Bringing More Women Into Standards with Veronica Lancaster, VP of Standards Programs at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Word to the W.I.S.E. #whystandardsmatter

You also read the transcript of the podcast interview with Veronica Lancaster here:

Host: Veronica, thank you for joining us in this Word to the Wise conversation.

[00:00:58] Veronica Lancaster: Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here and to contribute to Word to the Wise. Some of my friends and colleagues have participated and I'm happy to be included in the conversation.

[00:01:08] Host: You've such vast experience in the standards development industry. Tell us a bit about how you began your career and the opportunities that were offered for women standardization professionals.

[00:01:20] Veronica Lancaster: Yeah, well, my career in standards was somewhat of an accident in that my original interest was in training, development and human resources. I spent five years in the Army when I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted my day job to be, and that was a great learning experience. It helped me develop discipline and drive. After I was honourably discharged, I started focusing on HR and training and development, which led to a job working for a small satellite office that had three employees and was about the size of a bedroom maybe. So, it really left a little room for advancement, even though it was really focused in on developing training and development programs for different organizations. So, at that point, I, I started looking for other jobs that might have a little bit more opportunity for growth, and I found a job working for a telecommunications association that was focused on standardization. I fell in love with the process immediately and I grew within that association. I fell in love with the process itself, getting engineers to work together, and I started working for a few great people that really gave me room to grow, and they mentored me. So, when I started working in telecom standards in the late 1990s, the dotcom boom was still really hot. And there were a lot of companies that were involved at that time. However, the number of women that were working in the development of standardization was limited. Within telecommunications, it seemed to depend really on the specific field of expertise regarding how many women were participating. So, for example, we saw stronger participation from women in ordering and billing, as well as in network rating and routing. But other areas such as optical networking, timing and synchronization and packet technologies and systems, they were heavily male. Many other committees in telecommunications, but that's a pretty good example of how it gets started, but you know, it's starting to get better.

[00:03:31] Host: And where is the standards development field now with regard to greater diversity and inclusion and gender responsiveness.

[00:03:40] Veronica Lancaster: I believe that there is greater awareness about the importance of diversity, inclusion, and gender responsiveness, which is a great start to improving behavioural changes. As part of my volunteer work, as you mentioned, I'm the president of the Board of Directors for Women in Standards. And that's an organization that's focused on promoting the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in standardization. We're a fairly small organization with over 500 individual members. But our beginnings were humble. We really started as a networking organization. We were supporting the importance of getting to know each other in the field. So, we started with just a few networking events among, women that were working in standardization in the Washington DC area. It's an interesting community in that, a lot of people that work in the community tend to stay involved in standards. Like me, they love it. So, as we started with just a few friends getting together now and then We grew into an organization that incorporated in 2019. These women that participated, they could see the importance of networking, sharing information, and learning from each other and supporting each other. So, what I love seeing, is how internationally that's been, going down the same path. For example, in my personal work in the International Electro Technical Commission, also known as the IEC, I'm never sure if everyone knows what that is, but they're a global organization that's focused on bringing more than 170 countries together to create international standards. So, we had a very similar experience in the IEC. I work within a couple of technical committees, but specifically TC 100, which is similar to the work that CTA does, in audio and video and multimedia. When I started, there were only a few women that were participating, but we began to gravitate toward each other, and we started creating our own network. Throughout our time we began hosting dinners during our face-to-face meetings, and we started discussing issues and challenges that we were all facing, and that led to support and growth. We began to volunteer more. When I started working in this TC, the leadership was mostly male. However, I'm happy to say that many of the women in that network were now holding leadership positions within TC 100, and were also our nation's head of delegations at times. So throughout that support, we volunteer to be leaders of working groups, ad hoc groups, strategic groups. And TC 100 is now chaired by a woman, Ulrike Haltrich of Sony, and she represents Germany. And she's part of that original network, so I'm happy to call them all friends, but I'm happy to see that that awareness and that support and networking overall, it's led to greater things for all of us. I think, networking and mentoring and these types of scenarios can lead to greater confidence and support through caring and friendship.

[00:07:01] Host: So, with the networking and awareness and all the exposure that you've had to the international community of women, what will it make easier for women, particularly young and emerging professionals, to have a greater voice on the decision-making table?

