|
Don't Dwell on the Differences
Susan Schwab knows how it feels to be seen as an outsider and a threat -- and not just because she's a woman. As a 20-something hotshot management engineer at Massachusetts General Hospital in the 1970s, Schwab was put in charge of a data processing project even though she wasn't a member of the data processing department.
The director of data processing was most unhappy, Schwab says, and worried that she'd get the credit if the project went well and he'd get the blame if it didn't. So Schwab told him she'd transfer to data processing.
Then she earned the trust of the department during a testy meeting with the budget director. Schwab recalls: "The [CFO] was being kind of nasty, saying, 'How do I know you guys are going to do this? And how do I know you can get this right?' and I'm sitting there getting increasingly offended. I remember saying, 'Dick, we haven't even started the project, and you're accusing us of failure. C'mon, give us a chance.' He said something like, 'Oh Susan, I didn't mean you, I meant ...' As he was about to say 'data processing,' I cut him off and said, 'I work for data processing.' He shut up, and my data processing colleagues at that point believed me when I said we were going to sink or swim together."
Schwab, now 54 and CIO at 1,000-employee consulting firm Abt Associates Inc., has a knack for finding common ground and building relationships. But sometimes differences are just too obvious to ignore. June Drewry, global CIO for the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos., is often the only woman in a roomful of men at meetings.
"In some companies, egos are huge, politics is huge and people are very careful about who they allow in a room and who they allow to get close to them," Drewry says. "And honestly, people with that sort of mind-set often see women not as a threat, so we're allowed places where maybe a male would not be allowed."
There's no question that it takes courage and tenacity to break down barriers. When Drewry started her career at a New Jersey insurance company, her boss brought her to Society for Information Management local chapter meetings even though it was against the rules because she wasn't a member. "That was my first real exposure to what some would call the good ol' boys' club," Drewry says.
Rather than shrink from the challenge, she continued to attend meetings. "So now, I'm in a network of a bunch of older guys who all know each other -- very comfortable -- [and have] been going to these meetings for years. And me, feeling like a sore thumb. However, you get to watch them and, after enough of these outings, break into the network. Suddenly, they're happy to see you."
Drewry joined the chapter and now her network includes many IT leaders -- an asset for executives, especially when it's time to change jobs. "You tell your network, which is mostly men," she says. "They say, 'How are you doing?' Now you are saying, 'I don't know, I'm not feeling energized, maybe it's just time to move on.' When the recruiters call them, as they do all the time, they say, 'You might want to talk to June Drewry.' Opportunities start circling your way. This is something too few women learn, I think, and take advantage of."
|
 |
|
|
