AUDIO ONLY:
Dave Underhill: Hi, I'm Dave Underhill, and welcome to speak up. Dr. Magan Lewis is a visionary leader, innovator, and champion of women in science, technology, engineering, and math. We're here to talk with Magan and learn from her experience and gain her insights about how leaders can speak up and make an impact.
Magan, welcome. You've talked a lot about how from an early age, you wanted to be a leader who would feed the world. Where did that passion and that focus come from?
Dr. Magan Lewis: Great question, and I'm happy we're able to discuss it today. So I grew up in a small town in North Dakota. And I was grateful to have two parents that were educators, a music teacher and a science teacher. And so I was the one that was raised in my dad's science lab. I remember pleading my first science fair experiment at age four, and swabbing, you know, water fountains, but also I started recognizing the passion around agriculture in the community. So when I finally got the chance to compete at regional state international science fairs, my projects were agriculture focus, I work with farmers on sugar beets, and corn and soybean and a bunch of different crops.
And yet you asked me about the passion around feeding the the growing population, it really stemmed from you remember those visible memories, I was 17 years old sanding into a cornfield. And I was so excited because I had my little test plant right there. And the farmer looked at me and said, "Hey, Magan, you're gonna make a difference in agriculture someday." And I just took that as inspiration. I know, it's just words. But those words for that 17 year old were so powerful, that I took that in a ran all the way through school, just trying to make a difference, feed the growing population. And most importantly, give back. I mentioned that my parents were teachers, they were also community trailblazers, my mom still is today. And so they taught us at a very young age, the importance of treating everyone with respect and kindness, but most importantly, giving back to the communities that we live in. And so I could talk for hours and days about the background. But it really stemmed from my upbringing, and just having those opportunities to explore.
DU: Obviously, with your parents, and you mentioned the person who gave you that feedback in the field at 17, who were some other people that really provided guidance and support along your journey.
DML: Every interaction matters, make every interaction count, something that my dad and my grandma told me, told me growing up. You know, my dad was one of my big mentors growing up, he always pushed me he challenged me. And when he passed unexpectedly, in 2013, it was really devastating. And I had to get out of that darkness and into brightness, again, which was hard to do, but was doable. So what I'm trying to say is that mentors change, in my experience.
I actually refresh my mentor list, I have a core five, I refresh it every year. Because I'm really big on making sure I have the right mentors at the right stage of my career, or my schooling.
One of my core mentors was one of my first supervisors going into industry, and just teaching me not only the basics of scientific principle, but teaching me the power of being a servant leader. And the power of bringing empathy to the plate. Sometimes, as scientists, we get too analytical. And we get really excited about our research. But it doesn't translate to the community, it doesn't translate to people that it actually impacts. And so this supervisor was a core mentor, just always just keeping me grounded - boots on the ground. The power of just being there with the people just going through experiences together. So empathetic leadership is really critical.
Now I'm going to switch to academic things. So industry is really important. But let's go focus on the academic piece. I was 18 years old, going to North Dakota State University. I got assigned an advisor and I can tell you to this day, I still send letters and talk to that advisor and his wife because they had that big of an impact on my life. And I was I had the honor of celebrating his 50 years of teaching and education at NDSU. And so it's about making every interaction count. But most importantly, strengthening those connections and becoming a better person and a better version of you. So I still have the academic ties too.
And another critical leader, and especially at Corteva, has been a female leader that I've had, who's really challenged the status quo. And she's taught me to be bold. She's taught me to be myself. And she's taught me to never lose the grounding of who I am and who I want to be. But, it will really be, when you get to the top of your mountain, if you get anything out of this entire discussion - when you get to the top of your mountain be sure to turn around and pull your team up with you. I think that there's power in sharing ideas, leveraging and treating mentorship as a two way street. And I just wanted to end with that is that mentorship is way more powerful than I think we could even ever imagine.
DU: I love that two way street analogy that you use, because it really is giving back based on what you've been able to accomplish, because you've been helped along the way. So let's talk about Corteva - Global Technology Adoption Lead. What a cool title and and role, I imagine. Tell us a bit about what you and your team are doing. What are some of the key innovations that you're working on? .