[00:07:16] Veronica Lancaster: Yeah, I thought it's a great question. I think. Coming back to networking and mentoring. Those are two of the greatest tools that can be used to boost confidence and support a talented professional, whether they're just starting a career or showing an aptitude for standardization. I have a colleague on my team that originally started in CTAs research department. Her master's degree in her education is really focused on research. Research has a really nice alignment with standardization in that you can start to see how some of the trends are indicators of future standardization needs. So, she helped us support our standardization efforts throughout the pandemic and even though we all started our work thinking it was just temporary, she fell in love with the work and with how standards are built. So, when we, you know, started to come through the pandemic and we had a job opening, she applied internally and, she's been with us for a couple of years now. She has such a strong interest in learning more about national standardization efforts, as well as international standardization efforts. So, we're really thrilled to have her. She has that natural understanding of the linkage between the trends, that you'll find through research and the need for standardization in emerging areas that can support those trends. But she really has a knack for understanding the importance of the process itself. So, through that introduction to standardization. Mentoring and maintaining that networking connection with her after the temporary work was over, we created a new standardization professional. So, I'm excited to see her take the reign someday. I think she's going to be in it for the long haul, and that's exciting. So, To me, that's really what's important. Mentoring those that you see have a natural understanding and ability maintaining your network. And also, I think it's especially important for women to see themselves in the leadership roles that they aspire to hold someday. I remember attending an international event with a younger professional on my team years ago, and we were watching an opening ceremony and she mentioned to me we're sitting next to each other that it was, kind of a stark image to see a sea of men in black suits in the opening ceremony. And she wasn't wrong. So, I think we have to think about what we're projecting and what that represents to the next generation. So, in addition to networking and mentoring, could start considering what it is that we're projecting. You know, is it more of the same or can we make an effort to make diversity, equity, and inclusion a priority?

[00:10:10] Host: And as more women step forward and take on leadership roles, what needs to happen for the standards development community itself to come together to make sure that these voices are truly heard, where it matters.

[00:10:24] Veronica Lancaster: You know, I think awareness is a huge factor. For example, the, the US hosted the, the last IEC general meeting in San Francisco over the last week of October, in the first week of November of this year. During that time, our meetings were face to face for the first time since the start of the pandemic. However, a lot of progress has been made, within gender responsive standards initiatives. So, for example, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Gender Responsive Standards Initiative. That itself led to future work by a variety of international standards bodies such as the IEC ISO, ASTM International, and then there's a variety of national and regional standards bodies that support gender responsive standards, and that includes governmental authorities, regional organizations, UN organizations, such as the International Trade Centre and UNICEF, as well as academic and research institutions. So, let's talk a little bit about gender responsive standards and, and what they are. These are standards that consider the distinct and different needs for different genders. They also consider, the efficacy of that standard and how it supports all people, so it's not separate standards for different genders. But rather one that considers equity and balanced representation, and that's within the standard and the development of the standard. So, considering you, you're the makeup of the engineers that are there to support it. So, in my opinion, it's that progress and awareness that has started to change thinking. During. IEC general meetings, I watched some of my colleagues from Japan propose changes to the minutes to change the word chairman to chair, and they noted that inclusiveness is the reason. Right. Isn't that great? Yeah, so it's that awareness shift that I think we're making, and I think that's going to lead to hearing more voices by really understanding that inclusiveness is something we, we must and should consider. We're going to look beyond the traditional wording and the implication of using that kind of wording. For example, within coding you'll see words like master and slave used to explain the relationship of, you know, one technology to the other. But we could use different wording, I think by considering, and realizing what those words mean. We'll start to make changes and I think that awareness begins to change the way that we think. So, I think there's still more work to be done, though. I think this is a fascinating one for me. Thinking about, both the recent surveys that we've done in Women in Standards and Crash Test Dummies. So back in 2020 Women in Standards, we did a survey of our members. And we asked them about, what the participation of women in standards committees look like. So, I think this was in mid-2020, in July of 2020, even at that point, the participation was 30% or less. So that's interesting. Even though we're seeing some differences, we're still not quite there yet. And the, the crash test dummy is the one that really hits home with the difference in gender responsive standards. Standards Council of Canada highlighted risks of under representation in their study it was called When One Size Does Not Protect All. So, they identify different risks with, with the crash test dummy. So, what they noted and it's really interesting is that the risk of being injured or killed in a car accident is 73% greater for women because crash test dummies are based on male anatomy. So, the majority of safety policy and research, it's based on a 171-pound, five-foot, nine-inch male body, and it's 26 pounds heavier than a female. We have huge differences in male and female anatomy. And there's been requests to regulators, automakers and, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US to get a true female crash test dummy. But you know, it's starting to get there. , I've read a couple of articles about some Swedish engineers that are working on one, and also a, a group that's working with. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to begin using a female crash test dummy. So, I think right now what they're doing is they're using a scale down male version but that represents only the smallest percentage of like 5% of females. So, it's equivalent to like a typical 12- or 13-year-old male. So, we need, we do need to see progress and to me it's interesting that we're only just starting to see that progress but it's a great example of, of why we need gender responsive standards.

