Jaclyn Damiano

All right. Before we jump into the topic du jour, I thought it would help if I shared how I formed my perspective.

I'm a proud alum of Bucknell University. I've worked in a few different industries at some really great companies. I have 17 years of experience as a business analyst and project manager.

At home, these three little humans call me Mom. They're 5, 8, and 10. They'll tell me on any given day that they know way more than I do, and I'm starting to believe them.

After their birth, I felt an even greater responsibility to try to make sure that the world was a fair and just place. Then, in November of 2016, I faced a pivotal time in my life. I started to talk to people about how I am a feminist, and I also started to pay attention to how women were being treated in the workplace and in society in general.

Now, at Verizon, part of my team owns an event that looks similar to our public DevOps Days. We sent out a CFP to 1,000 engineers. Guess how many women responded?

Zero.

So I'm going to pause here for a minute and talk about diversity. I'm sure that you all know diversity isn't just about being nice. Diversity is how you get the best products, which is how you get higher revenue. In this marketplace, we can't afford not to have diverse teams.

So back to my issue at Verizon, right? Where the hell are all of the women? I'm missing an entire gender. So I start freaking out a little bit, and I have my team do a bunch of research. Are we getting to them? Why are they not hearing the message?

So this is what we found. First thing, the confidence gap. In studies, men overestimate their abilities and performance. Women, we underestimate both. In reality, we're equal.

Next up, the CEO and founder of Girls Who Code. She talks about a worry about the bravery deficit. We are teaching our boys to be brave. We are teaching our girls to be perfect. We're not giving them the opportunity to fail fast, learn, and be successful.

This statistic blew me away: HBR. Men, you're applying to jobs if you meet 60% of the qualifications. Ladies, we're not hitting apply until we meet 100% of those qualifications.

HBR also talks about women staying out of the spotlight for three reasons. First, they don't want to act assertive in the workplace and be called bitchy. Number two, they have trouble associating with the traditional dominant leadership behaviors. Number three, they have issues balancing parenthood and work sometimes.

So listen, I just threw a whole bunch of data at you. Now you're probably sitting there wondering, what do we do with all of this?

So I'm going to suggest a couple of quick things that I think we can all support.

First, ladies, I need you to be visible. My daughters need to see people like you leading meetings. My son also needs to see people like me leading meetings. Children. Thanks.

Ladies, I need you to sit at the table. Don't call into that meeting. Go to that room. Don't sit in the chairs that line the perimeter. Sit at the table and have a voice.

Next, ladies, there are these things called unpromotable tasks. They come under the guise of potlucks and team dinners and holiday things. Listen, your time is scarce. Dominica tells us about it all the time. Allocate it appropriately. Potlucks will not get you promoted.

Next, ladies, I need you to reach out and connect with other women. Those women that you pass in the hallway every day, stop, introduce yourself. They may become your next advocate, your next sponsor.

Also importantly, take care of the younger women in your office.

Okay, finally, ladies, think about an important person in your life, a senior leader. Now imagine that they can't speak publicly. The two don't add up. This is a skill that is critical for your advancement.

Men, a couple of days ago, I was trying to narrow down what I wanted to talk about here. One of my mentors asked me if I needed help, and I was like, "Whatever, I've got this." Well, that person knew me well enough and asked me again, and I was like, "Yeah, I need your help."

He was an executive director. He didn't have the time, but he made it. Be that guy.

People leaders, it's really hard to get our people to do challenging things because it takes a lot of our time and our work.

So listen, when I first started talking publicly, I kind of sucked at it. Lucky enough for me, I've got the boss man, Ross Clanton, here. He's my biggest critic. He's also my biggest coach and my biggest cheerleader. It's really tough to be all three, but that's how you scale leadership.

So it wouldn't be any deck about Verizon if I didn't have some sort of audacious goal. My next Tech Day, 100% of our agenda will be badass women who are sharing their stories.

Now, I don't think that this is a reach, because way back to our last event, 100% of the agenda was male, except for Heidi Waterhouse and myself. So I think we can get this.

Anyway, thanks for listening. Have a good day.