare your story too towards um anyone else. I think it's about you and finding the value and the meaning of your life. And that can only be described or defined bye by you. Yeah, totally, totally. And, you know, maybe just share some success points in your career, right? I always love kind of sharing really cool highlights of people's stories, especially in the tech world. Yeah, what are some success points in your career that you're really proud of? So I'm really proud about, I think that I'm really proud ah about taking a global perspective ah that really put me into understanding different ah teams and different um diverse cultures. That was for me one of the great achievements that I can live in many countries. I started working in America and Mexico. Then I went to Europe and I had also the opportunity to work in Asia. So I think it has has been great to have the opportunity to meet all these diverse cultures, meeting amazing teams in in India, in China, and in Europe. I think that that was, for me, meeting the people and understanding different cultures has been ah a key achievement because i that's what was something that I was pursuing. And of course, let's say professionally, ah there's there's it's a journey. So I have been working in in different roles. I've been working with um but different industries, but um I would not, like let's say, talk about individual, let's say, you know, about financial or transformations done in in precise companies. But I think that it's about the ultimate success is when you're cheering celebrations with your teams, when you're setting targets about as a team and then you're achieving them with ah with them. I think that that's that's really grateful where you can find the joy. Yeah, yeah, wow, wow. And I always like to kind of share, you know, some advice for those, for women seeking a career in tech or seeking a career in leadership.
Investing in Education and Resilience in Success
00:16:54
Speaker
You know, if you could maybe go back in time and you wish someone would have said this to you, what would be the one piece of advice you'd give to other women embarking on this kind of next step of their career? So there are two, maybe two advices that I would like to to leave. um The first one, it's about investing in yourself. And I think that education is essential. um In order to be capable to take any leadership role or to look into career progression, I think it's important that you invest in yourself and education. It's key. And and the second, it's about understanding that success, it's a journey. It's not about meeting the target line. It's about how you are celebrating when you're in in in those good moments and good achievements, but it's also about the failures. And I think in the failure part is where how you pick up yourself, how you stand up for your values and the resilience that you have. and And there is where your true colors come over in in your leadership signature. So think about um your career as a journey, look into the ups and downs and stay stay strong, stay bold and keep keep keep going and keep shining. ah it's It's not about meeting a target line. It's really about enjoying the journey. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Thank you so much for joining me, Monica. And thanks so much for kind of sharing your key takeaways. i've really enjoyed this conversation and i'm sure so many others will will learn from it as well
00:18:24
Speaker
thank you very much for having me was my pleasure