Q&A with WebVisions Founder Brad Smith

Next month we’re hosting WebVisions Berlin, right here at our Berlin offices. There’s a good chance you’re already familiar with WebVisions—the events have been taking place for 16 years and are held around the globe. In 2016 alone, Steven Cook has spoken at the Barcelona event and Christian Titze gave a talk at WebVisions Portland (you can read our round-up on that talk here).

This year, though, we’ll also be bringing the Women in Design & Tech Leadership Forum to Berlin. Held on the evening of October 25, the forum mixes talks and discussions with a range of speakers, all with a focus on female leadership in these two key industries.

We talked to Brad Smith, founder and executive of WebVisions, and asked him a few questions about the event, what to expect, and what he hopes it will achieve.

Tell us what the event is about, and why you started it.

In the US, only 2% of leadership roles in design and tech firms are held by women, even though studies by the National Center for Women & Information Technology have found that gender diversity at top management levels improves companies’ financial performance.

The Women in Design & Tech Leadership Forum is both a series of events and a platform for change, produced by WebVisions. Our goal is to create communities of activists, advocates and allies who collaborate and promote initiatives to increase the numbers of women in leadership roles.

We want to create networks that can bring the issue to the fore and establish practices to balance gender in leadership roles. Our goal is to be a catalyst for change.

Why tech and design? There’s plenty of statistics on the situation when it comes to women in leadership roles, and also the declining numbers of women working in technology, but what made you focus specifically on these industries?

The tech and design industries have grown the ranks of women in mid-level positions. Unlike in many traditional or heavy manufacturing companies, there’s a real and immediate opportunity to mentor and prepare women for leadership positions. As women become leaders and succeed, we believe that other industries will follow.

It’s the first time this event has been held in Berlin, and we’re excited to see what will happen. What reaction have you seen to previous events in other cities?

So far, we’ve held these events in San Francisco and Barcelona, and the New York City event took place last week, on September 7th. We’ve had an opportunity to experiment with the event format, planning and engagement models. At the most fundamental level, the events have been forums to encourage participants - who have been mostly, but not exclusively, women - to explore ways to build their leadership capabilities: building confidence, learning from peers, and rethinking how to frame their role in an organization so there are more opportunities for advancement.

In many ways, we’re applying practices that grew from the startup communities: research, experimentation, evolution in short cycles. It’s been so fantastic to see the excitement of participants.

Have you noticed any trends in the discussion—key points that have been raised again and again?

So far, two themes have emerged. One is about framing the issue so that women feel confident pursuing leadership career paths and positioning themselves to be leaders. Another is how to separate gender from ability or talent, so that promotions into leadership positions are seen as merit-based. We want to reframe the perspective from being a ‘woman designer or programmer’ to being a designer or programmer who is capable of taking on leadership roles, and also happens to be a woman.

What do you want the forum to achieve?

We want to go beyond talk and make an impact on gender equality in organizational leadership. Another goal is to demonstrate how small groups of dedicated individuals and companies can bring about global change.

The Women in Tech and Design Leadership Forum will be happening at our Berlin offices on October 25. Following the presentations and discussions, there will be a networking happy hour. Tickets are still available here.

If you have any questions, or would like more information, please just get in touch. We hope to see you there!