Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Wendy Harris Head of EMEA at Gong. Prior to this, Wendy led European sales at CarGurus for over three years and before that, she was the Head of EMEA enterprise sales at Dropbox. She also spent over a decade working in financial services as a trader for Goldman Sachs. Wendy brings a wealth of technology sales management experience to the role. This year, Wendy will be hiring in Dublin across a variety of go-to-market roles including sales and customer success.

We kick off by asking Wendy to share her career journey and what has led her to where she is today.

• The path less travelled.
• Getting into tech.
• Joined as the first employee for Europe at Gong.

We ask Wendy how daunting it was to enter the tech world.

• Your ramp will be longer.
• Cut in the title and cut in compensation.
• Real intent.
• Do it to the best of your ability.

We ask Wendy what her thoughts are on the importance of industry experience for a leadership role.

• Established companies.
• Robust training.
• Impact.

Then we ask Wendy how that journey fine-tuned her process of finding talent.

• Open to hiring people from different industries.
• Finance.
• Get out if you're miserable.

Next, we ask Wendy where she feels her sense of accountability comes from.

• Upbringing.
• Experience in sports.
• Competitive.
• Hero or victim of your story.

We ask Wendy how should we coach grit and tenacity.

• Self-awareness.
• The world owes you nothing.

Then we ask Wendy what they do at Gong and how she copes with accents in EMEA.

• A revenue intelligence platform.
• Once you see it, you can't un-see it.

Next, we asked Wendy what she would say to people who ask about the human element of this technology.

• Democritises information.
• Makes sales reps stronger.
• Insanely good technology.

We ask Wendy about global expansion.

• Hard to get off the ground.
• Strategic priorities.
• Local pull for the market.
• Hire a local person.

Then we ask Wendy what challenges has she faced in the tech world with it being made dominated.

• Used to being the only woman in the room.
• If you are the first woman in any room, it's your responsibility to keep the door open for other women.
• Identify as “me”.

We ask Wendy how we translate culture.

• Roar laughing.
• Take holidays.
• Leaders set the tone.

We ask Wendy what is the outlook of the company for the future.

• Benelux, Nordics, Germany and France.
• Gong Assist.
• 110 by the end of the year.

Lastly, we ask Wendy if she has a tool she cants live without that helps her stay organised and accountable.

• Block out the calendar before 10 am.
• Trello.
• Hyper-organised.
• Filing cabinets in her head.
• If you say you’re going to do something, do it.