(upbeat music) >> Narrator: From our studios in the heart of Silicon Valley, Hallowell to California, this is a CUBE conversation. >> Hi and welcome to theCUBE. I'm your host Sonia Tagare and we're here at the Palo Alto Cube studios for an amazing conversation about women in tech and bringing men to the conversation. With us today is our guest, Eva Helen, who is the CEO and founder of EQ Inspiration and the Board Director of PrinterLogic. Welcome to theCUBE. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> So let's get started, so give us a brief overview of your background. >> So, I was actually in tech for close to two decades. I came from Sweden in the mid-90's and joined a hardware company here in Silicon Valley and started selling hardware. One thing led to the next and then I was part of starting two software companies, both with good exits. The last one we exited in 2015 when it was acquired by Citrix. And the name of that company was Sanbolic. So I was deep in the trenches of tech for many, many years. >> That's very inspiring. And from tech, you went to being an advocate for women in tech, so tell us a little about that. >> Well, it was interesting, I mean, I was a woman the whole time myself but I didn't take the time to reflect over a lot of what the other women were experiencing. When you run a business, your head is down and you work really, really hard all the time so, I didn't come up for air very often. But as we had been transitioned, we were on the East Coast and we were transitioned back to Silicon Valley, I started to really network as much as I could and met a lot of women, enjoyed a lot of organizations and went to tons of events. And I thought they were fantastic, and it was great energy and women sharing things and stories with each other and supporting each other, but I couldn't figure out where the guys were. And I'd been working in this industry for so long, I knew that all the decisions were made by men and I didn't understand why they weren't part of the discussion. So I went to a couple of guys and I said, well, if I start something called Women in Tech events for guys, will you come? And they're like, absolutely, we would love that. So, said and done, a couple of years ago, I did my first EQ Inspiration. Which is an event where 50% of the audience is men, 50% are women and in a typical format, I will have experts, or in the beginning, I wasn't en expert myself at all. So I would have experts come in and speak and then eventually I could take over some of those pieces, talking about equality, good things to do for women and so on. And then, I would always have a panel of men that I would ask, what are you actively and actually doing for women in the workplace? Your peers or your colleagues, your staff, how are you helping them? And all these amazing stories were coming out. So I thought how can I get more of those stories and make them available to a broader audience? So that's kind of where I was in the beginning of last winter. >> And what spurred you to become a part of this movement? Was it an experience you had in your workplace or just something you saw in the larger women in tech community? >> Well, I think I'd had my own experiences, obviously, since I'd been in the industry for so long. And every woman has a way to tackle being the only women in the room, the only one in the meeting, the only one at dinner and so on. We all have ways to tackle and deal with that but, like I said, I hadn't really reflected much over what other women were experiencing. So, just by hearing what all these other women were dealing with, I thought I kind of need to help here. Because, I'm not saying that my ways of dealing with it were the best or the way that I would recommend for others to be. I can be super pushy, very assertive and a lot of women are not like that. So, my model didn't necessarily work for them. So I had to try to figure out how can I actually help them. And because there are so many ways that women are supporting each other already, that are functioning really, really well, forums for talking about delicate things and, you know, more open things, I wanted to bring the men into the conversation because they're ultimately 50% of the population and a lot more than that in the workplace. So I just we needed to engage them to make them feel more safe in how they are supporting us. >> And do you find that the men who do come to these events, are they more at the leadership level or are they varied? Who generally shows up? >> So it varies a lot but if I could take a step back just to what I did when I said, okay let me find out more of these stories. Because that will answer your question. I did 60-hour long interviews with men in tech. At all levels of the organization. From CEO to individual contributors. And then I took all of that scripted material and I broke these people down into seven characters of men. And I say generously because we, as women, have been categorized into two categories by most men, for thousands of years. Seven characters, with different names. And at the top of what I call my matrix, we have Mark, James, Sameer, that are advocates for women. Then we have Memo, Al and Chris, that are allies of women. And at the bottom of the matrix, we have Richard, who is opposed to change and concerned that women will take over men's positions in the workplace. But by doing that categorization, I can see that it