welcome to the latest episode of the service now UK and I executive Circle podcast we're joined today by Kelly Steven ways the chief transformation officer at service now welcome Kelly thank you so much cat it's great to be here and today is a special episode because we're here to talk about your latest book Valley girls lessons from female Founders in the Silicon Valley and Beyond which is incredibly exciting so um can you tell us a little bit more around what this book is about yes so this book is a compilation of stories really the journey my own Journey as a female founder in the Silicon Valley as well as 30 other female Founders across different age groups nationalities and different Industries and the objective of this book there were three one to really encourage more Innovation inside organizations and outside and two to get more funding to female Founders and third uh to get women to support each other in business that's incredible but let's let's talk a little bit more around you just said your journey um tell us a little bit more about how you got into how did you become a CTO of service now where did your journey begin so my journey really began in this regard as a chro so I had been a chro for 13 years in technology there was really a gap in the market Market that I saw I really want to buy software that stood up a more agile organization allowing for learning in the flow of work and giving better visibility to the skills inside the organization better Career Development there really wasn't anything like that so as crazy as I was I went into a conference room and started whiteboarding this solution and I was still inside an organization as a chro but I I got permission to develop the tool internally so I really started as an what we call entrepreneur first and my CEO really backed it up and as I was out speaking and talking about what we were doing at here Technologies we got so much notoriety and a lot of questions about whether we were going to commercialize a solution so we commercialized it built a subsidiary and then when the pandemic hit the board decided that we needed to spin it out so that began my journey I actually spun it out in the pandemic on July 1st 2020 took 25 people out of that organization and we ran it as a startup for two years before service now knocked on my door in February of 22 and said hey you know we're very interested in your technology and your talent and you know three months later in June of 22 we became part of service now and my journey to CTO was really because I had such a passion for our product and what it can do for organizations certainly the technology was rep platformed into it and I think the CTO role was really the best place for me to evangelize our platform and to help our customers maximize uh our platform and their Workforce Transformations so kind of a short short-winded way of of a longer Journey but it was a fantastic ride and so happy to be a part of service now and that's incredible and you know we have to have that passion that driving force I mean for you going a bit further back you know where where did that passion originally come from when you were growing up well I had a pretty fantastic mother who was quite a Powerhouse and fearless and fearless I always say it doesn't mean without fear fear is a part of the word Fearless um but always leaned into things that were difficult um when she was in her mid 40s she decided to go back to college um she became a police officer in one of the toughest in the country and unfortunately my mom lost her life doing that and I think it really set me on a path one to be fearless and to do things that that were you know that the police department didn't allow women into it in the 1960s when she originally wanted to do it and she went back and and made that change and uh I think for me it was a common theme in my life you know I was one of the first girls in my high school School uh went from an all boys Prep School to a girl you know allowing for girls and you know there were some trials and tribulations about going first as a woman and I was a first female VP in in one of the semiconductor companies and one of the first women to be in a board of directors uh so there's a lot of those themes in my life and I think my mom was always the fire underneath me that's incredible a true Trailblazer and we have to have women in our lives that we can look up to and your mom sounds incredible so Kelly you talk about fearlessness and actually that the sense of it it's not actually without fear you still have to have fear within it but I think a lot of people will hear that and be inspired but equally still be afraid afraid to go first the first person to ask for funding the first person to make a pitch you know how do you use that fear to to your advantage so I always say that fear is can actually give you a lot of energy you know when I get on stage to I'm a I've done public speaking for years I was actually in acting and every time you step on stage you have some fear but it's how you respond to it and that's why I say fearlessness has fear in the word for a reason so harness that fear to give you energy to bring your enthusiasm when it comes to being a female founder and you know being first or to go out for that fundraising for the first time I had never pitch venture capital in my life so the first time I had to go out and do it I just use that energy to fuel the passion and how I showed up in those pitches and so that is something that each of us can do is to lean in to that fear and give yourself the energy to do something great whether it's going for fundraising or it you know inspiring someone to join