>> Narrator: From the VMware Campus in Palo Alto California,
it's The Cube covering Women Transforming Technology.
(upbeat music)
>> I'm Lisa Martin with the Cube and we are on the ground
in Palo Alto with VMware for the third annual,
Women Transforming Technology event.
Excited to welcome back to the Cube, Lily Chang,
VP of strategic transformation here at VMware.
Lily it's great to have you back.
>> Thank you, it's fantastic to have this event again,
for the third time in the history.
>> Yes, in fact, I read online that it was sold out
within hours and the keynote this morning was...
>> Lily: Fantastic
>> Fantastic
>> And very inspiring.
>> Very inspiring. For those of you who don't know,
Laila Ali was the keynote this morning.
What a great analogy, not just being a sports star,
but being someone, a woman, in a
very male dominated industry
who just had this sort of natural confidence
that she just knew what her purpose was.
I thought that was a very inspiring message
for those of us in tech as well.
>> Yeah, and it's also very key that women leaders,
such as herself, is willing to come out and share the story,
and be the role model and set a path and show the example
for the younger generation to follow and to look up to.
That is incredible.
>> I love for one of the things she said, Lily,
when she said she still sometimes kind of loses sight
and has to reignite that inner warrior.
I thought that was a really important and empowering message
too that even really strong women who are naturally
confident still have times where they have to kind of remind
themselves of what their purpose is.
I just thought that was a very impactful statement
and I think regardless of any industry you're in.
>> That is absolutely true.
I mean, we're only human, right?
So every one of us experiences challenges in life
so there are times even all genders,
you're going to bump into road blocks,
you're going to bump into challenges
and then you need to self motivating and lift yourself up
and rise to the ocassions of the challenge.
A lot of times these changes,
and I'm sure it's true for her as well,
that actually make her a better leader.
>> Definitely. So you are one of the board members of
Women Who Code.
This is something that's very near and dear
to VMwear's heart.
VMwear got involved in 2016
when it was about a 10,000 person organization.
>> Actually, a little bit less than that.
>> A little less than 10,000? And now it's?
>> We were very young.
>> And now how large is it?
>> It's 137,000 members globally,
20 counties, 60 cities.
>> So what's the mission of Women Who Code?
>> The mission is very simple.
Basically we want to basically help all women
that inspire and excel in their technical career journey
and in their career development.
So that's basically the simple mission statement
and for that a very critical thrust that Women Who Code has
and kind of coincide with VMware's community vision,
is basically technical woman community.
So they were very young but we saw the passion,
we saw the commitment,
and we believed that this is a great mutual opportunity
because we want to be a global company.
We want to not only view leadership within U.S.,
we wanted it to be in NIA, to be in APJ,
We have R & D research offices everywhere
and so we basically collaborated with Women Who Code
and that has been a very successful leadership program
which only work with them.
And they basically blossomed under the collaboration
and we're not the only company but we are the one of two
founding partner in sponsor for Women Who Code.
>> It's grown dramatically as you said.
>> Lily: Dramatically.
>> Yeah, just a couple of years since
you've been involved with VMware.
What are a some of things that have surprised you
about, not just the growth, but about some of the
lesson that maybe you've learned by watching some of
these other women come into this organization
and be inspired and impact their careers?
>> So I see the story, both in VMware woman leadership,
and also in outside community woman leadership. Right?
So what I see is all these woman basically have the passion
but they were a little bit worried about let it come out
but when you're actually in a community
you're supporting one and other
and you have that platform where they feel very comfortable
to communicate, network, share, and learn,
and so basically that is a very powerful thing
and I see the growth and the booster of the potential,
it's kind of like we lift them up all of a sudden. Right?
One of the stories recently is that, for example,
on the external side,
We have basically a Canada city director
is all volunteer positions. Right.
And within a year, she actually moved from a line management
position to basically to a director position
because the city director role basically expose you
to basically get the community view out
and that encourage you and challenge you
to basically has hands on soft leadership skill
and so a lot of the technical woman have a lot of technology
and a lot of the technologist mentality
but you need to accompany that with a lot of the soft skill.
And then the combination of the two
that makes a perfect combination.
And we see a lot of that in our VMware women as well.
So we set out to do basically cities in China,
we actually opened China for Women Who Code.
It was zero member, and now it has like 3,000-4,000 members.
It's actually in China.
