Overview
Some notes from talks I attended in Grace Hopper Conference'17. (https://ghc.anitab.org/2017-attend/)
Becoming a person of influence
Website - beleaderly.com/ghc17
Characteristics of an influential role model -
* humility, good listeners, deep knowledge/expertise. They lead by example. They are calm, they think before they speak.
6 Characteristics
Positional influence
Influence inherent in your job title and role. There is a lot of information hidden in your title and role. Make sure to talk about that information. For example: An elevator pitch should look like -
* (Outside) - I am Pragya Agarwal. I work in Amazon AWS EC2 Capacity Planning organization. My team is responsible for provisioning and managing massive amounts of computing power in data centers around the world in a scalable way. We ensure that the customers get the best experience when running their instances on the EC2 platform. I am usually coding in Java and Ruby and my work requires basic understanding of distributed systems and cloud computing.
* (Inside org) - ... Come to me if you need help with _________
Expertise influence
Make your expertise visible.
* "It's not what you know, it's not who you know, it's who knows what you know"
* work less! (Don't work extra :)) Spend some-time in doing tasks that improve your visibility. There will always be work to do.
* Promote your accomplishments.
* Volunteer for high-profile assignments.
* Take leadership roles on committees, task forces, and boards.
* build your "brand" as an industry leader.
* Speak on panels, conferences and in the media.
Resources influence
* There is nothing wrong in negotiating. Negotiate the resources you need to perform your job well. For example: Ask if you think you need an extra person in the team, or maybe you want to mentor someone for a project.
* Suggest special projects as developmental opportunities for others(since you understand skills of each person in the team.)
* Become a good negotiator. Learn how to push back.
* Learn leading without authority.
* Understand how finances and budgets work.
* Be a mentor, sponsor and talent scout.
Informational influence
* Be aware of your broader environment.
* Have some go-to sources of information, opportunities, new projects, re-orgs, all-hands, innovation, market intelligence.
Direct influence
* Be firm, fair and professional.
* Be direct and concise while delivering through news.(in reference to delivering good news like promotions, or bad news like lay-offs)
* Tell them what you think about their future potential.
Relationships
The influence that comes naturally with having a network of authentic relationships across your organization, industry and profession.
* Have a network - think strategically who you want to include in your network.
Workshop homework
Find a task that you want to influence - Is there something in your team that you want to change. Something that is not done right, and you think you can help doing the task in a better way? For example:
* Better on-boarding for new hires ?
* Team not listening to new ideas, and going on the path of "This is how it has always been done."
* As a TPM, you probably want to improve/fasten communication process so that teams do not skip deadlines.
Start working on this task.
How not to be ignored in meetings
* Speak up. Think that you have permission. Influential people train other people in the room to have that expectation from them.
* Influential people come to the meeting greeting everyone making a one-on-one connection with everyone.
* Look to be passionate and be confident.
The fundamental truth about influencing is that our behavior teaches others how to treat us. Does your behavior make people treat you as invisible, or as visible? It's the very little impressions every day.
Imposter syndrome
Characteristics of people with imposter syndrome
* Usually work very hard
** Because you think that's the only way to succeed and to keep up with others.
** you miss vacations, time with family.
* "I don't know what I am talking about" - that's what they say all the time.
** When you do that you are devaluing yourself.
Solutions
* Say that "I am courageous and I stand up for myself"
* General categories that you should focus on: Work, Career, Friends, time, family, health.
* Stay positive.
Three keys to technical leadership
General Stats
* Internal company training is not enough. Look outside company if necessary etc.
* As you go higher in the ladder, you will find less mentors because there is no one to talk about it. So, use your training budget. Managers want you to take training.
Three keys
Depth
* Do it(some task) once to finish - hardest step of the process.
* Do it another time to do it right.
* Do it the third time to figure out how to do the right things.
Breadth
* Be in touch with the broader work that is going on in the organization.
Connection - connect depth and breadth
* Technical connections - Connect the technical solution with the business of the company. Show how your work can help in the revenues of the company.
* People connection - Have people in the room who can back you. Know people who are doing great in your team.
General Tips
Learn how to learn
* read wikipedia, articles, books.
* watch youtube videos for career growth.
* Ask targeted questions to experts.
Get your hands dirty
* Practical experience is required for mastery.
* Pick projects that align with what you want to learn.
* Work on problems with people.
Expertise is relative
* Expertise is based on useful knowledge, not years of experience (if you are the only person in the room knowing about a subject, you are the expert.)
Fearless
* Ask for directions when stuck.
* If you don't understand, its likely other don't understand it too. So, ask questions.
Negotiations
* Tell them your accomplishments again and again. Talk like: Hey boss, as you know I have done ______, _______ and ______. This was the impact ........
