Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Gaby Koren of Glassbox On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Always be on time: Being mindful of your time as well as the time of others is the basis of respect between humans. Your punctuality is how you create a first impression, it is also how you balance your schedule and avoid rushing from one meeting to another. People who work for me know that I start meetings on time. I’ve learned to lead by example, which has driven mindful, respectful, and punctual behavior in others.
In the United States in 2022, fields such as Aircraft piloting, Agriculture, Architecture, Construction, Finance, and Information technology, are still male-dominated industries. For a woman who is working in a male-dominated environment, what exactly does it take to thrive and succeed? In this interview series, we are talking to successful women who work in a Male-Dominated Industry who can share their stories and experiences about navigating work and life as strong women in a male-dominated industry. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Gaby Koren.
With over 20 years of sales and leadership experience, Glassbox Chief Revenue Officer Gabriela (Gaby) Koren pilots her team in growing the organization in emerging markets and optimizing operations. Since joining the team in 2019, she has significantly expanded business in the Americas by cultivating new customers, partners, and employees. Her vast experience in leading organizations with various go-to-market methodologies and introducing new solutions into several markets, geographies, and segments, has led businesses to scale and grow.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”? Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
Before I became involved in the tech industry, I was a captain in the Israel Defense Forces. I had a clear path to finish my military service, complete my psychology studies, devote myself to the subject, and open a practice. Of course, my life did not follow this path.
Before I could dive into the psychology field, someone I knew from the military mentioned to me that they were looking for a part-time sales representative at a technology company. They described it as an easy role in which I could make some extra money while studying. Needless to say, I fell in love with sales, with the tech industry, and with growth strategies. The rest is history.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I was doing business internationally and I was very upset at our representative due to a deal that wasn’t progressing well. I was harsh in the meeting and laid down the reasons why we required adjustments- I put together a clear strategy.
When I finished, the three men in the meeting spoke in the local language that I didn’t understand. I asked for a translation and the answer was, “We are not used to a woman talking to us this way”. I took a few deep breaths so I could think of how to respond, and calmly said, “Do you agree with the facts?”. They answered, “Yes,” and a great business result came after. This led me to learn a lesson and instilled a guiding principle: I can’t change my gender, but I can certainly affect the outcome of the deal.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
This is an excellent question. The three character traits I would choose:
Planning: The ability to understand what tasks are the most important for that day or week allows me to plan accordingly and have clear priorities.
Trusting your intuition, but verifying: My success is in large part owed to surrounding myself with the best talent — people that push the entire organization forward and are not afraid to challenge ideas. However, that doesn’t mean that I can detach myself from operations. As a leader, it is important to trust your intuition and business acumen while also checking it against the opinions and expertise of your team. Being able to empower and delegate, while also being open and keeping in constant communication, is key.
Pragmatic decision-making: My role as a leader is to “clean the road” so my people can do their job. This requires me to reprioritize and make decisions multiple times a day. I learn to be pragmatic and decisive — not to over-debate.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you help articulate a few of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome while working in a male-dominated industry?
Over my two decades of working for enterprise organizations, I’ve encountered many different obstacles and challenges as a woman. When I worked in certain international countries, I was firmly advised to never mention my age — I was in my thirties at the time. I learned that being a woman is a challenge in some of the countries with traditionally patriarchal societies, and to add my relatively young age would make things harder within the workplace.
Throughout my career, I’ve truly discovered what it means to stretch oneself. I’ve had to deftly juggle my advancement and responsibilities at work with raising a family. I learned about prioritization and balance, but to also rely on my family, friends, and support system in order to make it all work. Trying to do it all alone is not realistic.
Can you share a few of the things you have done to gain acceptance among your male peers and the general work community? What did your female co-workers do? Can you share some stories or examples?
As a woman with a majority of male peers, I often find myself having an extra drive to prove my worth and succeed. It feels like you are on a stage under the spotlight and everybody is watching, ready to criticize you. Some are even waiting for you to fail.
Over time, I learned that I got to where I am regardless of my gender because of my skills, passion, and willingness to work hard and give my best. Acceptance came when I let my experience and track record speak for themselves.
One of the best pieces of advice I received from a former boss was to refrain from expecting everybody to like me. The perception that males are tough and women are leading with softness is often wrong and overly stereotypical. In reality, those lines are blurred. To gain success in work and to earn widespread respect, I learned to lead with “tough but fair”, pushing traditional gender considerations out of the way.
What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?
Depending on the industry and the roles they are trying to fill, there are many things these organizations can do. I would start by encouraging executives at male-dominated businesses to learn what the women that currently work at their company like and dislike about the organization’s culture.
Leaders should work to identify what is important for women within their company and the wider industry and understand what their organization is missing. By creating a dialogue and a female-led council, businesses can gather the best ideas and use them to improve recruiting efforts targeting women.
Additionally, organizations should always monitor gender diversity ratios, tracking workforce metrics and setting goals. If ratios fall below business expectations, executives must immediately take corrective measures by working with additional or different recruiters, offering incentives, implementing new benefits to aid retention, and more.
Organizations must also learn to celebrate their diversity and find ways to make female employees feel recognized and valued.
Ok, thank you for all of that. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
A few years ago I created the “5 principles by which I live my life”. Each of these principles has helped me thrive and succeed as a woman in a male-dominated industry. I developed these principles after a lot of thought and self-searching, and after a career spent navigating a series of challenges. I’ve shared these with my children, colleagues, peers and more.