DML: It's a dynamic role - just recently changed - got that Plus One added. I'm super grateful, because you'll hear the Plus One and you'll say, "Oh, that's a perfect fit for Magan!" So yes, Global Technology Adoption Lead. I get the opportunity to work with amazing scientists, engineers, leaders across the world, on enhancing data quality through data collection. So we really look at finding those tools that can enhance operational excellence, efficiency, data quality for scientists. And then if we're lucky, it then transfers over to the customer base.
I've had the opportunity to work with amazing regulatory, legal, safety specialists, because we're worldwide. It's not just North America. And when you think about drones and the complexity with drone imaging, drone product application, you can about imagine my network is quite large. But what I can say is that it's also one of my favorite parts of the role is interacting with new people. Interacting and bringing the right people into the right room at the right time. Another area that I picked up too is around university and academic engagement lead. So now I get the opportunity to strengthen that across the world. Work with professors, advisors, students, and really start thinking from a crop protection mindset. What can we do to help, you know, recruit, inspire our future generation. So it's really about, again, bringing the right people to the right table at the right time. And I get to work with amazing, amazing individuals every single day.
DU: It has to be fascinating to work with such a wide variety of people. What do you do to bring that broad spectrum of stakeholders together around an idea, a technology or a vision? What have you found that works for you?
DML: The secret sauce, the unpeeling of the orange, right? I want to say that I was not perfect. If you would have asked me 10 years ago, you know … through my experience, I've been a direct supervisor, I've led hundreds of amazing, talented scientists throughout the company. I celebrated 10 years at Corteva on March 5. I've had the opportunity to be that hands on to many direct reports, tons of contract workers reporting in, boots on the ground leader.
And about a year ago, I transitioned into individual contributor, because I had established leadership skill set according to leaders in our organization. So they wanted to see me flourish on the influential leadership skill set. And so your question is perfect, right? Because now I have to inspire and influence so many different people in the hundreds, every single day to follow vision or my strategy or some of Magan's thoughts and ideas. And, but they don't report to me, I'm that dotted line now. And it's, it's a different switch. But it's been really impactful and beneficial.
Because what works for me is really thinking about, you know… in technology space, individuals get caught with fun, shiny technology. The concern with this is that it's really hard to drive where does this help us operationally, from operational excellence? What is the So What? And so one of my secret sauces in the tech space is innovation design thinking. Move away from the concept of fun and flashy, and start focusing on the business case, the ROI, what's in it for me, what is the So What? Because that will enhance your traction. And also that will enhance where you're going to go with a project. So by turning that mindset on of innovation design thinking, I come into a room with an idea, or you know, change a process. And I'm able to bring the team in, by showing them that, hey, we're not here just for this shiny technology. This is the So What, this is the value and the potential this technology can bring to your organization, can bring to your teams, and most importantly, can bring to our communities worldwide.
So number one, innovation design thinking, number two, you're probably picked up on my delivery, the power of storytelling. I think way too many professionals underestimate the power of storytelling. The ability to not get caught in the technical piece of it to say, hey, according to the product lineup and the pipeline of X, Y and Z …you're going to lose people. But if you set the stage of what you see, your vision, your strategy, how you came about it - you know, maybe it was a cloudy day,72 degrees - the power of storytelling leaves a vision in the audience.
And so that, with that embeds getting to know your stakeholders, your audience. Having adaptive communication styles. I use different styles. If I'm talking to farmers, scientists, investors, other companies, startups, I have to pivot. I'm still Magan. But they all have different needs and different wants and different ways of communicating. And so innovation design thinking, the power of storytelling is so critical. And embedded in that is adaptive communication and negotiation skills. And I think those are the main elements. If I think back of what I've learned in areas that I failed and picked up myself, and said, "I need to go read a negotiation book, I need to get better and get better tactics built into my skill set". But those are the main elements that I can think of today.