[00:15:39] Host: And as that awareness and those conversations begin as a senior woman in standards leader, how can you hold these institutions and industries more accountable for their diversity inclusion manifestos, policies, and all that they're saying right now?

[00:15:54] Veronica Lancaster: Yeah, I think it's important that we're willing to speak up about it. We need to tell everyone about the importance of diversity and inclusion, and we need to demand its consideration. For example, when I'm participating on a panel, or if, CTA is producing a panel, whether that's at the consumer electronics show or it's at our different, events we ensure that the panel is at least 40% diverse. So, if the panel is not diverse, and we're asked to participate, we should decline or we should ask them to consider that it be at least 40% diverse. By demanding that diversity is considered, we're going to start to hear interesting perspectives we might not have considered previously. And also, what I think is good is that we're giving opportunity to the next generation of speakers, influencers, engineers, inventors. And if we're really not considering factors such as gender, race, age, religion, or culture, we're leaving those voices out of the equation. So, gender is a great place to start. It's, easy to consider having at least a 40% diverse makeup of panellists, by gender. And then we should consider race, age, religion, culture, and the audience that we're trying to reach. You know, is the audience a national audience? Is it international? What is the message that we're trying to convey? So, I think when we're, you know, if I go back to that colleague, I was talking about that I brought to the international meeting, it was such an obvious thing to her that gender was not considered right, um, nor was race, age, or any other factors. She was right. So, I think we have to consider that message and we have to demand that consideration. That's going to start to make changes. It's, it's definitely for CTA started to make changes in the content that we're developing and the panelists that we're inviting to be a part of it, and it's been great so far. You know, we're getting to hear from a lot of different people that we really weren't getting to hear from before. If you're focused only on, you know, the absolute, top of the line speaker, like a Tim Cook from Apple. That's a great voice to hear, but we've definitely heard that voice, right? Mm. I think we have to consider other voices to bring to the table to get those additional perspectives.

[00:18:26] Host: And getting those additional perspectives means that, apart from just mentorship, what about succession planning? The next generation of professionals, the next generation of influencers, how important is that?

[00:18:37] Veronica Lancaster: It is so important. Throughout my career. I've met different friends and colleagues and I treasure those relationships. But more than that, I think about those that I would like to see carry the torch when I'm ready to retire. So over time, I've maintained those relationships with colleagues that I admire, and I've been lucky enough to nurture those relationships across different employers and bring them with me. So, that's been great. To me there's no greater accomplishment to, um, than to see those people that I've supported as a supervisor, as a mentor, or as a friend, to see them move forward in their careers. That means everything to me. I think it also, you know, it's important that we leave the world better than how we found it. So, that can be done through teaching what we've learned to the next generation and identifying, you know, things that they can do. And, and give them those positions. I think that we should not be afraid of succession planning. I've seen that in, in some different committees where we have, an engineer that has participated for a long time and in some companies it's difficult to come up with resources. And so rather than creating a succession plan, they just get by. But when we lose that person in the standards committee, we've lost that person. You know that that experience, it's gone. So, rather than fearing succession planning. I think if we look at how mentoring can really create the next generation of leaders, you know, especially looking back, going through the dotcom bust, I went through and a few recessions, you know, I, I've seen that nervousness around succession and planning. But for me personally, I've, you know, been able to create a network and, and see that network grow. I'm excited when my teammates are able to take on new leadership roles. and it's a good thing. It's, it's making sure that, you know, if we're honest with ourselves, it's a great thing to teach the next generation to survive with your knowledge.

[00:20:56] Host: While there are many SDOs and industry bodies working on gender responsive standards. How can they have more impact on the ground, not just in specific regions, but also globally? You attended the IEC's general meeting. What really stood out for you?

