BROADCASTS.com

In this episode,\xa0Brian Ardinger talks with Doug Branson about his new book The Future of Tech is Women: How to Achieve Gender Diversity.\xa0\n\n\nBrian and Doug start the conversation by looking at trends in the market. Doug outlines the history of women in senior corporate positions.\xa0Of the 70 women that have been CEOs of publicly held companies, 70% have MBAs.\xa0Of the 27 women that have held exec positions in IT companies (out of 600), two have STEM backgrounds\xa0and 25 have business or law backgrounds. Doug believes the current emphasis on STEM for women produces lopsided experience.\xa0It won\u2019t take women higher in the company.\xa0They also need business and marketing backgrounds.\xa0The IT industry, Doug suggests, is the worst of all industries for representing females.\xa0In Silicon Valley, the men they bring in, to fill the middle-level ranks using H1B visas, crowds women and minorities out and prevents them from rising in these environments.\xa0\n\n\nDoug\u2019s book, The Future of Tech is Women, is about how industries can generally improve diversity.\xa0There\u2019s been little to no emphasis on what corporations can do and lots of emphasis on how women can change what they are doing. Doug recommends 15 ideas that companies can try. He says individuals can also offer earlier and equal treatment of girls, especially exposure to computers, and suggests there are good arguments for single-sex education.\xa0We also need an awareness of the nerd and geek phenomenon that happens as teens to prevent girls from getting involved in computers.\n\n\nWhen looking from a global perspective, diversity and corporate governance in the US is a back-burner issue.\xa0In Asia and Europe, it\u2019s a very front burner issue.\xa0Europe has focused on quota laws which has worked in some countries, while women have made no headway in Japan.\xa0\n\n\nDoug disagrees with some of Sheryl Sandberg\u2019s advice in her book Lean In.\xa0He says women won\u2019t have 11 different positions climbing the corporate ladder, but rather 3.3 positions on the way to CEO.\xa0Also mentoring programs rarely work for women to advance through companies.\xa0Australia is now trying mentoring + sponsorship to place women on executive boards there.\xa0\n\n\nWhat should corporations be implementing?\xa0Address work life issues and support women for child birth and rearing without hurting their career.\xa0It\u2019s statistically insignificant for a women to take off two years during a working life.\xa0Some companies are supporting women this way.\xa0Other companies are using a structured search, where they include and have an interview with a minority member.\xa0The most important thing for companies is to have this idea of dignity, respect and equality for everyone.\xa0\n\n\nThings are getting better for women. Half of law and medical schools are female, and 40% of MBA programs are women.\xa0Sometimes Doug advises women to go where women aren\u2019t, like the Oll and Gas, Ag and Utilies businesses.\xa0These industries all have females leaders.\xa0\xa0On the other side of the coin, things haven\u2019t changed for women.\xa0Those in dominant positions in tech are choosing people that look like them and that excludes women.\xa0\n\n\nIf you are interested exploring more of these ideas with Doug, you can contact him at branson@pitt.edu or order his book The Future of Tech Is Female at Amazon or NYU Press.\n\n\nIf you are interested in learning more about women in technology and HR trends, check out Inside Outside Innovation Ep. 97 China Gorman on HR trends\n\n\n\n\nGET THE LATEST RESOURCES\nGet the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE\n\n\nGLIDR\nThis episode is sponsored by GLIDR. GLIDR software helps you validate that you\u2019re going to market with products and business models that drive real value.\xa0Check them out a...