The 2022 Women Leaders In Technology: Jody Cordeiro

Jody is a technology leader with more than 25 years of experience with top-tier management consulting firms and in industry. She blends world-class technology strategies with industry leadership expertise to provide significant value and deliver results. Jody's areas of focus are IT strategy, IT transformation, strategic road maps, organizational design, solution development, agile, development and operations, cloud optimization, enterprise architecture, program management, and collaboration. She is recognized for her strong and insightful leadership across multiple industries, including entertainment, insurance, energy, financial services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and retail organizations. Jody has exceptional management, communication, and facilitation skills, and she consistently builds positive and lasting relationships with senior executives, clients, customers, strategic partners, and project teams.

What has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

The biggest factor in my success so far has been the support I've received throughout my career – from co-workers and clients, and most importantly from family and friends. Early on, as a woman in a mostly male-dominated technology industry, I always felt supported by my co-workers and clients. It never felt like I needed to prove myself any more than anyone else on the team. I was met with enthusiastic support for my work and was always encouraged to speak up and share my ideas. This support helped build my confidence and fed my desire to learn and to do my best for my teams and my clients. Confidence, coupled with a track record of providing strong value to clients, created great opportunities in my career for growth and advancement.

Along with support from co-workers and clients, I am fortunate to have a great network of support from my family and friends. As we know, consulting (and technology consulting in particular) has the potential to be challenging when it comes to time commitments and travel requirements.

Like so many families, we've certainly had to work together to adjust schedules and ensure that we continue to keep family as our top priority. My family has always been my biggest cheerleaders, and they have made it possible for me to truly enjoy my time as a consultant. I will forever be grateful for their incredible support.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Some of the best advice I've been given, and the advice I share with others, is to be curious, listen intently, and make sure to speak up when you have a differing opinion. Good consultants are intellectually curious. They want to understand how things work and are always thinking about the best way to address challenging situations. I encourage others to be curious and suggest that they focus this intellectual curiosity on the topics that matter most in the moment. I have also learned that if you have a question about something, it is likely that others have it as well.

Strong listening skills are also critical to success. Sometimes people fall into the trap of feeling like they need to do all the talking to justify why they are in the room. How can you be curious and learn what is going on if you aren't intently listening to others?

This leads me to my final piece of advice: speak up when you have a differing opinion. I learned about this "obligation to dissent" early in my career at McKinsey. No matter whether you are the most junior or the most senior person in the room, it is your obligation to speak up. In fact, the most junior person in the room can often bring some of the best insights to the conversation. Following this advice throughout my career has shown me the value that can come when team members are empowered to speak up and share ideas.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

My career in the consulting industry has given me great opportunities to work with clients across many different industries and geographies. I love that each client is unique, and enjoy learning about each client's history, their objectives, the challenges they are facing, and how we can help. It is so rewarding to be able to quickly build strong relationships with clients and bring experience to the table to help them through their current challenges. As a consultant, you have countless opportunities to continue learning – you learn what works, what doesn't work, what to watch out for, and how to best navigate challenges that will likely be faced by other clients in the future. Over the years, these experiences have allowed me to grow and expand the level of service that I can bring to clients, which is very rewarding. The fast-paced, let's jump-in-and-make-a-difference approach is both challenging and exciting, and it is always very satisfying to be able to make a difference for our clients. I enjoy being able to partner with clients to solve some of their most pressing issues and am always pleased to leave them in a good place knowing they are set up for success. Throughout my career, I've been fortunate to work with and learn from some very talented clients and co-workers, and I always look forward to building new relationships and making new connections on each new engagement.