Top Woman Profile – Gabi Zedlmayer, VP, HP’€™s Office of Global Social Innovation

Women in technology are trailblazers. But it’s even more fascinating to meet one who’s using technology for philanthropy.

Gabi Zedlmayer’s team employed HP systems to speed up testing babies in Kenya, for HIV. Pre-HP, precious months were wasted waiting for results and most infected children didn’t live to see their second birthday.

Since her company lent their systems to the cause in 2011, more than 100,000 babies have been tested in record time.

(Click here to read her exclusive profile!)

Named one of Fast Company’s 2012 League of Extraordinary Women, Zedlmayer knows the struggles of balancing Life with Work. She lives in Zurich, Switzerland, while her husband and two sons reside in Germany.

Zedlmayer’s on the road most weeks, often in remote villages with little access to the comforts of home.

Little PINK Book caught up with her on a whirlwind trip to the U.S. Here, she explains why women need to take business roles to advance and how having the courage to ask for what she wants has been her roadmap to success.

Little PINK Book: Where are the growth opportunities for women?

Gabi Zedlmayer: Young women in business have tremendous opportunity [for growth]. The world population is growing rapidly and slated to reach 9 billion people by 2050. There’s a growing middle class. Jobs will change a lot; something like 65 percent of today’s high school students will end up in jobs that don’t exist today. To succeed, it’s not about having a math degree, for example, it’s about being able to reinvent yourself and your job.

LPB: What skills do you think women need to develop?

GZ: Women are very good at adapting to change. Women are great communicators and connectors, but in a male-dominated world, you also have to be firm. Soft-skills are important, but I wish we had more women driving numbers and owning a profit and loss. That’s the only thing I would change in my career. That said, it’s important to develop your strengths rather than your weaknesses.

LPB: What can women learn from men?

GZ: Men are not afraid to showcase their achievements. Women don’t speak up as much. Also, companies and women need to realize there’s so much flexibility while they’re on maternity leave, and also when they re-enter work. We should all embrace the mobile world. It’s not easy, I’m not saying that, but it makes it a bit easier to juggle.

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By Ruchika Tulshyan

“When people say, ‘you can’t do it,’ I always give it a shot, or two, or three.”
Gabi Zedlmayer