by Margaret Dawson | Jun 4, 2020 | Speaking Abstracts
Margaret’s premier presentation on finding your true light
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We are all meant to shine…” Marianne Williamson
When we were young, most of us were encouraged to “be ourselves” and find our passion. But somewhere along the path through puberty and to adulthood, our inner voice and external guidance vastly changed. Today, we find ourselves hiding our light and even being criticized for the very traits that make us unique and beautiful.
Women leaders in technology and business perhaps face this more than other groups, and all of us have learned to navigate this world in different ways. However, this is a global, human phenomenon.
Join Margaret Dawson, as she takes us on her journey of rediscovering her true light, providing guidance and humor to help everyone remember not only what their inner light is but how to let it shine in spite of the critics and societal guidelines.
Download the abstract here.
by Margaret Dawson | Jun 4, 2020 | Speaking Abstracts
Achieving Digital Leadership Together
Digital Transformation efforts span an entire organization. Becoming a digital leader requires accelerating innovation, adopting new technologies and transforming the user experience to achieve deeper human connections. This requires a new level of collaboration between the CMO and CIO and their teams on technology spend and socializing IT and architectural plans within the two departments.
And yet, for many companies, the tension between IT and the business is at an all time high. Marketing tech now rivals most corporate IT stacks. The two sides often disagree on cloud services, marketing applications, data management, and security policies. It’s time to break down the silos between IT and Marketing in order to successfully transform.
Join Margaret Dawson, an IT industry veteran and marketing executive, who has advised IT and marketing leaders for two decades. In this session, you will learn how to create digital transformation plans and processes that work for both IT and marketing.
Download the abstract here.
by Margaret Dawson | Jun 4, 2020 | Speaking Abstracts
The reality of hybrid cloud architecture
Almost every CIO I talk to says they have a “cloud-first” strategy, and they are putting everything in the public cloud. This is typically driven by cost reduction mandates, and the impression that public cloud is the only way to gain advantage in their digital transformation. However, this approach is neither realistic or reality.
Public cloud is absolutely a vital part of a next-generation architecture and needed to achieve digital leadership. However, no application is an island. And when pursuing this cloud-first strategy, many organizations don’t take the time to develop a smart cloud strategy or application assessment process.
For any workload, there are dependencies with other applications, data sources, integration requirements, business processes, and other architectural realities. All of this can take a cloud strategy off the rails faster than you can say AWS.
For nearly every large organization, the reality will be hybrid for a long time to come. And I propose, an open hybrid cloud architecture is the right approach to maintain the agility, flexibility, and security we need.
Margaret Dawson brings real-world examples, data insights, and a fresh perspective to this discussion of cloud computing and a modern IT architecture.
Download the abstract here.
by Margaret Dawson | Jun 4, 2020 | Speaking Abstracts
Leadership traits needed for success
What distinguishes a good leader from a bad leader? Too often, we see the worst examples of leadership at the highest levels. A successful leader is a rare combination of characteristics and skills. One that brings different capabilities and styles depending on the stage of a company, the challenges it faces, its financial status, or its goals.
However, there are some universal traits that are always needed. Margaret Dawson, who has led teams and initiatives at start-ups and Fortune 500 organizations, shares her leadership framework. In it, she outlines six critical traits of a successful leader.
Margaret will walk through these six traits, which are at the core of what separates good enough from greatness in leadership.
- Inspirer
- Manager
- Operator
- Builder
- Transformer
- Empath
Download the abstract here.
by Margaret Dawson | May 25, 2020 | Speaking Abstracts
Six human factors to digital transformation success
Digital transformation is no longer an option. Every organization knows it must become a digital leader to survive and thrive. This is why businesses and governments are throwing trillions of dollars at new technologies. Organizations must build and deliver exciting new software applications. They must continuously innovate, move quickly, adapt, and stay ahead of the never-ending onslaught of digital data, experiences, and channels.
Accordingly, we’ve seen the massive rise of cloud computing, open source technologies, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and many other innovations. However, well over half of all new software or IT projects still fail. That’s because technology alone does not solve digital transformation. It doesn’t address the fundamental issues that block or drive transformational success, and the most critical dependency.
That is people.
Join Margaret Dawson, as she reveals the elements of digital transformation that technology can’t resolve and why human connection is critical to our success. Giving examples of what digital leaders do differently, Margaret will discuss 6 human factors to transformational success.
Download the abstract here.
by Margaret Dawson | May 24, 2020 | Speaking Abstracts
8 Steps We Can all Take Now
It is so easy for us to point fingers at men. If only there wasn’t sexism in the world. If only men would support women leaders more. While everyone can agree there needs to be change in the world by men, there is so much more women can do for other women.
In fact, oftentimes, women are the worst critics of other women. And until all women are intentionally supporting other women, we have no right to blame others.
Join Margaret Dawson, a technology executive and long-time intentional supporter of women and men, in a discussion of what women can do to support each other more. Margaret outlines eight actions we can all start taking now to enable women empowering women.
Download the abstract here.
