When knowledgeable executives devote their time to give back, it is a hallmark of leadership. Leading up to the Women In Leadership honors in November, this forum features one of last year's honorees, who has since taken on new responsibilities. Monica Caldas, executive vice president and global chief information officer, Liberty Mutual, joins DI senior editor Michael Shashoua to discuss:
- How mentorship and leadership guidance work yields dividends for one's own leadership work at an insurer
- The achievements and accomplishments of Caldas' first year as global CIO
- How Liberty Mutual solves complex problems by using data
- How Liberty Mutual is leveraging technology to improve customer-focused capabilities
Transcript:
Michael Shashoua (00:08):
Hello everyone and welcome to today's Digital Insurance Transformation Forum. I'm Michael Shashoua, senior editor of Digital Insurance. I'm here today with Monica Caldas, who is the global CIO of Liberty Mutual and Executive Vice President. Welcome, Monica.
Monica Caldas (00:30):
Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here.
Michael Shashoua (00:34):
We're here today to talk about the value of mentoring in Insurtech. Let's start with a little bit about you and how has your role changed since you began the global CIO role in January?
Monica Caldas (00:49):
Yeah, it is an incredible time to be a CIO. Let's start there. And I started my role in January, taking the baton from my predecessor, an amazing mentor, James McLennan, who was the CIO of Liberty Mutual for close to 15 years. So I took the baton from him at a point where he had done a tremendous amount of work to stabilize a foundation and really set us on a journey towards cloud, et cetera. So we were in a great place. What I like to say was we have an incredibly strong foundation, and now the task at hand is how do you go forward? How do you leverage dynamics that are happening in technology and really advance our opportunities? So it's incredibly, an incredible time to be here in part because of what's happening in artificial intelligence specifically within Generative AI. And I don't think I can go to any conversation without talking about that.
(01:47):
So how has my role changed? I think incredibly due to the fact that technology seems to be advancing at a clip that is even more dynamic than it was last year. So there's a lot to think about in terms of modernization, advancing our core capabilities, but also threading the opportunities so that we can differentiate ourselves for our customers, for our agents, for our partners. So there's a lot riding on the CIOs of companies in all industries as we all think about how to actually intersect all these different elements of advancement that are happening. So it's exciting is the one word that maybe I would summarize with.
Michael Shashoua (02:31):
Alright, so Liberty Mutual has a long history as a company. What does modernization look like for a company with that long history?
Monica Caldas (02:41):
Yeah, it's 110 plus year old company. And so when you think about that, we do not have the luxury of starting with a blank sheet of paper and capturing all the incredibly new tools and capabilities and just putting them together and moving forward from there, we have to start with our legacy. And so as you think about moving forward and modernizing our footprint, you have to establish what does your foundation look like and what percent of it do you have technical debt that you have been deliberately delaying due to other priorities? And so I always think about executing the strategy using three core tenets. The first one would be fundamentals. How are you having secure and stable systems? How do you have a strategy around modernizing of addressing technical debt? How do you even talk about technical debt with your business partners? And then do you have a strategic set of actions in front of you to get you to a better positioned place?
(03:49):
The second piece of the strategy is, okay, do you understand what are the core capabilities that will actually differentiate you in the market? And it depends. I mean, we are in over 29 countries, so what makes you successful in terms of addressing the market needs in the US is different than what would be the case in India or in Malaysia or in our markets in Europe. So you really have to understand differentiation both at a global level as well as a local level. And so how do you think about customer journeys? How do you think about digitization and the maturity of digitization [in] the local markets and connect all those dots so you can invest in the core capabilities that will matter locally. And then the third piece is you cannot be executing modernization and thinking about the future without placing bets of some sort. And we're placing quite a few around how do you leverage artificial intelligence, generative AI to improve the customer experience, the employee experience, and enable a smoother and what I call frictionless environment for all the different stakeholders of our technology.
(05:02):
So it is a big endeavor when you think about companies that have been around for over a hundred years like ours, to think about the fact that you've got to modernize, but you also have to do it fast and do it now. And so you have to pick and prioritize it. And that I think is a challenge. However, for us, we have leaned into our strategy that we just launched for 2023 and beyond, and we're anchoring to our job as technology professionals at Liberty Mutual is to enable us to be a tech forward insurance company, not forgetting our purpose and what we're here to do as a company for the communities that we're a part of. So you have to really intersect all those different components to enable modernization to take effect and really be valuable. So it is a path that has a lot of decision points and choices. So it's complicated, I would say.
