WEST Wisdom Blog

Being on a Board May Be the Career Tip You Didn't Know You Needed

Posted by Courtney Cyron on Jun 14, 2023 2:31:51 PM

Being part of a Board of Directors can seem like an exclusive, illusive position. It can seem like no matter how much you would really love to be part of an organization’s success, how much you’d like to support a nonprofit’s goal, being on the Board of Directors can feel out of reach. For many, it’s not that it’s out of reach, it’s that there isn’t always a clear path or easy to find information on requirements, process, support, or even general guidance on where to begin. 

WEST knows the true value that each Board Member brings to an organization. We are always grateful for the insight, excitement, and endless pursuit of our mission that our Board Members and Advisory Board Members bring to WEST. Knowing how important Board Members are to an organization, WEST is thrilled to be bringing the event “Get on Board: Inside the Board of Directors” to our community.

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Topics: Community, Giving Back, Panel, Networking, Industry, Business, Influence, Developing Your Skills, Board of Directors, Career Development, Empowerment, New Opportunities, #WESTevent

Shatter the Glass Funnel: Escalating Executive Gender Parity in STEM

Posted by Diana K. Anderson on Mar 12, 2020 8:30:00 AM

Like your career, executive gender parity is not one-off tactic or a simple checklist. Gender parity among leadership requires intentional cultivation, systemic design and strategic implementation.

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Topics: Gender Balance, STEM, Gender Balance, Women, Awards, Women in STEM, Business, Equal Pay, Leading Ourselves, Gender Pay Gap, Challenges, Leaders, Career Development, Empowerment, Advocate, Inclusion, Diversity, #WESTevent, #WESTorg, Women in Business, Organizational Culture, Corporate Culture, Be Fearless, Be Brave, Gender Parity

What every new STEM manager needs to know now

Posted by Diana Anderson on Aug 6, 2019 11:45:19 AM

Promoted to manager? Congrats!

Wait, wait. Wait. What exactly is my job now?

The shift from individual contributor to manager can be difficult. As Karen Dillon explains, “The irony for most newly appointed managers is that the skills and qualities that earned them the promotion are very different from those that will serve them well as a leader.” 

This paradox is especially sharply felt in STEM. Fortunately, while acute, this reaction is also incredibly common. To learn more, WEST spoke to Richard Laskey about his experience transitioning from a senior software engineer to software engineering manager. 

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Topics: Leadership, STEM, Women in STEM, Upcoming Events, Business, Career Path, Management, Delegation, Lead, Emotional Intelligence, Developing Your Skills, Insight, Confidence, Leaders, Own It, Empowerment, New Opportunities, Advice, MBA, #WESTevent, Change Management, #WESTorg, Women in Business, Organizational Culture, Be Fearless, Be Brave

Senior Leader Interview with Career Insights from Sandra Glucksmann

Posted by WEST Volunteer on Aug 21, 2018 12:42:13 PM

Sandra Glucksmann, CEO of Cedilla Therapeutics and a founding board member of WEST, sat down with us to share her experience and lessons learned over her 25-year career in biotech. Sandra holds a PhD in molecular genetics and cell biology from the University of Chicago and carried out her post-doctorate work at MIT.

Sandra’s career path spanned both science and business. She attributes her success to being open to new opportunities that were not necessarily in her wheel house and to cultivating a strong network. After working as a bench scientist for eleven years at Millennium, she made a mid-career shift into the business side of biotech. She believes that staying deeply connected with her science background gave her a leg-up when developing her corporate presence in biotech. 

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Topics: Leadership, Women, Science, Career, Community, Giving Back, Interview, Success, Network, Inspire, Leader, Women in STEM, Presence, Biotech, Business, Change, Connect, Developing Your Skills, Strengths, Career Development, Influence Without Authority, PhD, New Opportunities, Mentor, Sponsor, Advice, Risk, Ask, Learn

Achieving Operational Excellence through Collaboration in a Digital World

Posted by WEST Board Member on Nov 10, 2017 4:52:13 PM
In today's business world, it's rare that a team is physically located in the same space. Remote work is becoming increasingly popular and easier with advancements in technology. Business are also more global than ever before as it's easier to expand abroad. As it becomes easier for businesses to physically expand, it also becomes more difficult to collaborate and communicate. Between different time zones, cultural communication styles and varying priorities it's hard to stay aligned as a business. This creates challenges as we try and execute on a strategy. It's important that we double down on visibility into collaborative work and leverage tools that help us stay aligned. 
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Topics: Events, STEM, Women, Career, Communication, Community, Cambridge, Women in STEM, Networking, Upcoming Events, Excellence, Operational, Business, Collaboration, Digital, IT, Tools

Small Wins for Big Change

Posted by WEST Board Member on Oct 11, 2017 9:36:00 AM

Motivating your team to achieve top results can be hard when it's not clear as to how you'll get there. Teams need a framework and tools for achieving greatness, but often times teams can be skeptical of those frameworks and tools. Changing behavior for how things are done is hard. In order to create momentum with a new behavioral change, you want to find small wins with your new frameworks and tools so teams buy into them. Once the team sees a "win" with a new framework, it will be easier to get buy in moving forward and roll out for bigger initiatives on your path to success.

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Topics: Events, Women, Tech, Community, Entrepreneurship, Panel, Upcoming Events, Discussion, Financial, Resources, Business

The Financial Highs and Lows of Entrepreneurship for Women Panel Discussion

Posted by Jaime Luna on Oct 9, 2017 4:33:56 PM

WEST & Ellevate are partnering with WE-BOS to provide a FREE panel discussion where entrepreneurs will share insights into the financial successes and challenges of starting and scaling a business. 

Topics to include:

  • Preparing yourself to take the financial risk to start a business
  • Resources available to fund or support the start-up of a business
  • Resources available to grow and scale your business 
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Topics: Events, Women, Tech, Community, Entrepreneurship, Panel, Upcoming Events, Discussion, Financial, Resources, Business

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