Tag Archives: Capgemini

From Individual Career Planning to CSR, it’s Not Who You Know, but How Well You Relate that Matters!

“A business approach that contributes to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all stakeholders.”

This is how I defined corporate social responsibility when I presented to a group of global executives at the 2018 Corporate Responsibility Summit in May 2018. After touring the Houston Food Bank to see how it serves local communities through food distribution, we settled in the auditorium of the facility to kick off the summit with a series of speakers who focused on serving communities through corporate social impact.

One of the speakers was Dennis Kennedy, Founder and Chair of the National Diversity Council (NDC), which houses the Corporate Social Responsibility Council. I met Dennis when I was at Dell EMC, where over a decade ago I founded and was President of the Women’s Leadership Forum on the West Coast. I partnered with Dennis and his team as they were relaunching NDC in Silicon Valley, by hosting their initial programs. I left EMC (now Dell Technologies), and brought my relationship with Dennis to Capgemini as I transitioned to a new role. They are an active partner, and a joint sponsor for CSR. Isn’t it amazing how relationships start with a helping hand and continue to grow into corporate sponsorships?

When I left Capgemini I wasn’t looking for a job. I was a partner with a $1billion business, working with amazing people at a French multinational. But the Executive Director of The Linux Foundation offered me an amazing opportunity to join him as the Chief of Staff. With my passions so close to building communities of innovation, I couldn’t resist! After a year, another CEO reached out to me – Ahmad Ashkar, Founder and CEO of the Hult Prize Foundation. He and I have worked with each other for over 6 years. When were together again in San Francisco this spring, he looked at me and simply said, “Sheryl, what are you doing? Join me and follow a life of passion, impact and innovation. Lead the Hult Prize Council full time and drive global change as part of the world’s greatest millennial movement.”

That brings us right back to where we are. With my strong ongoing relationship with Capgemini (especially Yvonne Harris and Jean-Claude Violler), I was invited to keynote at the NDC Corporate Responsibility Summit 4th annual conference in Houston. This lesson is for everyone: every relationship you develop has the ability to impact you, your brand, and your reputation. You may leave an organization for another one, but what you leave behind is your legacy. Respect them, and the people with whom you work. It only brings you closer when you leave and creates positive bonds for future collaboration.

These very relationships gave me the incredible opportunity to speak about corporate social responsibility, an essential topic in business today and one of my deepest passions. Throughout my work with the Hult Prize competition, I have worked with countless millennials and have seen their drive to make impact through for-profit, for-good business. As explained by Mario Molteni, a business professor at Milan’s Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in a Morning Future article on CSR, “Sustainability should be one of the skills [of all successful business men and women], not a specialisation.” The challenge of the 2018 Hult Prize competition could not emphasize this better – urging students to create scalable enterprises that harness the power of energy to transform lives because there is a market for sustainable products and business. And millennials are driving that demand.

In my presentation at the CSR summit, I identified several business approaches that are characteristic of socially responsible and sustainable enterprises. From connecting and serving neglected markets to looking into and shaping the future, these types of business approaches affect the willingness of millenials to interact with companies as customers or employees. In her article, “Millennials Driving Brands to Practice Socially Responsible Marketing,” Sarah Landrum echoes what I have witnessed during my work with millennials: “Millennials prefer to do business with corporations and brands with pro-social messages, sustainable manufacturing methods and ethical business standards.” Brands are no longer associated with empty marketing – millennials are active and even suspicious consumers, analyzing the messages that companies put out, searching for the greater impact that businesses have in a social context.

I ended my presentation at the summit with a call to action. I urged the leaders at the conference to build CSR initiatives, engage customers and partners, and share via social media. These actions are necessary steps in promoting corporate social responsibility. Leaders need to make CSR initiatives an integral part of their business, rather than a side project. And they must use the tools of social media to connect with consumers. Kelsey Chong articulates this necessity in her article, “Millennials and the Rising Demand for Corporate Social Responsibility,” arguing, “If a business slacks on properly maintaining its social media profile, it will soon fall victim to critical millennials who have noticed a lack in response, engagement, and interaction.” I have the chance to work with amazing millennials who drive this movement. By caring deeply about the brands and companies they do business with, this generation has turned the importance of CSR into visible action, creating enterprises like those in the Hult Prize that are for-good, for-profit, and a tool for reshaping the future.

During the Hult Prize Finals and Awards Dinner 2017 on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017, at the United Nations headquarters. (Mark Von Holden/Hult Prize Foundation via AP Images)

Global Summit of Women – Building an Inclusive Economy in the Digital Age

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Building an Inclusive Economy in the Digital Age

In late 2015 I received information about the Global Summit of Women (GSW) from a colleague at Capgemini. Although I’ve been involved with organizations that support advancement and development of women professionals for many years, I’d never heard of this one before. My first reaction was I needed to be more aware of international programs like this.

