028: The GENDER LEADERSHIP DIVIDE w/ VMWare & Lean In Singapore's Uma Thana Balasingam

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of initiatives that have raised global awareness about the importance of gender diversity, the challenge of the gender pay gap - as well as the issue of a lack of women in senior leadership positions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But while these initiatives draw more attention to these issues, what I want to understand is has this attention led to progress. Are we getting any closer to closing the Gender Gap?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And today’s guest, Uma Thana Balasingam, is ideally suited to help me delve deeper into this question.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In her day job, she’s the Vice President of the Partner & Commercial Organization for VMWare in Asia Pacific. She has also been recognised by CRN in their “Most Powerful Women of the Channel” global list, and she also features in Singapore’s Top 100 Women in IT.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But she does so much more across the ICT ecosystem than just that. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She’s also the Co-Founder of Lean In’s Singapore Chapter and the Founder of Lean In Women in Tech Asia and  Women in Tech Singapore. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Show Notes:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">02:00 Intro to Uma - how she got where she is today</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">07:20 The opportunities the pandemic created for VMWare</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">10:00 How has the pandemic affected how you communicate with your internal and external teams?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">14:00 What do you understand today from a business perspective that you wish you understood 5 or 10 years ago?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">17:00 How has an introvert thrived in what many would think are extrovert roles?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">20:00 We hear about gender equality and the ge