WEBVTT - Women in Tech 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.320 It's ready, are you hey there, Tech stuff listeners, This 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.319 is Jonathan Strickland, and I wanted to talk to you 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:11.639 a little bit about something cool going on at how 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.040 stuff works right now. I know all of you guys 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.119 are really creative and you love technology. Well, now you 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.720 can show us what you're made of, because Toyota is 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:22.360 sponsoring a new photo upload widget over at how stuff 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:27.000 works dot com. You can share your gadget ideas, modifications, hacks, 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.120 some great tech ideas. Show us what you're made of. 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:32.640 Let us know how creative you are. You can go 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:37.120 to www dot how stuff works dot com, slash upgrade 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.960 your tech and upload those photos. Now we want to 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:45.479 see what you got. Get in touch with technology with 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:54.120 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello everyone, 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:56.320 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:58.480 and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.160 Sitting across from me as usual, a senior writer, Jonathan 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:05.560 st Hey there, Yeah, today we're today we're gonna talk 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:10.440 about women in tech. Yeah, we wanted to really kind 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.200 of focus on this because it's an it's a topic 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.800 that I think bears a lot of discussion, and part 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:20.040 of that is just due to the fact that there 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:24.320 there are fewer by percentage women in technology roles than 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:26.959 there are men. And there are a lot of different 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.280 reasons for that. I think one of the big ones 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.800 is there's a there's a social pressure that it is 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:38.520 not necessarily even a conscious one that tends to guide 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.880 women away from those jobs or men towards those jobs. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.280 And it's not, you know, it's it has nothing to 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.720 do with a person's ability to hold that job, certainly 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.520 not no matter what their gender is. It's just that 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.040 that's sort of it's almost like the social roles that 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:59.040 we have set out, and it's slowly breaking down where 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.040 you're seeing a lot of cross pollination across genders in 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:07.040 both sorts of what nothing. Cross pollination is what you're 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:12.160 laughing at. I'm talking about jobs here, buddy, jobs. Um, 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:13.919 but no, you're saying, Okay, So you're seeing a lot 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:20.680 of people working in roles that perhaps were originally thought 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.080 of as being gender specific or at least dominated by 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:27.639 a particular gender. Um Now in the field of technology, 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:32.200 that's still pretty much true for men. There was a 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.480 several articles about how many women hold jobs in in 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:39.919 the field of technology UH compared to men, And most 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:44.920 surveys put in that about of all jobs in the 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:49.640 US anyway revolving around technology, so just one quarter of 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.880 jobs UM, and that if you're looking at the executive level, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.560 the numbers are even lower. The there's a British tech 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:02.880 recruitment group called Harvey Nash and their US division held 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:07.560 a survey and discovered that nine percent of United States 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:13.360 chief information officers are female so or male UH, and 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:19.399 that that's actually a smaller percentage than previous year surveys 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.919 had revealed. Back in UH two thousand eleven it was 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:27.160 eleven percent, and then two thousand and ten it was 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:31.600 twelve percent. So from twelve to eleven, then from eleven 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.240 to nine, the number appears to be dropping, or at 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.480 least the percentage is dropping. Keep in mind that you know, 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:39.600 from one year to the next, the number of companies 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.600 could increase, but the number of of women in executive 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.680 roles hasn't increased, and so that way the percentage goes down. Right, 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:49.920 It's not just necessarily that women are getting out of 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.560 these positions. It may be that there are more positions, 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:58.080 but same number of women. Um, and that of the 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.960 four this was this was what was really troubling. Of 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:07.040 the fifty American tech executives polled in the survey said 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.200 they're I T groups have no women at all in 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:16.240 management positions. And when they were asking the same groups, 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:22.400 do you feel that women are underrepresented in your department? 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:28.280 Half of those people said no. So so you've got 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:32.960 this this of these executives saying there are no women 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.480 in our department. Out of that thirty percent and half 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.800 of those are saying women are not underrepresented, which is 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:45.200 that's a fairly telling philosophical and social outlook. I think, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.200 you know, it essentially is saying that these people are saying, 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:53.360 These men are saying, uh, no, women don't really belong here. 