doesn't matter if it's a leader or if it's an individual contributor, it's a range of men that come to my events but typically, they're sitting at the higher end of the matrix. Not the lower part. Because they're still a little hesitant to thinking, well, what can I do? How can I help? >> Right, so it doesn't matter exactly what their exact position is, but how far up the matrix they are or how far low the matrix they are. >> Yes, exactly. Exactly. >> So can you tell us a little bit more about the different categories in the matrix and why you found those seven categories? >> Yeah sure. So, if we start from the top, the top character is called Mark and Mark is, he's really an expert. He has been working in HR or he's a diversity consultant or he can be a man who has lots of friends and he's very comfortable speaking up on behalf of women in front of these men. But he doesn't just address women or mixed groups, he actually talks directly to groups of men. The next category is James. James is a change agent. He's a leader. He has a very visible presence in the organization and he will take on things like culture change. If he notices in his organization that the culture is not exactly what it should be to promote equality, he will actually get to the bottom of it and dig deep to figure things out and solve them. Maybe by hiring an external consultant like a Mark. The next level is Sameer, he's the sponsor. And there are lots of women out there that have had great sponsors and often at the EQ Inspiration event, I'll bring up a women who talks about a sponsorship story. The sponsors make women visible and they also put their own name on the line. They're very comfortable promoting women. And often, they have experienced being an outsider themselves at some point, so they're very empathetic. The next level, now we get into the allies, and the allies are Memo, Al and Chris. Memo is the mentor. Mentorship is a very interesting thing because it's a big step up from the level below. It really is not necessarily promoting, but really asking a woman what can I do to help? How can I help you? And there's a lot of informal mentorships that are going on and there are lots of formal mentorship programs out there. It's really important to formalize mentorship programs in organizations where there's a greater fear among men to do something that's not right. And I think that a lot of the informal mentorships are suffering because of the Me Too movement and all the negative press that we have out there. The next to allies are Al and Chris. And these two categories have the greatest potential to actually grow into something bigger, because the objective, of course, is to climb from one step to the next on the matrix. And Al is a happy-go-lucky guy. He says I love working with women, I think it's fantastic, just tell me what to do, I would love to help. But he's not necessarily sure what to do. And Chris, the guy below him, he gets uncomfortable more easily. So, if a situation gets a little sticky in the office, when they start talking about equality or something like that, he might actually withdraw and close his door and say, no I don't want to be part of this discussion. But if you talk to Chris, he's already helping somebody who's close to him. Maybe his sister, maybe his partner, his wife or his daughter. And it's really interesting when you get to the point where they understand and they realize, they go oh, I am actually doing something. Maybe it's not helping somebody in the workplace but maybe it's somebody who's close to me. And then Richard at the bottom of the matrix, he's the chauvinist and he's there and there's lots of them and they're opposed to the change. And in the beginning, I was thinking maybe I just leave him out of the discussion. But he's a really important reference point for the rest of the characters. >> And so, as I liked that how you said that we want to have men go up the levels, to essentially become a Mark or James or Sameer, but suppose you have a Richard in your workplace, is there any hope for him ever becoming a Mark or is it even likely? >> Well, so the important thing is here, you know, I'm not a big fan of the kinds of workshops where you throw all men into the same room and you give them the same message. Because you'll lose 70% of the audience right away. So the key thing here is to make them understand that you can climb one step on the ladder and that may be enough. And if you choose to stay where you are, but as long as you're getting a little bit more awareness of what you're doing, that's okay too. But we're not trying to get Al or Chris, the people who are towards the bottom, to become Marks. We just want them to climb one step. And Richard, he's absolutely not a hopeless case. The thing with him is you can't tell him what to do, but you need to find his motivator. What is it that motivates him to start thinking outside of the little comfort zone that he is in right now? And so, maybe that motivator is maybe he does have a sister who's experienced a difficult situation. And so, how does that relate to what's going on? Maybe his team is not coming up with any new ideas. So having the discussion of diversifying the team, he might be ready for that one. But just finding his motivator is how we get him to, at least, get up to the level of Chris. >> And you mentioned that by the year 2030, you want 50-50 gender equality. Now, for people who are at leadership positions, who are Richards, who maybe do have some hope that they might change into even a Chris, but they still aren't on board with 50-50 gender equality, what do you say to those men and how can women deal with those men in their workplace? >> Well, it's that, you know, is the pie this big or is there two pies or is the pie growing? 