Susan Wojcicki Quotes
CEO of YouTube
Right now, offline and online are coming together because of smartphones.
Today, most young women are exposed to technology at a very young age, with mobile phones, tablets, the Web or social media. They are much more proficient with technology than prior generations since they use it for all their school work, communication and entertainment.
I love creating. I had been really into photography when I was in college.
Coding is like writing, and we live in a time of the new industrial revolution. What's happened is that maybe everybody knows how to use computers, like they know how to read, but they don't know how to write.
Though we do need more women to graduate with technical degrees, I always like to remind women that you don't need to have science or technology degrees to build a career in tech.
People don't understand the logistics of advertising. To have the ads purchased and run, you need to have a series of products that work together.
I am responsible for creating and overseeing the future products that make up Google Advertising.
Work smart. Get things done.
If everybody has to take biology and chemistry, they can take computer science. Computer science is a more useful skill right now than a lot of other things that people are learning at school.
I love taking an idea... to a prototype and then to a product that millions of people use.
It's important for me to show my children the richness of life and be a role model. I find that my organizational and management skills are tested more at home than at work!
Employing more women at all levels of a company, from new hires to senior leaders, creates a virtuous cycle. Companies become more attuned to the needs of their female employees, improving workplace culture while lowering attrition.
Engineering is a jeans and hoodie culture, and sales is more formal.
Google is a business that gets paid when users want to see - want to click on - the ad. If we show ads that no one wants to see, we don't generate revenue.
Girls are being left out of the conversation when it comes to technology, led to think of tech as insular and antisocial without ever being given a chance to correct those perceptions.
Let's face it: Engineering companies in general have more men than women. Google has tried really hard to recruit women. On the other hand, we have a standard. Google tries to recruit the best engineers.
The great thing about the Internet is you can launch a product, and within just a few hours, people will tell you what they think about it.
Paid leave is a not just a mother and child issue, it's a societal issue we have.
YouTube is growing up, is basically my view of it. Growing up means our creators are growing up; they're getting more well known. We're providing programs for them to generate more revenue so they can generate even better, high-quality shows, and then also connecting them with the advertisers.
Whether it's salary or a promotion or a job, I think it's important for women to ask for what they think they deserve.
I have had a lot of setbacks that I have learned from.
I think we have to recognize as an industry that users have a lot more choices and can click away to a lot more media. As a result, the advertising we create really needs to be something users want to see.
Unless we make computer science a priority, we risk making gender, class, and racial disparities worse as jobs flow to those with a computer science background.
I have tried to be a leader. I have tried in my role of being one of the first women at Google, let alone the first woman to have a baby, to really try to set the tone that this is a great place to work for diversity reasons.
What's important is that I do my job really well, that I build great products and that I'm a great leader. All those things matter independent of gender. But I do think there's a responsibility for me to support other women at Google.
First there's my role just as an executive being responsible for advertising, regardless of gender. I think that's a position that I take seriously. That's the first role. But I think for my role as a woman at Google, you try to set a good example and be a role model for the other women in the organization.
There are lots of people in the Silicon Valley who are interested in working at a fast-moving, dynamic company like Google. Not just my family members.
Advertising is very simple in a lot of ways. Advertisers go where the users go, and users are choosing to spend a lot more time online.
I think the phone is a really personal device in a lot of ways. If you drop your phone or lose it there's a moment of panic. On the other hand there's a lot of control that users have.
My smartest move was joining Google. It wasn't obvious at the time that it would be a good decision. A lot of people, many of my friends, advised me against it.
Ads get a bad reputation sometimes because they're not useful. They're not relevant, or slow.
People used to say that advertising wasn't in Google's DNA, and that's obviously not true anymore. They used to say that display advertising isn't in Google's DNA, and that's not true any more.
Google has been doing well. As much as possible we're trying to share back with the employees. They will continue to create a lot of value.
Many women assume they can't be good mothers and have challenging careers at the same time, so they might give up trying to do both as they get to a crucial point in their career. Although it can be hard at times, it's important for women to recognize the benefits of working outside the home.
Even though it was a start-up with fewer than 20 people, and I was pregnant with my first child, the best decision I've ever made was to join Google in 1999. Worst decision? Deciding to get a puppy and a bunny right when the baby came.
Google is fascinating, and the book isn't finished. I'm creating, living, building, and writing those chapters.
At the end of the day, both men and women who become CEOs have showed tenacity and hard work to succeed in their careers. It takes not just skills but also extreme dedication and commitment. And regardless of gender, CEOs are measured by the same criteria - the growth and success of the business.
I think video advertising is a hugely compelling medium.
We are a consumer company and our success is directly linked to our users trusting us. Therefore we have the same incentive as the user: they want to see relevant advertising so their experience of Google is positive and we want to deliver it.
Google is a consumer brand and people need to be comfortable. If we were just an advertising brand we wouldn't have the same concerns. We've always tried to promote transparency and choice among our users.
Mobile is an incredibly fast-growing market and will continue to be.
