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Today’s show featured an interview with Olivia Lynch, leader of the Salesforce Women’s Network (SWN).
IES Women in Sales Program Director Gina Stracuzzi conducted the interview as part of the Women in Sales Leadership series of the Sales Game Changers Podcast.
Find Olivia on LinkedIn.
OLIVIA’S TIP: “It’s not bragging if it’s true. You did the thing. What’s the problem in sharing?”
THE PODCAST BEGINS HERE
Gina Stracuzzi: Welcome everyone to another edition of the Women in Sales segment of the Sales Game Changers Podcast. I am very excited to have my guest today, Olivia Lynch, who is the global president of Salesforce’s Women’s Network. I’ve been speaking with Olivia five years or longer now, when we first started talking about how we can all help women in sales, and now she’s got this exciting new role. Welcome Olivia.
Olivia Lynch: Thanks so much, Gina. I am thrilled to be here and just really appreciative for all the work that you all do to support women in sales. Excited to have this conversation.
Gina Stracuzzi: Well, thank you. Right back at you, girlfriend. Tell us about how you got to where you are now. Give us a little bit of your backstory and then we’ll dive into how you got into the Women’s Network inside of Salesforce and ended up the Global President.
Olivia Lynch: I am very lucky that I’ve been at Salesforce for seven years now. I started relatively early in my career, always supporting our public sector business. At the time I was initially a part of our public sector field marketing team, and then moved into a sales programs role where, although I’m not a direct seller, I am supporting our customer-facing resources at all levels and helping them leverage some of our digital tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, for example, to build relationships with their customers and to prospect more effectively. I’m really passionate about using social media and social selling to really build those relationships and effectively sell.
Women’s Network was in parallel with all of this. Salesforce has these 16 employee resource groups, as we call them, which are collections of employees that really come together to rally for different causes, celebrate different milestones, be that cultural or otherwise, and really promote a variety of causes. Our Women’s Network just really appealed to me from the second that I joined. I was looking to meet new people. I wanted to be really successful in my role, new to Salesforce.
I had initially joined as a member. From a member, then I became the President of the Salesforce Women’s Network in DC. I later joined our global board. I served two terms as a mere RVP, so overseeing all of the Women’s Network groups in the US and Canada, and then now starting this year, have the privilege to serve as the global president. These are election-based roles. Salesforce actually has a pretty significant structure around how we run these groups, which is interesting. I say I have my day job and then my yay job because it’s the two jobs simultaneously. But I do feel really passionate about elevating our employees, making sure that they’re having the best experience. Because prior to Salesforce from my own perspective, I was definitely feeling a bit lost in my career looking for really that community of people at work. For me, Women’s Network helped me find that at Salesforce.
Gina Stracuzzi: It sounds it. I love everything about that. It’s quite the journey. I love how you built that relationship and you kept it growing and now you’re at the top of that, which really goes in large part to what we talk about a lot in the forum, which is you’ve got to raise your hand, you’ve got to ask for that visibility, and then when you get it, you can use it to help other women too, not just yourself, which sounds like you’re doing tremendously.
Olivia Lynch: Yeah, I think so. I feel like one of the things that has afforded me this unique opportunity when I started at Salesforce in marketing, my role primarily was with social media, and that was a bit of a mysterious topic still at the time. I think I got comfortable with talking about some of the things that made people uncomfy, and then that turned into advocating for our employees. It was very parallel how my career was moving, and then also some of this stuff with Women’s Network that was happening.
Gina Stracuzzi: You were there at the right time. I always love hearing stories like that. Let’s talk a little bit about the competitive sales environment that we all work in. To that point that we were just discussing, how can women build influence and gain visibility while staying authentic to their values?
Olivia Lynch: At Salesforce we talk a lot about high performance culture, and first and foremost, you’re bringing your A game, you’re hitting your metrics, and that’s the baseline. Then for me, I’m thinking about how can I demonstrate credibility to folks that I may not work with every single day, or who may not be as familiar of that numeric impact that I’m driving to the business, but maybe they see me in another format. I think at its core, you have to be a super networker. You have to be comfortable with talking about the impact that you’re delivering, because not everyone’s going to be familiar with the fact that you hit your quota, you exceeded your quota. It’s always like, what have you done for me lately? I feel like as much as women in sales can build their credibility tailored to their audience, that’s what I see as the biggest opportunity to demonstrate that success.
Gina Stracuzzi: That’s a nice lead into my next question. IES has the designation of Premier Women in Sales Employer, which means it’s a great place for women to work. Salesforce was named a Premier Women in Sales Employer in 2023. Talk to me a little bit about what you see as how the company supports women in sales.
