'Be ambitious and take risks,' says Google Cloud MD Helen Kelisky
Helen Kelisky is MD for Google Cloud UK and Ireland. She shares her thoughts on creating inclusive leadership culture and offers advice to women starting out in tech.
"From the minute I left university, I wanted a career that immersed me in a fast-paced industry and presented me with lots of opportunities as well as challenges," says Helen Kelisky. "A job in the tech industry seemed like the obvious choice."
Kelisky's entry in technology only just predated cloud, and her career developed as cloud services began to mature and revenues began to climb in the early noughties.
"I have held a number of roles at different companies, including IBM and then Salesforce. It was during my last few years at IBM and then Salesforce that my specialism for cloud business leadership really developed. It was great to see cloud enabling business transformation at speed and see it become the global force it is today "
"Working at Google Cloud felt like a natural next step for me, and it's been incredibly exciting to experience cloud technology develop at such a fast rate."
Mentoring the next generation
Like so many women working in tech, Kelisky spends her own time helping women at earlier stages of their careers via networking groups and mentoring schemes, having been inspired and helped herself by an earlier generation of female tech leaders. What advice would she give to young women starting out in tech or to girls considering a career in the industry?
"Be ambitious and take risks. Growing confidence comes with learning and taking every opportunity to have new experiences and develop new skills. The biggest risk I took was leaving a company after three decades, but I realised that I needed to embrace the change in order to expose myself to fresh ideas, learn new things and discover new interests along the way too. Tech is a fast-paced industry, so embracing novelty and getting on board with change isn't just helpful for personal growth, it's vital."
"It's been a privilege to witness the progression of several inspiring female tech leaders - all of whom I have learned from and have helped me grow in my role. Seeing their successes, and the attributes they have needed to demonstrate, has really helped steer me in my career and I'm proud of my work to support and mentor others in turn.
"I do this not only in my day-to-day role, but also through my work on the board of the non-profit Women in Telecoms and Technology (WiTT). Here, I'm able to help empower and support women on their career journeys through networking and sharing advice. Helping other women, and continuing to champion diversity and inclusion in tech, has always been something I'm incredibly proud of and is certainly something I'll continue to do."
What makes a tech leader?
2023 has begun much the same way that 2022 closed out - with thousands of redundancies being announced by tech employers, big and small. Google is no exception, having announced 12,000 job cuts in January. Concern has been expressed that, for multiple overlapping reasons, these redundancies are likely to be sending relatively recent tech diversity gains into reverse. This is in an industry which has long struggled to hold onto women employees in particular.
How does Kelisky think that tech leadership can become more diverse in the longer term?
"Like many industries, unfortunately, there are certain areas of the tech sector that struggle to create a diverse workforce. To make sure we get more diversity of leadership, businesses need to make sure inclusivity is promoted across all levels. People from underrepresented groups need to start somewhere, but, equally, they need to be encouraged and supported throughout their careers and be given a seat at the table in leadership too. This needs attention at all stages of the career journey."
What forms can this support take?
"Things like offering flexible working options or reassessing interview techniques can help tech businesses better retain female staff, and staff from different backgrounds, by supporting their career progression. It will also help with retention too.
"At a top level, education and training is vital to make it easier for people from different backgrounds to get into the industry and be retained. Unconscious bias training, for example, is a good step to help ensure talent from different backgrounds are given equal opportunity."
Unconscious bias and executive quotas
Unconscious bias training is controversial. The evidence of its effectiveness is mixed, although it is debatable as to whether this is a flaw of the concept or the training itself or the ways that companies actually use it. Given how little the dial on diversity in tech leadership has actually moved in recent years, is it time for a more radical approach? Executive quotas have worked in public sector and in other areas of enterprise. Could they work in tech? Kelisky isn't convinced, although not because she doesn't think drastic action is necessary but because the homogeneity of tech leadership is a multi-layered issue and should be tackled accordingly. She explains:
"While executive quotas help ensure more women get their feet under the table, the wider issue around diversity is one that needs to be tackled at every level. In order for women to be driving change high up, they need to get there first, which means tech businesses, and businesses in general, need to ensure they have a fair and unbiased hiring process as well as the right support in places to help women progress in their careers.
"At Google, we have a number of career development and promotion programs in place to make sure women and other underrepresented groups can thrive from entry-level to very senior positions. It's also about making sure managers are educated and knowledgeable about diversity so they can better support teams - the #ItsUpToMe allyship campaign at Google is a good example of this, as it supported managers in taking a more active and responsible role in reaching our diversity and inclusion goals across the business.
"Creating a working environment where women can grow and thrive requires full participation. To address the issue at its core, businesses need better education and training and better support and resources for women and underrepresented groups. Creating teams that raise women up across all levels will boost retention, as well as attract fresh talent, and will get us all to a point where quotas aren't necessary."
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