* Go the extra mile to over-communicate your accomplishments.
Future projects
* Don't always go with the flow. Make a plan for yourself. What kind of projects do you want to do next? Where will those take you. Think about projects you want to work on.
* Think about the kind of people you want to work with.
* If thinking of newer opportunities and confused about leaving and taking up new one. Think through it again. Trade off benefits vs non-benefits.
Transitions
How to master transitions, and being comfortable about them
* Focus on the opportunity of the future rather than what you are leaving.
* Ask yourself what brings you joy?
* Ask for help.
Leave well
* You want to leave clean. Those people are going to be your references. Sometimes, past relationships take a full circle and they very much become part of your future.
Engage with your network
* Make sure you have a set of people (trusted advisors) who understand your skills, competencies, the kind of connections you should have in order to grow. Its not usual networking that helps, its about making some personal connections.
* Be willing to at-least listen to new opportunities.
* Talk to your trusted advisors to make a decision.
Skills to advance in your career
* Find people that you can trust (Trusted advisors)
* There are usually people rooting for you, if not, go with your intuition.
* Live through your core values when taking tough decisions. Be bold in telling the truth. Don't be scared. Sometimes, you will have the fear of getting fired, but the satisfaction of living through your core values will be greater.
* It's ok to be bossy. Organizations are not always clean. But, it depends on the situation. Think through the situation.
** For example, if you are trying to pursue a group, go through the solutions with the team, instead of giving them a task. This gives the team more confidence and faith in listening to you because they know that you are understanding their problem.
** However, when you are talking to an executive, protect yourself, and your team. It's ok to be bossy there, set the right tone there.
* Over-prepare for meeting with executives.
* Take risks, push yourself. You will only regret choosing the easier path. But, calculate the risk.
* Ask for promotion, salary and take-off. Women are not asking for it, but men are.
* Work on strategic projects that have visibility, and use your skills.
Personal learnings
* Inspiring. The talks were very inspiring. You need that boost time and again.
* Energy. The energy in the conference was amazing. It reinforces the faith in you to do the right things, to do what you believe in, to listen more to yourself and your intuition than going with the flow.
* Awesome place to network with researchers, and industry people both under the same roof, getting to understand the problems other people are trying to solve and their perspective.
* Career fair is really one of the biggest tech career fairs in the world. Huge potential to hire talented people.
Some notes from talks I attended in Grace Hopper Conference'17. (https://ghc.anitab.org/2017-attend/)
Becoming a person of influence
Website - beleaderly.com/ghc17
Characteristics of an influential role model -
* humility, good listeners, deep knowledge/expertise. They lead by example. They are calm, they think before they speak.
6 Characteristics
Positional influence
Influence inherent in your job title and role. There is a lot of information hidden in your title and role. Make sure to talk about that information. For example: An elevator pitch should look like -
* (Outside) - I am Pragya Agarwal. I work in Amazon AWS EC2 Capacity Planning organization. My team is responsible for provisioning and managing massive amounts of computing power in data centers around the world in a scalable way. We ensure that the customers get the best experience when running their instances on the EC2 platform. I am usually coding in Java and Ruby and my work requires basic understanding of distributed systems and cloud computing.
* (Inside org) - ... Come to me if you need help with _________
Expertise influence
Make your expertise visible.
* "It's not what you know, it's not who you know, it's who knows what you know"
* work less! (Don't work extra :)) Spend some-time in doing tasks that improve your visibility. There will always be work to do.
* Promote your accomplishments.
* Volunteer for high-profile assignments.
* Take leadership roles on committees, task forces, and boards.
* build your "brand" as an industry leader.
* Speak on panels, conferences and in the media.
Resources influence
* There is nothing wrong in negotiating. Negotiate the resources you need to perform your job well. For example: Ask if you think you need an extra person in the team, or maybe you want to mentor someone for a project.
* Suggest special projects as developmental opportunities for others(since you understand skills of each person in the team.)
* Become a good negotiator. Learn how to push back.
* Learn leading without authority.
* Understand how finances and budgets work.
* Be a mentor, sponsor and talent scout.
Informational influence
* Be aware of your broader environment.
* Have some go-to sources of information, opportunities, new projects, re-orgs, all-hands, innovation, market intelligence.
Direct influence
* Be firm, fair and professional.
* Be direct and concise while delivering through news.(in reference to delivering good news like promotions, or bad news like lay-offs)
* Tell them what you think about their future potential.
Relationships
The influence that comes naturally with having a network of authentic relationships across your organization, industry and profession.
* Have a network - think strategically who you want to include in your network.
Workshop homework
Find a task that you want to influence - Is there something in your team that you want to change. Something that is not done right, and you think you can help doing the task in a better way? For example:
* Better on-boarding for new hires ?
