Priscilla Rogers, Director and Co-Founder of DOFTEK on smashing stereotypes, thriving in risk and infusing empathy into creating real-life solutions
In this episode Shadé Zahrai interviews Priscilla Rogers. Priscilla is the Director and Co-Founder of DOFTEK, the leading developer of innovative suspension systems for the automotive industry. She is also the Director and Co-Founder of Green Brands, Director of Australia Dementia Network Limited, Digital Health CRC and an Adjunct Professor at the La Trobe University. Priscilla is also Director and Investor of Upstart Innovations. Valuable Discussion Points (01:36) What is the story of Priscilla’s leadership journey? For Priscilla her leadership journey started well before she thought it did and well before she thought she was a leader or at least recognised as one. For her, it's been in the context of entrepreneurship and innovation. Her parents had a small country bakery at the time and this is where she decided to make and sell fabulous rocky road. What she discovered that amused her was she was actually selling the product at a loss because she hadn't quite worked out this concept of cost of goods sold. It was at this point where she started to look for opportunities to create, to take risks and really to learn. (09:15) What advice does Priscilla have for other women who are in STEM and in male-dominated industries to really thrive and deliver their best? Her advice to the younger generation and to any females, who are wanting to pursue STEM and male-dominated industries is, do not look at their compassion and their empathy as a disadvantage, but rather embrace that along with their emotional intelligence, to really set themselves apart and to help whatever venture that they are doing to be successful. (14:55) When it comes to having a really impactful and energising career, what is Priscilla’s formula for success if she wants to be really good at something? You need to do what you truly love. Priscilla believes that passion and success are closely intertwined. She believes it's important to realise that success is different for a technical person. So it's so important to find what you love and also to find people that you love to work with. Time is the most precious commodity. (16:32) What are the biggest lessons that Priscilla learnt about leadership and about teamwork that have come from specifically working with the person that she is closest with? Priscilla has been really privileged to be able to work with her husband as she has so much respect for what he is naturally good at and the leadership roles that he takes on. So it's very easy to learn and take guidance from him in areas that she knows he's strong and passionate in. She believes that on the reciprocal side, he also looks to her and her strengths in other areas and it is through this teamwork that they lead and learn with each other. Key Learnings Females have an enormous capacity to be great engineers, great founders and great innovators. Women are naturally blessed with the ability to clearly gravitate towards technical thinking. Their natural instinct as females however, enables them to work with an elite level of emotional and social intelligence. These skills and empathy is an aspect that really does set them apart within the field of engineering and their career. You often find that the most successful women have a very strong purpose and vision throughout their career journey. It's about the why for them, it's not often focused on the status or money. They are able to be very empathetic, when it comes to understanding customers, listening to their needs and innovating for them. This drive for an empathetic process has become a pivotal reason for a more focused human-centred design in STEM and has led women to pilot these innovative positions in the workforce. Priscilla added the research findings of the MIT Sloan Business School to the Leadership Toolbox. The research shows the need to redefine the way we think about and refer to soft skill. There is nothing soft about soft skills. This is not a lesser skill compared to hard ski