{"id":34231,"date":"2020-03-20T07:24:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T11:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?post_type=emagazine&p=34231"},"modified":"2022-08-05T06:11:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T10:11:30","slug":"margaret-dawson-interview","status":"publish","type":"emagazine","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/margaret-dawson-interview\/34231\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentoring is hard but rewarding, and it’s everyone’s job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Margaret Dawson<\/a> is known for attacking life at top speed with her hair on fire. Vice President and Chief Digital Officer for Red Hat, she\u2019s also a sought-after public speaker, coach and mentor and a vocal advocate for advancing women in tech. She challenges everyone to seek personal growth and equality in their workplace. We spoke about how women and men need to commit to supporting each other to progress their careers.<\/p>\n

Alyson: What\u2019s your theory of \u2018intentional support\u2019 in mentoring and coaching, and how is it different than \u201cgiving it a try?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Margaret: <\/strong>A lot of companies and leaders know we need to do more to mentor and coach others, whether it\u2019s young people or peers. But it takes more than just wanting it to happen. It takes intentional support: action, time, energy from people and companies to put in place a program to support mentees and mentors.<\/p>\n

Women in tech talk about needing to support women intentionally, to help them find their way and empower them to be successful.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot of hard work meeting with women, encouraging and helping with their career, but I think it\u2019s the only way we\u2019ll see more women and minorities becoming successful in the tech industry.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Everybody has to say, \u201cI will mentor, coach or support someone intentionally.\u201d If everyone did it for just one person, the numbers would change.<\/p>\n

Why is intentional support so hard?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It takes commitment, and you\u2019re making yourself vulnerable by saying, \u201cI will support this other person.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re so focused on doing our day jobs that taking on people who aren\u2019t in our direct chain, maybe even not at our company, feels like a risk. I\u2019ve had a lot of people reach out to me, at an event or on LinkedIn, and say, \u201cI know it\u2019s probably no<\/em>, but could I just talk to you for 30 minutes and bounce some ideas, because I have no one to talk to, and I am trying to figure out what to do in my career.\u201d I can\u2019t think of a time when I said, \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t ask, because it\u2019s scary. Sometimes the person you\u2019re asking doesn\u2019t respond or says \u201cno,\u201d but mostly, people don\u2019t ask.<\/p>\n

Is it important men are as invested in intentional support as women?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely. We must be mentoring and coaching men, women and all people equally. The difference I\u2019ve seen is, men will more readily mentor other men. Women don\u2019t reach out to other women as much.<\/p>\n

A young woman at a conference I was at recently said she\u2019d reached out to a senior woman in her company for advice. The answer she got was, \u201cI don\u2019t have to support other women just because I\u2019m a woman. That\u2019s not my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

My response to that is, \u201cYes, it is your job.\u201d Modeling, coaching and mentoring is every leaders\u2019 job, but leading women in technology have a special responsibility, because there are not enough of us. If you make it, it\u2019s your job to help others around you succeed.<\/p>\n

Does the \u2018old boys network\u2019 show men are better than women at networking?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you become that person who says, \u201cYes, I will support all of you,\u201d it\u2019s amazingly powerful. I\u2019ve seen it change lives.<\/p>\n

I think there are things men are taught socially that women are either not taught or don\u2019t have the support system to make happen.<\/p>\n

While men take other men under their wing, women are taught to be competitive with other women. We\u2019ve got to change that intentionally.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So much of what we do is not based on our capabilities and our brain, but how we look. From the time they are small, girls are called pretty, and boys are called smart or strong.<\/p>\n

In coaching and mentoring, we have to help women and girls understand their strengths, their capabilities, their value in ways that don\u2019t equate to how they look and dress.<\/p>\n

How can women find ways to mentor others?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, if you work for a company, start there. Second, reach out to any of the women in tech organizations, such as Women in Technology<\/a><\/u>, Girls Who Code<\/a><\/u> and <\/a>Black Girls Code<\/a><\/u>. There are many local, national and international organizations. Volunteer at a local high school or college. Just let people know you\u2019re available.
\n\"margaretYou could start with a friend\u2019s daughter. I\u2019ve helped many friends\u2019 daughters write their resum\u00e9, talk about career paths and interviewing. Talking to girls is crucial because sometimes their parents have preconceived ideas about their future. Parents may talk about the profession they want her to go into, but she\u2019ll admit to someone else what she really wants to do.<\/p>\n

Do people who mentor feel a sense of accomplishment and contribution?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely. That\u2019s probably the best thing. If you can help someone else believe in themselves, that generates power.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a \u2018universal energy\u2019 that we joke about, but the more you give, the more you get; and the more you give, the more other people give you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve seen that happen. If people know you mentor and coach, they think, \u201cI\u2019m going to do that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

What I always try to remember is, \u201cWhat could you do right now to provide intentional support to someone?\u201d I challenge everyone just to act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Global tech leader and in-demand public speaker Margaret Dawson says mentoring is everyone’s job, especially those who’ve ‘made it.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2567,"featured_media":34233,"template":"","coauthors":[3729],"class_list":{"0":"post-34231","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-leadership","7":"emagazine-category-opinions","8":"emagazine-category-women-and-diversity","9":"emagazine-tag-gender","10":"emagazine-tag-leadership","11":"emagazine-tag-mentoring","12":"emagazine-tag-women"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/margaret-dawson-interview\/34231\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/margaret-dawson-interview\/21728\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/margaret-dawson-interview\/20053\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/34231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=34231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}