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.279 I mean, it's an a nicer way of saying that, 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.120 but that's effectively what they are saying. Yeah. Well, and 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.400 and of course there could be people who are just uh, 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.080 there could be people in that group who are looking 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.240 around and going, well, of my department is made up 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.200 of women, or you know, or something that seems reasonable 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.920 to them. So you know that that that number might 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.920 be part of it, but probably not all of it. Yeah, 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:20.240 they're probably quite a few, and yeah, you know what, 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:24.320 I really don't care who's here, right, And you know, 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:27.120 ultimately the nice thing would be for us to not 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:29.719 care who is there as long as they are the 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:34.279 right person for the job, male or female. Um. But yeah, 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:41.200 that's so those statistics are a little troubling. But despite 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.760 those statistics, there are plenty of women we can talk 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:50.040 about who have really, uh made a name for themselves 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:55.279 in the field of technology and pushed technology forward. Yeah. Actually, 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.800 one of the reasons I wanted to talk about this 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:03.040 on our podcast was we started talking about Yahoo because 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:04.680 of a lot of the big changes that have been 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.960 going on over there, and we we did touch on that, um, 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:11.279 and it was it was the person who has taken 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:16.040 over the helm over there, Marissa Meyer, who I consider 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:21.880 one of the you know, really noticeable women in leadership 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.880 positions in technology. And I thought, well, you know, there 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.080 are so many others and we we really haven't done 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:32.320 a podcast on on them as a group. And many 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.080 of the people, as Jonathan was pointing out to me, 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.320 just in personnel or before we started the podcast, Uh, 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.480 you know, many of these people we could talk about 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.839 uh in their own podcasts do a full episode on 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.160 these women. So this is really kind of an overview, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.760 but don't don't take away thinking that this is all 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:50.800 we have to say on the subject of these ladies 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:56.080 as they are. They're interesting people, and they are holding 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.880 some very important positions in technology, and they are making 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:05.320 some decisions that are really reflected through technology technological industry 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.360 as a whole, not just of their company. So there's 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.480 definitely the opportunity for us to do future podcasts on 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:13.960 many of these women. And I do have a secondary 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:15.520 reason for wanting to do this, and it's it's a 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.040 very personal reason. I have two daughters, both of whom 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.800 uh seem to like technology. They're they're still fairly young, 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:26.680 but you know, I'm thinking, well, it would be nice if, um, 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.520 they saw a lot of these women that we're going 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.600 to talk about today as role models. You know, maybe 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.720 they don't necessarily want to get into programming or or 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.160 into a technology position, but I want them to see 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.160 that they can, uh, you know, and they're there are 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:46.480 people who are really setting the bar very high as 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:50.080 women in technology positions. So you know, personally, I would 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.520 like to see them see this as an opportunity if 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.640 it's something they're interested in later in life. There are 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.600 many women on this list who achieved more by the 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.520 time they were in their mid twenties than I have 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:07.760 in my final year of my mid thirties. Nice. Well, 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:09.280 you know, I got to hold onto that as long 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:11.360 as I possibly can. This is it, this is it 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.760 after you know, next year I'm in my late thirties. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.640 Well if if some of those people who said that 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:22.280 they don't see um any discrepancy in the numbers for 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:24.720 women in technology, I wonder if they know that the 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.559 very first programmer computer programmer was a woman. We actually 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.600 talked about her time ago. Yes, a Lovelace. Yes, we 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.240 had an entire podcast on her as well as I 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.560 think stuff you missed in history class did an episode 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:42.400 on her. Two fascinating historical figure and an incredibly smart 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.800 woman and uh, incredibly smart human being. I mean that's 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.079 really just a woman. Just sounds like I'm adding a 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.760 qualifier on her, and that's totally not what I mean. 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.160 She was wicked smart. Yeah. Well, I mean, when you're 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.280 writing software for a computer that doesn't actually physically exist, yeah, 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.839 is pretty impressive. Yeah yeah, and it would have worked. Yeah, 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.120 it's kind of crazy. So yeah, these are all amazing 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:09.920 people that we're gonna be talking about, And now I 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.480 think we should probably start with Marissa Meyer. Even though 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.000 we covered her in the Yahoo podcast, I think it's 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.920 good to remind people who she is and what she's 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.920 accomplished already. And she's one of the things she's accomplished 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.080 that she became the youngest CEO of a fortune company 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.679 once she took over the reins over at Yahoo YEA, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.360 and she she took over at Will not exactly directly, 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:36.600 but the Yahoo had had a female CEO UH shortly, 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:41.320 only maybe months before that, so Carol Carol Bartz, who 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:45.439 built Autodesk into a very very strong company to um 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:50.280 and UM. Meyer came from Stanford University where she graduated. 