Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining this session about Turning Insights into Action, How Leaders Can Advance Women in Tech. I'm really glad to be with you, on today.And I'll start with a little, video. So I'll play a little new video.

So I joined L'Orealtek's Women Who Master program to inspire girls, to inspire change. Historically, women around the world have not had access to STEM resources on the same level as men. We're working to change that. I mean, I must see aliens. I have not. But you know what? Maybe you could be the first. Me. You. Yes. You.

I hope you enjoyed, this video. I'm Delphine Tullay. I'm the general manager of, at Lacheteq for a large business group. I'm the proud mom of two kids and, I've traveled quite, across the world in many countries, I've lived and worked in multiple countries, and I've actually been in tech for more than twenty seven years, but I actually ended up in tech by accidents. You know, when I turned 14, I wanted to be, the international business manager. I wanted to discover countries, people, culture, and, I ended up, you know, over there by accident, but I've stayed there because I realized that technology was one of the strongest link to the purpose I had in life, which is about how I can make, people's life easier, how I can have, make an impact daily.

And technology is actually everywhere. Everything you do from creating a company, your taxes, kids' homework now, everything is, fueled by technology. So it's been natural for me to, grow in this industry, learn, and see how we can have a daily impact. It's so important when you are, when you choose your career and grow in your career to really walk the talk and at the same time, looking at how you can influence people's life and how you can have dreams that you can fulfill across your career. So it's been a really key driver for me, and I wanted to, share with you a little bit of my experience at LushAttack. We empower people to make an impact every day. So my personal values, my personal mission, and Logitech are very close to each other. We help people every day to create, to connect, to work, and this is very important because we help people to, obviously, live their life in an easier and simpler way.

At the same time, for Logitech, it's very important to do it in a way that is sustainable, diverse, and universal, because we want to create solutions that are designed for own people. And, obviously, the best innovations are also, coming from teams that genuinely reflect the customers and the world we serve. So as we develop our solutions and we think about how to make products more intuitive, designful, and having a portfolio that is diverse, it's very important also to have teams that reflect, this, the the customers we represent. And for us, we are obviously designing a very broad portfolio, but our team is actually very diverse now. We have about 56% of women in my team, more than 30 nationalities, and about 80% of, the team members across the world, between The US, Europe, and Asia, that are non native English speakers. And while this sounds amazing, actually, that's now how it started. When I became the general manager in 2018 for this business group, Personal Workspace Solutions.

We, we are only 28% woman. And I just tell you a little, story of what's happened and how actually we managed to transform this team and our business at the same time. When I first arrived, we had just launched the MX Vertical Mouse, a very, very successful product, still one of our top products in our portfolio. But the product actually was too big for my hands. I could not even touch the wheel. So we decided, when looking at our portfolio, to develop more solution adapted for smaller people, for people who are maybe, engaged with technology differently, who want simpler, more intuitive solutions. But when we, started to better understand why our portfolio was made of own black solutions and full size products, and we decided to develop this new product, we, realized that, we needed to understand to drive this change, we needed to understand first what was preventing us from progressing.

And not only we had less women in the team, but at the same time, we had to understand why women customers were not buying our products as much as men were. We had to understand what type of features and communication and channels they needed to come in our category because the ratio of the women we were selling to was much smaller, same as the team. So we decided that it was important to understand the challenge and then tackle it together. And we obviously started to, organize the team very differently and and bring more diversity in the team. Long story short, since then our portfolio has changed significantly, our team has changed significantly, we have much more, diverse solutions, we are trying to design for own, and obviously, focusing on people first was really a key turning point. At the same time, we continuously, look at understanding our customers but also why not more women, are joining technology because obviously it's really important if we want more diverse teams to hire more women, but it can be, sometimes, more challenging.

So we drove, a couple of years ago, we drove a study, for Women Who Master and also, with our partnership, on understanding why women were not entering STEM more often. And we are now extending this research in the Western and Eastern worlds, and we are actually seeing that the the same comments and a lot of the comments are very similar, across the world. And but, again, to address the challenges a lot of women are facing, to be motivated, to join STEM, to feel we can have an impact, there are a lot of things all of us need to understand to be able to drive change. First of all, it's really important for all of us to encourage very early, young, young kids, women, men, boys, girls, But it's really important because it's not just about the job that we do later. They want to be able to dream. They want to be able to project themselves. They want to gain confidence. So by inspiring them, stimulating them very early, you're gonna help them to grow and consider this different field.