Seeking more information and a better understanding of the potential of this organization I checked out the website and was very impressed. The breadth of geographical areas represented and the backgrounds of participants were unbelievable. Not only did I want to attend but I identified a panel on addressing the skills gap in the digital age, where I knew I could make a contribution. I immediately reached out to Irene Natividad, President of Global Summit of Women to introduce myself and offer my service. I wound up attending the 2016 Summit, served as a panelist, and came away forever changed.

Wonderful welcome as you arrive at the Global Summit of Women

Writing about the experience hardly conveys the impact it had on me. At least this blog will provide an idea of how meaningful this annual event is and hopefully encourage more of you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a truly global environment of friendship and support.

Each year the Summit is held on a different continent. Brazil hosted the 25^th anniversary program in 2015. In 2016 the location was Warsaw, Poland. In 2017 it will convene in Tokyo, Japan. Over 1200 women from 95 different countries participated. The purpose was well described in Irene’s welcoming letter:

“The Summit’s goal of providing a global forum in which exchanges of effective strategies forged by women in all three sectors of society- government, business or civil society- continues to be timely and much needed.“

“The 2016 theme- Women- Building an Inclusive Economy in the Digital Age– spotlights women’s influence in creating stronger economies in this era of new technologies.”

Speakers at the opening ceremony included:

Beata Szudlo, Prime Minister of Poland

Dnag Th Ngox Thinh, VP of Vietnam

Laimdota Straujuma, Former Prime Minister of Latvia

Honored to meet Atifete Jahjaga, Former President of Kosovo.

The two days of the Summit start with a few plenary sessions in the morning followed by breakout sessions featuring 3 different tracks: Leadership Development, Entrepreneurship, and Issues. One of the plenary sessions on the first day was a Male CEO Forum- Defining an Equitable Workplace. Moderated by Lisa Kassenaar, Editor of Global Diversity for Bloomberg News, the panelists were:

Manfred Bischoff, Chair of the Board, Daimler (Germany)
Michel Khalaf, Presdient, EMEA Metlife (UAE)
Alastair Teare, CEO, Deloitte Central Europe (U.K.)
Marco Vilaa, President-Technip, Region EMIA (Italy)
Slawomir Sikora, CEO, Citi Handlowy (Poland)

The insights these world leaders shared displayed their commitment to working across countries and boundaries of diverse thinking.

As I shared earlier, I was a panelist for one of the Issues breakout sessions: Bringing More Women Into Tech Careers in the Digital Age. The topic resonated with me as it’s an issue I’ve been working on for years and was looking forward to sharing my perspective with my fellow panelists, Claudine Schmuck, Founder of Global Contact (France) and Katarzyna Majewska, Head of Operations & Technology, Citi Handlowy (Poland). Our moderator Gloria Lorenzo, Senior Director of Software Development for Oracle in Spain, was a master at brining our ideas alive on the stage. Gloria described the panel as follows:

“I learned a lot from three women on my panel. Sheryl Chamberlain, share her experience at Capgemini and her role as Head of Hult Prize Foundation Council. Claudine Schmuck, shared the results of her investigation through Global Contact plus some of the initiatives she is supporting in France and Katarzyna Majewska and her work in a big company like CIO Group and the challenges she has to find good IT girls. All women shared the same goal, to bring more women to STEM. During a short conversation we learned a lot and got very good tips to progress in our own work or to even to progress together. It was a unique opportunity to connect all the work done in different fields”

For me, the perspectives each of us brought to the discussion where inspiring, but more importantly the audience agreed to take action as we returned to our day jobs, at home in our respective countries.

There was a lot of content to absorb in just a few short days. I wish sessions had been recorded since the breakout format meant we were always missing what was happening in the other breakout rooms. But, then the Summit was about so much more than the meetings. It was an opportunity to connect with a remarkable group of women coming from wildly different backgrounds, all committed to make the world a better place by working together.

One of my new ‘sisters’ is Claudia Freed, CEO & President of EAL Green. EAL stands for Empower Access to Learning. In other words- it provides scholarships. The “Green” refers to how they get the money. They collect excess inventory from major companies (which otherwise would go into landfill), providing sorely needed equipment and supplies to universities at little or no cost, and providing scholarships for students in need. Claudine’s been doing this for over 20 years. This Summit was her second. What made it worth her while to attend?