I have this desire to create things and build things, and Google has enabled me to build and create things and to build products that are used by people all over the globe.
I'm excited about the opportunities with mobile phones and being able to receive information on the go and relevant to what I'm doing at that moment in time.
I have tried in my role of being one of the first women at Google, let alone the first woman to have a baby, to really try to set the tone that this is a great place to work for diversity reasons.
Generally, our approach with products at Google is to first develop the right user base and then to figure out what's the right experience for the ads.
My most radical shift was leaving Intel and joining Google, a small startup at the time, even though I was pregnant.
My kids know I'm home every night for dinner.
The reason I like my job is that I have this desire to create. I have this desire to create things and build things, and Google has enabled me to build and create things and to build products that are used by people all over the globe.
People don't understand the logistics of advertising.
My first job after college was at Magic Quest, an educational software startup company where I was responsible for writing the content. I found that job somewhat accidentally but after working there a few weeks and loving my job, I decided to pursue a career in technology.
Having a child is a big life change, but the really hectic period is relatively short. You can get through it.
I don't feel like I'm a perfect mom, and then there are times at work where I feel like maybe I wasn't perfect here because of constraints on my time. But having the sum of both of those things going on in my life makes me a better mom at the end of the day, and I think gives me really important perspectives in the workplace as well.
Your kids get something from your career, and your career will get something from your kids.
On YouTube, women are not just users; they're creators. They're learning about business and technology, and having a voice.
People at different stages of their lives are doing different things, and they're all using Google.
After my kids go to bed, I check email. It's about having that balance.
As someone who's been lucky to have a great career in tech, I know how creative and fulfilling a career in this industry can be for women. And I want to make sure we continue to recruit and retain great female hires.
Underrepresented employees already have to overcome discriminatory barriers in their careers; they shouldn't be expected to volunteer their time to help their companies do the same.
In every organization, there are many people, from senior leaders to first-time managers, who have the power to elevate women in the workplace. I wouldn't be in the position I'm in today without several key people in power believing in me and giving me a chance to succeed.
Even in a culture where people are well meaning, there are sometimes 'microaggressions.' People who will just cut you off. You'll be talking, and someone will interrupt you. That's become a big pet peeve of mine.
One of the things that I'm trying to do is use the position that I'm in... to encourage the next generation of girls to think about the Internet as a career opportunity.
Don't overplan your life. Joining Google when I was four months pregnant was a bit of a leap, but sometimes you have to do the right thing for you right now.
I've seen all of these decisions that have been made by all these great leaders who have been part of Google, and this has been an opportunity for me when I'm running YouTube, is to be able to take advantage of all of those memories.
I think I've always been able to see what's coming, and when I was joining Google, people always said, 'Why are you joining this company?' It was so small at the time. I could see the importance of Google. I could see the way it was going to grow; it was going to become a big company.
I've been, like, the mom of Google.
Growth is always essential. Running any tech company, you want to make sure you're growing. Putting in place all of the right structure to be able to ensure growth.
If you are working 24/7, you're not going to have any interesting ideas.
I see tech as... a force that is changing pretty much all parts of our society. It's really sad for me that we don't have enough women that are part of that.
You see a lot of powerful women on the Internet, but I wish there were more. I think the Internet really could use a lot more women.
CEOs need to say, 'We're going to make sure this is a great environment for all types of people.' I was a beneficiary of that. I got support from the leaders of Google - all men.
I think about my own career, and when I graduated from college, the Internet didn't really exist yet. And so not having a specific plan, being able to be opportunistic at the end, is what enabled me to make some of my best decisions, which is to go to places that were growing but that I didn't plan to have happen.
YouTube has so much great content. And it really has something for everybody. And people come up to me all the time and talk to me about how YouTube has changed their life, how they've been able to learn something they didn't think they could learn.
People complain when ads aren't relevant, and they complain when ads are too relevant.
My daughter was 10 years old when she told me she hated computers. As someone who has spent her career helping build one of the largest tech companies in the world, I was in shock. Suddenly an issue I faced repeatedly at work - the lack of women in tech - hit squarely at home.
Advertising is a very fundamental need, so I don't think it's going to go away.
The fact that women represent such a small portion of the tech workforce shouldn't just be a wake-up call - it should be a Sputnik moment. The tech industry is not America's future; it is our present.
Suddenly, when you have kids, you become responsible for these other people - like if something's not working out at school. I learned to speak out.
In the old world, people used to have to go to focus groups and ask people what they thought. Now, people are writing all over the Web what they think about things.
YouTube has moved culture forward in attitudes - on refugees, on LGBT issues - especially trans issues. There was untapped demand there; a lot of our users would still be under-served without us. We're a platform that enables everyone to have a voice.
If a third of Americans' time is being spent online, why is only a quarter of ad dollars spent there? It's not proportional.
If women don't participate in tech, with its massive prominence in our lives and society, we risk losing many of the economic, political, and social gains we have made over decades.