It's a little bit of a difficult mysterious place. Right?
But we made it happen in Beijing.
We made it happen in Shanghai.
And it's basically participate by
a lot of the local company,
not just multi-national company.
And in India we actually open it up,
and in India now is blossomed like crazy
so there are like since VMware's opening up in Bangalore
basically there are three other cities that joined in.
India is like basically a rose
in blossoming peak point right now.
And we also opened up a Sophia,
so basically we work with women who go to do a
corporate leadership program.
And within the first year,
where we appointed some of the city directors
from our women,
basically we have experience about a 50% promotion rate
and pretty much 100% retention rate.
>> Lisa: Wow.
>> Yeah.
>> 50% promotion and 100% retention is incredible.
>> It is incredible, so I see that miracle happening
and then I become very convinced after year one
and then I've also learned that I'm not the only leader
in the world that believes in this.
That's the reason why they blossom like crazy.
>> I imagine growing up in China,
I was reading a little bit about your story,
that the expansion in China must mean something
a bit personal for you as well.
It sounds like you were a bit fortunate though,
with your parents saying "hey,"
you had two choices when you graduated from college,
flight attendant, or secretary and your parents thought
"she should have more options that that."
So maybe kind of full circle, how was that for you
when those two in Shanghai and Beijing opened?
>> To me, I feel like, that is what is 21st century
supposed to be.
I wish it were true in the 19th century
and but bottom line is, minor correction,
actually I did interview for those two positions.
I was rejected.
I was not qualified.
>> Lisa: Lucky VMware.
>> Yeah.
(laughing)
Actually lucky United State.
>> There you go.
>> So basically my dad and my mom,
they basically raised me up very differently in that era.
They basically feel that they give me kind of almost a
virtual space where I do not feel there is
any difference between genders.
They always made me feel like I'm a equal citizen
in the family.
I have the same speaking right,
my dad, my mom both foster me that so when they learned
that I could not get those two possible jobs
and I was very well educated,
graduated from the best university in the island,
quoting my dad, he basically "invested on me," right?
So he basically said "well" what he needs to do is
"continue to invest in me."
So that's the reason why he exported me to United States
and then basically I went to the graduate school here
and then since then I been very blessed.
So this is almost like the Beijing and Shanghai success
of the Women Who Code.
It's almost like I'm giving it back to my origin. Right?
And I'm bringing a lot of the blend
between the western and eastern culture together. Right?
To open that up which is fantastic and basically
in the global environment to make it very diverse
and inclusive at the same time.
>> So you had really strong parents who instilled this
belief in you that you could do anything.
When we look at some of the statistics that show
that less than 25% of technical roles are held by women
and then we also look at the retention,
the attrition is so high in tech.
What were some of the things that kept you kind of
focused on your dreams?
How did you kind of foster that persistence?
And I'm wondering what your advice is for women who
are in tech and might be thinking of leaving.
>> Well, very interesting, so first advice I have is,
basically believe in yourself and dream very big.
Because that, and the second this is never afraid of change.
Change is always a good thing and that has been throughout
my growth in a foreign country as well as here. Right?
And I remember when I was in the university,
even thought it was the best university,
and I actually changed department and major twice
and the third time I attempted to do it,
because at that time I told my dad,
say "hey, I heard there's this cool computer science thing
I really want to go do"
he did some calculation and said
"look, if you transfer again, the third time,
it will take you five to six years to graduate"
so he said "no, just stick with it and then later on
you want to move, go ahead." Right?
So in grad school I changed again and I was very blessed
that there are a lot of sponsors and mentors.
Not just my parents.
Throughout my growth and throughout my journey in the career
basically really foster and help me,
supported me, give me a lot of advice,
so I'm a big believer in mentorship and sponsorship
and that's what I believe
the technical woman community will offer.
It's kind of a genetically built it within that philosophy
in the community. Right?
It doesn't matter which forum.
It is basically bringing in the common belief
and the vision together and it's basically
peer to peer mentorship and because there are
different walks and different levels of women
and technologist in that community
then you actually could do the tiering and peering
and basically help people to either inspire,
basically move into new career journey,
or elevating themselves.
So I'm a very big believer in mentorship and sponsorship.
>> Speaking of change, we talked about the
changes you've made previously.
You've made a big change from R & D to financier.
>> Lily: That's correct.
>> The very first at VMware to do that?
>> Lily: Yes, very first...