* Team not listening to new ideas, and going on the path of "This is how it has always been done."
* As a TPM, you probably want to improve/fasten communication process so that teams do not skip deadlines.
Start working on this task.
How not to be ignored in meetings
* Speak up. Think that you have permission. Influential people train other people in the room to have that expectation from them.
* Influential people come to the meeting greeting everyone making a one-on-one connection with everyone.
* Look to be passionate and be confident.
The fundamental truth about influencing is that our behavior teaches others how to treat us. Does your behavior make people treat you as invisible, or as visible? It's the very little impressions every day.
Imposter syndrome
Characteristics of people with imposter syndrome
* Usually work very hard
** Because you think that's the only way to succeed and to keep up with others.
** you miss vacations, time with family.
* "I don't know what I am talking about" - that's what they say all the time.
** When you do that you are devaluing yourself.
Solutions
* Say that "I am courageous and I stand up for myself"
* General categories that you should focus on: Work, Career, Friends, time, family, health.
* Stay positive.
Three keys to technical leadership
General Stats
* Internal company training is not enough. Look outside company if necessary etc.
* As you go higher in the ladder, you will find less mentors because there is no one to talk about it. So, use your training budget. Managers want you to take training.
Three keys
Depth
* Do it(some task) once to finish - hardest step of the process.
* Do it another time to do it right.
* Do it the third time to figure out how to do the right things.
Breadth
* Be in touch with the broader work that is going on in the organization.
Connection - connect depth and breadth
* Technical connections - Connect the technical solution with the business of the company. Show how your work can help in the revenues of the company.
* People connection - Have people in the room who can back you. Know people who are doing great in your team.
General Tips
Learn how to learn
* read wikipedia, articles, books.
* watch youtube videos for career growth.
* Ask targeted questions to experts.
Get your hands dirty
* Practical experience is required for mastery.
* Pick projects that align with what you want to learn.
* Work on problems with people.
Expertise is relative
* Expertise is based on useful knowledge, not years of experience (if you are the only person in the room knowing about a subject, you are the expert.)
Fearless
* Ask for directions when stuck.
* If you don't understand, its likely other don't understand it too. So, ask questions.
Negotiations
* Tell them your accomplishments again and again. Talk like: Hey boss, as you know I have done ______, _______ and ______. This was the impact ........
* Go the extra mile to over-communicate your accomplishments.
Future projects
* Don't always go with the flow. Make a plan for yourself. What kind of projects do you want to do next? Where will those take you. Think about projects you want to work on.
* Think about the kind of people you want to work with.
* If thinking of newer opportunities and confused about leaving and taking up new one. Think through it again. Trade off benefits vs non-benefits.
Transitions
How to master transitions, and being comfortable about them
* Focus on the opportunity of the future rather than what you are leaving.
* Ask yourself what brings you joy?
* Ask for help.
Leave well
* You want to leave clean. Those people are going to be your references. Sometimes, past relationships take a full circle and they very much become part of your future.
Engage with your network
* Make sure you have a set of people (trusted advisors) who understand your skills, competencies, the kind of connections you should have in order to grow. Its not usual networking that helps, its about making some personal connections.
* Be willing to at-least listen to new opportunities.
* Talk to your trusted advisors to make a decision.
Skills to advance in your career
* Find people that you can trust (Trusted advisors)
* There are usually people rooting for you, if not, go with your intuition.
* Live through your core values when taking tough decisions. Be bold in telling the truth. Don't be scared. Sometimes, you will have the fear of getting fired, but the satisfaction of living through your core values will be greater.
* It's ok to be bossy. Organizations are not always clean. But, it depends on the situation. Think through the situation.
** For example, if you are trying to pursue a group, go through the solutions with the team, instead of giving them a task. This gives the team more confidence and faith in listening to you because they know that you are understanding their problem.
** However, when you are talking to an executive, protect yourself, and your team. It's ok to be bossy there, set the right tone there.
* Over-prepare for meeting with executives.
* Take risks, push yourself. You will only regret choosing the easier path. But, calculate the risk.
* Ask for promotion, salary and take-off. Women are not asking for it, but men are.
* Work on strategic projects that have visibility, and use your skills.
Personal learnings
* Inspiring. The talks were very inspiring. You need that boost time and again.
* Energy. The energy in the conference was amazing. It reinforces the faith in you to do the right things, to do what you believe in, to listen more to yourself and your intuition than going with the flow.
* Awesome place to network with researchers, and industry people both under the same roof, getting to understand the problems other people are trying to solve and their perspective.
* Career fair is really one of the biggest tech career fairs in the world. Huge potential to hire talented people.
