Women in Leadership Conference - Recap

Photo courtesy of Unsplash.

Hi! Welcome to the Two Piers podcast. I’m your host, Erica D’Eramo. During our second episode of season one, we’ll be recapping the 20th annual Rice Women in Leadership conference. 

Ally Cedeno, founder of WomenOffshore kicked it off with a rousing welcome. She and her team did an incredible job pulling together speakers and content that struck a great balance. The sessions were realistic and honest, while remaining inspirational and energizing. We can’t cover all of the speakers and panelists, but we’ll try to cover a large portion of it. 

The opening keynote was masterfully presented by Ann Fox, a Marine Corps veteran and the president and CEO of Nine Energy Services. Her humor, humility and honesty made for a powerful, and at times heart-wrenching discussion. She reminded us that having a diverse set of perspectives can make the difference between life or death at times. 

From there, we had a choice of four morning panel sessions - I attended the Founders Corner: From Vision to Adventure. The panelists included Jillian Fink, CEO and Co-founder of OcciGuide, a medical device company; Kathleen Perley, CEO and Co-founder of Decode Digital, Diana Murakhovskaya, co-founder and General Partner, The Artemis fund, and Erin McClarty, Founder, Erin McClarty, PLLC. Side note: we’re big fans of Erin over here at Two Piers and we’ve been working with her for some time now. 

We learned from Diana that in 2019, only 2.8% of VC money went to companies founded by women, however 19% of all exit value comes from female founders. We clearly have some work to do.

One key theme was around what constitutes success versus failure.

Kathleen discussed the definition of a win and identifying the right KPIs or key performance indicators. In fact, testing out ideas and knowing something’s not right - that can be a win. Erin focused us on identifying what success was for us, and whether we’re working toward that. One helpful tactic is to identify what you’re “not” going to be. 

There was also a theme around structure, including blocking out time and setting boundaries, with yourself, your clients and your loved ones. It’s important to set aside time for reflection and strategy. Within your daily structure, we must make sure there’s a focus on what makes money, with an understanding that it needs to be both short term and long term revenue. The panelists also discussed setting aside a separate space or office to work in. Finding a coworking space or partner can also help add structure. 

One great question from the audience that we felt was particularly insightful: for over-achievers that are not used to having risks, how do we face potential failure? Erin suggested that communities such as the one at the Women in Leadership Conference, create the space to fail and share. Kathleen credited her academic struggles with dyslexia for teaching her how to get comfortable with failure and move on quickly. It doesn’t hold her back. Jillian recommended doing your research such that you have the confidence to go your own way. 

In parallel with the Founders Corner, was the Lessons Learned in Leadership panel. This included the following panelists:

• Lynda Clemmons, VP sustainable solutions at NRG discussed the value of listening to where people are at

• Sruba De, Vice President, Global Retail Insights & Solutions, Mastercard Advisors, discussed what makes a good leader: powerful communicator, ability to influence, thriving outside comfort zone. Sruba also discussed the importance of having our own set of personal directors: someone believes in you, mentor to sponsor, biggest critic. These should be people that have directly seen us work.

• Tandra Jackson, Managing Partner, KPMG discussed servant leadership and putting the client first

• GiGi Lindberg, VP and Commercial Relationship Manager, BBVA and Founder and CEO, Meritaj discussed tactics for, and importance of, responding rather than reacting. 

Midway through the day, we took a break for a networking lunch and met some of our fellow attendees. 

The afternoon included a selection of workshops, and Two Piers facilitated a session on Tough Conversations. So why this topic? Difficult conversations affect everyone. Fundamentally, we have a few choices - we can try to avoid them, we can handle them poorly, we can handle them well. We all know people that can handle them well. We discussed our intended learning outcomes:

• Recognize what makes difficult conversations difficult

• Identify tools to prepare for them

• Understand ways to navigate confrontation and de-escalation 

• Determine how to close out and resolve these interactions 

We won’t re-work the workshop here, but keep a lookout for a future podcast dedicated to navigating conversation. We had some great questions from the end, and have picked up some ideas for how to make the content even more valuable. 

While we were in the Tough Conversations workshop, Delifina Govia was facilitating her workshop called “How to Live for 300 Years - Maximize Your Personal and Professional Life” Delfina is a partner at Veritas Total Solutions, and we’re big fans of her here at Two Piers. Her interactive workshop focuses professionals on balancing their personal and professional lives. This was far from a lecture - it was a working session that even involved a bit of math. If you missed out on her workshop at the Women in Leadership Conference, she’ll be hosting a free, extended version of the workshop on March 6th to celebrate international Women’s Day.

Following the afternoon workshops, there was a panel discussion on The Frontier of Diversity and Inclusion in Business. The panelists included:

Deborah Byers - E&Y’s Americas Industry Leader and also E&Y’s Americas Oil and Gas leader

Janelle Daniel - VP HR, Community Relations and Sustainability at Transocean

Amy Dalton - SVP Americas, BCD Travel

Larry Perkins - Assoc. VP HR and Diversity Organizations MD Anderson

The panelists discussed where they saw the future of diversity, and it’s clear they all see it as a central tenet of doing business. 

Deborah raised the issue of unspoken rules and suggested we acknowledge them and either eliminate them or get them into the limelight. 

Janelle discussed the implications for industrial environments and the need to address technical environment, such as adequate PPE or suitable changing facilities. 

Larry observed that MD Anderson has always been good on paper. We loved his assertion that diversity is a fact, whereas inclusion is an act. We also need to lift as we climb and bring future generations with us.

Deborah noted that it takes 20% of a workforce to change before we start noticing a difference. You can look great on paper but we need to focus on the right roles. 

