The Power of Mentorship with Alvina Antar, CIO of Okta, and Sharon Mandell, SVP/CIO of Juniper Networks

Sharon Mandell, SVP Chief Information Officer of Juniper Networks and Alvina Antar, CIO of Okta, discuss the importance of mentorship on the road to becoming a CIO.

They also unpack how a strong network of industry peers can help you not only do your best work, but help you decide what work is worth focusing on.

Key Takeaways 

• There’s a common misconception that your company or your product’s value hits its peak once your customer gets it up and running. The true value is in longevity, flexibility, and your company’s ability to mold your product to your customer’s needs.
• Mentorship can fuel your career if you’re intentional about it. You can’t expect a C-level executive to coach you at every step, every day. But, you can reach out to people who inspire you and ask for their guidance. Their insight can help you during critical career junctures.
• For CIOs, your employees are your customers. You should be building the same type of seamless, effortless, online experience for your employees that you are for your customers. Giving them the right environment in which to work, especially remotely, pays dividends.

Key Quotes

“When I’m mentoring someone,I want somebody who’s going to have the courage to raise their hand when they need something. In addition to anything more formal we might structure, you have to ask. You have to have the courage to ask.” – Sharon

“It’s all about experiences. It’s about how we optimize our customer experience and deliver the most delightful, most optimal, most seamless, most secure customer experience. The same principle applies for the employee experience, too. ” – Alvina

“With my CIO network, I don’t have to learn what other people have learned before me. I’m not reinventing-the-wheel kind of person. I want to use my brain cycles for when I truly have to innovate. ” – Sharon 

“In this new year, I think about the opportunity to further evolve the positioning of IT and business technology in driving business growth in streamlining processes so that companies can evolve and grow and scale. We should look at IT and business technology as a business, as an integral part of the business. ” – Alvina

Links

Sharon Mandell LinkedIn

Alvina Antar LinkedIn

Juniper Networks

Okta

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