Most of the time, women have to pave their own way when climbing the corporate ladder. And Yu, a woman and minority who migrated to the US to pursue her career, had to do plenty of paving since she first started as a software engineer at internet service company DoubleClick nearly 25 years ago.
"I thought I was wrong; I must be wrong, because everyone else agreed," she said."As I build on my career, I realize that, in many of those situations, I just had a different perspective. I should have brought that different perspective forward. I wasn't confident enough." "I measure my contribution based on how many times I share a different perspective," Yu said."I feel like it's my obligation. If I'm just nodding my head every day, then I feel like I have not accomplished anything." Don't just speak up for the sake of it. It's more important that you speak up when you truly believe what you're advocating for. And her ideas don't end when the meeting does.