Dr. Elizabeth Xu is an American Chinese business and technical leader in developing, deploying and supporting software as a service, big data, and mobile enterprise software. She has written an incredible book which is an inspiring read 'Myths of the Promotion: 10 Steps to a Successful Career', holds a Bachelor's degree in Space Physics, two Master's degrees in Atmospheric Science and Computer Science. Dr. Elizabeth Xu also holds a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science and has completed the Executive Education Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.  

At present, DR Elizabeth Xu is the Group Chief technical officer at C.P.Group and gave Techsauce an exclusive interview surrounding women in Tech and to gain insight into Dr. Elizabeth's perspective on the tech industry. 

Can you tell us about what your role as ‘Group chief Technical’ at C.P Group entails?

I just joined the CP Group last February, And my job is to help C.P grow their digitalization. My main job is also to help businesses gain more digital attributes and focus on their digital transformation. Building the digital assets and protect and manage that data collected. We want to build the technology and select the top technology companies to manage and progress the tech.

What challenges do you face as a woman in such a male-dominated industry? 

It can be very difficult for females to progress in the tech field and one way that women thrive is my acting like a man. This is to try and show your strength whereas its sometimes it's better to show inner confidence. My style is totally different. You have to show authenticity, inner confidence, add your own style and it's important to understand and serve your customers the best you can. Forming deep relationships with people is also another crucial business development in getting ahead in the tech world.

I also wrote a book about careers and taught at Stanford University mentoring people to become more strategic and teach them how to be themselves and grow in a business and push the envelope through branding and networking.

There is an analogy that I use - The Star Dynamic, there are strengths and weaknesses to each person, like the points on a star. Comparing yourself to everyone is what can be people's downfall and its always better to focus on your strengths and act as a team player. If you compete with everyone around you then you will not be liked. It's really important to know yourself and bring your best attributes to the table. Women specifically are bad for this, whereas men don't have this problem.. they have a higher level of confidence. Men always show confidence even when they only know 20% whereas women tend to shy away until they know 95%. This is something that needs to be developed, authenticity and inner confidence.

You need to nurture yourself more and be nicer than being extremely critical. Be more helpful and of service to everyone with a bigger heart for the world.

Do you think that socio-economic and geographical placement makes a difference in promoting and influencing successful females in the tech industry?

Its' more than just socio-economic, it's cultural. If we take my own culture, such as mainland China, women were encouraged to work. This is more of the angle that we have to look at. Is this culture supportive of women? Is it nurturing and want women to succeed? Can women speak equally and make decisions like a man?

What specific industries do you hope or have transformed with Data and AI tech?

It's in everything, every industry and free yourself from manual work and free your mind. Repetitive work will be tech supported and not done by humans.

If we look at travel - the airlines, uber, Airbnb will all be connected by technology and aid travel to run smoothly and you don't have to even think, it will all be connected and free your mind efficiently. If you want to attend a concert or museum, for example, it will all run automatically.

The medical industry will be impacted massively and the working world will transform. New jobs will appear and even work weeks will become shorter and more efficient.

Do you have a particularly inspiring female entrepreneur or tech influencer that has made an impression on you?

https://www.modcloth.com/

This husband and wife create a vintage website that turned a little hobby into a real business, built out of San Francisco. The unique selling point is listening to what her customers want and is willing to listen to mentors etc from such a young age. She was able to build a 100 million dollar business at such a young age.

She isn't that famous but is very inspiring.  The movie - The internship is also inspiring as its centered around fashion business and is a strong, inspiring female.

What do you think is holding women back in the tech industry and the entrepreneurial sector and what can we do to promote the strength and creativity of women in this innovative industry?

Women are much more critical and men are more bullish. Women can be as confident as men and they are more hardworking in a lot of ways. Women actually had the keys to the game of entrepreneurship but lack the confidence to open the door and declare that we are the equal owners of this kingdom.

What is your biggest achievement to date?

Getting the CP group position has enabled me to do much more and teaching at Stanford was also another highlight. Being able to give back as I have achieved 2 master's and a Ph.D. which has given me such grounding to assist others.

The best advice is to live a full and stylish life. I have to live to my full potential and always live in ways that are higher than myself. When I raised my thinking and thought outside of myself I was able to be of service and give a lot more by thinking of the collective and how to improve many aspects of business and life.

Dr. Elizabeth Xu is a seasoned business and technical leader with over 20 years of experience in developing, deploying and supporting software-as-a-service, big data, and mobile enterprise software. Currently, Dr. Elizabeth Xu drives the global technology as the Chief Technology Officer for CP Group, leading the Digital Transformation for a few hundred subsidiaries with combined revenue of $45 Billion using Data and AI technology.

Prior to CP Group, She was CTO at BMC Software. Responsible for BMC's Central Technology Organization and Digital Service Management BU Engineering Organization. Before joining BMC, Dr. Xu was group vice president of product engineering at Acxiom. She was the Global SVP of product development at Rearden Commerce, a partner at Business Innovation Services, and the Global SVP of product development at Vitria Technology. Dr. Xu's career also includes several years at IBM developing the IBM Content Management Suite and DB2