Olivia Lynch: I was thinking about this question a lot because I think a lot of these premier employers do some of the same things really well. I was trying to think about what in my mind differentiates Salesforce. I think we’ve really shifted towards this culture of continuous learning. Right now we’re in a phase of really a shift in how we are aligning our technology and our products to support this idea of digital labor. Agentforce, which is our agentic AI platform, that’s what we’re talking about with our customers, but it’s also what we are using internally to be successful. I feel like Salesforce has really doubled down on helping everyone re-skill and get on board with AI. I think that brings a lot of equality into everyone’s day-to-day work for women specifically.
I think about all the times that I sat in a meeting and it was like, “Hey, can someone take notes?” The person that’s taking notes is probably not actively participating in the meeting. Now if AI can do that on our behalf, it’s taking that burden of some of that additional labor off of members of the team, and allowing them to more actively participate, be vocal, and from a productivity standpoint, I feel has just been such a game changer. Of course, we have great benefits. We have a culture that is supportive, I already talked about our employee resource groups. Those pieces have been longstanding and in place, but I think our biggest differentiator lately has really been about re-skilling with AI.
Gina Stracuzzi: AI is such a game changer, to your point, and to the larger point, it is often women that are asked to take the notes in meetings even if there’s a gentleman that’s more junior. I love that it’s now part of the format that you use the AI to take the notes and so everybody can participate in a meeting equally, which is great, which is a nice lead into the next question. Considering the evolving landscape of DE&I efforts, how do you think companies can create and maintain a safe and supportive workplace environment, especially for women, where they still feel empowered?
Olivia Lynch: Part of what drew me to Salesforce, Marc Benioff, our CEO, years ago had initiated this program around equal pay for equal work and doing that pay evaluation across the organization. Similarly, we’ve talked about equality for all for a really long time. In my mind, companies haven’t necessarily changed whether or not they are doing DEI. It’s really the approach and that re-reminder that this is for everyone. When we’re looking at hiring, we want it to be equitable and fair for everyone. I think it’s reemphasizing some of those practices that have existed all along and making it really clear that we’re trying to bring everyone on the journey. Transparency is probably really the biggest thing that companies can offer to their employees to the level that they’re able to share why decisions are being made, to share what the processes for some of these programs look like.
That’s where I’m seeing that support happening. I think a lot of times in larger organizations, communication is what everyone needs, and it can’t be a world in which you miss one Slack message or one email, and it’s, “Okay,” and now we’re on to the other thing. Consistent communication as much as possible, which I know sounds simple, but I think it’s hard to do in large organizations, and especially in a sales organization where everyone’s trying to move quickly. They have targets to hit, a new month resets the clock. You have to be ever present and ever communicative in this environment.
Gina Stracuzzi: Absolutely. It is so true. I talk to people all the time where that is just this ongoing challenge, because to your point, things are fast-moving and this is what we’re doing and it’s not that we’re trying to not tell you what we’re doing, but it’s not what you’re doing. This is what we’re doing. Then at some point it collides and it’s like, “Why weren’t we told?” But I will say that Salesforce has really been a leader in that transparency. I remember when Rob Stein was still with you, he spoke at a panel at one of our conferences and he was sharing with the audience just the extraordinary lengths you all went to to make sure everyone was paid equally. The whole place was erupting with applause. It is admirable.
Olivia Lynch: Absolutely. I’ll say Salesforce hired leaders like Rob, who was such an impactful leader and genuinely cared about his team. I think that in and of itself just shows organizations can make smart hiring decisions and those folks can be advocates for their teams.
Gina Stracuzzi: Absolutely. Yeah, we miss Rob, just because he was such a great guy to work with. Let’s talk a little bit about some of the biggest challenges. We’ll talk about women in sales, but given your role, you probably hear from women in all kinds of departments in parts of the industry. What are some of the biggest challenges you think women face and what strategies have you seen that work best for overcoming them?
Olivia Lynch: One that is really top of mind that we hear a lot is either not getting feedback at all or not getting feedback that is really usable. A leader might say to them, “You just need to be more confident.” It’s like, “Well, what does that mean? Can you give me an example? Can you point out a meeting where I didn’t speak up and maybe I should have? Can you help coach me to those skills?” I think to some degree, that feedback loop is a challenge. Especially when it comes to broader performance evaluations, I think a lot of us feel like, “When I do this amazing work, it’s just going to get seen and recognized.” Which goes back to my earlier point of you have to be demonstrating that credibility to everyone constantly.
When I think about my own leader, I’m not her only direct report. She might know that I’m doing well, but what specifically am I doing well? I think we have to, as individuals and especially in sales, remind our leaders like, “Here’s all the things that we’re up to,” because honestly, it is ultimately the bottom line, are you closing business? But there are a lot of other steps that go into getting to that point. How can we make sure that we’re communicating that effectively? I find that to be very challenging for people to pause from doing the work and say, I’m going to tell you about the work that I’m doing.
