Women's History Month Q&A: Executives discuss leadership and their journeys

Mar 29, 2021

March is Women’s History Month, and throughout the month we've been celebrating women and bringing forward activities that help inspire and empower the incredible women who make up Lowe’s.

We have many outstanding women leaders globally across the enterprise, including three members of our executive leadership team. We sat down with the three of them to discuss women in leadership and their unique journeys. 

Marisa Thalberg
Executive Vice President, Chief Brand & Marketing Officer

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How has your identity as a woman shown up in your work and how you lead your teams?

I have many thoughts and feelings to share on this topic... but I will answer with some succinctness to say that it has evolved over time and with experience. A seminal moment in that journey came for me after becoming a mother for the first time, over 20 years ago (!) It became clear to me, even as a younger leader, how important it was to offer the totality of myself as a woman, a mother, and an executive - to see those dimensions as additive vs competitive - and the absence of good models and opportunities for connection is what led me to start ExecutiveMoms.com. As I noted in my Women’s Leadership Forum talk, feminine qualities that were traditionally maligned in leaders, such as empathy, vulnerability, inclusivity... are finally being recognized as vital attributes in ANY modern leader. Earlier in my career I absolutely felt like those natural characteristics in me were 'questionable' as leadership strengths. Today I feel much more confident in embracing them.

What motto do you live by?

To answer that, I will share that my mother truly lived by the motto, 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' However, after she passed away seven years ago, I realized my own version was more: 'Play the hand you’ve been dealt in the best way you can.' That phrase has helped me be both philosophical and practical about the bad and the good in life, and the choices at every juncture that arise out of both. However, in homage to my mom, lemons are now a big motif in my life too.

Who is the most influential woman you know?  How does she inspire you?

I thought about how to answer this and truly, it does not come down to one woman for me. What has evolved in a beautiful way for me is being a part of a couple of intersecting groups of amazing women leaders. Sometimes I think, 'How am I in this company?' Throughout the pandemic we have replaced in-person get togethers at industry events with Zooms (in fact we have our 'One Year Later' Zoom coming up). The sense of inspiration, camaraderie and support from these women lifts me up so much. We talk meaningfully about what is happening within our respective companies, the industry, as well as in our personal lives. When I didn’t have a tribe earlier in my career, I wound up founding one, with ExecutiveMoms. I feel grateful at this stage of my life and career to have this kind of tribe now. 

Seemantini Godbole
Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer

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What were/are your biggest hurdles being a woman in tech? 

I think the biggest hurdle of being a woman in tech is that there are just not enough women in tech. I think that just sets us back and gives us an adverse starting position. That alone makes pretty much everything tough. It becomes tough to recruit more women because they don’t have enough role models. And then we get caught in this negative cycle.

I think the other big hurdle is also that tech changes so much, and the vocabulary, this pressure to constantly learn makes it intimidating for everyone. And as women we end up putting more pressure on ourselves. We feel everything needs to be perfect, we need to learn everything and be up to date on all topics at all times, which is practically impossible in tech! In addition, many women are constantly juggling work and life!

All in all, it becomes a big mountain to climb.

What are some of the specific ways that you have advocated for change, and the successes and challenges you’ve faced?

We pay special attention to the development of women in tech for recruitment, for putting women in leadership positions. Just getting women in prominent places and in visible places has been important to me. In addition, I am a big believer in creating a very open and honest culture around learning to reduce this mystery around tech and share openly the techniques and tools to conquer these challenges.

Who is the most influential woman you know? How does she inspire you?

There are so many inspirational women in business, science and tech and politics. However, I am inspired most by those that I get to watch in action, watch them work, take bold, courageous decisions and work really hard to make things happen! I feel at Lowe’s we don’t have to go very far.

You can look at Cheryl Friedman who is running our entire innovation team from Seattle. You can look at Neelima Sharma - she runs our entire e-commerce, merchandising and marketing technology team, which is really huge, just given that in tech there are not too many women - in e-commerce/digital definitely there are not too many women. So that is really inspirational. We have Erin Mink in a leadership position in infrastructure. We have Janice Burke. Jennifer Danvers is product managing our entire Lowe’s checkout. Sarah Wiles is doing our appliance selling. We have Trupti Prabhavalkar over in delivery experience. Kappu Jaykumar is running post purchase and Sumathi Bhaskaran is leading Connect experience. So, I am really surrounded by these talented women and many more. 

Janice Dupré
Executive Vice President, Human Resources 
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What do you believe is the biggest opportunity for the generation of women behind you?

From my point of view, the biggest opportunity for women coming behind me is to not be shy about defining what’s right for them.  

In times of uncertainty, people tend to do what’s familiar and comfortable. That can cause us to go back to things that are well-defined and traditional – and that’s not what’s going to cause a breakthrough for you, personally or professionally.

In terms of defining what’s right for you, I’d recommended taking the time to figure out what you really want to do. This is a transformational time - and when real progress is made. 

The best story I can share related to this is my own in coming into the role of Chief HR officer at Lowe’s early in the pandemic. I came into this role that was generally occupied by a very seasoned CHRO, but I came in at a time when nothing was normal, there was no ‘rule book’ on how to operate in this role during a pandemic. That’s where the opportunity was, so I wrote my own “book.”   

My advice: Use these unique moments when things are transforming and go for it. 

It’s also important to bring in and surround yourself with the right people. The right people are honest, strive for excellent work and are people you can trust.  You can run miles with people like that, people who you don’t have to question their intent – you just know you’re in this together. 

Research has shown that women have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. What are ways organizations and leaders can support working women moms, who often times have increased family and household responsibilities on top of their professional ones? 

As a leader, my advice would be this: Stop trying to do it all. I love this quote that Mary Kay Ash said, "If you don’t want to get good at something, don’t practice it."

At some point I had to ask myself, 'Why?' I then got really clear about what was non-negotiable for me, and what I needed to delegate, get help on, etc. If you can do that and stay flexible, then you can handle the curveballs life will throw you. 

Companies absolutely need to do their part, be flexible and provide benefits to help associates. I’m extremely proud of how Lowe’s has shown up to address this throughout the pandemic. 

Who is the most influential woman you know? How does she inspire you? 

This will always be my mom, Minnie. She became a single parent of five children when I was in 3rd grade. During this time in her life, she showed us what grit, grace and determination looked like.

My mom completed her undergraduate degree, earned her master’s degree and started her PHD, all while raising five young children. And she did it by involving us in the process. She came to us and said she was going back to school, and how it was going to help us have a better life.

She then talked with us about what it was going to require as a family. We made a family agreement about how we could help give her the time she needed to go to night school – because she was working during the day.

Learn the art of delegating. Manage your life to eliminate the things you do not need to spend your valuable and precious time on. And don’t be afraid to ask for help.

I learned a lot about transparency from her during this time. She was honest about the fact she couldn’t do it all on her own. At the same time, she wanted us to be kids and not overburden us. She also taught me the value of an education – over time I could see how her education transformed her career. 

She’s an incredibly strong person and my best friend. She tells me the truth and raised a strong-willed lady. I can talk with her about anything, and she will always tell me the truth. I know she’s my biggest champion. 

Lastly, something I tell women often approaching new or increased responsibilities is, 'If you’re doing something new and you are unsure, do it afraid, but keep going even though you’re scared or uncomfortable.'

Then as time goes on you are reminded of the confidence and who you innately are and your abilities, you stop doing it afraid and you keep going. There’s a shift that happens and that is the moment of transformation. It’s well outside your comfort zone, and that’s where the growth happens.