50-50 is sort of something that a lot of people that ae working towards equality are saying. Now, I'm really trying to support women in the workplace to get to higher levels. And we are, more than 50%, at the very bottom level of most industries and most working positions. And we know that, I think it's 53% of all graduates today are women. So, it's not so much a we need to be 50-50, it's just that we need to change the parameters a little bit and change the format and change the expectations of how we lead our organizations so that it's not always done in a man's way. But rather, something that's more accepting towards not just women, but all minorities that haven't had a place there before. And would you say to somebody who's a Richard? Well if he's open to having the discussion and conversation, try to meet him where he is and say, we're not taking your job away from you, but we will give a woman the opportunity to apply for the job at the next level, alongside with you. And it's the most qualified that will win. But the way that the criteria are set right now and the qualifications and expectations are set right now, are really created very much so for men. So they end up winning that battle every single time. And Chris can't or Richard can't change that. That needs to be changed from a higher level. >> And also, alongside with them worrying that we're going to take their jobs, also because of the Me Too movement, they might be worried, oh I don't even want to work with women because I'm worried they're going to say I harass them or do something to them so I'd rather just not even bother with it. So with those kind of people, how would you try to convince them that they're safe with women or that that it's okay for them to be a part of this discussion? >> So, Chris, who is just above Richard on the matrix, he supports women who are very close to him. So, like I said, family members or maybe it's somebody, a woman on his team, that he's worked with for a long time. And by making him aware that he's already supporting people that are very close to him and he's super comfortable in those relationships and that kind of support that he's providing, I'm saying, what if you were to take that support to somebody you don't know as well? Maybe there's a woman in the extended team or next to you and you say to her, what can I do to help you? Is there anything I can do to help? And then treat that relationship the same way that you're treating the relationship that you have with that family member or whatnot. You know, make sure that it's completely transparent. Let the door be open. Make sure that you're inviting other people to the meetings. Sit in an open area. Do things that are completely transparent. That way nobody will ever question what your motives are, why you're doing this or if you're suggesting or saying something that's inappropriate. >> Right, right. And do you feel that more men are coming to these events or do you think that there's still a lot of progress to be made? >> So, when I started this a couple years ago, I said, okay, within a year, most of the women's organizations here in the Bay Area will have a track for men. And it's starting to happen so I'm so excited about that. I'm really, really happy that EQ Inspiration is not the only place to go, but that there's other organizations that are doing the same thing. And I will continue to, beyond the EQ Inspiration format, my objective is to go and speak at as many tech events as possible. Where I know that the majority of the audience will continue to be mostly men, for, at least, the near future. Hopefully that will change quickly. But now that I have material and I have a method and I know that there is a way to move men and make them individual contributors and make them excited about this. I want to bring that message directly to the core audience while all of the women's organizations that are sitting here in Silicon Valley will continue to build their tracks for men. >> That's amazing and you also mentioned that your material's coming out in Spring, so what's next for you? >> Well, I mean, so writing a book is a difficult thing and for all the men who are listening to this, it will be a very accessible, easy book. Not a lot of words, some pictures, images. Hopefully it's going to be, you know, a nice feel to it so people will be happy to have it lying around. And, really, for me, it's trying to create a language that both men and women are comfortable with. Having names on these characters. Jokingly being able to talk about it. De-dramatizing the whole conversation around this. There is a big seriousness to it, don't get me wrong. But for what I'm trying to do, I really want to lighten it up a little bit and make sure that people don't feel intimidated, threatened, judged or anything like that by it. And so, once the book becomes available in the Spring, I'm hoping that tech organizations will pick it up and use it as conversational material. Both for women's work groups, for mixed groups. One woman called me and said, I found a