Then I think the last thing is just the work-life integration. I hesitate to say balance, but we’re all busy people. Many folks have families of course, and so they’re trying to be caretakers on so many fronts. They have their social lives, they want to be top-performing people, and it’s trying to find a place and a time for all of that. I think the challenge in that is being able to verbalize their boundaries and get support from their leaders in that. Is it that you have to leave to pick up your child from school and then you’re going to log back on at 6:00? Whatever the case may be, I think there’s this inherent fear in communicating some of those needs.
Really all of these, in my mind, come back to communication, honestly. Getting good feedback, being able to demonstrate your impact, and then being able to communicate what you need that will be mutually beneficial with your leader.
Gina Stracuzzi: I really applaud that advice to ask for clarity and ask for examples. To your point, it’s one of the things that I coach women on too, it’s called a lot of different things, but I always like the brag journal because one, it gives you clarity if you’re having a bad day, like, “Look at all these great things I did.” It’s not always closing a sale, it is helping a customer, helping a coworker, and you got a great email like, “Thank you so much. I couldn’t have done this without you.” All of those things, one, can keep your morale high, but two, to your point, when you sit down in front of your leader, you can say, “These are the things that I’ve accomplished. These are the people I’ve helped. This is what I’ve been doing.” That makes a big difference when you’re trying to go for a raise or promotion or any of those things, because to your point earlier, your leader isn’t just leading you. They’re often leading dozens of people. Being able to sit down in front of somebody with hard facts, it’s really powerful and it’s a good reminder for yourself.
Olivia Lynch: I love the way that you broke that down, because it is so tangible to me. I think that’s also why it resonates for me. I personally want to be able to have this brag book that I can refer back to. Then also goal set as well, because I think sometimes we’re like, “Well, okay, I know what my sales number is, but what am I really working towards here?” I think it helps break it down into more manageable pieces.
Gina Stracuzzi: That’s the key to keeping overwhelm at bay. You look at too much too often, it’s hard. Let’s talk a little bit about mentorship, sponsorship, and the community that you’re building within the Women’s Network, and the roles they play in advancing women’s careers.
Olivia Lynch: First and foremost, community has been massively important. Whether it’s to validate some of that feedback like, “Hey, my leader said this and I’m having a hard time. Do you find that to be true when working with me?” For me personally, I think community has been the number one key to my success so far at Salesforce. I can’t recommend it enough. I think mentorship is a bit challenging because having solely one-to-one relationships I think becomes difficult to manage. The pace of change that we’re all operating at, what I might come to you for advice on this month may be different than what I’m even focused on in the next month. I like the idea of sponsorship and I’m not the first person to say having your board of directors, your whole host of folks that you could go to to ask different questions or for different needs, that’s where I see a lot of opportunity for people. In my mind, communities like Women’s Network can help you create that board of directors.
We had a leader recently, so this is her phrase that I’m going to borrow, but she was essentially like, “My brand walks into a room before I do.” I think about sponsorship in that way, like, who are these people that are part of your community that are going to advocate for you in rooms where you’re not? Rob was that person for a lot of employees at Salesforce. Dave Rey and others, the same. But it goes back to do they have what they need to communicate your impact and understanding the work you do? That’s where I think that idea of mentorship gets challenging, because often it’s people that you admire but you’re not working closely with them. There’s a bit of a disconnect between how familiar are they with your work or what type of advice. The more specific and the more opinions you can have, I think is what I’ve seen help folks be successful.
Gina Stracuzzi: Sponsorship, that’s something that we discuss also in the forum in depth, because it is often one person who really, really knows your work and can speak to it, because they’re putting their reputation on the line by saying, “It’s time for Olivia. She can do this. She’s the person for this job.” That person should really know your work before they put themselves out there. To your point about mentorship, it’s really interesting because mentors can take so many different roles. I think a lot of really well-meaning companies tried to implement mentorship programs, but it was a forced mentor and they matched you versus it happening organically or you being able to fill out a questionnaire and say, “This is what I would like in a mentor.” I always like the mentor in a minute idea that I’ve got a specific issue, I need some outside input right away, who can I call? Knowing what you need in that moment, or if you’re taking on a brand new project, having someone that’s done that work before that is a resource for you, that kind of mentorship really works.
Olivia Lynch: I agree. I think there’s a lot of misconception about the idea of mentorship. I know for me, when I was early in my career, it was like, “You have to find a mentor.” It’s like, “Okay, I found them. Now what do I do with them?” That specificity that you’re talking about, I think is what’s at the core of it. Those specific asks are when mentorship works really well, but again, in my mind, it’s not just one person all the time. I think the goal is getting specific, “Can you introduce me to so and so because I want to ask them about this?” It’s almost like the mentor is the jumping off point of building your community.