Michael Shashoua (06:02):
Okay, definitely. So Digital Insurance honored you last year in our Women in Insurance Leadership program. And so we want to talk a little bit about leadership today. As a leader, how have you benefited from mentoring in your career?
Monica Caldas (06:22):
Oh yeah, absolutely. When I was in college and I was studying technology, the common observation that I always made is I was one of two, three girls in every class. And it could be intimidating when you don't see yourself across technology, whether it's in jobs or in the classroom. So I would say that mentorship started back then when I was in college, and it would either be teachers or even peers that today we would call them allies to help build up your confidence, to give you support and sponsorship as well. And so mentorship I think is really important, not just in the professional sense in terms of the jobs scene, but also in helping girls in middle school for example. We do a lot of work in our local communities in thinking about how do we engage, inspire, motivate young girls to pursue careers in tech by mentoring them, by showing them the art of the possible.
(07:37):
So that's one piece of mentorship that I benefited from when I was in college. I was older, but I also think about quite a bit and at Liberty and in my prior firm, which was General Electric, I spent a lot of my personal time thinking about this and contributing back. I think that's really important. So that's one piece. The other piece is how do you mentor and sponsor in the professional sense in the communities, whether you are in networking events or whether you are just thinking about leadership positions and helping build a diverse and inclusive environment for all people. But per our conversation here, what does it mean to be a woman in tech? I'm keenly aware that I got to where I got to based on incredible mentors, both men and women, but also sponsorship. And there's a difference. Mentorship will be someone that you can bounce ideas off of, brainstorm, get support, get feedback.
(08:40):
A sponsor is all that. Plus they will speak about you as opportunities arise when you're not in the room. They will cheer you on, they will sponsor you in terms of putting your name on the list for other people who are hiring managers to consider. And I think that is important for all people to think about who are their mentors and who are their sponsors. And so when we think about an inclusive culture in my leadership table, I always ask my direct reports, who are you mentoring? Who are you sponsoring? And I think about it as pay it forward, pay it backwards. You have to help people both that are behind you and that are in the environment you're in to support them, to give them a lift, to also inspire and motivate them and sometimes give them confidence. And I came from Portugal, my parents came to the US and I was only eight, and I saw how they leveraged the communities they're in to have confidence in pursuing their American dream. And so I saw from an early age and that stayed with me through my career. So I'm very committed to making sure that we create the right environment for everyone to thrive, not just women, right? Everyone to thrive. And I'm super proud to be part of Liberty Mutual. That's important for us to have diverse and inclusive and equitable environment for all people to be their best selves. So I do think that's super important. I can talk for hours about it too, but I'll pause there.
Michael Shashoua (10:15):
Sure. Well, Monica, how does the company, or how does any company or how does Liberty benefit from the sponsorship idea and the mentorship program as well?
Monica Caldas (10:29):
Yeah, I think that if you think about any community you're part of, when you have different voices that have different sets of experiences, there creates this texture and dynamic to the problem you're solving and you will get to a better place. And so if you just think about your personal experiences and your work experiences and think about the problems that were solved that really resulted in outcomes that were super successful, I would bet you those were due to having a variety of voices in the room and perspectives that rounded out the thinking, that helped you see around corners that maybe your personal experience you didn't have or maybe biases that you didn't even know you had. And so I think it shapes us all better to have a variety of voices in the room, and not only from personal experience in terms of you become better because you learn and understand things from different angles at a more personal level.
(11:36):
But also companies benefit from that because we're solving problems with a greater degree of perspective that then generates an outcome that has a greater degree of value and accuracy perhaps. So when you think about that, I think that's the win-win. And it's hard to measure. I think you have to take a leap of faith that your experiences have results of that. And there's enough research out there that shows that the math supports that statement. And so to answer your question directly, how do companies benefit? I would say they benefit in the results, in then being able to deliver better products, better services to their customers, to the communities they're in. And I think that all in all is a win-win across the board, both from a customer of a company as well as a company itself. So that's one. The other piece is, well, what is a company doing to create that environment?