At the same time, it's really important to tackle microaggression at work. So you have obviously early education, the role we play in influencing, young children in their career. But then even if you start working in tech or if you, you know, you are joining these different fields, even at university, for example, the the notion of microaggression is actually really important. As many as nine in ten women still experience microaggression at work. And that must stop. This is definitely not acceptable in today's world with so much diversity and opportunities around us, to make some community or some, group of people not feel comfortable at work. So it's really important as leaders to drive, inclusive workspace, where people can feel, obviously, being in an environment where they can express themselves, they can, obviously, try to, have some discussion groups, mentorship groups, and also having some alliance support, inside the company.

So this transformation is really critical, and all leaders have an opportunity to change that and be more open, obviously, to feedback, but also bring people together. The other aspect, which is really important for any companies across the world, is to encourage, a community group inside obviously the companies, but also cross companies. Like, we are all today together at Women in Tech. We all feel it's important to have this platform to be able to share our experiences, understand different point of view, and obviously be together to help, that transformation across the world. And these different groups can also be organized by employees, but also employers themselves. And the you know, it's it's important that, we find ways to, make people express when they feel isolated to to share their fear, to be reassured, but also to help everyone along these different learnings to understand the biases.

As women, we have biases, men have some, but when you bring the communities together, you encourage that inclusive workplace, you can better understand, the different feelings from both sides and bridge people together more than ever. One quotation I really like, from, Serena Williams is that every woman's success should be an inspiration to another. We are strongest when we cheer each other each other on. More than ever, we need to also be, you know, good sisters for each other. And, obviously, there is enough for all of us at work, to make sure we support each other. As a leader, it's been a great privilege for me to realize that I needed to bring more diversity and inclusion in the team, higher, different profile, different, obviously, whether it's gender expertise, nationalities in the team, and bring people together. But also as women are, you know, feeling more comfortable and confident and they feel they have a voice, also giving them more opportunities to grow in the organization.

And when you see the impact to the business, there is no better reward than seeing a very diverse and inclusive team continuing to overachieve together. Because when you have that strength and cheer each others, you can really have, transformed the business and and reach new ambition every year. So this is really important to, tackle this hands on and set certain goals, not only for the business, but also for the diversity of the team that you want to bring together. Because we need to be the challenge we want to see. And not only I shared with you, the project that help us better understand the dynamic of our business, the dynamic of the, team, and, obviously, with this fact, we were able to set new ambitions, new KPI, and transform, for the best experience of our, customers, for the solutions we create, for the happiness of the team working together, and, obviously, feeling, that they are they have plenty of opportunities for growth and development, and also, they have, they they are really creating an impact for people they work with around them.

So that change always starts with us, and, there are so many different, parts that we can all drive together. On one side, employees themselves can drive this change. You can have this conversation with your managers, with your peers, with your mentors, with communities outside of work. You can create or form different employee groups, where you're gonna be obviously defending your cause or making sure that, you can have an environment where you can discuss the challenges you're facing. It's also important to understand your own biases. So that example of the project we built together, we brought more women and men working together, and it was fascinating at the beginning of this project to understand the biases of both sides on how they were thinking about developing this product. And I know the solution we achieved was the best because it was really bringing very strong voices and expertise together to find always the best solution for the user.

So that's obviously making a real big difference when you are aware of your own biases and your team members, and you can speak up about it and obviously progress together. At the same time, how we drive change as a team leader is really important. Creating an inclusive and collaborative work environment is fundamental. When you have a meeting, you may have now in the, obviously, new hybrid world, you may have people who are in the office, but some people are joining on Zoom. No matter the format in which people join your meeting, make sure everyone has a voice. Someone who is quiet in a meeting doesn't mean doesn't have a strong opinion or expertise. If this person feels at the beginning uncomfortable to be called out or speak up in the meeting, reach out to this employee, try to better understand what they mean, what they they wanted to express but didn't dare to express.

