Her Story
About Lalitha
My career in technology spans over 25 years, beginning with my foundation in electronics engineering and evolving into deep expertise in artificial intelligence and neural networks. I spent 21 years at IBM, a company with over half a million employees, where I experienced tremendous growth from an entry-level software engineer to becoming the line executive for their entire SaaS business, a $32 billion operation. IBM really groomed me and taught me what I call true growth. After IBM, I took a bold step to co-found and serve as CEO of a startup called Open Teams Global, which was the most challenging and rewarding experience of my career. It taught me humility - going from a brand like IBM where everyone knows you, to building a brand from scratch where I had to prove myself all over again. I had a beautiful exit in less than 18 months. Now I'm with Stantec, an AEC firm, serving as Vice President and Chief AI Officer for AI and digital, just completing my first term. My brand is centered on delivering strong business transformation through technology, with a particular focus on AI, though I've been working in this space for 30 years, long before it became mainstream. I'm extremely passionate about open source and technology equitability, believing that any child anywhere in the world should have access to learning technology. I'm also deeply committed to building the bench for the next generation and advocating for women in STEM, as I check all the diversity boxes - multicultural, multilingual, and one of the few women in this field.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lalitha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to three equal parts. A third of it is really to my parents and my teachers that I had early on in my life, who allowed me to explore paths that were not made and allowed me to build interests that were not mainstream. That support from my family, including my husband and my kids, has been priceless. Without that, I couldn't have gotten as far as I have. The other third is my ability to keep thinking about how I can do more, to not focus on job titles but really on impact. I always thought about where can Lolita have the most amount of value, how can I make our clients successful, how can I make IBM successful. It wasn't about Lolita's success. That mindset is the reason why I was the youngest executive director ever promoted at IBM, a 110-year-old company, and why I was invited to conversations in the CEO's office for a company valued at $98 billion in revenue. The final third of my success is my ability to stay calm and composed. It doesn't matter whether success or failure hits me, you will get the same Lolita. My ability to stay composed and protect my team is a big weapon I have. If you act stressed, your team's going to be three times more stressed. I don't let sudden success or sudden failures change me. I will stay bold and continue to shine the brilliance where it needs to be, and if we do end up in a mess, we won't show that either.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Keep that curiosity to learn new things. Today, we're all crazy about AI. Tomorrow, it could be quantum. In five years from now, it could be space. Don't feel limited or get married to one kind of technology, because that changes all the time. Stay curious about what problems is this technology solving for humanity - that's more important. Stop looking at 'oh, I know Python, I know ChatGPT,' because that's not going to get you too far. You've tied your entire brand, your equity, to one tool. My biggest thing would be to stay curious about what are these problems that these companies and businesses and investors and the boards are trying to solve, and rally behind that, instead of getting caught up in this technology game of all of these tools that are available. It's not going to save the world or anything - that's not going to happen.
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