(12:32):
And we talk about maybe you make a chair available for someone and invite them into the conversation, but then are you actually listening to what they're saying and putting their perspective into the mix? And so really listening, and we have different ways of doing that, from mentorship programs that we do to employee resource groups that we have, where we create, we're on a mission to have an inclusive workplace, period. And so how do you create then meaningful connections and a place where everyone belongs? And we have different ways of doing this, but I'll give you an example. Being on the topic of being a woman in tech, we have a employee resource group called We at Liberty, which is about women in tech and how do we have different programs, different mentorships, and it's both women and men. It's not just an exclusive club. It's really a conversation about how to solve these problems that are mostly or sometimes faced by women.
(13:35):
And I can say that when I had my children, I was having a challenge in balancing it all, and it was a great opportunity to be, have a location where I can go to and share that and learn from others that have been in that path on what worked and what didn't. And there were men in that conversation too, and they were allies and they were sharing their perspective too. So I would say this to say that it's not meant to be exclusive, it's meant to be inclusive, and it's meant to then orient the conversation to that area that is in focus. And for us, women in tech are issues and opportunities and challenges, and how do we harness the power of the relationships that are built in those employee resource groups to then create an inclusive environment all around. So I think that we at Liberty have created a strong ecosystem, not just for the employee resource group that I gave you the example, but we have so many others and we won some awards. So we have some public recognition as well, which is always nice. But in reality, the true mission of this is to create an environment that everyone feels they can bring their authentic selves to work.
Michael Shashoua (14:43):
With all of that happening, and in your own experience, how do you see the progress being made?
Monica Caldas (14:52):
Yeah, I'd love to say that we're at step nine and progress is step 10, and you've achieved results that you wanted and you've finished. But I do feel having been in tech for over 20 plus years, that we have a long road ahead as it relates to women in tech in particular. And I know there's some statistics out there, but I would say that women today, the last one I saw was about we only hold 26% of the tech jobs. So it's a long tailed problem is how I would say in terms of we're not at step nine and at the finish of the marathon, we still have a long way to go, but we are making progress. And that makes me feel excited and proud of how I can contribute to doing that as well. And I have two children, I have a boy and a girl, and we talk about these things as both opportunities, but also we've made progress, so let's be proud of that.
(15:54):
But also what else is there left to do and how can we advance so that whether it's early exposure in tech through going to middle schools and helping do afterschool programs and offering art of the possible kind of conversations to pipeline in the workforce and continuing to help people develop their path. So I do think that when you think about success and statistics, you would say, we've done a lot of work yet, we are not finished. So that's on one end. If you think more broadly around diversity, we are also partnering in our communities, whether it's the Anita Borg organization, Girls Who Code, Hack.Diversity, National Society of Black Engineers, these are different partnerships that we're creating that also help us bring our perspective and experiences to the table to help those organizations, but also then create a partnership where we can provide a pipeline of candidates from all backgrounds and also offer jobs and opportunities. So there is a ton of work if you think about all the work streams that we're doing and we're not done. So there's so much more to do, which is why I love your question, and I love the engagement in the conversation. I think if we keep talking about it, having awareness, but also working towards progress, that we will get further down into the journey. And I have hopes for that. And we are definitely on the map in terms of continuing that journey forward.
Michael Shashoua (17:40):
Thank you. Can you tell me a little bit about some of the organizations that you mentioned a little bit more about what they do and maybe some of your work within them?
Monica Caldas (17:49):
Yeah, sure. I can start with some work that we do in our communities using our own employee resource groups. So women in tech, for example, we have a group called Legit, which is helping girls learn to code and be exposed to technology and we'll host Lego leagues. And for younger girls, I know that I volunteered, especially during Covid, and we were reading books and doing small experiments to kind of just plant seeds about the art of the possible. In my prior role, when I was at GE, I did some of that work too, and we would bring them to factory environments where they would learn how to make lip gloss. It doesn't seem like that is a super technical thing, but just unpacking the traditional, what does tech look like, and just bringing ideas and concepts to what girls perhaps naturally navigate to and making it real for them that there's chemistry here, there's science here.
