Wonderful table captains at herCAREER@Night: In this series of interviews, they reveal the topics they are available to discuss, what their current projects are and provide tips on how others can benefit from their knowledge.

Cultural differences and their impact on business leadership decisions.

herCAREER: On which topics / areas can you offer an exchange during herCAREER@Night or do you even wish to exchange ideas?

Chace: I am happy to talk about any topic and share insights regarding cultural differences and their impact on business leadership decisions.  My life and career path have not been typical.  I grew up in America, lived and worked in 5 different countries – including Germany – and changed my career from university history professor to lead global marketing departments in many global technology companies (like Siemens, Oracle, Coriant, Colt, Logica).

herCAREER: What are your current projects / challenges you are working on? Can you give us a brief insight?

Chace: Currently I have a portfolio of positions as board member for several young companies, mentor for entrepreneurs in accelerators, guest speaker at conferences and university MBA programs and strategic marketing and business consultant.

herCAREER: Which experiences are so valuable in retrospect that you would pass them on so that third parties can benefit from the knowledge?

Chace: I don’t have all the answers, but I can share experience anecdotes on being the only female on an executive team on situations females can encounter as they move up the leadership ladder.

herCAREER: „Good advice is expensive,“ they say. What advice did you receive that you could confidently throw into the bin?

Chace: Good advice doesn’t have to be expensive, but it must come from someone you respect and trust.  Advice urging females to be patient when confronted by discrimination and unequal opportunities for career advancement is advice worth throwing in the bin.  Men get rewarded for being aggressive in promoting their ideas and management style; females behaving the same way are strongly criticized.

As Albert Einstein said: “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”

The best advice I received on how to make an impact in a board meeting, how and when to negotiate to not just get what I wanted but to ensure I was paid equally to men in similar jobs came from male colleagues and mentors – especially one male who because a female and so knew how the male colleagues thought!!

Über die Person

Jayne Chace has 25 years international expertise in building brand equity, sales enablement, partner/channel management, strategic communications, corporate turnaround, M&A integration and transformational marketing that delivers value to the bottom line.

With diverse experience as CMO, management consultant and Board Director in 5 start-ups, MTI venture capital and global behemoths like DEC, Oracle, Siemens, Cadence, Unisys, Colt, GSM Association and Coriant, Jayne has built a reputation for delivering outstanding results, launching new companies, products and services globally in multiple market sectors and taking B2B and B2C companies for successful IPOs and acquisitions.

Jayne began her career as a university history professor in America then moved to Europe into the corporate world. She is currently a board advisor/consultant partner for several young companies and charities, presents at conferences and business schools and is a mentor at Telefonica/Wayra and other accelerators.