“I believe it has been an important milestone in my career to be committed to participate in these and other global-scale purpose- driven networking convenings. I want to help improve the world.

“….the most important takeaway is the re-affirmation that relationships take time and that they are invaluable asset not easily replaced with technology or digital communication.”

In 2017 the Global Summit for Women will be held in Japan May 11-13. I already have it on my calendar. I hope to see some of you there.

Boldness & Creativity, Drivers of Success For Women

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In recognition of my passion for supporting and promoting the advancement of women in business and technology, and of my leadership role in this capacity within our firm, I was asked by Isabelle Roux-Chenu Founder Women@Capgemini and Group General Counsel to organize an event that would present a panel of women leaders discussing the importance of making bold choices to achieve success in business. It was an honor to be asked to do this and the event was held at Capgemini’s corporate headquarters in Tilsitt, Paris on July 7, 2015. Isabelle was the host and together we moderated the panel discussion. The panelists were successful women executives and leaders representing diverse cultural, generational, and professional backgrounds and experiences. They were:

Hélène Barnekow, CEO Sweden at TeliaSonera

Nutan Wozencroft, Chief Financial Officer at UNESCO

Katherine Corich, Global CEO & Founder of Sysdoc Group

Aurélie Sykes-Darmon founding member of WoMen’Up

Each panelist was asked to discuss the challenges she has faced in her professional and personal journey and the bold actions she sometimes needed to take to address those challenges. The result was a fascinating discussion filled with useful and practical insights, some commonalities, and a mutual understanding of each woman’s unique path.

Challenges across cultures and generations

Hélène explained her perspective on the power and impact of more diverse teams. She stated that “in today’s digital world anything can be replicated. To differentiate yourself in the market companies need to ensure they have leadership teams with diverse perspectives thereby instilling fertile ground to drive innovation solutions, cultivating collaboration, and delivering new levels of success”. Recently promoted from Chief Commercial Officer to CEO of TeliaSonera Sweden, Hélène discussed some of the bold steps she has taken to transform her teams by including more women and requiring that at least one woman be included on every short list when recruiting managers. Now, as CEO, she can ensure her vision is implemented more broadly across the organization.

Nutan shared her experience of cultural and social obstacles as a woman of Indian origin born in Austria and educated in England. She chose to follow an unconventional career path with the intent to broaden her skills, beginning as a trainee accountant at a medium-sized firm to gain experience in many types of enterprises and different areas of finance. Frequently finding herself to be the only female and the only ethnic minority in the room, Nutan realized that it was important to define her own working style. Following a long stint as a Financial Controller of a large international charity, she worked as a consultant focusing on strategic planning and change management, impacting countries like Malawi, Kenya, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and South Africa.

When Katherine started working, she found very few role models to provide guidance. About the time she was starting her own business, she decided she wanted to get a pilot’s license. She was told that women couldn’t be pilots. [This was at a time when women did not become pilots.] Rather than give in to that view, she used her own money to learn what it takes to manage a plane and what is required for being a great pilot ultimately becoming a licensed commercial pilot. Key to both: a structure that enabled the pilot to systematically make sure the plane was in good flying condition and all appropriate steps were done prior to takeoff. Katherine used that sense of order to convince her boss to improve their risk management procedures at the London Stock Exchange. She went on to create her own consulting firm – Sysdoc Group, which now has a consultant reach in over 72 countries. Katherine brought that kind of orderliness to her business, implementing policies that provided guidance and creating a healthy environment to empower her employees. She finds these practices are in line with the younger generation’s expectations and are in fact attracting more male employees.

Aurélie shared her thoughts from the point of view of a young woman working as a consultant in the television industry and an active member of WoMen’Up. WoMen’Up is an organization that deals with gender balance issues within the corporate world from the point of view of “Gen Y” or “Millennials” – the generation of people born in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Based on a survey titled “What do men think?” taken by WoMen’Up in partnership with the consulting group Mazars, she explained that “Millennials” have long been exposed to gender balance issues and are thus much more favorably included to having women in the corporate world and working with diverse teams.

Closing the discussion, Katherine reminded all women to know their personal and professional worth and to negotiate their careers with confidence based on this knowledge. And Nutan added: “It was interesting to see that, despite our different backgrounds and cultures, we (as women leaders) upheld common principles. I feel strongly that as women in position of influence we must think about the policies and management ethos that we promote and whether they limit access. Being a role model is good, but we really need women leaders that advance the cause for ordinary women.”

