TINT Podcast Recording-Rachelle Helton_022820 (1)-1 [00:00:00] Cecelia Taylor: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the TINT podcast. That is to say the thriving in technology podcast. Your hosts are Sam Moulton and Cecelia Taylor, members of the influence marketing team here at NetApp. Today's episode is all about mentoring-- a topic that our colleague, Rachelle Helton is very passionate about. , but before we dive in, we want to hear all about Rachelle's new role at NetApp. Welcome to the TINT podcast. Rachelle. Rachelle Helton: [00:00:30] Thank you. a couple of months ago, I took a new role in virtual sales where I'm leading strategic projects to grow, scale, and run the virtual sales business. Sam Moulton: [00:00:41] So, Rochelle, that was something I wanted to ask you about virtual sales. This is sort of a, it's a new thing for NetApp, isn't it? Rachelle Helton: [00:00:52] Yeah. So, virtual sales, it's inside sales. Inside sales is a term that was used [00:01:00] that was originally used to differentiate from outside sales, the traditional face to face sales model, and then inside sales. it's a strategic imperative for companies and it's become a high velocity sales model that quickly delivers revenues. Sam Moulton: [00:01:20] So thanks for the, the explanation on that. Rochelle, I was a little bit confused when I was looking at your title as I was getting ready for the podcast, and I thought, virtual sales, what, what are we really talking about? But as soon as you said inside sales, I was like, Oh, okay. Cecelia Taylor: [00:01:33] Rachelle, at the Grace Hopper conference last fall, you had a speaking session entitled got mentors. Why it takes more than one to succeed. Can you give our listeners the abridged version of that presentation? Well, not so much the presentation itself, but really more what this particular session was about. Rachelle Helton: [00:01:55] sure. We all know that. Successful executives have a good [00:02:00] network and mentors, and while we know mentoring is important, many of us don't have a mentor. And when you talk to people about why that is, and I've talked to lots of people who have mentors and who don't, what they'll tell you is they don't have a mentor because. They haven't found the right one. in other words, they're looking for the perfect person. They know it's important, so they're kind of making it a big deal and they want the perfect person. And so what I say is instead of looking for the perfect person, use the contacts that you have and build a network of mentors. There isn't going to be a perfect person. Stop waiting for that. Stop looking for that. And so the presentation is really around recruiting tips for your contacts to become your mentors and grow your skills and then walk away empowered to [00:03:00] engage your network and master your own career. Sam Moulton: [00:03:02] Okay. So that's pretty deep. let's talk about it from a more practical standpoint. What, what really are you suggesting that people do? I mean, what, what's that first thing? If, if somebody is brand new to mentoring really doesn't know much about what that means or how to leverage it, what is the first thing that you would tell someone that they should start doing? Rachelle Helton: [00:03:26] Well, I would say just open your mind. You probably have people that are mentoring you right now. So who in your family are you talking to about things that are happening? Your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your cousin, your aunt, your neighbor. these are probably people that you're engaging with in your mentoring with. And so there are people that you'll, that will mentor you through your life. And these are different people that you're close to. And then there are people that you might. You know, that's part of your network. [00:04:00] And I would write it down and think about it and be grateful that you have that. And then also think about what you want to add to that. So , you can either build on your strengths or you can work on your, weaknesses. But either way, you're kind of driving this as to what it is you want to work on. And who you want to work on it with. So don't look , in your company for, , the top woman executive and hope to try and run into her in the hallway, but talk to the people that are already talking to you and go from there. Sam Moulton: [00:04:36] How do you-- this is something that I've thought about a lot-- how do you know when the. Advice you're being given is good advice. You know, that something that you should act on. I mean, have you ever been in a situation where you've gotten some advice from someone and you think about it and, and question whether or [00:05:00] not that's the right approach? How do you vet it, I guess is what I'm saying? Rachelle Helton: [00:05:03] your situation is always different, right. than the person who's giving the advice. So I think they're trying to help you. It depends