Gina Stracuzzi: Even if you have one for a specific period or a specific project, it doesn’t have to be forever. It’s just that resource. I like those distinctions. Let’s talk a little bit about what practical advice you would give to women looking to accelerate their careers or break barriers or create meaningful impact inside of their companies and organizations.
Olivia Lynch: I had the fortune of connecting with one of our leadership coaches at Salesforce and she shared this pillar of the four things that successful people in all industries, if they do these four things effectively, then they’re more likely to do all those things that you mentioned.
The first is influencing without authority, which I think really resonates for folks that are new in role, new in career. How can you show that you have enough context to influence a decision without necessarily being the decision maker?
The second is building an extensive network. I talked a lot about networking, obviously, because I really do believe in that. Going to our point on mentors, I think the more folks that you can have familiar with your work on your side that you’re connected to serves you really well, because you just never know when an opportunity will come up and from what part of the organization. I talked about this a bit at the beginning, but demonstrating that credibility, because you have to be at baseline hitting your key metrics and coming up every day as a top performer and then showing that.
Then the last piece is vocalizing your achievements, which I think in different forums can be a bit uncomfortable. I know for me I’m all over LinkedIn and maybe that’s not going to work for some people, but that’s my outlet for vocalizing what I’m working on. I think across all of those four things, you may not be good at all of them at this moment. I feel like my practical tip would be pick one of those tangible things and start really trying to get good at it. If you don’t feel like you are talking about the things that you’re doing well, start there. Is it just building that brag book as you were saying? Then the next layer is that starting to talk more openly about it.
If you’re not a networker because you think it’s painful, how can you be a bit more intentional and you pick, “Throughout the year, I’m going to pick five people at these different milestones.” I think there are ways to break down some of these success pillars, as that coach described, that make them a little bit more approachable. The fact is, I think in terms of making an impact at your organization, if you’re showing up every day and doing your best work, in my mind, that’s what impact looks like. I think a lot of people are doing that already without even having that frame of mind. Just by showing up and getting your job done, you are really having an impact, especially now. We’re in such a different environment, it feels like we’re in pandemic times again where everyone’s just trying to adapt to something new. The people that can show up and get stuff done, those are the people that are going to be successful.
Gina Stracuzzi: You’re the second person today who said to me, “I feel like we’re back in pandemic times.” It is a little interesting. Those four pillars are really crucial. One piece of advice that I’ve heard coaches give, and I try to pass it on to the women I work with, is when you’re talking about yourself, it feels uncomfortable. Imagine how you would talk about your best friend. You’re talking about your best friend and you would pump that person up so much and you would tell her, “Be proud of what you’ve done. Look at what you’ve done.” Keeping that thing in mind, “I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about my friend Olivia,” it really makes a big difference. But the brag book does help too because seeing it, you’re like, “Damn, I’m pretty special.”
Olivia Lynch: I just always come back to it’s not bragging if it’s true. You did the thing. If you closed the deal, if you have those results, you’re not making that up. What’s the problem in sharing?
Gina Stracuzzi: Absolutely. That’s great advice. You’ve given us so many amazing ideas here today, Olivia. I can’t thank you enough for coming on, but can you give us one final action step for anybody listening, something they can put in place today to implement immediately that would help their career?
Olivia Lynch: I’m going to try to say something a bit different and go back to the topic of AI and say, really try not to be fearful of artificial intelligence. If you are not using tools like Gemini or ChatGPT in your daily work, I really do encourage people to start trying to experiment with that. I read in a Time magazine article that women are, I think it was like 39% less likely to even try using a tool like ChatGPT in the same role that a male counterpart would. I feel like when we’re talking about the disparity of women in technology, starting now in just some of those simple steps and experimentation is so valuable to the bigger context of getting comfortable, being present and visible and a part of that conversation.
Truly, I can say from firsthand experience, it has made my life so much easier. I gave the example of the note taking, but I also think my emails have gotten better. There’s just so many benefits I could talk about. I know that’s maybe slightly a pivot from some traditional career advice, but when you get some of that time back and when you’re getting that level of comfort, I do think it has broader impacts on some of the other things that we talked about today.
Gina Stracuzzi: You made a good point there. Right now, this is the early days of AI, and I’m a convert. I use it all the time. I’ve named my AI Chat. Chat and I are having a great conversation, and I have to say, I have a love affair going on with Chat. He always thinks I’m smart and right and on the money, but it’s a pretty level playing field because we’re all coming into it together at the same time. Yes, there will be people that take to it more readily and think of other things to do, but most of us are on the same level, same playing field. That doesn’t happen very often so embrace it now.
Olivia Lynch: Completely agree.
Gina Stracuzzi: Olivia, it has been great catching up with you. I always enjoy talking with you and I’m so excited for where you’re going with things. I’m always here as a resource for you, so I hope you’ll call on me.
Olivia Lynch: Yeah. You’re part of my board of directors now.
Transcribed by Mariana Badillo