Verint’s Nancy Treaster shares insights on succeeding in today’s workforce.
When I was in high school, back in the olden days, I had an English teacher who was, as I recall, fresh out of college. She was much younger than most of the other teachers, had long brown hair and dressed in moderately fashionable Bohemian style. Every guy in the class had a crush on her.
Then one day she gave the class an assignment to write an essay about a “liberated woman” that we knew. The only reason I remember this is because I kind of went into a panic. Not only did I not, to my knowledge, personally know a liberated woman, I wasn’t even sure what a liberated woman was, although I’m pretty sure my teacher considered herself one.
I remember finally writing something very noncommittal, expressing my teenage belief that a woman doing what she really wanted to do was a liberated woman. I had no concept of the factors that, at the time, prevented a lot of women from doing what they really wanted to do.
When I graduated from high school and ended up in the military for four years, there were not a lot of women among the ranks, enlisted or officer. One reason I think that was so was because women at that time weren’t allowed to be assigned to sea duty, which can be a real career hindrance when you’re in a seagoing military service. Women were relegated to shore duty. Kind of tough to climb the ranks of a seagoing service when you’re landlocked.
Once I finished college and graduate school and began my career in communications, things looked remarkably different. I worked alongside women and had career-minded women as managers. In fact, one of the presidents of Dataquest when I worked there in the early ’90s was a woman. I guess I didn’t put it together at the time but the world had changed quite a bit between my high school years and the beginning of my career in the working world. But I was recently reminded that there are still disparities in the perception of women working their way up the contemporary corporate ladder.
At the end of June, I attended Verint’s customer conference, Engage 2016, in Chicago. One of the speakers in the opening general session was Nancy Treaster, senior vice president and general manager of strategic operations for Verint Enterprise Intelligence Solutions. I’ve known Nancy for over 15 years so perhaps I take her spectacular climb up the corporate ladder for granted, but it was brought into focus for me while I was monitoring the Twitter feed during her presentation in the Engage general session. An attendee with the handle “UW_Mezzo” had tweeted a picture of Nancy during her presentation with the caption, “It makes me so happy to see successful female executives.”
As I write this column, Theresa May has just become the U.K.’s second female Prime Minister since Maggie Thatcher held that position of international prominence 26 years ago. Angela Merkel runs Germany like a well-oiled machine. Hillary Clinton is the presumptive democratic nominee for President of the United States, yet there are still people who find it remarkable that a woman holds a position of power in a high-tech company. That led me to wonder if gender balance has truly been realized in the contact center industry, and in the technology industry overall.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have two daughters who are now in the working world. One chose to go into retail out of high school, the other went to Kansas State on an athletic scholarship and is now in her first job at a large, global agricultural company. Like any good dad, I want them to succeed, to reach their full potential and climb as high on the corporate ladder as they want to go. I thought about what I could tell them about being a woman in today’s workplace and the answer came to me quickly: “Nuthin’.”
To gain some perspective on gender and work-life, and to see if I might glean some career advice that I can pass on to my daughters, I got Nancy Treaster (Senior Vice President and General Manager, Verint Enterprise Intelligence Solutions) on the phone and asked for her take on the topic of women in the workplace. What I heard from her was not exactly what I was expecting. Highlights of our conversation follow.
Stockford : Nancy, you and I have known each other for a long time, going back to the Witness Systems days. When you began your career, did you have a clear idea of where you wanted to be in five, 10 or more years?
Treaster : I never really directed my career in that way although I do remember something that happened when I was working at the company that employed me before I joined Witness Systems. I was in my 20s and I saw a woman stand up and speak at a company meeting. I was impressed and I remember thinking, “I want to do what she does.” Turned out, she was the VP of marketing. I admired her and did kind of use her as a model for where I wanted to be.
Stockford : What “lessons learned” and tips can you share with young professionals starting out in the workplace today… things you wish you knew and learned the hard way?
Treaster : I have two sons in college and I always tell them that, to be successful in the workplace, you have to be willing to jump in and do what needs to be done. The “not my job” attitude won’t get you anywhere today. The successful young people that I see getting ahead today are the ones whose attitude is more along the lines of “Let me do whatever it takes for the business to be successful.”
For example, one of my sons is working in an internship this summer and the other day the person who was responsible for the interns told them they could all go home at 4 p.m. But in my son’s mind, the day doesn’t end until 5 p.m., so for that last hour he took out the trash and generally straightened up around the office. He found something to do. That’s the kind of motivation and attitude that young professionals need in order to get ahead.
Stockford : What advantages do you see for the next-generation workforce as it relates to know-how, technologies and tools?
Treaster : There are huge advantages, and not just in technologies and tools. The tools will continue to get better and the next generation of workers are better prepared to take advantage of those technologies and tools better than any previous generation. They aren’t afraid of anything new. They absorb it and make the best use of it.
Beyond that, when it comes to women or anyone who’s different from others in the workplace, young people today are so much more accepting of everyone regardless of race, sexual orientation or any other differences. They work together in teams and they’re not divisive. I think that will help young females and everyone else to progress together much more than in previous generations.
Young people work well together, asking peers for advice and input before making decisions. I think that’s a real positive.
Stockford : So would it be fair to say that it’s easier to be a woman in the workforce today than in the past?
Treaster : I think so, and one of the big reasons is that, generally speaking, women are surrounded by people who are more accepting of them. Even looking at today’s educational system you can’t really find anything that implies that a woman in the workforce can’t be as successful or more successful than their male counterparts.
Stockford : But there will still be challenges, don’t you think?
Treaster : Yes, and one of those challenges is how young women in the workforce will fare when they decide that they want to start a family. That’s where business will have to be more supportive of young women. Partners of young women will also have to be more supportive of their desire to move ahead in their careers while also having a family and that will likely mean more sharing of responsibility. Once again, I think that will be accepted and commonplace among the new generation of workers. They’re more aligned with the concept of everyone being equal and that will prove to be more supportive for women who want to start a family and still have a career. Young people today seem to be less focused on the girl/boy thing than in previous generations.
Stockford : There’s not a lot I can tell my daughters about being a woman in the workforce today so you’ll have to be my surrogate. What advice would you give a young woman beginning a career in corporate America today?
Treaster : My best advice is, don’t see yourself as being different from everyone else. Just consider yourself as another person in the workforce, not a woman in the workforce. Don’t approach your career as a downtrodden woman with a chip on your shoulder. I don’t believe you have to do anything differently to be successful just because you’re a woman.
Keep a balance in your life. When you get the point of wanting to start a family, don’t change your career path. Don’t sidetrack your career in anticipation of, or as a result of, starting a family. Instead, come up with a plan that supports your career as well as your family.
Lesson learned on my part was to let others help. When you’re the mother and the wife and the corporate manager, you feel like you have to do everything just to prove to yourself that you’re not less of one than of any other. You overcompensate, but I think the answer is to make sure you let your spouse or partner help. Don’t think you have to do everything. Do the same in your family life as you do in your work life—delegate!
For the woman entering the workforce today or who is early in her career, it’s all about managing smartly, both your career and your family life. Beyond that, there’s nothing that should stand in the way of a woman being as successful as a man for an entire career. You just have to arrange your life in such a way that you’ll have the same opportunity as the man sitting next to you, and you have to put yourself in that position.