Developing the Next Generation of Digital Infrastructure Leaders | Microsoft

Duration: 7:51 1201 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

The video features Swati from Microsoft discussing her journey into the digital infrastructure industry and her commitment to developing the next generation of leaders. Although she began as an electrical engineer following in her father's footsteps, her entry into the tech sector came through a fortunate opportunity at Microsoft where she has spent eighteen years in various roles. She highlights the significant shift in the industry over the last decade, noting that when she started in 2008, women were extremely rare in engineering programs, whereas today there is a surge of passionate and curious young women eager to learn about available opportunities. This evolution reflects a broader effort within Microsoft to not only attract external talent but also to nurture and empower existing employees, ensuring they feel valued and have clear paths for growth and skill development. A central theme of the discussion is Microsoft's proactive approach to removing barriers for women and diverse candidates through specific initiatives like the Data Center Academy. This global program operates across twelve locations, including two in Texas, and is designed to introduce individuals from outside traditional data center backgrounds to the technology sector. The academy offers a nine-month emerging leadership journey that equips participants with essential skills such as communication, business case formulation, and strategic thinking. By focusing on both internal retention and external recruitment, Microsoft aims to create a robust pipeline of diverse leaders who can drive innovation in digital infrastructure, effectively harnessing the full potential of its workforce while expanding its reach into new communities. Swati also shares a deeply personal perspective on mentorship, identifying her two daughters as her primary guiding lights rather than corporate figures. She explains that raising children has taught her daily lessons about paving the way for future generations and highlighted the importance of listening to young voices who often provide honest feedback on technology and infrastructure. This reciprocal learning process between parents and children has been instrumental in her professional development, demonstrating that inspiration can flow in any direction. Furthermore, she promotes a book co-authored with colleague Elena Raymond, which focuses on thinking forward for the young generation, encouraging viewers to read it as a resource for understanding how individuals can become shining lights for others in their own communities. The conversation concludes with a strong call to action for the audience to engage with these programs and support the talent development initiatives that Microsoft is championing. Swati emphasizes that everyone has the potential to be a mentor or a source of inspiration, urging viewers to take advantage of the available workshops and leadership opportunities. The event wraps up with mutual appreciation between the host and Swati, reinforcing the idea that building a sustainable future for digital infrastructure requires a collective effort to educate, empower, and include diverse voices. Ultimately, the video serves as an inspiring testament to how personal dedication, corporate responsibility, and community support can transform the landscape of technology leadership for the next generation.

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Good afternoon. Welcome to Data Cloud USA in Austin. And thank you so much to the JSA community and the team for being with us all the time in covering the news and bringing us uh more important information from our wonderful speaker who we have today. So we have Swatti thank you for being here from Microsoft. >> Thank you so much. >> Really glad to actually have you. So help us understand in this massive world of data center and digital infrastructure of this week that we are there's so many of us here. So how did you get started in this industry? >> Uh a little bit of background actually uh Susanna I my parents really um are advocate of education and I actually ended up following my dad's footsteps. uh heated electrical engineering and I'm an electrical engineer. Uh but getting into uh the tech industry was actually just by chance. I had an amazing opportunity to join Microsoft. Uh and I've been there for 18 years in a lot of various different roles. So it's been really exciting, a constant learning journey. Uh and I've had some amazing mentors and sponsors who believed in me and kind of guided me and opened doors for me throughout the 18 years. Well, we are very very fortunate to actually have you taking such a hands-on role with our talent in the USA. So, after you met them, wow, what's your feeling? >> Oh my god, amazing. It was actually very inspiring. I remember when I started in the industry 18 years ago, which was 2008. Uh firstly, in when I did my electric engineering, I was I think one out of nine women out of 130 students. So, not a lot of women in the industry, whereas right now I'm seeing there's a lot of passion. There's a lot of women coming up and they're asking the right questions and they're so curious to learn to know what's out there, what are the opportunities they have. Uh so being part of data cloud and um just listening to them and being part of the journey has been fantastic. >> Well, I got amazing feedback. They said meeting you and spending time with you has been extremely catalytic and inspiring. So perhaps un help us understand a little bit more about behind your own passion, behind your wonderful experience. Um Microsoft has done a lot in terms of removing the barriers for young talent and women into our industry. Please help us uh just tell us a little bit more about that because we have a lot of audience today unfortunately will not be able to join us physically this week. So I really want them to uh learn about this opportunity. >> You know what I love about Microsoft? We're not just constantly thinking about how do we bring talent from outside in, but also harnessing the talent that we actually have within the organization itself. uh because it's really important to make the people that are within the company feel like they're valued and they have the opportunities to grow and learn a lot of different skills. Um especially for women as well, there's loads of opportunities. I've just been part of a a planning committee to start looking at how do we get women into boards, you know, uh is there a path that's there? Do they know how to even progress forward? Um aspiring uh leadership programs for women, right? Uh we have an emerging leadership program uh across women and men where we actually take students through a nine-month journey of teaching them all the various different skills that you need to be a good leader. Uh from communication skills, how do you put a business case together and most importantly where we really work with the community is our amazing data center academy. We have 12 across the globe, right? Two actually right here in Texas, I have to say, and where we actually bring diverse uh candidates that are outside of data centers and show them opportunities and the various different roles that they have an opportunity to join join and try. So, Microsoft is doing a lot of great work both internally and externally. Well, I am definitely not surprised. Microsoft being the pioneer in many ways and developing young talent which I believe the leadership also believe in is extremely important. So, it's really wonderful to actually also have you here in person rather than they just read about it on your website regarding the program. So, really glad you're actually here. >> Yeah, thank you so much. Um now Susanna I've always during my journey have had amazing mentor sponsors you know who are there's always someone there who's guiding the light and shining it on me. Uh I would love to ask you a question. Who has been your uh guiding light? >> Wow. Thank you. Thank you very much. I would have to say um are my two daughters Bronty and L. uh they sincerely taught me dayto day that the reason why we're doing what we do is to pave the way uh for the next generation. Uh both of them are in the service economy. Um they're doing really wonderful work. uh I learned a lot from them in terms of what it really meant uh for young talent to be able to um experience the infrastructure business to experience the technology. So often times uh we will interact and um as we all know having children they will tell you exactly what they think. So it's been uh fantastic for me to be a mother but at the same time be able to learn from the young generation um and then of course they help me with uh working on teams when I have actually have trouble and uh dealing with technology. So uh I have to admit that you are my shining light this week. >> That's amazing. Thank you. >> So thank you again for being here and JSA is my shining light. no pun intended. Uh, everyone of the JSA family is amazing. Uh, which is no doubt that they have um our support of our program to bring us the greener data volume three book uh which on day one when they launched it this year at Earth Day, it became the Amazon bestseller and it's written by thinking forward the young generation. So I really encourage everyone to get that book from Amazon. Uh Microsoft is actually included Elena Raymond your colleague and I jointly uh a co-author. So um everyone can be actually our shining light and you all can be a shining light to someone else. So I hope you all gonna take advantage of the program that Swatty talked about and indeed join us in this program. So, Swadi, thank you so much for being here today and uh we look forward to your workshop tomorrow. >> Absolutely. Susanna, thank you so much and thank you so much for the talent and tech program and what you guys are doing. It's absolutely inspirational. >> Thank you.