How a S’porean woman in a leadership position in tech navigates her double minority position

• While still a rarity, there are more locals and women rising to leadership positions in the tech sector
• One of the pioneers, Ms Wynthia Goh, said she faced unconscious bias when she took on leadership roles
• But diverse leadership styles are needed with the fast pace of change in the tech scene, she said

SINGAPORE — All it took was a simple tweak in hiring policy.

Ms Wynthia Goh asked the recruiters of her previous company to shortlist more female candidates for job interviews by going beyond their usual database.

And the proportion of women hired to be part of the tech development team shot up to about 40 per cent from zero previously.

“So it’s not true that there aren’t enough women (in the tech industry),” said Ms Goh in an interview with TODAY.

The 48-year-old tech executive is one of an increasing number of women joining a stereotypically male-dominated sector. To top it off, she is also a Singaporean in an industry often suffering from a dearth of local talent.

In fact, it was only as recent as three years ago, when she was the chief digital officer at Aviva, that Ms Goh heard people saying that they know of only one other Singaporean woman who is also a chief digital officer in Singapore.

However, she said that there are more locals and women rising to senior positions in the sector.

Ms Goh herself was headhunted to lead the digital business at Next, a department responsible for helping customers with their digital transformation plans at infocommunications and technology provider NCS.

Prior to that, she was heading digital teams in other companies, including Nokia, eBay and NTUC FairPrice.

One question she often gets is about how she balances her parenting responsibilities due to the “unconscious bias” that everyone has to some extent.

She responds by saying that she would not get asked such questions if she were a man.

Over the years, Ms Goh has also learned to cultivate her own brand of leadership, despite some initial hurdles that she faced.

“Not every leader is going to have a kind of alpha personality or a booming voice, and I don't have the alpha personality or the booming voice.

“I realised that there was this unvocalised expectation and that I didn't fit that mould. And then once you more openly address it, then it is no longer an issue,” she said.

CHANGING EXPECTATIONS

Given how fast-paced the technology sector is, Ms Goh said that what is expected out of a leader in the sector has also changed.

A need for a more collaborative form of leadership would require someone who is more open-minded and willing to draw on the knowledge of others in the team.

“Once you need a different type of leadership, you're gonna need a more diverse room of leaders to bring in those diverse leadership styles and leadership norms. Gender is one aspect, but it’s not the only aspect. The larger environment, the world, is changing,” she said.

However, there may be some who still face barriers trying to break into leadership roles due to past expectations of how senior leaders should be, such as having stints in multiple countries, she said.

Ms Goh said that, however, is not the only path. She reckons that someone based in Singapore who has had regional responsibilities can also navigate the different cultures across Asia effectively.

Individuals, then, need not be shy to put forward their case if they know the value they can bring to the table. Seeking out mentors and sponsors who would advocate for them is also another way to get a leg-up, she said.

Ms Goh said one thing she learned from working in multinational companies is to proactively communicate.

“I think for a lot of (Singaporeans), we tend to be quieter. So like in a large room, we tend to not be the first one to speak up or to step forward,” she said.

Besides the lack of proactive communication, Ms Goh also said that the skills and experience that local IT professionals have may not be the most in demand, as the digital world is moving towards cloud-based technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“So how can we convince our local talent to cross over into those areas where there is demand and how can we help them bridge that gap? And this is where providing them the opportunities to take on new skills and new training becomes very, very important,” she said.

The problem of a lack of local tech professionals is further exacerbated by the fact that the talent pool in Singapore is much smaller compared to other countries due to its small population.

Nevertheless, there are many available avenues for Singaporeans to enter the tech sector currently, which is in stark contrast to the early 1990s when Ms Goh made the decision to enter the tech sector.

Back then, she pointed out that there were no university courses that focused on digital technologies.

In fact, Ms Goh did a degree in business at the Nanyang Technological University, before graduating with a Masters in Public Policy from the State University of New York.

“All of us who were involved in the digital industry were self-taught and I think that the culture of self-learning and continuous learning is actually still a very prevalent part of the digital industry today,” she said.

In that spirit of continuous learning, Ms Goh recounted how she actually learned how to use Reddit, an online discussion platform, from an intern.

“You could learn from anyone (even from someone who just graduated),” she said.