great use case. She specializes in going into organizations that already have programs and processes set up to move the needle, but not enough is happening. And then she can use this material to actually plug in and engage the men more deeply. So, I think, the book will have its life and with the book, I will make sure that it gets in front of as many people in tech as possible, both men and women. And then I'm hoping to be able to speak about it in as many difficult places as possible, because that's how I grow. >> Well, that's very heroic. It's such a great support for the women in tech community to have someone who's willing to kind of go out of their comfort zone and talk to men about women in tech issues and that's really not happening. So, we really appreciate all the work you're doing and thank you so much for coming in today. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> She's Eva, I'm Sonia, thanks so much for watching theCUBE, til next time. (upbeat music)

>>live from Las Vegas. It's the Q covering AWS executive. Something brought to you by extension. >>Welcome back, everyone to the cubes. Live coverage of the ex Censure Executive Summit here in AWS. Reinvent I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. We have three guests for this segment. We have Fang Deng. She is the big data and an Advanced Analytics program. Lead analytic Seo hee at Novartis. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you. We have low eq zero. He is Novartis head of Analytic Seo Hee. Thanks so much. Look, and Vika sinned. Wan Hee hee is applied intelligence delivery lead at Accenture. Thank you so much. Thank you. So I want to start with you. Look, no. Novartis, of course, is a household name. It's one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. But that left you to just walk our viewers a little bit through your business and sort of the pain points you were looking to solve with this journey Thio to the cloud >>you think you ever care? So I think if I if we look at the company, I think Wayne realized that it is more and more difficult to bring new trucks to market, so it takes about 12 years and on $1.2 billion to find a new trick. So at the same time, we see that there's more and more patient that need access to medicines. So in the last two years, I think we tried toe clear the new strategy where we're trying to re imagine medicine for user's data and technology. So in 2018 we've recruited a new studio that's came and I tried to build a digital ambition which is around fabulous, which is the innovation, the operation and the engagement on the innovation. What we're trying to do is to find new compound, will application off existing compounds into our business, make sure that I think patients can get access to drugs much faster and earlier on in the operation. We are trying to optimize the backbone off day to day processes, beat in the manufacturing or in the supply chain, or in the commercialization to ensure that the patient also get access to that much faster in the engagement. We're trying to healthy a cheapie and the players and then the and the patients to better understand the tracks reproduce as well as on the medication they need to have to receive treatment. So if you look at these three pillars, the cloud strategy is an essential portion of it. Because in all of its processes we have a lot of data and full cloud. I think we can make use off his data to help to innovate, open, right and engage. >>So as you as you said, it's really about reimagining medicine. I mean, from the drug discovery process to how it's helping patients live, live longer, healthier lives. Thanks. So talk about the vision for the Formula One platform. >>Yeah, aside, like a mission before we trying to re imagine our products for the patient. And we're trying to use more the more data history data and also the public data try to support our products. And the Formula One is our future enterprise data and the next perform for our new artists. So our objective is trying to love you all the new technology and also trying to consolidate over data in our Macleod and build up this platform for the whole notice Users support our business, do better products full patient. >>So when it comes to these these new new platforms, new technologies that are being introduced. We know that oftentimes the technology is the easy part. Or at least the more straightforward part I should say. But it's it's sort of getting people on board the change management. What are some of the challenges that you that you know of artists faced in terms of of the culture and the skills for your for your workforce? >>So if you look at that, the are in disgrace, very traditionally nature. And when we embarking the details confirmation, I think the first thing we had to change the culture of the company. So when you when you listen to our CEO, I think you tried to promote this invoice culture where all of us are Syrian leaders. And then we walk, you know, as a thing as an organization where we try to help each other and more and more collaborate when it comes to digital transformation. When we started this having this period, we've realised actually that workforce was not trained, so the first few things that we did disease is a tight wire new workforce, but also try to actually identify the advocate ambassadors. I could go and then go into residual confirmation early on to be able to help and to