The question for senior women leaders is- What can you do to support other women to be successful in whatever they choose to do? As for male leaders- What can you do to raise awareness of and reduce subtle biases that hinder advancement of women in your organization and elsewhere? In case you’d like some guidance, here are some useful resources:

NCWIT’s pamphlet, Male Advocates & Allies: Promoting Gender Diversity in Technology Workplaces– which is applicable outside of technology
Men Advocating for Real Change [MARC], sponsored by Catalyst.

Change Tomorrow Today – Maximize Human Potential Through Education

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Did you know that more than 100 million children under the age of six in developing countries currently fail to reach their potential in cognitive development? Can we be part of the solution and find innovative ways to deliver quality early education to millions of underprivileged children who desperately need to get education at the earliest ages in or near the world’s cities? This was the challenge put forth by President Clinton and Hult Prize to students from around the world.

Hult Prize and Clinton Global Initiative

President Bill Clinton – Hult Prize Finals NYC

The Hult Prize competition is a response to President Bill Clinton’s call to action for the world’s brightest minds to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. In the past, the Hult Prize Challenge tackled housing, energy, education, food security, and healthcare challenges on a global level, and the competition has yielded teams with powerful and transforming ideas. Winning teams managed to not only develop these ideas but also implement them in serving the greater good. In its 6th year, the Hult Prize challenge asks global university teams to find new sustainable social enterprise approaches to promote and increase early childhood development and help the not so privileged children access quality education. Student teams compete in five cities around the world for a chance to secure $1 million in start-up funding to launch a sustainable social venture. This year 20,000 applications were received from more than 500 colleges and universities in over 150 countries.

Hult Prize Judges

A key element of the story, and the power of Hult Prize, is answering the social enterprise challenge each year impacting the world. Another equally important part of the story is about the opportunity and gratification of being a judge. The judges are a diverse group of people from the ranks of corporate CXOs, non-profit leaders, and social entrepreneurs. When they participate as judges they join an extensive community established by Hult Prize and their partners: Hult International Business School, Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), and IXL Center. Many of us have never met before, yet we come together as a working team at the regional championships. Each of us is changed forever by being instrumental in helping to launch the next wave of social entrepreneurs.

Ahmad Ashkar CEO & Founder Hult Prize

This is my 3^rd year as a Hult Prize judge. I will be working with Ahmad Ashkar, Founder and CEO of Hult Prize, to create an alumni group of judges providing a unique opportunity to continue the experience and impact of being a judge, in addition to building a foundation upon which past and current judges can collaborate on providing a platform for extending the impact of social entrepreneurship. More to come in the next few months on this topic.

Hult Prize Regional Competition

Faces of Students

An international rolling judging process follows the sun starting at Hult campuses in Dubai, Shanghai, London, Boston, and finishes in San Francisco. At my location in San Francisco we had 4 groups, 4 judges for each group, and a morning and afternoon pitch contest, 7 in each session. One difference in the process this year was having peer group students listening to the pitch and providing feedback to the judges prior to the deliberation process. I facilitated the discussion between the students and my fellow judges and found that, while the day was longer than it had been in prior years, interacting with the students provided additional insight supporting the decision making process.

Selecting the San Francisco Regional Winner

Athollo San Francisco Winning Team

After hearing the presentations of the final 8 teams, the 16 judges convened in a tent at Levi Center to vote on the San Francisco regional winner. You would think that after a long day of judging (over 10 hours) that we would exhausted from the long day. Instead, each of us came to the room initially voting for the team we had brought to the final selection process. Via deep discussion about the winning criteria, which included innovative idea, clear business plan, partnerships, and a line of sight to execute against their vision, we concluded and selected Athollo, University of Tampa, to move to the New York finals. Their tag line – Maximizing Human Potential Through Education. Their vision, provide top quality early childhood education for children living in urban slums of developing nations through the utilization of mobile phones of female micro-entrepreneurs. In doing so, they endeavor to alleviate the inaccessibility of education around the world. It will be interesting to see how their idea matures through the summer Hult Prize accelerator program.

Call to Action

Pam McNamara IXL and Sheryl Chamberlain

So, how are you going to change the world? Is the time right for you to work with the students and help them on this amazing journey? I invite you to join our community committed to social innovation and entrepreneurship. This year Hult Prize brought back the online challenge round, which gives all of the entries a second chance to make it to NYC as our “sixth” regional winner. The online round runs from March 16 – May 8. Join us there http://www.hultprize.org/en/compete/online-challenge-2015/overview/

Together, I am confident we can make a difference.