on how close they are to your particular situation. but you can try to kind of. Check the advice a little bit to see if that works or not, you know, but it's really, it's your responsibility to decide does that apply to me or not? And, I think one other thing to think about is that people are different. So one of my mentors, is, As a man and as a, you know, a very strong man and how he moves through the world is different than I how I move through the world. So when he says we're not going to talk about that anymore, that that's how it is. And that, you know, that works for me a little bit, but not, not in the way that it does for him. So you know, how you move through the world is uniquely you. So some of the things that are going to work for you are [00:06:00] not going to work for others. Sam Moulton: [00:06:02] Okay , you mentioned something about, , bumping into somebody in the hallway or whatever, but, but the reality is, is that you have talked about leveraging those hallway opportunities, the water cooler opportunities, bumping into somebody in the, in the break room. Can you tell us a little bit about how you, how you take advantage of that opportunity? Rachelle Helton: [00:06:24] Absolutely. My favorite way to network and the in the way that I network and mentor the most is what I would call kind of the speed mentoring or speed networking. It would be 15 minutes or less. Many of them are five minutes or less. They're a hallway conversation where somebody says, Hey, in that project, we're going too fast. That's a problem. I'm not getting this. And so you realize. We need to have a one-on- one and catch them up. Or you might say, we need to focus on this topic a little more [00:07:00] to get more clarity and then we'll be able to move faster. Lots of things can happen with a little bit of engagement. it could also be, let's say you're trying to develop your public speaking and some you see someone, Hey, I saw your last speech. It was pretty good, but you know, you could speak a little slower. So I think people give you the information you need to kind of catapult your career forward, but to hear it and decide how you want to incorporate that. Sam Moulton: [00:07:30] Okay. So in our last chat, earlier this week, you surprised the Cecelia and I by suggesting that we actually submit a paper to Grace Hopper for this year's Grace Hopper conference. You had some great advice on how to think about that and how to approach it. And there may be other people out there who are also considering doing the same thing. So would you be willing to kind of go through that with us a little bit again? Sure. I think you guys would be [00:08:00] great if you wanted to put a paper together. Rachelle Helton: [00:08:02] You're in the social media influence marketing space. I think people want to know more about that. Kind of a, how to a Grace Hopper is a very particular conference, in that it has both technical and nontechnical tracks. So I think a lot of us in high-tech are familiar with the conferences that are technical, but I think Grace Hopper has a good amount of just general career sessions. And. So I was able to, speak on mentoring, but you could speak on, social marketing, social media. So it provides an opportunity to do that. It also, there's a lot of women that are there. Last year, I believe there was it 20,000 or 25,000. Quite a lot of women get get together in Orlando that are in high tech. It's really a morale boost to do that. And so. , I think you guys have a message that would resonate with people. I think you would enjoy giving it. I think [00:09:00] people would enjoy hearing it. So that's what I like about it. And then what do I like about the submission process? it's just like writing a paper. You're putting your thoughts together in terms of what people need and how you feel like you can deliver that to them to help to help them along. Sam Moulton: [00:09:18] Okay. Yeah , I started, checking out the different tracks and the different, formats that you can, use, whether that's the workshop or the panel. And it's all a little daunting at the moment. but Cecelia and I do plan to take a look at that and see if we, if that's something we want to do. Well, I'd Rachelle Helton: [00:09:37] be happy to help you out. actually trust me. We will, we will definitely be taking you up on that. Cecelia Taylor: [00:09:43] I think sometimes you can learn as much in the submission process, even if you're not necessarily selected, for a session. I think learning, going through the process of getting prepared, to submit, I think can be, eyeopening and we can really help [00:10:00] lead us, perhaps maybe even down a slightly different path. Rachelle Helton: [00:10:03] I think that's exactly right. So we had probably 30 women that submitted last year. We had a couple of selected. We were kind of surprised by that. At the same time, a lot of the folks that wrote papers and then submitted them to