Katie Wright

I attribute my success to being a servant leader. My goal is to just enable my people to be successful. I don't want to micromanage or be in their faces all day, every day. I just want to be there when they need me and make them as successful as possible. The people that mentor you can kind of make or break your career, and I was fortunate to have strong mentors, especially the woman who hired me at ServiceNow. She was a very strong, driven, influential woman who really made a difference in my career. She was well-respected, everyone that reported to her loved her but respected her and learned from her. Ever since then, I've kind of strived to be like her.

The best career advice I've received is that every chance you don't take is a missed opportunity. If you don't bet on yourself, you're never going to know what might have been. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. I think a lot of women are afraid to try and do things or do something different, but if you don't take the risk and go for it, then you'll never know what could have been. Imposter syndrome is a huge thing that I see. Women are fearful of trying to go for new opportunities because they didn't meet 100% of the requirements, even though a man will apply for the same job if he only meets 50% of the requirements.

Don't be afraid to be yourself and speak up. I think that's the biggest thing. I think a lot of women are afraid to have a voice in a room full of men, but you really have to self-advocate, because nobody's going to do it for you. The biggest thing we talked about in the Lead and Inspire program was imposter syndrome and women being fearful of trying to go for new opportunities because they didn't meet 100% of the requirements, even though a man will apply for the same job if he only meets 50% of the requirements. If you don't take the risk and go for it, then you'll never know what could have been.

There are definitely stark challenges in breaking through the glass ceiling in this industry, as it is still very much male-dominated. That's a cultural shift that needs to happen, and I think we're getting there, but we're not there yet. But I think there's definitely opportunity to get more women, especially into leadership roles, in this field. I think there are some women that are amazing, but I'd like to see more of them in the future. There's definitely opportunity to get more women in leadership roles, in particular.

The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are honesty, dependability or reliability, and authenticity. These guide how I approach my leadership role and my relationships with my team and family.