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.880 She had a degree in symbolic systems and a master's 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:56.880 in computer science, UH, specializing in artificial intelligence. And she 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:00.960 really made a name for herself over at Goal. You know, 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.520 she became the twentieth employee at Google. She was the 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.800 first female engineer at Google, not the first female employee, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:11.840 but the first female engineer, and she ended up heading 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:17.600 up various parts of their search departments. And UH was 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.599 really well known for doing an excellent job over there. 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.920 Before she ended up leaving Google to become the CEO 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.839 of Yahoo. And it was kind of a remarkable thing, 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:33.480 really because people who had been very pessimistic about Yahoo's 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:39.480 chances sort of changed their tune or at least switched 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:43.200 over to cautious optimism when Meyer came over, because I 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.560 think that she sort of projects this this aura of uh, 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:52.840 you know, she's got determination, she's got technical skill, She's 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.920 known as a very good public speaker, although there are 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:01.000 some reports saying that she can be challenging to work with, 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:05.240 depending upon whom you ask. So there's there's some optimism 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:09.040 that was not really there for Yahoo among certain people. 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:11.160 There are plenty of others who are still like, you know, 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.000 Yahoo is is such a mess that it's going to 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.080 take more than just a change in leadership to really 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.320 turn things around. And really, time is the only thing 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.480 that's going to tell us who's right in that case. Yeah, 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.640 Yahoo has been suffering, at least as far as pundits 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:31.440 are concerned with a UM A lack of compelling product recently. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.040 I would say, um, based on on what I've read, uh, 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.120 you know, they've they've built themselves into a content powerhouse. 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:43.640 UM really bring them sort of reinforcing their image as 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.960 a portal as an Internet destination when you're looking for information. 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:51.480 Um And, uh, you know, as far as as technical 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:56.520 products have UH been concerned, I would say that that 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:00.319 Yahoo is sort of uh dated itself and that way 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.199 because a while ago, you know, they were known for 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.319 for their web mail program, for their for their chat. 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:11.920 But those those things were, you know, long ago. They're 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.480 very very commonplace. Now they haven't done a lot of 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:18.679 innovation in that sphere. And um and Meyer has led 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:24.160 Google to launch several products, some of which are admittedly 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.160 no longer with us. But um, you know, she's known 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.360 as someone who can who has the technical background, as 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.280 you said, and can lead in that regard. And I 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:35.480 think that's that has a lot to do with what 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:40.680 they feel about Yahoo's rejuvenation. Um And let's let's face it, 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.640 not all of Yahoo's recent uh C e O s 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:49.280 have been media friendly over the past while. So I 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:54.160 think she adds she adds that multidimensional up Um, as 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:58.800 you were saying, sticking with early employees of Google, Yes, 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:04.200 there's also Susan Wajiski. Yes, and Wajiski is the senior 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:08.040 vice president of Advertising at Google. Now, folks, that's how 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.160 Google makes the majority of its money, and we're talking 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:17.200 billions of dollars. It's all in ads. And so Susan 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:22.000 heads up this, this entire department that is all about, 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.719 you know, generating revenue through advertising. Being a senior vice 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:28.400 president and that's that's a huge job. And she she 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:33.920 was the sixteenth employee or sixteenth person hired by Google now. 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:39.800 Wiki also holds another interesting um title or I guess 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.400 you can't really call it. I guess garage owner isn't 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:46.480 such a title, huh, but no, wiski is. She's the 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.800 person who owned the garage that Larry Page and Serge 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:55.360 Brend rented when they first had Google as just a 0:13:55.360 --> 0:14:00.600 couple of computers running their algorithms. So she gave them 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:04.480 the physical space they needed to house the earliest version 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:08.880 of Google. So um, without her, Google would have been 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:13.560 homeless or at least garage less. Yeah. Her, her mom 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:18.320 esther is an educator, and uh, I actually have been 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:21.520 sort of following. She's a She's very active in social 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.280 media circles and and posts a lot. And I actually 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.240 sort of came across her through Uh. Susan's sister Anne 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:30.840 who was one of the founders of twenty three and Me, 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:37.080 the genetics organization that has popularized uh spitting a cup 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:38.720 and send it to us and will tell you about 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.960 your genome. Yeah, we'll tell you know, where you descend 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.880 from and whether you have certain genetic markers or not. Yeah, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.560 it's which I which I think is absolutely fascinating stuff. 