(19:00):
So making it real has been a real key element to both the work I was doing, my prior organization and the work we're doing now as it relates to engaging in girls middle school age and just sharing the art of the possible. Then of course, we also participate in, for example, I mentioned the National Society of Black Engineers, NSBE, and we have a partnership with them in Boston, and we have a national partnership as well where we will come in and bring executives from our organization to speak about topics that they care about on their mission of bringing more black engineers to tech. And so we'll do round tables, we'll do workshops, we'll also host events, we'll bring in interns into our organization and give them an opportunity to really experience the environment. And then we have a pipeline, early talent, early career pipeline of interns that then turn into early career hires.
(20:06):
And so we have, we call, it's almost like a technology leadership program where we'll hire college grads and we'll put 'em in a two year program and give them mentorship and training and really hands-on to help them learn how to operate in a corporate environment, but also learn our business, create networks for them and mentorship opportunities so that they have community that they can be part of when they join the organization. We will source talent from a variety of the organizations that I mentioned, whether it's showing up at Grace Hopper event and spending several days there, both executive time as well as the frontline software engineer to talk about what is it, what is their experience really like, and bringing our selves to those environments to showcase who we are, how our organization works, but then also answer their questions and be really accessible. So I think one pattern, if you will of this is showing up in the communities and understanding what each of the different organizations that we work for need, understanding what their mission is, and then figuring out how can we bring our Liberty Mutual brand and even our foundation resources where we actually source and fund some of these projects more broadly.
(21:34):
And so how do we bring that as well, that capability as well? And then how do we actually hire some of these folks and bring them into our pipeline, our talent development programs, and give them an opportunity to grow and thrive and mentor them as they continue on their journey. There's so many different dynamics to it. It's not just one piece, but we have an incredible, incredible group of people at the company, and it really starts with our values of who we are as a company and enabling and wanting people to bring their authentic selves, and also creating an environment that is inclusive to hear the voices once they're here, not just check a box, but more importantly really create a diverse community within the company itself. And so that is very important to us, and we're on a journey, and meanwhile, we want to also impact positively the communities that we are a part of.
Michael Shashoua (22:32):
So does Liberty engage these girls in STEM efforts from grade school all the way through high school, college, at every level?
Monica Caldas (22:43):
Yeah, we have a variety of programs and we work with schools to understand what does the school need. So we don't have a set agenda that says, okay, we will only do these things. So we try to be flexible. And what does the school need? Do they need more support in the elementary, middle school? Do they need more support in other age groups? We tend to orient the conversations and the efforts in the middle school level. Even in my prior organization, we've noticed that between the ages of 10 and 12 in girls, statistically, it has been proven, and I'm not sure of the data recently, but it has been proven that that's the age where it's really pivotal for them to actually lean in to STEM or lean away from. And so we've spent our energy focusing in that area so that we can really, I guess you would say, influence so that they wouldn't get intimidated by STEM and math and science, and really show them there are other women that are in math and science, and let us tell you what we do all day. And sometimes it shows up as being a software engineer. Sometimes you're a data engineer and there are many other jobs in technology that you can be doing. And so just showing up and talking about it and being a mentor in those respects I think is really valuable.
Michael Shashoua (24:09):
Are you seeing the results already in STEM, in women's participation in STEM fields?
Monica Caldas (24:18):
Yeah, I think we're seeing results again, when I started 20 plus years ago, I think the stats were actually worse when it comes to women holding jobs in tech and they're improving. So when you think the macro view, you would say, okay, we're not done, but we're making slow progress, but it's not 50-50. So no, the job isn't done.
Michael Shashoua (24:46):
So I think we will probably maybe cap our conversation here. I want to thank you, Monica, for your time today and sharing your thoughts on the topics.
Monica Caldas (24:57):
Thank you so much for the invitation. I think this is fabulous that you've created these opportunities to have these conversations and reach a wide audience, and hopefully we've inspired someone to go out into their community and participate and push on a more inclusive, diverse environment, but also perhaps someone's listening and we've inspired them. So thank you for the opportunity.
Michael Shashoua (25:23):
You're welcome.
