Penny Bauder

People relate to you through your weaknesses rather than through your strengths. The more vulnerabilities you exhibit, the more likely people will associate with you and follow you. In my early days in leadership, I thought I should keep private the challenges of my personal life. I’ve learned just…

Make outdoor education a priority. If our children love nature, they’ll be more likely to fight for it. Foster a love of nature in children by offering daily opportunities to explore outside (in both good weather and in bad weather, too!). While younger children benefit from scavenger hunts and gros…

Another myth I’d like to dispel is that women aren’t starting businesses — we are. The way I like to look at this is, how do we help these women get their businesses to a scalable level? But, this is not just a job for women to help other women. Men need to be allies […]

Always hire people smarter than you are and let them do their work — One of the most rewarding things to see is someone tapping into several ideas that you propose, finding their niche and just going for it. This recently happened with one of the engineering data scientists. He joined the team and s…

I truly believe that anything is possible for women in any field. So, the biggest myth I would like to dispel is that certain jobs or certain industries are out of limits for women. There are women doing amazing things and leading in the tech, finance, automotive and space industries, all traditiona…

I believe one of the biggest “myths” I’ve heard over the years is Women aren’t interested in tech and I totally disagree. Yes, many women are underrepresented in the technology industry. But it’s an opportunity like what I have interviewed with you that sheds light on women and young girls around th…

Some of our curriculum, particularly in mathematics, bores kids to tears. Failing to learn algebra and applying abstract concepts are the most common points at which kids abandon a STEM education. I am a big fan of experiential hands-on exposure to math and science that relates curriculum to practic…

Encourage your kids to join programs like beach clean-ups or environmental clubs. Both of my daughters spent a semester at the Island School in the Bahamas where they participated in unique ocean research and lived sustainably off of wind and solar power. As part of my series about what we must do t…

Immerse your kids in nature: It is hard to fight for the environment and a better planet for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren when your children haven’t experienced nature and created their own sense of wonder for it. Technology tends to play an outsized role in the lives of kids. Spending…

Own your successes. I often interview women who are extraordinarily competent, but who are timid when talking about their successes. Personally, I’ve struggled with talking about myself and my accomplishments, but I have learned to recognize how sharing my story — the success and the failures that l…

Women naturally are better collaborators and more empathetic. Treat these as your superpowers and empathize, understand and care about your people. As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Heena Purohit. Heena is a Lead Prod…

“We’ve spent decades measuring leaders by these attributes.” with Penny Bauder & Tina Vatanka Murphy  Thrive Global

Finding “Work-Life Balance” is a myth, and especially for women in Tech fields. There’s never a perfect balance or a great time to take off for family: you just need to be OK with some chaos and assertive about what you need. Being in tech means a never-ending set of tasks so it’s easy to […]

Prioritize the human aspects of leadership. You can be technically brilliant, but unpleasant to be around. But to accomplish any dream, you need other people around you. Just as much as we build our technical skills, we have to build social and emotional skills. As leaders we must be well-rounded an…

Volunteer for a beach cleanup. Plan a day at the beach, but before soaking up the sun, spend the morning cleaning up the beach! Again, it’s all about exposure. Incorporating a clean-up before enjoying normal beach activities will not only show the next generation the beauty of the vacant beach, but…

Often, when you’re a woman in a tech field, the outside world may assume that you’re more analytical by nature and not as creative or warm or sociable. But that’s far from true. Tech is becoming a more inclusive and comfortable working environment. Certainly, at Avanade we make sure it is and I don’…

Never stop learning. Before I started working here, I started teaching myself the foundational material I would need to really learn to do my job my well. Learning is never ending. It’s a lifestyle. Especially in technology, everything is constantly changing and evolving, and so must we. Too many pe…

Empower kids to find their voice, but practice compromise — in compromise, there is a way to move forward. I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael W. Lamach. Michael was elected chairman of the board of directors of Ingersoll Rand in June 2010, having previously been named chief executive officer…