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.680 So it's obvious that, uh, the women in that family 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:58.160 are very interested in science and technology. Um. Also interesting 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:02.680 is that that and uh it's also married to Sara 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.960 gay Brand. Yeah. So there there's a tight Google connection 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.480 there is, which actually explains why when I was reading 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.320 first reading about twenty three and Me, it was because 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.000 they were interested in you know, he was going, I 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.800 want to know more about my geno. So it's a 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:23.320 very very tight just that connection to that family and uh, 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:28.960 you know, just the whole curiosity idea there. So who 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.200 who did you want to talk about next? Well, um, 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:38.360 let's see, there's a there's a CEO of a president 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:44.600 CEO of a certain company called HP. Oh, yes, Meg Whitman. Uh. 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:49.520 Now she has led more than one mega mega size 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:55.240 tech organization. Yeah. Now she's got a really tough job ahead. 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.560 Of her too, just like Marissa Meyer in that HP 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:04.280 has had a rough couple of of quarters, really rough 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.880 couple of years through some tough acquisitions that didn't work out. 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:13.080 I mean Palm being a great example where HP acquired 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:17.240 Palm and the web Os operating system and then it 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.320 just sort of languished for a while, although there has 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:24.760 been some recent news about web Os kind of coming 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:28.880 alive again in a limited capacity. HP is spinning off 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.600 another company that's going to be sent me Independent that 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:36.800 the web Os will live under. But yes, um, uh, 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.360 she's leading that company. I mean that's a and I 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:45.400 mean that's one of the big historic companies in technology 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.360 in the United States. M of course we've done an 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.280 episode about it. So yeah, now now she uh, she 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:55.040 is more of a business person, uh and didn't really 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.760 start in tech. She she has a degree from from 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:03.600 Princeton You Adversity and an NBA from Harvard Business School. Um. 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.480 And she actually had been working at Procter and Gamble, which, 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.280 if you're not familiar, is a a company that makes 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.879 all kinds of products for the home. That's probably what 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:18.840 they're best known for, detergent, soaps, um and other kinds 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.040 of and they make tons and tons of different kinds 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:25.040 of products and they're sold all over the world. She did, however, 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.439 work with that. That that was where she had an 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.760 opportunity to work with someone very famous in tech. And 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.760 do you know about this, the uh somebody else who 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.320 worked at Procter and Gamble before he ran off in 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:41.800 eight three different detergent brands future Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer, 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:44.440 which may explain why he was foaming at the mouth. 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:50.000 But we pick on Steve, but we like Steve anyhow. Yeah, uh, 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.199 Meg Whitman was working at at Procter and Gamble and 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:57.280 then spent ten years at at eBay, which is how 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.119 I came to know who she was, um and and 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.879 she led it for a long time and uh you know, 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.760 then she got she sort of nurtured a political ambition. 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:12.720 She uh um decided to uh um run for governor 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:16.080 of California, which is a small state on the West 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.640 coast of the United States. Yeah, it's um uh. It's 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:24.600 separated by a northern part that uh is very different 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.479 from the southern part. And boy will they tell you 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.840 about it. Um. But then yeah, after you know, she 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.800 did not get elected, but that did make her available 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:38.960 to run Hewlett Packard when that job became available. So 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.600 she certainly knows technology and she knows business, so she 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:49.000 came in to replace Leo uh Appetaker. Yeah. I I 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:51.680 never can pronounce his name. I've heard his name pronounced 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:53.800 about a hundred times, and I don't think it was 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:59.320 pronounced the same way twice Leo A yeah, yes, apothecar. 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.280 If you want to be just terrible about it, Um, 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:04.560 that's way it looks. Yeah, that's the way. That's the 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.280 way it's spelled. But I believe epic taker is the 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.000 one I've heard the most frequently, so he uh. He 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.040 was the person who was in charge through many of 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:22.120 the somewhat rocky decisions HP acted upon UH in its 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:26.160 recent past. But when Whitman took over, she said, this 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:30.159 is not an indication or an implication that we are 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:34.480 going to change strategy mid stride. It's a change in leadership, 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:38.119 but not necessarily of approach. So and that takes a 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.280 lot of guts to do too. I mean it's because 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:43.720 you know, you've got shareholders to answer for. They say, 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:45.960 what are you going to do about these decisions? And 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:49.280 you know, sometimes the answer isn't to just reverse everything 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:51.880 you're doing, because I can cause even more damage, even 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:55.320 though that might not make shareholders happy. So, like we said, 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:59.600 you know, UH Whitman has a really really tough job. 