guide the office to get for that. So it's actually it's totally immaterial, Johnny. And then we are now in the second year and we've seen already a tremendous four guys, right? >>Can you describe some of the changes that you've seen him? I mean, I'm really interested in what you talk about. The ambassador's, the people who are going to spread the good word. What are what are some of the changes that you've seen in your workforce? Yeah, we can mention >>that. It's like you mentioned before. Um, like, talking about regarding overall catch a bus back to tried to leverage a new attack. Knowledge like the delivery perspective. We trying to do more automation, and the May 1 side is trying to get more efficiency and also another side. Try to ensure the intern responsibility for one product to be produced and also at the same time, let me through more automation to think about this secret inside the compound inside. Help us a lot of in pulling that part also, because >>maybe I can compliment that so I think if you look at it when the initial studying part of our journey, I think that a lot of people were reluctant to go and then tie to work on a cloud and to work with digital technology. So we found few projects where we felt there's a good ready for money. And as we can deliver fast in fact, Andi to things like, I don't get reviewed t piece every. Make sure that when we went, our field falls, go then and talk to the hippies. They know what to talk about an orphan, and then which format. We also look at that we can reduce costs internally and for the food, different projects and then on product that we've established, we build credibility within the organization that helped to disseminate the cultural transformation. >>So once others air seeing, seeing the benefits that that captured, they're more likely to to feel good about the cloud work. >>Yeah, that's that's the true and also notes of the news. Things like our teams, they are interesting about that. You see more and more people talking about our driveway and also talk about the UAV's and how can we improve the did he re efficiency and the same time is come back to say that teams think about how to make themselves to be a product owner and the product the way of the great. Let's the glistening for the whole team >>because I want to bring you in here a little bit. So talk to me about how ex Center is helping Novartis, particularly in in this eight of us. Caught initiative. >>Six incher is a leader in business and technical i t transformation programmes. So what we're bringing on the table is in the expertise with not only the technology and the AWS elements, but also the business and technical transformation expertise that have we have over the years in the firm. On additionally, I think you know, it's not only about technology change. As you mentioned, it's all a lot of change and operating model and and also kind of working with a very blended team. Across that expertise and experience is what you bring to the table >>a blended team, culturally, regionally, actually, all of it >>one of that belief. I mean, just to give an example. We are working across steams in roughly about six geography ese from various cultures. Where's countries? And it's it's, ah, various time zones, which makes it quite challenging to make it all work together. So you started the journey. I hope you succeed in it. And, uh, you know, it's working well, so far, >>so Cloud is is really a megatrend right now. What are the differences that you're seeing across Regions, countries, industries? >>So I think it's this many answers many parts of the answer to the question. So I think if I talk about, um, industries So you know, initially when clouds started, we had seen a major up take off the cloud technology and the company that manufactured the clown technology and telecommunications, and you know where the older infrastructure and technology aspects were, Whereas companies like health care and media and metals and mining, We're kind of behind the curve in adoption rates because off their respective, you know, concerns around compliance and security of data. But I think that trends is slowly shifting. US. Companies are becoming more open. I think I've seen how the public cloud has matured. The security models, you know, are speaking for themselves. People can understand the benefits from moving to the cloud in terms off, you know, cost rationalization from producing maintenance costs, focusing their proteins on things that they were not able to divert their attention on. >>The fact we had, I think I will say for me and then where I've seen a Novartis if it is access to innovation. So I think loud offering brings a lot off innovation at happy face. That's one hand and also access to extend our collaboration. So when you're in, you know, inside focus I think the relatives from over there wants to walk and collaborate with you. But when you work on the cloud, everybody goes on the cloud. So that's really a stream manifested ate a collaboration with Nextel Partners. >>So how is that changing the culture of Novartis itself? In terms of there, there are more opportunities to collaborate. And it also is maybe changing the kinds of workers you attract because it is is people who want to be doing that in their day to day. >>Well, if you look at it, um, in the past, I think we used to have our own workforce, and then we tried to do a lot of things with