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As a rising executive at IBM — eventually becoming a senior vice president — Ellen Hancock learned to play poker with the boys when she had to. She kind of enjoyed the game, as well as the easy camaraderie that came along with it.
But she did not enjoy being fired from IBM after 29 years of service. Nor does she enjoy reading news commentary on her field — high technology — that lingers on her age, hair color, or religion. Nor has she enjoyed being asked what it's like to be a woman in the semiconductor business.
"Men don't get asked what it's like to be a guy in semiconductors," she pointed out recently.
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| You don't get mentoring in Silicon Valley. It's every person for herself. | |
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| Ellen M. Hancock |
Considered the "fifth most powerful woman in business" by Fortune Magazine, Hancock, now chairman and CEO of Exodus Communications — a Web-hosting firm that counts Yahoo!, eBay, and Microsoft among its 4,000 clients — was honest to the point of bluntness during her keynote remarks. So refreshing, in fact, were her frank assertions about women's role in business that the conference audience rose in a standing ovation by the time Hancock concluded her talk and strode off the podium.
The experience she acquired in running profitable businesses, working with boards of directors, and managing people at all levels of expertise, she said, helped prepare her for the CEO position at Exodus.
"And yet at the same time," Hancock continued, "nothing could have prepared me for this role.
"I'm a female CEO of a public company at the forefront of the information age. And I take that responsibility seriously. I'm trying to lead by example, and taking time to mentor. The Internet provides a forum for change, and women are changing the face of the Internet. And I'm proud to be one of them."
Seeking: all styles
Hancock dispensed five quick lessons for women in business.
One: Women have to work harder to get ahead. "Is that fair?" she asked the audience. "Absolutely not. But I know this to be true."
Two: Stereotypes exist, and women have to overcome them. "To quote Gloria Steinem," Hancock said, "'I have yet to hear a man asked for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.'"
Three: Women have to develop a style that makes male managers comfortable with them. "I tried to be one of the guys," she acknowledged. "I tried to be part of their system, rather than force them to be part of mine. I didn't try to convert them. At least, that worked for me.
"If we seek positions of leadership, it's very likely that half of the people working for us will be male. We need to understand how they think; we should not force the female way, nor overdo it. But we should try to create a system that respects more than one style, complements more than one style, and motivates more than one style." (Hancock later quipped that she had once grown so impatient listening to her male colleagues' continual banter about sports — an interest she did not share — that she decided to affect a kind of wry revenge by telling them every detail about some new china she'd purchased.)
Four: Women must seek out difficult assignments and new opportunities.
Five: Women need influential mentors — men or women — who will watch out for their best interests. Hancock had three mentors at IBM, all men.
And further: "If you're not in a supportive environment, leave!" declared Hancock. "There is no value in staying. And time is too short."
Transforming the workplace
Career management is important for everyone, according to Hancock, especially for women. Though the number of women in leadership positions in general is, in her opinion, "dismal," this seems less true for women in technology. Businesses are already changing their workforces, she observed, to keep pace in the increasingly global, information-based economy.
Different skills are being required, especially the ability to communicate, collaborate with diverse groups of people, and synthesize information. "The workforce is becoming more and more team oriented, less authoritative, and more consensus driven," she said.
"It's an environment that complements women's professional abilities and our other fine qualities: intuition, the ability to communicate, to work with others — and yes, even nurture.
"Imagine a workplace where those qualities are respected and used to their greatest potential."
For women today, she said, that requires conscious and clear career management. While women must be sure to bring something of value to their jobs, Hancock said, at the same time they need to make sure their jobs bring something of value to them, such as new skills and experience. Though she agreed that the old-boy network is alive and well, Hancock also cited a recent survey that found that businesswomen are often held back in their careers by a lack of significant management and operating experience.
While mentoring is vital, Hancock told the audience, she did acknowledge that young women find that commodity hard to come by in the frantic pace of Silicon Valley. "You don't get mentoring in Silicon Valley," she said flatly. "It's every person for him- or herself."
"Management is not an accident; it's a practice," she continued, adding that she tries to reach back into IBM practices to create teamwork and to establish mechanisms that allow for and support mentoring.
Asked by a member of the audience if women are naturally better at running companies, and if women hold high enough expectations of themselves, Hancock turned thoughtful. "When I went to school," she responded, "there was no clear assumption that I would do anything more than graduate. It took me a while to convince myself to be a manager.
"It took me a lot of years to get here," she concluded. "You must deserve the CEO position. But it feels good to get it."
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