Elisa Steele, EVP of Strategy & CMO at Jive Software, invited three women to share their successes, challenges, and advice as female leaders in tech. The panelists are Elissa Murphy, CTO & EVP of Cloud Platforms at GoDaddy; Elisa Jagerson, CEO and Owner at Speck Design; and Lisa Stone, CEO and Co-founder at BlogHer.

1. Women in Leadership
Highlights
Elisa Jagerson
CEO of Speck
Design
Elissa Murphy
EVP at Go Daddy
Lisa Stone
CEO of BlogHer
Elisa Steele
CMO & EVP of Strategy at
Jive

2. I get asked by the media, ‘How do you
get a seat at the table?’ These women…
they didn’t ask. They just pulled up a
chair.
- Elisa Steele

3. “How do you handle it when things aren’t all rosy?”
If it's hard, I just try to get curious.
What am I here to learn?
When it's not hard, I just try to absorb
the opportunity for awe.
- Elisa Jagerson

4. “How do you want to call out the opportunities and challenges as a female executive?”
I have really learned three things: The first is that it is absolutely
essential that you not demonstrate gender bias in your
networking… let men be people too… Watching how [women
leaders] dress, walk, and conduct themselves is a real thing…
The last thing I would remember is…to listen.
- Lisa Stone

5. The bottom line is going back and figuring out the point at which you decided
you have an idea that is so obvious to you and so important in the marketplace
that you are willing to go for it.
- Lisa Stone

6. “How do you manage a work/life balance, and what is your philosophy?”
There is a flip generation there, where some of us either have
to go to work or choose to go to work… We are pioneers in
that regard. I say to myself regularly, “I have no idea how this
is done, but my daughter is going to know a lot better.”
- Elisa Jagerson

7. A label is limiting. It doesn’t actually
capture somebody. So why take one
on?
-Elissa Murphy

8. “Do women have to give up their soft side to lead?”
Do men have to give up their soft side? I sincerely hope
not. We should take back both bossy and sissy!
- Lisa Stone
The real most important thing is knowing who you are,
and being aware of it... People lose sight of that so
frequently.
- Elissa Murphy

9. “What are you great at?”
I'm great at love. I really love when I love,
I love hard.
- Elisa Jagerson