Honorable Mention

Amanda Boyek, San Francisco Regional Director, Hult Prize

Amanda Boyek, San Fran Regional Director, Hult Prize

Kicking off the San Francisco regionals was Amanda Boyek, 2014 finalist and after graduating SF Regional Director, Hult Prize. She was on Team Monterey, the team my group of judges selected. We are now connected forever with our shared passion for social entrepreneurship and the Hult Prize. For me Amanda, young, bright and passionate is already showcasing the impact of her leader’s legacy.

Shape Your Mobile & Cloud Strategy Join Me @VMworld Barcelona

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VMworld Europe will bring together individuals and entities from 92 different nations to share and compare the latest in virtualization technology developments, innovations, solutions, and directions. Since technology adoption varies from country to country, it will be interesting to learn how the adoption and implementation of VMware technology and products affects organizations virtualization data center transformation strategies and their journey to the hybrid cloud.

This is my 10^th VMworld all of them in fabulous cities including San Francisco, Cannes, and Copenhagen. This spring I joined Capgemini from EMC to lead our partnership with the EMC Federation of companies; EMC II, VMware, Pivotal, and RSA. Moving from a product company to a services organization has been a big change for me, a good one for all, and one that brings trusted relationships and a shared vision for what is possible for our partnership and customers.

VMworld is an important event for Capgemini’s collaboration with VMware. There are three major strategic initiatives for our partnership: 1. Software defined data center (SDDC) with Service Integration, 2. SAP Hana on vSphere, and 3. Enterprise Mobility (AirWatch). A few key points about these strategic initiatives and the impact to our partnership and customers from Patrick Nicolet Capgemini CEO Infrastructure Services and Group Board Member:

Patrick Nicolet Capgemini CEO Infrastructure Services and Group Board Member @VMorld San Francisco 2014

Software Defined Data Center – Service Integration

Service Integration helps clients remove the complexity of IT transformation through the aggregation of services orchestration and management capabilities. In 2013, Capgemini established our services integration partnership with VMware through the executive sponsorship of Pat Gelsinger (VMware CEO) and Patrick Nicolet (Capgemini CEO Infrastructure Services and Group Board Member). Both are visionaries and committed to co-innovation, having had the forethought to develop our first offering, Services Integration founded on VMware’s ITBM technology and Capgemini customer knowledge and intimacy. This offering resulted in Capgemini receiving 2 awards this year: VMware’s Consulting and Integration Partner of the Year, and Hybrid Cloud Innovation joint award with one of our clients at vForum in Paris on June 4 2014.

Harish Rao Capgemini Infrastructure Services CTO discusses managing enabling servces orchestration @VMworld 2014

SAP Hana on vSphere

In May of 2014, as part of Pat Gelsinger’s keynote presentation at EMC World, Patrick Nicolet announced another level of our partnership: a three-way go to market play with VMware and SAP for the deployment of Hana in highly virtualized environments. In June, in recognition of its outstanding contributions as an SAP partner, Capgemini received a 2014 SAP® Pinnacle award as the SAP HANA® Adoption Partner of the Year. SAP Pinnacle awards are presented annually to the top SAP partners that have excelled in developing and growing their partnership with SAP and driving customer success.

Cindy Borgman Capgemini VP Infrastructure Services Global Operations, SAP Business discusses partnership with SAP and VMware and the value for customers

Enterprise Mobility with AirWatch

Building on a foundation of earlier successes, on September 9th Capgemini and VMware announced the expansion of our strategic partnership centered around enterprise mobility management and end-user computing, More specifically, the partnership allows us to leverage AirWatch’s Enterprise Managed Mobility solution as we bundle it with our Mobile Solutions service offerings. At VMworld Barcelona you will have a chance to hear from Fernando Alaverz, Capgemini Senior Vice President and Head of the Mobile Solutions Global Service Line. Fernando has said, “For Capgemini, the bigger picture includes positioning its mobile divisions around the internet of things and corresponding data and analytics, which he called “the next big thing.” So don’t miss Fernando’s keynote at VMworld on Wednesday, October 16th at 16:30.

Now in its third consecutive year in Barcelona, VMworld offers an attractive venue to bring together diverse cultures for sharing, comparing, and collaboration. Barcelona is a city rich in culture and history, offering a picturesque waterfront site to stimulate minds and imaginations alike.

Join me and the leadership team of Capgemini in Barcelona where we are once again proud and honored to be a VMworld CIP (Consulting & Integration Partner) Platinum sponsor.

Learn more about disruptions and innovations with partners in this video with Lanny Cohen, Capgemini Corporate Chief Technology Officer.

Innovation Station

Perspectives on Innovation in Life, the World and in Business

Tag Archives: Capgemini

Boldness & Creativity, Drivers of Success For Women

Change Tomorrow Today – Maximize Human Potential Through Education