our own workers, but I think he's in the on Monte. Workers are full of us, so we have more and more partnerships being announced, and this publishing, I mean used actually to help the company to in revenge himself. So that's actually on one hand on the other side. As you said, I think that to attract with talents I think you need. You also need to have a different future. But you need also to be able to give them the flexibility to work and do the things they like, and we're in a context and a framework. >>One of the things that we hear about so much at the's technology conference is this buzzword of digital transformation and of artisans obviously embarking on its own digital transformation as well as his journey to the cloud. There happen. They're powering each other, they're accelerating each other. How would you describe what is happening to the industry and to know Vargas with it within this, the pharmaceutical industry? >>Yeah, I think, based on our knowledge, to send the why this may be the first. The company can't be trying to build this kind of enterprise level data and also an Alex platform, and based on that, we will be able to counseling date off the history potato intended date on public date, huh? And the Human Industry Day. Then they tried to help us to produce the better products for the patient the same time it gave also the team a chance as you mentioned before, and the look at former more opportunities and the China to leverage in your technology particles of Kayla. >>It's also changed the way that we work every day. So if you look at it now, um, we won't be virtual assistant. We I think we use machine learning elements politics to be able to talkto you are a cheap piece. We actually monitor clickers, Kyle real time having using common centers. So every single day, I think the use off, digital at work and atom in the physical man thinks. And I think we have seen that the adoptions has increased since we have I ever to launch successful products. And I think >>one of the things which, which I really like about working in the bodies, is also I think there's there's an ambition to drive business value quickly. So you know you take a very agile use case, best approach on things rather than having to wait for very long years of time. Plus, the company kind of encourages a culture which is based on mutual cooperation and sharing knowledge, which is great >>because Novartis is really on the vanguard of companies in terms of how much it's embraced, the cloud and how much it's using it. What do you think? Other companies, pharmaceutical companies, but maybe even in other industries as well could learn from the nerve artists example. >>I think one thing people really shy about is, you know, when they moved to the cloud is the security aspect. I think what people probably had failed to realize in the past that there's been so much developments on security in the public cloud, which has bean key focus areas, something nobody's has taken the challenge and has understood that very well. And I think companies can learn from all the different aspects of security that you know were built into our entire transformation work, starting from ingesting data, the user management to access and all of that thing, so that's kind of one thing. Similarly, compliance related aspects as well, you know, So we've g x p compliance is at the core off how we're building our solution. So I think on dhe, if you understand how we built the rules around compliance. But in architecture, I think couples can learn from that a swell and build that is integral part off your not only technology solution, but the process that goes along with it. >>We started our conversation talking about Novartis and its quest to reimagine medicine. How How do you think that your industry is gonna look 5 10 years from now? I mean, the drug discovery process is slow on purpose. I mean, we need to think of patient health and safety for most. But how do you think it really could change the course of how we treat people? >>If if you look at it is more and more treatment required that actually I used and required data as a service or are being actually process for data. So when I am, when we look at the things the way that the industry is changing, I think the times to develop drugs, yes, takes longer. But I think for your use off the data that you have. I think you can try to reduce I cycle. So one of the objective is to reduce the cycle by one firm. Between that, we could bring the day. Is a new director market in eight years, rescues 12 years Today. The other thing is that way for user's data. You can monitor them patient, and you can recommend it the treatment of 80% off foundation. They don't go in and finish her treatment. So I think if we can show the audience to treatment, then there's a lower risk off the admissions to the season and sickness that they have. >>So it's not even not not just Novartis seeing the value of the date. It's the patients themselves, efficiency >>and the d. A r C as well, right? Because I think if you're if the situation is not six and I think the insurance doesn't have to pay. So I think all the value chances is being comes from >>well, sang Loic, because thank you so much for coming on the Cube. It was a really fascinating segment. Thank you. I'm Rebecca night. Stay tuned for more of the cubes. Live coverage of the Ex Center Executive Summit coming up in just a little bit