Voice of Experience: Wendy Stops, Global Managing Director, Quality & Client Satisfaction – Technology, Accenture

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Wendy Stops is a panelist at our upcoming event “Women in IT: Staying Technical and Getting to the Top.” We still have a few tickets left – to register, click here: https://theglasshammer.com/events/

“I guess it’s the individual, smaller things that inspire me. When I see very confident, articulate people who are genuine, and know what they want to achieve and share their story with you,” began Wendy Stops, Global Managing Director of Quality and Client Satisfaction for Technology at Accenture.

Stops’ career has brought her around the world – from Australia, to several locations across Southeast Asia, back to Australia, and now to New York City. She said, “My area of current experience and focus – consulting and tech – is helping our business delivery quality solutions for the client. Delivering these quality solutions is very important, and we are always looking to make improvements and changes. My challenge is to innovate how we can continually deliver high quality solutions.” She explained, “I like change – I like dealing with things I know are going to make a difference.”

She continued, “I get inspired by people who are not afraid to make tough decisions – who aren’t hiding and [are willing to] admit when they make mistakes. That’s the sort of person I want to be.”

Tracing a Global Career at Accenture

“I started at the company 29 years ago. I progressed up through the typical consulting program as a programmer and system analyst before getting into project and program management.”

Stops has been dedicated to delivering excellence on behalf of her clients for her entire career. For example, she recalled running her very first project as a Project Manager, the roll-out of a new back office solution. She explained that it took off and grew quickly. “The major thing for me was that in less than twelve months after we delivered, our client was voted number one in the industry for back office administration. In a very short time, our client was recognized as an industry leader.”

About 9-10 years into her career, Stops found herself taking on more program management roles, and then moved overseas to Kuala Lumpur, to develop the company’s telecom business in Southeast Asia. “I took on responsibility for a couple of key projects in the Southeast Asia business, as well as getting our practice established.” And in three or four years, she moved back to Australia, to handle account leadership with a major telco client. “Eventually I went full circle,” she said, running the communications and high tech business in Australia, Southeast Asia, India, and Korea.

“In the mid-90s, we restructured and I moved to Singapore in 2005.” She continued, “A year into my tenure up there, I was asked to expand my role, effectively becoming Director of Operations of the Asia/Pacific business across all industry groups. So I was effectively Asia/Pacific COO from mid-2006,” she explained.

“I came back to Australia and continued this role for a couple of years, and was asked to take on a global role in the quality practice for our outsourcing business. Eighteen months into that – almost a year ago now – the company combined IT outsourcing and systems integration, and I became global head of quality for that combined Technology business. And I moved up here [New York] about three months ago.”

Looking forward, she said, “Given my age I see myself retired in ten years, which is when I feel I can sit back and reflect on my career, and be proud of my legacy.”

But, she said, “There are always other things you want to do. I have a secret passion for acting, and both my boys have got a desire for it as well.”

Women in Leadership: Don’t be Afraid to Fail

“My general interest has been the advancement of women in leadership. I don’t know if I call it an issue but I think it needs continued focus. It’s obviously important to nurture women in leadership roles in this industry,” Stops said.

“I don’t think there are barriers or challenges that are specific to this industry. Generally in all industries, there are more personal barriers – your style.” She explained, “Confidence – men naturally have more confidence. Women need self confidence.”

She continued, “It’s important not to be afraid to fail, to have the willingness to step forward. In our industry, it’s an area in which people have to make their mark and stand out.”

Stops manages to balance the demands of her job with her responsibilities of motherhood by staying organized. She explained “One of the things I do is consciously block out time. I give my executive assistant my kids’ school schedule and block it out in my diary. I’m very conscious about sticking to my commitments with the family.”

She continued, “I’m particularly conscious of my weekends – I do a lot of travel. In all the years I’ve been in the company, only twice was I deliberately away on a weekend. I do business Monday through Friday. I’m always home on weekends. And I don’t stay away for multiple weeks at a time.”

Of course, she makes time for herself, as well. She said, “I also make sure that I get me time – for exercise, or a facial, or a mani-pedi.”

“I’ve had to learn to say no in the nicest and politest way, but to explain why. I like to be honest. Most people appreciate that. They’re a lot more understanding if you’re honest, even if it’s for personal reasons.”

Lessons Learned: Advice for Advancement

Stops’ main advice for women seeking to advance in the tech industry is to be true to yourself. She said, “I think it’s probably the same advice I like to give to other people – be yourself and be honest. People can see through you if you’re not being honest. You can’t earn respect as you advance in your career [if you aren’t honest].”

She continued, “My industry is all about people. You can’t get along if you don’t get along with people.” First of all, she said, “You’ve got to be a team player.” Next, “You have to be disciplined. I’m a big believer in discipline – that’s probably why I’m involved in quality. I always say, ‘the pain of discipline is nothing compared to the pain of failure.’”

And finally, “If you’re doing your job well, part of that is doing what you’re asked to do [even if it doesn’t seem like a valuable task.] In everything you get asked to do, there’s something you can learn from it.”

She also mentioned the importance of navigating office politics successfully. “If you want to continue to advance, you have to make yourself known. In doing that, working with teams, moving up the chain, you have to be much more aware of individual motivations. Some of the politics, as well, you need to know, and be much more aware of if you want to advance.” Stops also mentioned the importance of networking within the company.

Reflecting on her career, Stops said, “Maybe I wish I’d realized that I needed to keep a focus on my technical skills.” She explained, “as your career advances, it’s very easy to get caught up in advancement and leadership, and so on, to the detriment of some of the more pure technical skills.”

Personally: A Passion for Travel

Regarding her personal passion, Stops said, “The main thing is I like to travel.” Good thing for a woman whose career has spanned not just countries, but continents.

She continued, “I like to give my family that experience as well. My family comes with me as much as possible and definitely on the more long term moves.” Stops described moving her family to Malaysia, Singapore, and the US. “Accenture has given me the opportunity to do that, as well as regular travel. I would love to do more of the general travel in the future.”

“Travel is more of a passion now that I’m in this part of the world, as I haven’t explored much over here. I want to do more of the US and South America,” she said.

She continued, “Egypt – our best holiday was Egypt. We booked it on the internet – it was a family thing, and there was one other family. Coincidentally they turned out to be Australian too. There were eight of us in all. I loved learning about the place, but we had a lot of fun – riding camels, and the train, and we did donkey rides – as well as >exploring the ruins.”