The fact that women shoulder the burden of encouraging girls to study STEM subjects is in itself an inequality. Inclusion on all levels is required before diversity can become reality. And all genders are responsible for making the workforce a true mirror of society.

“I hate when I see a group together and it’s all women working on the women issue,” said Beth Devin (pictured), managing director of innovation network and emerging technologies at Citigroup Inc. “Shame on us for not inviting men into the organization.”

Devin spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the recent Mayfield People First Network event in Menlo Park, California. They discussed equality in the workplace and the diverse career path that has made Devin a digital innovation leader and respected industry advisor (see the full interview with transcript here).

This week, theCUBE spotlights Beth Devin in its Women in Tech feature.

Inclusion is everyone’s responsibility

Devin encourages men to stand up and join the equal opportunity fight. “Don’t be nervous; don’t be worried. Just step in,” she said. “Men are fathers; men are leaders; men are colleagues. They’re brothers; they’re uncles. We have to work on this together.”

Women banding with women is an example of unintended exclusion in the name of building diversity. No matter how conscious a company may be in its practices, humans are fallible and each person has unconscious biases based upon their upbringing, education, and general life experiences.

“Each one of us could make a difference in how we hire, sort of checking in what our unintended biases are,” Devin said.

While society is making progress (albeit slowly), these biases are still evident in the most unlikely places. Just last month, venerable list-maker Forbes magazine came under fire for publishing a ranking for the “Top 100 innovative CEOs” that included one lone women.

Varied career gives a holistic viewpoint

A self-professed “change junkie,” Devin’s natural curiosity has led her to work for both multinational corporations and small start-ups, and for companies in the entertainment, e-commerce and finance industries. This breadth of experience gives her the ability to see the common thread across industries.

“At the end of the day, we can all debate the role that technology plays in companies. But whether it’s healthcare, or media, or financial services, there’s a lot of the same challenges that we have,” Devin stated.

Stumbling upon computer science while still in school, Devin graduated with a degree in computer science back when most women were steered into careers in arts and humanities. Her career was kick-started by a fellowship from the International Women’s Forum, which gave her intensive leadership development experience. She remains a member of the IWF, actively mentoring and encouraging women in the technology field.

“I think I was so fortunate to fall into software engineering because it’s like problem-solving or puzzle making,” Devin stated.

Her desire to be challenged gave her experience solving issues that others would avoid. “Tell me where we’re trying to go looks knotty, like not a fun project, and I would tackle that,” she said.

As a technology executive at financial services company Charles Schwab and Co. Inc., Devin experienced the rapid growth and bust of the dot-com bubble. “We had crazy times in the internet boom. I can’t even tell you some of the experiences!” she said.

Schwab was instrumental in democratizing the stock market, as access to the internet made personal trading available to anyone. “We were one of the first companies to put trading online and to build APIs so our customers could self-service,” she said.

As chief technology officer for online art supply store Art.com, Devin was responsible for keeping the company’s e-commerce platform up and running. “We had no brick and mortar, and if the technology wasn’t working, we weren’t earning revenue,” she said. “In fact, not only that, we were really making customers angry.”

Even greater responsibility came when Devin left Art.com for (now closed) consumer services start-up Manilla.com. “I was the third person to join the company,” Devin said. “We had a great CEO who had a vision, but it was on paper.”

Truly starting from scratch, Devin was responsible for managing the San Francisco office, hiring employees for product, engineering, technical operations, and customer care. “I was very proud to assemble a team, get an office, and have a product launch in a year,” she said.

Ask a Tech Whisperer for advice

Citibank is no start-up, but Devin’s current role at Citi Ventures keeps her involved with emerging technology trends. “What I bring to the table with my team is monitoring and learning about and digesting technology that’s not quite ready for commercialization but we think it might be disruptive in a good or challenging way for the bank or our clients,” she stated.

While her role puts her at the forefront of what’s happening in the tech world, Devin acknowledges that it is hard for most executives to keep on top of the rapid changes that accompany digital transformation. “Not everybody is going to make it,” she warns.

Rather than “operating blindly,” Devin suggests consulting a Tech Whisperer to offer advice on transitioning from the old world of business operations to the new DevOps culture.

“It starts with you, knowing yourself and how open-minded you are,” Devin said. “Are you willing to learn? Are you willing to put some effort forth and [figure] out some of these new operating models? Because that’s just essential if you want to be part of the future,” she concluded.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Mayfield People First Network event:

Photo: SiliconANGLE