Ep 78: From Engineering to CIO: Diane Schwarz's Leadership Insights

Atalanta Diaries Breakthrough Women in Conversation with Enma Popli

Diane Schwarz is Johnson Controls' chief information officer and the global leader in smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings. She is responsible for leading a global, business-aligned information technology organization. Schwarz develops and executes enterprise-wide I.T. strategy to ensure a strong digital core for Johnson Controls to scale and achieve its global growth objectives.

A senior I.T. executive with experience in building and leading best-in-class I.T. teams, Schwarz most recently served as chief digital and information officer for Hunt Consolidated and previously worked at Textron, Bell and Honeywell. With a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, her scope covers digital transformations, cybersecurity, data analytics, infrastructure and cloud operations, ERP/SAP applications and I.T. supplier management.

Schwarz holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is a board member of NPower, a non-profit that creates pathways to economic prosperity by launching digital careers for military veterans and young adults from underserved communities and of T200, a non-profit that elevates women in technology.

Key themes emerging out of our conversation:

• Work Hard, Party Harder.
• Addressing issues one at a time.
• Moment of humility, don't know it at all.
• Having diverse experiences, trying everything.
• Startups don't align with everyone's risk tolerance.
• Recognizing traits that will stop you from scaling as a leader.
• Vulnerability and Empathy are essential skills for becoming a better leader.
• Make the right choice for the family while having a sustainable career.
• You will not be able to do your job well if you don't care for yourself.
• Identifying and addressing behaviours to evolve as a leader.
• Helping others succeed creates opportunities for your own success.
• Self-awareness to become better as humans, as parents, and as professionals.
• She who wants to go fast goes alone; she who wants to go far goes together.
• Mentors can come from different backgrounds, not just the business world.

Connect with Enma Popli on Linkedin:

>> https://www.linkedin.com/in/enmapopli/

Visit Enma Popli's website

>> http://www.enmapopli.com/