[00:21:11] Veronica Lancaster: Many things stood out for me, such as the examples of the secretariat for TC 100, considering inclusiveness in how we write our minutes, and the impact that such words have, but also in how many people attended and how we were able to network. We were able to see growth in the number of diverse leaders from different countries and genders, and that sticks out for me. But I think also in how we continue to cherish and nurture our networks over the years and through the pandemic, it's really important to consider those networks on the ground and to promote those networks. Mentoring and succession planning are important outputs of those networks. So, not only do we want to support the next generation, but we need to be able to transition our own work as we move up. And I think that, networking specifically at the IEC general meeting, is an important way to do that. So, the USNC we held, a Women at the IEC luncheon where we invited all of the women delegates that were, attending that day, if they had the time, we invited them to come have a lunch with us. And we were able, within the USNC to discuss some of the initiatives that are important to us. And we also initiated a survey in order to gather feedback from the guests that were attending so that we could learn what's important to them, what are the, you know, what's the relationship building aspects that they would like to see? Where could we have more cultural understanding? Because those are all important factors in negotiating consensus, and specifically in international standardizations, they're very important factors. So, through that networking, through that relationship building, we're, we're teaching that next generation where we're supporting the future of standardization.

[00:23:07] Host: And it's interesting that you alluded to culture because of course a lot of our previous guests alluded to cultural and regional sensitivities. How do you balance that with the mission to have more women in leadership positions?

[00:23:20] Veronica Lancaster: Yeah, it's a great question. I think a solid understanding of what those cultural and regional sensitivities are that's going to be important as a mentor and as a leader. But it's also important in, in how we, address some of these factors in building international standards, and in succession planning. So not only should a leader understand what's important in negotiating that consensus, but a leader has to be willing to train the next generation on why these things are important, why understanding of different cultural and regional sensitivities factor into diversity, equity, and inclusion. This all leads to a greater understanding of cultural and regional sensitivities. I think that's really important aspect in, in negotiating that consensus. We need to have more of those voices at the table, sharing their perspectives to achieve greater understanding. But we also have to be willing to understand where those other voices are coming from. So, I think having more women in leadership positions does not limit that understanding. I think it broadens it. I think if we consider the total population of women in 2021, it was 49.59%. and some of my favorite statistics in looking at women in STEM positions and specifically in STEM leadership positions, there's a variety of surveys, but it, it averages at women participating at approximately 25% to 27%. And then if you look at the leaders, the, the female leaders in those roles, that's around 10% to 11%. So, there's a lot of room for us to help broaden those positions. I think if you, start looking at that, at just the, you know, the even number of male and females in our population and then looking at trying to even that out more in the leadership roles that we hold, it's going to provide a more balanced perspective of the challenges we have as a human race. And then if we drill down by other factors such as race, age, culture, religion, other factors, we can see beyond our own specific challenges. So, the mission to improve greater diversity of women leaders, I think promotes a greater understanding of challenges and hopefully, a diversified leadership, it's going to result in, considering those factors that maybe were not previously considered. It's also going to help the next generation of younger engineers start to see themselves in those roles. So hopefully it's a win overall.

[00:26:11] Host: And it is going to be very broad based because like you said, there's a huge potential. Now clear call to action of this podcast is to have more women on STPs. So, for listeners of this conversation, what must they bring to the arena to really make a difference?

[00:26:29] Veronica Lancaster: Well, my greatest advice is to nurture your network, mentor when you can, consider succession planning as you advance. And really think about the words that you use. Think about that awareness that we can create by having these discussions. Treasure your relationships if you have a chance to mentor someone that you think can really represent the next generation. Do it. Not only is that going to be personally rewarding, but it's going to create allies and supporters that may wish to follow you, when you are hiring in the future. My experience has been exactly that. I've nurtured relationships and kept in contact with friends and stellar employees and and colleagues. And throughout that I've been able to support those careers and help them build their dreams, but also create my own dream team. And it's been an interesting experience in that some of the executives I've worked with throughout my time, they're aware of that network. So, when they're looking for someone, they'll ask me for recommendations and for opinions. So hopefully I have the chance, even if it's not working with me directly, it's working with people that I would recommend and, and them getting to know those, those great skills that they have as well. So, you know, I think that, rather than thinking that you’re training your replacement consider you're supporting your own successful retirements. You know, you're transferring knowledge to the next generation, and hopefully you're leaving the profession in a better place than how you found it. I think that helps you to identify, how to fill gaps when that's needed, but it also creates those relationships that are so meaningful and loyalty. I think when you truly care about the people you're nurturing and mentoring, they also care about you, and they become loyal to you. That's really the, the best advice I can give. it's certainly been successful for me. I have a dream team now, so I'm very excited about that. Hopefully, everyone out there can start building their dream team as well.

[00:28:50] Host: And just hearing you on this podcast is just like adding a whole new dimension and network. So, Veronica, thank you so much for being part of the Word to the W.I.S.E. Network and the podcast in speaking to us.

[00:29:03] Veronica Lancaster: Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I'm, really excited to be a part of this.