And step by step, you can help everyone feel comfortable to express themselves in a meeting. Be a sponsor of employee groups. Be, obviously, participating in their group, come to, obviously, do sometimes be a spokesperson, be an attendee, encourage employees to, obviously, build these one is initiatives. Encourage trainings. That may, sound strange, but we we should not take that, for granted that people sometimes, will prioritize a training over what they consider a very important meeting. So encouraging your employees to join trainings about diversity and inclusion and learning about your own biases, speaking up, personal developments on artificial intelligence, for example. Not everybody is at the same level of technology development. Encourage people to learn and grow with, with the other peers and, the technology. And also drive diversity and inclusion as a KPI in the annual goals you set for the team, in the annual goals you set for each team, under your responsibility.

All of this accumulated will make a huge difference, especially, if you walk the talk in everything you do. Very important, to integrate across the board. On top of, this different approach that we just covered between obviously encouraging young kids to join STEM, avoiding microaggression, speaking up, obviously creating employee groups and mentorship and support, I've learned quite a few things along my career, and I wanted to share them with you because I think they apply, to everyone and obviously, women in particular.

What is most important for me is that no matter where you want to go, what your dream is, and the impact you want to have, it's very important that you focus on what you love doing and along the way plant seeds with your managers or with, some leaders in the company you you work in, because when the opportunity will come, there is more chance they think about you if you've raised your voice.

Before being transferred to China from The US, so I was a product manager in in in California. For four years in a row, I mentioned that I wanted to work and live in Asia one day. And when the opportunity came, I was the first, to to have the opportunity to open this r and d department in China. It was an amazing experience, but I had to plant seeds. I obviously sponsor, mentor quite a lot of, young talents and more senior talents across my career and my current role. What makes a huge difference is always on, what you see, from people who focus on the success of the business and the team.

There is an amazing drive, an amazing, proactiveness and and collaboration that makes such a huge difference. So that focus is critical because, again, people through that passion when you display and, this spirit of collaboration, managers, peers, more senior leaders will see your drive and think about other opportunities for you. So it's not always about asking for the next promotion. Very often, the opportunities can come when you did not expect it to happen, and this happened to me also multiple times. And don't try to plan every step of the way. We all have, obviously, a personal life. Things happen, and we can't always plan, the next move or when we're gonna have the next promotion.

Is it the right time if you want to build a, you know, a family, if you want to grow your family? It's very important that you obviously, do your best for, I don't know, the the business, for the team, but it's also more important that you live a happy life and you don't try to plan in everything. Sometimes things take longer, sometimes things happen faster no matter what. There will be always a great growth and learning ahead of you, so be confident in the future waiting for you. I've seen also sometimes in this drive for, obviously having a bigger role or doing something, even, you know, more stimulating for you, that sometimes people become impatient. And, actually, perseverance of your dream, of the impact you want to have is always, more important and will be more rewarding.

There are times where we are impatient, but by trying to force the situation, you may miss actually an even better opportunity than if you had waited six months extra for the promotion. So perseverance and live your dream, will be key driver along your life. And we talked about diversity and inclusion. And part of that, it's very important to have empathy, for your peers, empathy for people who think differently from you. Trying to understand their point of view, trying to, put yourself in their shoes so you can potentially better understand the challenges you are facing together and find even stronger solution. We have to trust that people always have the best intent. They are also trying to solve problems. They're also trying to, impact the business or create a bigger impact. But sometimes they have a very different lens or point of view. So coming with the lens of empathy and trust will always be, making you stronger.

And as I mentioned before, no matter the the journey you take, and there are crossroads you face. There are always crossroads at some point. No matter the choice you will make with trust, with your heart, with your head, you will grow and learn, because life is made of, obviously, of great successes, but there are sometimes, challenges you face that even if they are hard at the time you go through it, they will make you stronger.

They will help you to see things differently and, and learn. And, obviously, one more thing is that you can have it all, but maybe not all at the same time. So, again, this perseverance of impatient is crucial, and there are so many different life you can have in a carrier. Very often people ask me what's the, you know, most difficult moments I had in my career or what's the best moment I had in my career. And there are so many stories, but if it was to be done again, on again, I probably will take, the same journey with a few learnings on impatience and perseverance along the way. But it's all of them has served, to help me, obviously, where I am today. So really important, to to remember that when choices have to be made.

