Mentor Spotlight: Maria Franco on the Evolution of Tech Leadership

When asked about resources she recommends to women in tech, Maria offers wisdom that extends beyond technical skills:

"I would advise women in the tech industry to keep learning not only tech content. It's great to keep up to date with our own technical domain, however women can create additional impact on others with financial & management preparation."

She emphasizes that this doesn't necessarily require an MBA, but could involve "a series of smaller courses over time" to prepare women "to be given more power and a larger seat in decisions."

"In 2022 I was managing an organisation and launched a mentoring program there as well, as I learned from my previous personal experience that both Mentors and Mentees get a lot of value from such programs."

What makes mentorship rewarding for Maria? "I feel a lot of satisfaction to see that I can help someone, and at the same time I learn from them as well," she explains. The benefit is mutual – mentees gain guidance while mentors are exposed to different industries, engagement types, and leadership styles.

"Our network expands and we may get assisted with new ideas and ways of thinking."

When asked about a success story from her mentorship journey, Maria immediately recalls a particularly meaningful achievement:

"As a mentor, I convinced my mentee to finish his engineering course and get his graduation. He made it! And that made me feel really proud!"

The benefits of mentoring extend to Maria's own development:

"I get to interact with different people who make me see something new: a different perspective, a different approach to problems, or different objectives in life."

These interactions broaden her cultural understanding and awareness of the diverse barriers others face.

Maria has also experienced the flip side as a mentee, gaining "moments of clarity and advice" that helped shape her professional development.

"Self-confidence is probably the best thing I got from being a mentee."

For those considering becoming a mentor for the first time, Maria offers practical guidance:

"Your mentee is like a new friend you just met."

She recommends exploring supporting materials to provide structure for the mentorship, especially in the beginning stages when the relationship is new. Her second piece of advice is simple but powerful:

"Ask open questions and listen more than you talk."

Maria believes mentorship creates value at both individual and organizational levels:

"Mentorship helps people to be more human-connected and to exchange experiences with the view to achieve some of their objectives."

She also highlights how organisations benefit:

"Mentorship can help organisations a long way by allowing people to get informal assistance on a myriad of problems."

Maria elaborates that these problems vary widely – "sometimes people have true and complex problems for which they get guidance, other times it's actually non-problems at all and they get the opportunity to seek a different perspective and see their 'problem' vanished." She's also observed that "sometimes people just need someone that is not family to listen and be patient while they vent out a little bit."

The end result, as Maria puts it, is "organisations having people less stressed and better oriented" – a win-win for everyone involved.