For the closing keynote, Sandy Asch discussed the Roar Leadership Experience. She stressed  the importance of being purposeful, transparent, calm and courageous. She also spoke powerfully about velcroing yourself to your purpose. This can help you stay on track, and also  energize you when you hit challenging times.  

We wrapped up the day with a reception hosted by Dean Peter Rodriguez, whom we want to thank for his support this year and in years prior for the Women in Leadership Conference. Another shout out to Ally Cedeno and her team for a great lineup and excellent content. 

Thank you for joining us on our second podcast. You can expect another installment in two week’s time. In the meantime, you can find more content on our social media feeds on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. As always, feel free to reach out via our website: twopiersconsulting.com.

Have a great week and we’ll meet you back here soon.

Welcome to our Two Piers Podcast!

We’ve included a text version of our podcast for accessibility.

Our introductory podcast gives an overview of who we are and what we do, along with some context and background regarding our philosophy. We  promise to keep these podcasts funny, engaging and relevant because your time is precious, as is space in your brain and on your playlist. So this is for you to use.

First, some background about myself. My name is Erica D’Eramo and I’m the founder and CEO of Two Piers. My career started with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Penn State University. I’ve spent nearly two decades in the energy industry, working domestically and internationally, in field-based roles and office roles, including engineering, operations management and finance. I saw, first hand, the challenges facing women, particularly those starting out in field-based roles. Following a three-year offshore rotational assignment in Angola, I decided to take a sabbatical and start this project, (Two Piers), to provide resources and support directly to women working in male dominated environments. During that sabbatical, I also conducted a study called Spot the Difference which was sponsored by BP and executed in conjunction with QuayFive - a consultancy based out of the UK.  We worked with 12 different FTSE 300 companies spanning multiple industries, each with international reach. We examined the career choices and motivations of employees and how they differed based on gender. We also examined the effectiveness of diversity and inclusion initiatives. There were some very interesting findings, which we will discuss further in a future podcast. 

So why gender diversity as a focus? For us, it relates back to engineering. We here at Two Piers hate to see waste, especially when it comes to human potential. Not only are we putting up unnecessary barriers for more than 50% of our potential workforce, but we also make it more  difficult for them to fully contribute when we have non-inclusive workplaces, or we evaluate them against how well they can conform to a masculine norm. Additionally, we see waste in the stressors this can put on team dynamics when the workforce begins to believe that gender outweighs meritocracy. This sows discord, distrust and disenchantment. We also feel that gender diversity is deeply misunderstood. Efforts to diversify a workforce and create a more inclusive environment are often seen as philanthropic initiatives as opposed to strategic business imperatives in today’s competitive, fast-changing world. In addition, gender is simply one facet of diversity, however it is more visible than many other aspects of diversity, and thus can act as an analogue to open the door to conversations on ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, socioeconomic diversity, neurodiversity, etc… We at Two Piers want to foster an intersectional conversation about diversity and gender.

So how are we tackling it? We are taking a two-pronged approach. We are committed to alleviating the current pain points of gender imbalance for those currently in the workforce by supporting individual women through workshops, coaching and resources such as this podcast. Some examples of focus areas are:

• Navigating pitfalls of masculine workplaces

• Setting and asserting boundaries

• Handling difficult conversations and confrontations

• Individualized coaching and planning

Some might ask whether a focus on equipping women with tools and tactics is paramount to victim blaming. Why should women change to fit the environment, as opposed to the environment changing? Well we fundamentally believe that women should not, in fact, have to change, however, we like to use the analogy of going to Mars. In the short term, we need some special toolkits  in the first place - you can consider these our psychological oxygen tanks, until there are enough successful women and enough systemic change to create the atmosphere that we want and need. To turn a blind eye out of squeamishness is to reject reality and set people up for failure. At the same time, equipping women with survival tactics is not enough. We need to address the systemic root causes by working with organizations.

The organization and corporate work that we do focuses on creating systemic and sustainable change. It also supports and sustains the resources that we provide to individuals. When working with organizations, we first focus on understanding the true baseline using leading and lagging indicators. We also examine the effectiveness of current initiatives and what some of the unintended consequences may be. From there, we determine an action plan and measures for how to reach the group’s goals. We don’t just look at the numbers and percentages, but rather take a more holistic approach. 

So why a podcast? We wanted to make some of our resources and content easily and readily accessible, particularly for those individuals who can benefit immediately. Perhaps it’s difficult to attend a workshop in person, or perhaps someone’s not not ready to ask for help or scheduling a coaching session. Podcasts can remove some of those barriers to access. It also gives businesses an opportunity to sample our offerings and see whether our ethos is a good fit for their company.

Podcast episodes will focus on two different areas. We will look at strategic topics and systemic issues around gender diversity in the workplace, including how we can affect change and how organizations can create diverse and inclusive environments. We will also have podcasts focused on more tactical subjects for professional women. Topics will range from  travel tips to taxes, pet adoption to car buying. We will look at what works for working women.

We want to thank you for joining us for episode one of season one of Two Pier’s podcast. Be sure  to follow us on social media. You can find us at LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, or on our website at twopiersconsulting.com. We’ll be putting on a workshop this Friday at the annual Women in Leadership Conference at Rice University, here in Houston, TX. The interactive workshop is  focused on navigating challenging interactions and confrontation. It’s one of our favorite topics! Tune in next Wednesday (Feb 19) for a recap with insights from the event.

We’d love to hear  from you. Reach out to hear more about our offerings or provide suggestions on  requested content you want to hear about. Have a great week! We’ll meet you back here soon.