other conferences. So what we saw was, Mercedes Adams and Mary Jean kind of lead the group to drive, more. More speaking. It's very helpful to do that in a group. it's very helpful. and you do learn a lot about your topic and a lot about yourself as you're doing that. So whether you end up presenting at Grace Hopper, you'll have some other opportunities. Things just come up when a conference comes by. You have a paper and you're ready to go. Cecelia Taylor: [00:10:45] Excellent. so going back to our topic of the day, Sam and I think that, you should be--and people in general--should be using social media more to get mentoring message out there. our question is, what [00:11:00] we're here to, to provide feedback. what's holding you back. Rachelle Helton: [00:11:06] Well, I think, I think that's a good question. I think I'm ready now. I agree. I'm ready to do it. It's on the top of my to do list. when I started a new job, I think that kind of was a focus for awhile and I just got my backfill, so, so I'm ready to do it. Sam Moulton: [00:11:22] Oh, because for a while there you were doing two jobs, is that what you're saying? Oh, okay. Wow. Yeah. Good for you. That's tough. Rachelle Helton: [00:11:33] well, I think it's pretty common, so, okay. Sam Moulton: [00:11:36] So you're, you say you're ready. All right. What can we do to help you with that? Rachelle Helton: [00:11:42] Mmm. I was talking to Richard Bliss about this, actually. I think it wouldn't be bad. I think as you, you know, post, whether it's to Twitter or LinkedIn, I think it helps to have a group of people that you kind of help each other as they post to kind of go and, [00:12:00] yeah. I think what I need to do is kind of form a group of eight to 10 people where I'm helping them, but they're also helping me. Sam Moulton: [00:12:07] Definitely include us in that. I would love to in and comment cause we found that that does work. Rachelle Helton: [00:12:13] It really does. Yeah, it really does. And, I think I got into mentoring because what I realized was, even though there were lots of things I wanted to learn and needed to learn, there were lots of things that I knew about that I could hear new grads, and people talking about that I knew the answer to. And I thought, well, why don't I give them the answer? And not, not over an hour and a half, but just quickly, you know, if you'd like the answer to this, this is what it is. And then. And then that's it. Sam Moulton: [00:12:44] Well, you, you keep talking about you, you mentioned new grads a couple of times, but you're not limiting your mentoring to people that are at the early stages of their career. Rachelle Helton: [00:12:52] Correct. Oh, that's right. I think it's just easier, when you're explaining the concept of mentoring and kind of the speed [00:13:00] mentoring, it's easier to. Understand the top, the concept and how it works by thinking of new grads. And then that is who I kind of started out with as a target population. But what happens is other people just see that conversation and they join it and they ask another different question. Sam Moulton: [00:13:22] So, you're a big wig in the women in technology organization otherwise known it WIT, here at NetApp. As we look ahead to GHC 20, what are NetApp's plans to support the event and what's your role in all of that? well, thank you. I really like, women in technology. I've been in that organization for 11 years. That app really has a big commitment to Grace Hopper and to Grace Hopper 2020. So Amy Welsh has been running that for three years, and this year I think she's looking to pass the torch to Meenu Datta. So really looking forward to that. It's [00:14:00] our largest event of the year. It really is a huge morale boost to the women of NetApp. just really like that. So I'm looking forward to it. What is my role? I'm, I'll be supporting them. And I hear you're on a committee as well, so congratulations. Yep. Cecelia and I made it onto the promotions and communications committee. Yes. we're excited about that. And of course, if we do the speaking thing, you know, we know that that's a long shot, but who knows. And another thing that we would like to be able to do, f we have the opportunity to attend again this year. last year we brought a few of the scholars and did a, a podcast episode with them. I was so impressed with these young women and how poised they were. This was, it can be a little daunting to have somebody, ask you if you want to be on a podcast, but none of them, they didn't bat an eye. They were really great and they really appreciated it. I would love it if we could provide that same [00:15:00] opportunity to all of the scholars. You know, obviously not one-on-one. That would be. We'd have to add a couple of extra days to the conference, but you know, maybe in groups of three or four. So that's something that we have in mind to be able to do two, if it, if it works out time, time will tell on