Women in Artificial Intelligence: Questions & Advice

This month’s host is Camilla Kwong who's in the process of taking a new position heading up automation for a multi-national mass media and information company.

Experience at the University of Cambridge, IBM, Goldman Sachs and Close Brothers have informed her insight...

1. Are you clear on the scale of ambition and the strategy of your organisation? Don’t just deliver, have a vision and know where you are aiming, then design the right approach. E.g. Do you just want to save some cost in your company or do you want to be leading edge in automation? The approach, effort and investments are all very different.

2. Have you been surrounding yourself with the right people? Surround yourself with passionate, honest and smart people you can learn and rely on. Also surround yourself with people who believe in you and will help you grow.

3. Focus on your passion and skills, not title - passion is infectious and drives tenacity and superior delivery. It will earn you respect and credibility, the title and rewards will follow.

4. Get to the point – short, sharp, confident. The more words you use, you soften your message or seems verbose. If have a reaction, make sure it is factual and don’t hold grudge, it’s about business.

5. Learn the rules of the game and play by them – understand the strategy and the boundary. Learn what they are and some of the unwritten rules e.g. learn to use small talks in the corridor to share some of the great things you are working on. Perception is key. Don’t avoid politics it is just business relationship skills.

6. Assume equality and speak up – focus on achieving the objective of the conversation, don’t worry about who is more senior than others. If you are invited to the meeting, you have a voice on the table.

7. Create your legacy – what will people remember you of? Being a nice person to work with and coming to work to do your job is not doing enough.

Please see the following pieces which highlight lessons learned on AIIA best practice approach and strategy:

Rediscovering key principles for intelligent workforce success

Driving a stratety that combines rule-based automation and machine learning

Increasing agility, reducing cost and elevating CX with man-machine collaboration