>> Tell us about kind of the impetus and what excited you
and what you are benefiting from.
>> Well, I'd been in the R & D career for a couple decades
and so every ten years I look at my resume
and then I kind of try to have an out of body experience
to basically advise myself and say,
what would you do differently,
so that you actually are setup for the growth
for the next ten years. Right?
So when I look at my career about a year ago
I basically said to myself and said
"well, you've got enough R & D experience,
you made enough investment.
For you to be in the next journey
you really need to have the business experience."
And even though I have basically with VMware's support
and sponsorship I did go back to the business school
and got kind of the Berkeley business certificate
and I got lots of great executives supporting me.
But the reality is if you don't do that role,
day in and day out,
and really experience it blended into your DNA,
it's not going to come natural. Right?
And I don't want to be an imposter,
so essentially I made a fairly major determination
that I want to basically switch into business world.
So I'm kind of a unique case in the sense that
I'm both over-qualified and under-qualified
at the same time.
I'm very lucky that I have a lot of
the executive sponsorship that I was able to find
a perfect role that allowed me to learn and excel
and basically be inspired basically in my role today
and that is something fantastic.
Only after I transfer that's where I learn that
I'm actually the first employee in VMware's history
that moved from R & D to finance
and I still remain as the only one so far
and I hope that my success can actually inspire more R & D
people because I truly believe that a lot of times
when you can actually can look at from the other lens
it would just simply make you be able to do your
original job better.
Like right now,
I would tell my old R & D self that
some of the decision I made I would have debated
and petitioned and argued and thought about it
in a completely different way because my thinking has shift
which I think is a very healthy shift.
>> I agree, and you know, one of the things that Laila Ali
said this morning was basically encouraging people
to get uncomfortable, to be comfortable
and that's, you talked about change, absolutely
there's so many opportunities
and we know that on one level but it can
be pretty intimidating to change something.
But I love also what you said.
I think there's a parallel with saying now that you
have this business experience
looking through that other lens at R & D,
you would have made decisions differently
and I think that is very reflective
and an opportunity for organizations to invest
in creating a more diverse executive team.
When you bring in that though diversity.
>> Lily: Exactly.
>> And it just opens the door, not just seeing things
through different lenses and perspectives whether we're
talking about gender or what not,
but the profitability that
can come from that alone is tremendous.
>> Yeah, so for example one of the things that there
is a statistics actually based on McKinsey for company that
basically has reasonable percentage blend
of woman leadership actually grows better
and makes much sounder decision
and so the experience I have moving from R & D to business
and then now I work still very closely with R & D
community and the product business unit,
basically that's kind of a testemonial for that
because the decision making all of a sudden
is multi facet.
And you always will be able to make a better decision
and a sound decision.
Now, you will be able to see a different risk
at a different level,
and we will be communicating in a more common language,
like I used to not be able to speak the business tone
and the business language,
now I actually can be that effective communication bridge,
which I find it very powerful and very exciting
and very illuminating in terms of just the whole shift,
make it a very worth while actually.
It's just a very fantastic personal and professional
experiences so far.
>> You studied that Mckinsey report
and that was actually mentioned this morning
that the press release that VMwear did with the Stanford
Institute investing 15 million in building a
womens innovation lab to study the barriers,
identify how to remove those barriers,
but in that press release McKinsey report found that,
and this is shocking,
that companies that have more diversity
at the executive level,
are 21% more profitable.
>> Lily: Exactly.
>> That's a huge number.
>> That's because you actually, for business, right?
The technology moves so fast
and there are so many different factors will be coming in
hitting the business, giving business decision,
you just go down a unique lane
and not basically bringing all
the different facets of perspective,
you tend to basically gradually work yourself into a corner
or you may just believe what you want to believe. Right?
So that's where the other genders perspective
or even the inclusive culture will bring you, basically.
So this is my firm belief. Right?
It's just in a different dimension basically.
>> And I think that's great advice
for all walks of life Lily.
Thank you so much for stopping by The Cube
and sharing with us what you're doing
with Women Who Code and congratulations on being the first
VMware to successfully transition from R & D to finance.
>> Yeah, I actually hit my one year anniversary.
>> Oh congratulations and thanks so much for your time.
>> Thank you.
>> We want to thank you for watching the cube.
I'm Lisa Martin,
on the ground at Women Transforming Technology VMware.
Thanks for watching.
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