that one. Rachelle Helton: [00:15:16] That sounds great. I would love, I would love to see a little video clip where they're kind of all together, where you can kind of see them. I think it would make a great a photo, but also a great video and it'd be great to hear him on the podcast. Some of the pictures we got from Grace Hopper were just crazy. When people are there waiting to get into the keynote, and you can see just. Masses of people and you take the photo, you can see about 10,000 people in a shot. Sam Moulton: [00:15:46] this was the first time I had attended and I was blown away. I, it was, it was, it was a little for an introvert. It was a little overwhelming. I'm not going to lie to you, but, the people are very supportive and [00:16:00] there's just so much positive energy, that it was, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't daunting. but there were a lot of people there for sure. Rachelle Helton: [00:16:08] And that is really what we want to provide it. NetApp. We have a lot of engineers, we have a lot of introverts, and this is just, it's one of the best tech conferences out there and for women, many of whom are, you know, the only woman that they work with to be surrounded by 25,000 women in tech. It's the only time that's ever occurred in their life. And so it's just a, it's a special time. Cecelia Taylor: [00:16:34] Well, we're definitely looking forward to GHC 20, and I will definitely a reach out to my girl, Autymn. Yes, the scholars, working with the scholars for GHC 20. So then we can definitely reach out to them for the podcast. And I think that video idea is actually a really good one. now we have reached that special portion of the episode. Where do we put our guests on the [00:17:00] spot and we make them answer a surprise question. in our original conversations, I, I ran a couple of questions by, Rachelle, but I think I'm going to go back to the one that I think we probably spent the most time chatting about. I know that we share our faith, and if we were looking for a book that we would read, it would be the Bible. I'm also looking for what would be the secular book that you would recommend to, young people and to anyone who was coming up today. Rachelle Helton: [00:17:30] I think a good book if you're getting out of school or getting out of grad school would be blind ambition. the white house years. it Chronicles some of what happened during Richard Nixon's, administration, which has some similarities. With, what happened in the Trump administration, but it's really not about the administration. There's a young lawyer and it's written from his point of view. And so he's talking about, and he has a really good [00:18:00] position, right? So he's just out of school. He gets this great job and it's written from his point of view. So he's saying things like, you know, well, got a lot of work today. Got a meeting at three. Okay. Need to leave at this time. So you're kind of going through him. With him during his day. And, it's during this period. So it's a great book and there's a little bit of a surprise there, and I don't want to give it away, but, it's a great read if you're leaving college and going into the workforce and it helps you think about, you know what it is you're doing here at work. Cecelia Taylor: [00:18:32] Great. I am actually looking forward to picking up the book. I'm going to ask you one more bonus question since we talked about them before, and this is what I didn't ask: if you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, no expenses spared-- and cost is not a factor because you're not even thinking about it--where would you go? I would go to Hawaii. You know, in all the years that I've traveled, [00:19:00] I have never been to Hawaii. So I too, I'm looking at it. But the thing that I want to see before I leave this earth is I want to see the Northern lights for myself in person. So even though that may be a cold trip, and if anyone knows me, knows that I am naturally a cold person, and I must be bundled up and warm, It might be a cold thing, but I think that that would be so neat to see. So awesome to see. So that was, that's my thing. So Sam, well, where would you like to go? Sam Moulton: [00:19:30] Oh, did you let me off the book hook. I'm off the book hook. Cecelia Taylor: [00:19:35] You can go back on the book if you want. Sam Moulton: [00:19:39] Well, I was a little panicky there because I'm like, Oh God, would I, I didn't realize that was the question where we're going to. Focus in on and I wasn't ready. Cecelia Taylor: [00:19:45] But then I whole point is to surprise both of you. Sam Moulton: [00:19:48] Well, I don't like the surprise thing. It's not, I'm not a fan of that, but so, but I wanted to ask you, was the point of this book recommendation to help someone in their [00:20:00] career or just, is it a life learning thing or what. Well, I I, what was the, I mean, Rochelle was very well prepared with