These five guideposts have kept me centered and focused in work and in life, helping to advance my career:
Always be on time: Being mindful of your time as well as the time of others is the basis of respect between humans. Your punctuality is how you create a first impression, it is also how you balance your schedule and avoid rushing from one meeting to another. People who work for me know that I start meetings on time. I’ve learned to lead by example, which has driven mindful, respectful, and punctual behavior in others.
As women, we tend to keep more balls in the air; being on time helps us maintain balance and prioritization. When we’re on time at work, we can also make sure we’re carving out time for ourselves, which is crucial for sustaining productivity and innovation.
Be humble: Humility for me doesn’t mean being insecure. Instead, staying humble reminds me that I can always learn from others, from every interaction and every experience. Being humble means that I take time to listen and process information. I’ve seen women in male-dominated industries and organizations afraid to ask questions or voice their opinion for fear of how they are perceived. Humility can help them find their voice.
Within my teams at Glassbox, we’ve started a process in which we do peer-to-peer post-mortem analysis. We evaluate won or lost business by asking team members at random to run an analysis of what worked and what didn’t. Knowing that today someone may analyze your case and tomorrow you may analyze someone else eliminated ego, enabling everyone to approach the process with humility. This has allowed us to improve and capitalize on what we do well.
Be optimistic: Maintaining optimism is not to be mistaken with always seeing a rosy picture and not acknowledging realities. Especially being a minority woman, consistent discrimination and hardships can become a burden that impact one’s overall demeanor leading to a lack of confidence. I always remind my kids and the people that report to me to find a bright spot, a happy thought, a profound quote to help them gain perspective. One of my favorite quotes is from Nelson Mandela: “I never lose, I either win or I learn.”
Optimism is crucial to success- we must keep our heads up and believe in a brighter future if we are going to continue to thrive.
Never burn a bridge: The world is a small village and the relationships you build today may serve you tomorrow. Learning to never burn a bridge, even in adversarial situations, will pay in arrears in the future. Learning how to manage conflict is among the most valuable lessons to master, especially as a woman in a male-dominated setting.
We recently celebrated a major business win with an organization in which the main stakeholder and the account executive had encountered each other in previous roles at other companies. While this doesnt shorten the sales cycle, nor does it replace the hard work required, by not burning that bridge our team was able to secure significant new business, increasing organizational revenue. Maintaining relationships is a science and an art!
Always have a Plan B: Constantly running “what if” scenarios and learning to play ‘corporate strategy chess’ by always envisioning all possible next steps is key to success. I’ve seen too many women afraid to make a move, nervous to ask for a raise or a new position. When you envision all outcomes, it decreases the number of surprises you might face, which lets you plan ahead and think things through calmly. More often than not, this reduces stress and ensures you are making the right decisions.
As an executive, I work to train my employees to think ahead by always asking “what is your plan” and “what if”. This forces all of us to develop multiple forward-looking plans and ask the right questions to decrease surprises and increase preparedness.
If you had a close woman friend who came to you with a choice of entering a field that is male-dominated or female-dominated, what would you advise her? Would you advise a woman friend to start a career in a field or industry that’s traditionally been mostly men? Can you explain what you mean?
When thinking about this question, I tried to think of different scenarios and what advice I would give. For starters, I would encourage my friend to go with her heart and choose a field in which she would find passion and purpose. Entering a field based on what you’re excited about is far more important than choosing a career path based on the ratio of men to women within the industry. Passion and heart will lead to a much longer and happier career.
In a way, long-term success and advancement in your field of choice relates to how much competition you have around you. A woman in a male-dominated field can find herself being unique, standing out, bringing perspectives that otherwise may be missed. On the other hand, a field predominantly dominated by women may provide more work-life balance, better benefits, more flexibility, less office politics. The question to my friend would be: what is the most important for you, what are your ambitions?
Have you seen things change for women working in male-dominated industries, over the past ten years? How do you anticipate that it might improve in the future? Can you please explain what you mean?
There is no doubt that over a span of 10 years a lot has changed for women in male-dominated industries. Not enough, but certainly changed for the better. Things are changing from 2 perspectives that create this “perfect storm” for women: barriers are breaking for women. We are now able to do every role and are allowed to aspire to fill every position across industries. Additionally, women now have access to increased support from their families and society, which are enabling them to pursue careers more freely than ever before.
Looking ahead, the way to make lasting change requires both a top-down and a bottom-up approach. When the military changes its policies, when the entertainment industry decreases the salary gap, when women run for president and a woman is elected Vice President, it sends a message to future generations that powerful, driven, accomplished women are the norm and that anything is possible regardless of gender. For those that enter the workforce after glass ceilings have been shattered, it will be easier. Then the ratios will start to even, once male-dominated industries will see a gender balance among employees, and female leaders will become more prevalent and more accepted by society.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
There are so many inspiring women in prominent and major roles across industries, sectors and roles that I would be thrilled to speak with. Every opportunity I have to interact with executives, I’m honored! If I could wish for a private breakfast or lunch with anyone, I would dream of sitting down with Billie Jean King. I hope she’s reading this interview. She not only changed the world of tennis, but her activism and leadership created a butterfly effect that opened doors for women in many other sports and business areas. She was (and is) a trailblazer, achieving progress with every hard-earned step she took. If not lunch, maybe Billie would take me up on a match?
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Gaby Koren of Glassbox On The Five Things You… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.