your company um it's it's a part of it definitely very wise words and and actually I mean I use it now with even my children you know going into sports day they're scared of being in the race but use that fear to ignite that fire and that passion to to drive you forward so it's like a muscle that you develop and all a sudden you find you're raising your hand to go first when no one else wants that assignment and I you know that was a common theme in my life take the thing that scares the the the you know what out of you right take the the job the project and you will find that you will learn so much in in doing so definitely and so obviously when you've been interviewing these different people for these books were there similar stories that that sort of echoed the challenges that you've went through and around some of those stories well and I was looking for a key theme like what makes women different in in the sort of startup or Venture World um and one of the most common themes that I found and remember that these women came from all different walks of life they were all different ages when they started their companies and they were after all different Industries but the one common theme they had was this passion to change the world in some way with their product or service and I I think that passion really helped them persevere um when the odds were against them when it the bar was higher that was the common theme and I think as women we are we are natural nurturers I think we're socialized to be that way I think that we're looking for ways to make the world better and I have to tell you passion can get through you through a very very difficult situation and keep you energized for seven years I woke up every day with a mission and a purpose to make work better for people and I think that obviously I landed in a company where that's their Mantra and I still live with that passion every day that's amazing and especially your comment there on perseverance I mean I don't think you would have done the things you've achieved without that determination that you've shown um are there any a couple of stories that you could highlight to us from your book that sort of uh really showcase that perseverance that you've that you've seen well you know one great story is um Ash Ashley Reed who I talk about in my book who's the founder and CEO of well list and well list is really taking the you know health care benefits um the way we you know uh appreciate and leverage our benefits into a a different experience and you know she provides a lot of services so people can understand what their benefits are and companies can get better adoption of some of the programs that they're running and during the pandemic actually what this company was going through a very difficult time you know companies were were kind of just trying to figure out how to manage their employees uh let alone you know buying other software and there was people older people more marginalized people who were not having access to the vaccinations or didn't know how how to sign up for them and although her company was you know really struggling she provided that service for free and helped a lot of people get access to those vaccinations and although at first her board was not a fan of her doing this she ended up winning a huge award for going out there and doing the right thing and I think that came from her Mission and purpose you know she was providing that platform to really help people have access to healthc care and she really made a difference I think there are you know definitely other stories uh about women a woman named Denise an African-American woman out there trying to to get funding for her startup and unfortunately was going up to B several times not getting uh funding and I think for for women that bar is just so much higher I think that she was told several things like you must have a male co-founder you must be further along that bar was just so much higher for her and unfortunately she had so much trouble fundraising that she had to go in a different direction and I think it's this is a common theme and I think we as women have to reach out and support other women with our money and investment with our contacts and making introductions and really help these women you know take their startups to the next level make sure their ideas get out there do you think are there any sort of communities and forums where you recommend s of women go to try and find other women who can support them because I think obviously we naturally think of something like LinkedIn but you know I I can imagine a lot of women out there are struggling where where do I go where do I start well I think the one piece of advice I always give besides the just you know more organized forums is to create your own personal board of directors you know who are people that have experiences and Skillets that that are outside your own that can really help you can be a sounding board they're not your current set of of investors there safe uh places to to leverage that sounding board and and to get advice secondly more formalized uh uh forums there are founders forums there are places like the Athena Alliance I participate in something called women corporate directors there are lots of different forums for women to reach out and to be a part of groups where you can get uh mentorship advocacy sponsored Etc but find first your own personal board of directors I can't emphasize that enough when you talking about your journey you were incredibly lucky that the organization you worked for encouraged you to develop the product that obviously eventually became um hitch Works do you think