Yvonne Wassenaar, New Relic | Catalyst Conference 2016
Channel: SiliconANGLE theCUBE
Date: 21/04/2016

Overcoming fear to enable success in business 


#YvonneWassenaar #theCUBE #GirlsInTech #GITCatalyst #WomenInTech 

by Marlene Den Bleyker | May 16, 2016

The Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference recently took place in Phoenix, AZ, and many women holding technology leadership roles were on hand to empower and inspire other women in technology. This was the fourth year for the event, and as the numbers grow, the participants grow from their experience.

Yvonne Wassenaar, CIO of New Relic, Inc., a software analytics company that provides a SaaS-based solution for web and native mobile applications, sat down with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, to provide advice about avoiding extinction and overcoming fear.

Avoiding extinction

Commenting on her keynote talk she gave during the conference, Wassenaar spoke to today’s business environment. She believes that change is the new constant and there is more risk in not putting yourself out there.

“Everybody says go out and be bold. Being bold is great, but, fundamentally, it’s hard,” she said. “Easy to say, but hard to do in practice. So my talk was about how to address the unconscious fears. … Then just go after that vision, and free yourself from those unconscious constraints and really go after it wholeheartedly.”

Overcome the fear

Wassenaar explained that her childhood influences made her risk-adverse. She commented on how women are trying to reach a level of perfection and don’t realize that you have to keep trying even after failure.

“Failure is not a reflection on you personally; failure is a step toward your future successes,” she said. “So really it’s a mindset change. If you are not failing, if everyone on your team is performing perfectly, you’re a failed leader.”

Getting to home plate

Wassenaar believes that women need better role models. Ones that can guide you through their own actions and make you believe it is possible for you to do the same thing.

“I try to give really specific tips, and one of my favorites is to look at … what’s the business impact, what’s your unique value. Throw all the things you’re working on in there, and you should have one to two in there that are high impact, that you’re uniquely skilled to do,” she explained. “Hit those balls out of the park. You can get 20 guys to third base, but that doesn’t matter. You have to get one person home.”

Wassenaar also offered advice on having an industry macro view and discussed the need for a change in how we teach computer science.

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