her answer. Rachelle Helton: [00:20:11] Well, someone did recommend it to me actually when I got out of school. when you're going to school, you're thinking about getting an a in a class. And what is the Infor, you know, mastering the information that's in this class. But when you move to work, it becomes different. especially if you're working in a for profit company, you want to help your company make more money. What is the way you do that in your job? Well, you know, your manager's going to tell you different things to do. and I think the book, it helps, . It helps you to understand what would be some of the right things to do and what would be some of the wrong things to do. It's a little bit of a cautionary tale. Sam Moulton: [00:20:49] Okay, so what I'm, what I'm going to suggest then is, is not that far off track, but the, there are a couple of books that we're, or, or still are, I guess have [00:21:00] been very impactful. I mean, let's put it that way. And they are about doing the right thing or doing the wrong thing, right? So number one for me, I am a huge Eckart totally fan. So it would definitely be a new earth. I think everyone needs to read that book. Absolutely. Like everyone in the world needs to read that book. The other one that has been really important to me over time is the four agreements, which is a, it's a book by Don Miguel Ruiz, and it really, if you can focus on those. Four agreements you make with yourself and essentially with the world, it can keep you out of a lot of trouble, you know, I guess help you be a better person. and as I'm thinking about this now, and I'm talking about this, I'm thinking, gosh, I could have used a few of those. I could have used a reminder about a few of those agreements. Just even this week, we don't have to get into it, but Cecilia knows what I'm talking about. Yeah. [00:22:00] She's my mentor, Cecilia. She keeps me, she keeps me grounded. She lets me know when she's very, very honest about when I screw up, which is not always easy to hear, but very helpful. Anyway, so those are the two books that, if anything, if anyone was, were to ask me at any point in time. I think that those books could be something I could take to that. You know, sometimes we talk about what do you, if you were going to live on an Island, what would you take with you? You know, I take those books with me and I could read them over and over again and, and learn something new every time I did so. Rachelle Helton: [00:22:38] Okay. Well, that's helpful. Vacation, the vacation question now, where would I, that's helpful. I've got two more books to read. I'm a new world was one and the second one was the four agreements. Cecelia Taylor: [00:22:49] Yes. Certainly we're, we're going to put these a book along with links in our show notes. Great episode, which is a good [00:23:00] thing so that our listeners can find them in their local library or their local Amazon . Sam Moulton: [00:23:08] You couldn't get them audio book. You can get a Nookbook; they come in all of the different formats. So, and I have them in all actually, Cecelia Taylor: [00:23:16] quick question. Do you prefer electronic book or plain or good old fashioned. Sam Moulton: [00:23:24] put, put a paper book in my hands any day of the week. I love books. However, I, I tend to be a little bit of a book hoarder. I can never have enough books, never, ever. So what I have learned to do is when I see a book I'm interested in, I download a sample. From Barnes and noble to my nook and that way it's there and when I could get around to it and I read the sample and I like it, then I'll buy it and maybe I will choose to buy it in the paper format or maybe I won't, but that's kept my [00:24:00] book spending. Then I book budget a little bit more contained. What about you, Rachelle? Rachelle Helton: [00:24:09] I like all the formats actually. I mean, I really enjoy holding the book and reading it, but, I walk a lot, so I listen to books when I'm doing that or listen to a podcast or if I'm on a plane, I like an electronic format. yup. Sam Moulton: [00:24:24] I'm with you on that. And I'm sure that one of the podcasts you listen to most Rachelle Helton: [00:24:28] often. Sam Moulton: [00:24:30] Is the TinT Podcast. Exactly. That's why we got to get a few more episodes out there. Keep you busy, keep you a little busier. Cecelia Taylor: [00:24:38] Well, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with us today. to our listeners. we thank you for taking the time to listen to us. I know there's a bunch of podcasts you could be listening to and you probably are, but we're happy that you're adding us to your, listen. queue. We want to hear your feedback. You know, we can get better if you [00:25:00] tell us what you want to hear. what works, what doesn't work. Drop us a line on the emails, ng- tintpodcast@netapp.com with your comments and your questions. Thank you again for listening. Until next time.