We are the agents of change for a positive and more equal future. We are only here together to have this conversation, and, we're obviously all having different role in our day to day life at at work and personal life with our kids, friends, families, and peers, and colleagues, and we can all make a difference. And this curated efforts together will help us, create the the best environment for the future of work. And, and it's very important for you all to think about what could you do different tomorrow that could have, the beginning, of a change, the beginning of an impact, or having a broader impact to everything you're already doing. So no matter how small you think this step might be, it will make a difference, for all the people around you, for yourself, and, obviously, impact that sometimes you don't even measure because you reach people well beyond what you can see. Thank you very much.

And,

I don't know if we can open up

a little bit to, questions if there is any time. I think there is time.

There are

a couple of questions in the chat. Thank you. I just put them out

to you.

Sakshi Sakshi is asking. Sorry for

I don't know. If I do you do you want to, moderate the chat? Yeah. Definitely. I can help. Happy to assist. So, first of all, thank you so much, Delfin, for that powerful session, and, we really appreciate your leadership, your commitment to drive the change, and, your insight inspiring message. So first of all, let's give, Dolphin a big round of applause, everyone. And, yeah, there are a couple of, questions. I also asked one question. So, what are some common misconceptions companies still have about the gender quality in tech?

Sorry. I missed the question. Can you please repeat? The line was not so good.

Yeah. Sure. I just want to ask that what are the common misconceptions companies still have about gender equality in tech?

Oh, that's a very good question. I'll I'll I'll share what I've heard when I, I obviously reach out to people outside. One of the common, comment is, well, there are not enough, women, for example, to recruit for, and only men send their resume. Marianne's answer to this is obviously it goes back to patient, to to perseverance over impatience. Yes. You can, obviously, try to rush your recruitment through, but if you really challenge either the recruiter or challenge yourself to look at the different resumes, it's important to create a pool of diverse backgrounds or diverse profile, whether it's gender or sometimes even the background of the industry and the type of university or exact degree you want for the position.

By doing so, it opens up, obviously, more profile and, gives you opportunities sometimes you would not have expected at all. So taking the time to go deeper in your search to recruit is already a really important, turning point because you will be surprised by the type of amazing talent you can face. The other aspect sometimes also I hear about is obviously, you know, depending on your geographic location, it may not be, again, as easy to to attract, talents in the same way. For me, the hybrid work has been actually one of the biggest accelerators, the diversity, for for for for my group because we really want to advertise, the role in multiple locations, sometimes same country, you know, with broader visibility. And by expecting people to come to the office only two days a week and still opening up up to hybrid work, it gives the opportunity for people who live a bit further away to join the team and, you know, having gravity days where we spend more time together. So that's been obviously a a really important driver of change.

I would say, again, being aware of biases, being aware that people may not see problem with the same length or the same, perspective, and making an effort to bring people in the conversation has been also a turning point, not just assuming that they're a louder voice were the most talented people.

They're obviously very talented people who speak up very easily, but they're also very talented people who are more, you know, more discreet and prefer to talk in a smaller format or in one to one. So adapting also yourself to the different style of the people around you will make a huge difference.

Yeah. That's a that's a very well articulated answer, and thank you so much for actually contextualizing this particular thing. So there's just one more question, and I'll wrap up the session with that question. Beyond hiring, what are the top cultural shifts needed within teams to foster a true sense of belonging for women?

That's a great question, because you're right that it's not just about hiring and suddenly bringing people in. As part of this research we did, these microaggressions, this feeling, of feeling you know, we don't want people to feel alone. We don't want people to feel isolated. So, it's really important that all the work managers, for example, follow a training about biases, their own biases, but their team biases, no matter your gender, your cultural backgrounds. We we have actually once a year at Logitech, we have online training that obviously put us in, like, some, different use case or, like, situation. They put you in situation, and you need to find the right answers. They are not complex training, but you'll be surprised how easily you can be misled by, the right thing to say, and to either motivate people or even sometimes when you have to address some challenges at work.

But doing it in a way that people feel it's fair and it's inclusive and it's not with just, the wrong, biases in mind. So that internal training, mentorship, support, employee group are really critical, and I think, mandatory commitment that the company should do to help, creating an inclusive and equal environment.

Thank you for the great answers, and, looking forward to stay in touch with you over the LinkedIn. And, it was a wonderful session. So, yeah, thank you everyone. Thank you so much. So much,

and, enjoy the day. Bye.