Dian Siswarini talks about her journey as a female CEO in a male-dominated industry and her longtime desire to encourage more Indonesian women to work in a STEM field.
Chapter: Attracting female talent
About: Dian Siswarini is the president director of XL Axiata, an Indonesia-based mobile telecommunication service company. She has been working in this industry for more than 30 years and has been with XL since the company’s early days, becoming the first woman to hold the company’s top position in November 2015.
Tell us more about gender diversity and XL Axiata’s inclusion target.
Across Axiata, we actually have a 70/30 ratio in terms of women talent and leaders. I think XL is at that level, too.
Even two of the six members on our board of directors are women. We also have four group heads of sales—two of whom are female. At the manage- ment level, we’re at 30 percent, and we have a pipeline of succession for leadership.
But in my opinion, it’s not so much about the numbers. Instead, we tend to focus on the diversity in our decision-making and on having the right person in the right job. For instance, if I’m looking for a project manager, a woman usually does better in that position because when you manage a project, you need to have a lot of attention to detail and a talent for orchestrating. And in that arena, women tend to have better traits.
"At XL, we aren’t focused on a gender quota. As an equitable company, we aim to put women in positions that will create the best outcome.”
In your opinion, what can the company do to have more female employees?
If you look at the STEM arena, the number of students who choose to study technology has grown over time. Now, female students might be around 40 percent. But only about 20 percent of them enter the workforce and actually work in a STEM job. And then, the number of women who make it their career and climb the corporate leader is even smaller. The reason women don’t want to climb that ladder is usually family. If you are a woman and you want to be a leader, the expectations are much higher than they are for men. If you become a female leader, you have to be successful in both your career and your family. So now, probably less than 10 percent of female leaders work in the tech industry.
To improve that, we need to remove the misconceptions in our communities. When I ask female STEM students why they don’t choose to have a STEM career, they say they still see those careers as more suitable for men. Even if they study in a STEM field, many women choose to work in other fields.
“To remove the negative conception, we must work with universities or education communities to give the right information to their students. I also believe the government
needs to be more proactive in promoting that women working in STEM is pretty cool.”
Moreover, if a woman is ambitious, many people see that in a negative light. And yet, for men, ambition is seen as them just wanting to move ahead. Because of this societal pressure, many women are afraid to take that chance.
“I think having ambition as a woman is supposed to be viewed as a positive thing. If you don’t have ambition, you won’t be motivated to be better. In order to plan your own career path, you need ambition as a compass to guide you."
It’s disappointing to see how these problems and misconceptions discourage talented individuals from having more ambition. To solve the problem at XL, we work closely with female talent and offer additional mentorship opportunities for women.
Do you think XL’s special programs were a crucial part of your success as a female leader?
I chose XL because it is a very professional organization. Since 1996, the company has had a lot of special programs that open up opportunities for women. For example, we can now tailor the office atmosphere, facilities, and ways of working to make it easier for women to work and become leaders, including with flexible hours, flexible work spaces, and supporting facilities such as day care or nursing areas.
Secondly, in terms of recruitment and talent development, the company has used data analytics to create talent profiles. Our system helps us understand people’s strengths and which roles might be better suited to women. XL also does talent development and succession planning without a gender bias, and the company puts a lot of effort into supporting women as they create their own career paths.
As a successful female business leader, how do you ensure that you set the right priorities?
When I was launching and building my career, I knew we can’t have it all. For each of us, there’s always compromise and trade-offs. The priorities might be different for each person; we each have to whole- heartedly live in and create a system for filling in the gaps we leave behind because of the path we chose.
Time management is also very important—at your job and at home. Stick to it. If I plan to have one-on-one time with my son to go to the movies, I need to fulfill that promise and consider it just as important as my board meetings. Without us fulfilling the balance of time management, things will collapse.
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