more needs to be done within organizations to nurture future entrepreneurs Future Leaders themselves within an organization and encourage that that sense of um you know ideas and the development within an organiz ganizations themselves yes I think you you've we've started to see a lot more um Innovation management functions inside organizations but I think we have to have a way to encourage and and capture some of these ideas particularly from either personas or particular groups who would not be speaking up as much we have to find a way to call those ideas because I have to say so many people in the organization have great ideas that never come forward and those could turn into products that you market and sell they could end up being spin outs later I think Cisco is one company well Cisco Systems based here in the Silicon Valley who created really were not only were they doing a ton of mergers and Acquisitions but they had this spin-in spin out kind of program and it really encouraged a lot of innovation from the inside companies like Jan Tech same thing um a lot of innovation we at service now of something called now X which is beyond what we do on the Venture side or what we do in terms of mergers and Acquisitions so we carve the space for Innovation I think that that that's so important we're always encouraging women more girls into Tech um but it's not necessary just getting into technology and taking their technical qualifications there's also what what's been called a bit of a leaky pipeline where you see women going into Tech and then dropping out of tech you know how do we you know why is that how do we encourage them to stay and progress and and reach you know CTO level like yourself well I think technology is helping actually level a playing field because it is allowed for a lot more flexibility is allowed for working for home so when we do when we are in sort of those childbearing years and and trying to build our family as well as build our career it's allowed for a lot of flexibility but the problem statement about getting women into Tech technology in the first place begins much earlier in fact I was the chairman of the board of a nonprofit called a learn.org which was here in the Silicon Valley and we focused actually on Middle School students so really 12 years old to 14 years old in areas like math which were sort of the the Gateway into stem studies and stem careers and what would happen particularly to girls is that they would start to fall off in areas of algebra and math and middle school because it wasn't encouraged girls were not encouraged in math and science and it became um you know quite quote nerdy to be a part of those subject areas and so you saw a lot of girls falling off so what we did we had a program called gem we brought in women from NASA and from technology companies who are quite successful women who were engineers and scientists and showed these girls that there were careers for them in these fields and that they could be all woman and really smart and Savvy in these careers and I think it was making a difference and we also tutored them quite a bit in math so that they had the encouragement to keep going for it definitely I mean they my daughter's only four and she just wants to be Elsa from Frozen so she's not there at the she just wants to drive you crazy with the Let It Be yes yeah there's a lot of that at this house but yes we will be encouraging her into doing whatever she wants to do so I mean obviously you've had to face lots of different um personal situations around encountering gender bias and perhaps discrimination in the workplace as a woman in Tech what advice would you give to somebody who's perhaps facing some of those challenges and you know what can they do first of all lean in find your places for encouragement and build a muscle around learning unlearning and relearning throughout your life I think that as as far as we've come as women the bar is still higher for us and so we don't want to lose our spirit because our spirit our passion uh leads to that perseverance and so find your community which Build You Up the people that can build you up the people that can support you and as I tell my daughter start practicing now being a support to other women encourage your friends when they do something well congratulate them when they're struggling be there to support them and when you have a skill set that can help them pull them up in some way shape or form and I always say every day do something for one woman and it really makes a difference that's a brilliant advice and I think you know you mentioned there about leaning in um it was a long time ago when Cheryl samberg's book came out but I remember reading that and feeling empowered as a woman um and now I feel that just the same after reading your book Kelly Valley girls and I hope that everyone who reads it has that same passion um and inspiration from your book so thank you yes that's so great to hear cat and I really do despite you know the bar may be higher and there are lots of hurdles the world needs great women's ideas and so I want to make sure that that that is a core message out of the book is to go for it definitely and then hopefully part two of the book will be maybe interviewing some more Global female leaders and um you can come over to the UK and and speak to some of the the women over here as well for your next book 100% absolutely brilliant well thank you ever so much for joining us Kelly Kelly's book Valley girls is available through Amazon we're going to put the link in our podcast and we do hope you you by it and you feel it just as inspired as I have thank you thank you Cat