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.960 You know, when you're when you're running a business that 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.920 has as many complexities as HP. How many episodes do 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:10.040 we do on HP? It was at least two, might 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.880 have been three. Um, you have to I think when 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.359 you're you're being charged with turning the company around, I 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.280 think you have to take your time just simply because uh, 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:22.639 there's a lot of momentum you've built up behind you. Yeah, 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.120 so you know, she's she's taking her time and going 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.000 piece by piece, and I think that's why people seem 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.440 to feel somewhat confident that that she has a good 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:35.680 chance of helping out now. Of course, she wasn't the 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:41.360 only UH woman to lead HP in the past, UH 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:46.439 Carl Fierina. Actually she she dropped out of law school 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:50.720 and then joined A T and T um and and 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:55.120 and she led uh HP for for quite some time too. Um. 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.480 But it's funny because she she started as a sales 0:20:57.520 --> 0:20:59.399 representative at a T and T when she was twenty 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:03.320 five years old, and UH basically moved on up I 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.639 mean she she was noticed because she knew she seemed 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.840 to know what she was doing. Um, and got generally 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:11.520 promoted up through the ranks at A T and T 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.880 and at Lucent, which um you know is the technology arm, 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:21.600 got spun off um over there, and then join HP 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:26.160 in UM. She was the first woman to start at 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:29.920 a for fortune company as as the CEO as a 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:34.760 matter of fact, um and was also a board member 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:38.560 of Kellogg and Merken company. UM. So she you know, 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:44.439 had her had a diverse background, not just in technology, um, 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:49.040 but you know, they she's she's definitely somebody of note 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.280 in tech. Well, speaking of someone else who's of note intech, 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.879 there's Virginia Romady. Oh yes, the first female president and 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:03.719 CEO of Big Blue IBM how itself. Um, that's just 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:08.440 a joke. How how even though even though the name 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.600 how is in fact one letter off each from IBM, 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:17.119 supposedly there's no connection. Uh. So she worked for General 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:21.160 Motors before she came over to IBM, but is now 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:26.080 leading that company, and she's credited with, you know, you know, 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.840 at her time at IBM, she's credited with pushing IBM 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:33.320 into the cloud computing business. And you know that was 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:38.200 that was a pretty risky maneuver for a company that 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:43.480 was very much entrenched in just enterprise solutions for companies, 0:22:44.080 --> 0:22:48.480 UM and designing stuff that other manufacturers can by, you know, 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:52.040 going into the cloud computing business back before it became 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:55.560 essentially a household term, at least if you're living in 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:57.960 a geeky household, it was. You know, it was a 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:01.960 pretty big move. And she was also instrumental in maneuvering 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:10.000 IBMS Watson, which is the Jeopardy playing computer, into other 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:15.159 uses like she helped push to have Watson developed for 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:20.000 things like the medical field, which that was the intention 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:24.000 from the beginning for Watson, but she helped create those 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:29.119 those relationships and leverage that so that what it was 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.280 designed for and what it does is the same thing 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:36.919 that doesn't always happen. And technology, you'll often see companies 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:41.040 develop something with the with a with a very specific purpose, 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:44.280 and yet because it's a technology company and that purpose 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:48.480 may actually lie outside the realm of just whatever it 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:52.080 is that company generally does, it never goes anywhere. And 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:54.280 you have to be able to create these relationships and 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:58.040 leverage them so that you can get this product where 0:23:58.080 --> 0:23:59.720 it needs to go. So it can do what it 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:03.040 was signed to do and UH and from what I've read, 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:07.920 she was very much instrumental in making that happen. UM. 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:13.480 Also also of notice Ursula Burns, the chairman and CEO 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:18.520 of Xerox. Yes, yes, another big big name and technology 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:24.040 absolutely UM. Yeah. In in in addition to UH being notable 0:24:24.119 --> 0:24:27.040 for being a female CEO of a tech company, she 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:30.639 is also the first African American woman to run a 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:35.160 major public corporation in the United States. UM. And she 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:37.480 had had a big job in front of her too, 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:42.520 because of course, with computer technology changing the way we 0:24:42.520 --> 0:24:48.040 we all work. UM. Xerox, which that heavily on its 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:53.840 duplication systems, UM had to compete with not only other people, 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:57.679 but they had to compete with UH organizations that they 0:24:57.720 --> 0:25:00.520 didn't necessarily have to compete with in prior decades, So 0:25:00.560 --> 0:25:04.000 they had to do a lot of shifting and UM 0:25:04.080 --> 0:25:08.920 basically she's absolutely you know, she's got a lot of 0:25:08.960 --> 0:25:14.280 credit for leading Xerox UH to gradually shifting over to 0:25:14.480 --> 0:25:18.800 two new industries. From what I've read, UM, she she 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:21.960 actually also is a part of the White House's program 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:25.480 on STEM Education, which is a science, Technology, engineering, and 0:25:25.560 --> 0:25:28.720 mathematics um and as part of as the vice share 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:32.200 of the President's Export Council as well. Um but yeah, 0:25:32.200 --> 0:25:34.720 she's a she's also has a hand in tech. She's 0:25:34.760 --> 0:25:38.560 not just a business person, she um um is into 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:40.679