DU: One of the things you mentioned too is a lot of different professional groups that you interact with, in agriculture, like many of the STEM professions, are male dominated. So, you do a lot of mentoring. You've experienced a lot of things. As you mentor women, young women who are entering these STEM fields. What guidance do you give about how to speak up so that they can make the impact that they want to make?
DML: Good question, and you know that I'm super passionate in this space. So thank you for asking. I start out - this may seem simple. And this is one of my humility moments of you know, you get done with PhD … I got so excited. Not many know this, but my husband left his full-time job. He has a master's in business operations. He's our finance relocation specialist. He left his full time job to be a stay at home dad, because of the difficulty of female leadership in agriculture, and especially large agriculture corporations. And so when you think about it, he left his full time job to be stay at home dad to activate and to launch my career. So for that, I'm truly grateful.
Now, launching the career means that I lived I breathe, I mean, full transparency, I'm not going to share the hours I started out in industry, it was super high. It was really unbalanced. And I felt that I had to - this is a fun humility moment. But I walked in as one of only like two female breeders in this room of hundreds, hundreds, right. And so I felt this need to adapt, to be that chameleon. I felt like I had to walk like them and talk like them. You know, like when I see them, the other male breeders and counterparts, even though they really didn't value my opinion, but I came in this imposter syndrome phase where I felt that I just had to fit in. Well, I was pregnant at the time. And one situation that really resonates with me as we were walking cornfields at all hours of the day. And you know, you I just said I could keep up with everybody. In this one cornfield, specifically in North Dakota, had really deep irrigation tracks, and I was about eight months pregnant at the time. And I felt I could keep up with everybody, take notes, analyze the germ plasm, which is the fun corn plants that we see in the field, and take notes on that. And what ended up happening is I pushed myself to a limit where I actually ended up falling in an irrigation ditch, right on my stomach. As a new mom, one of the most terrifying and scary experiences, I could even tell you riding to the hospital that evening, and getting hooked up, and one of the most, you know, you'd have those moments that you just realized, like, "Hey, okay, what's important in life, life is short" is when I finally heard my daughter's heartbeat on the monitor. Um, you know, sigh of relief, but also just a good reflection moment. I was kind of sad at myself for taking it that far. But what it really taught me is that you need to be yourself, you need to be the best version of yourself. And when you are your best version, others around you will activate their best version.
I always leave every mentorship discussion with a question. It's like, “who did you inspire today? Who are you bringing up on the top of the mountain with you? And who are you going to champion?” One of the biggest mistakes I've seen in my 10 years - 10 years of industry - It's been fun. I see individuals say that "I'm an IDE diversity inclusion equity champion." When in reality, they're a cheerleader. They're not a champion. They're not an advocate. How are they pulling those women and aspiring women leaders in the company up? Are they building them into succession plans? Are they identifying new opportunities? Are they growing them? Are they getting paid the same as their male counterparts? Something as simple as a pay scale difference and understanding. I get really passionate about this area. And so I teach my mentees that you always need to push and you always need to challenge the status quo, because we can do better. And this is an opportunity to do better. And it starts with being their most authentic and genuine self. And then most importantly, who are they championing? Not cheerleading, but who are they advocating for and championing today so that we can build this successful and sustainable pipeline.
That is … the biggest gap is I don't see this pipeline being built. And how can we start building that pipeline at all levels, because I see amazing talent across the world. I had the opportunity to mentor somebody in Ecuador last year, and, you know, really inspire her to go back and get her PhD. We have talent, we have amazing women talent globally now. We just have to do a better job of making sure that that pipeline, and I can't do it alone, right. And so this is like building that network to ensure that we have the success for future generations to come. That we are set, and that we will build this pipeline that will bring diversity, diversity of thought, ideas, opinions at the right table, at the right time with the right people. And so that's what I do is I try to inspire them just to go get it and be themselves.
DU: I was working with a female technical leader, coaching her for about six months. And as we were wrapping up, we talked with her boss, who was at the executive level. And one of the comments he made was the progress that she had made in speaking up at the executive and the board level. And one of the comments he made was “What I've learned, that I didn't know, is that women really feel this hesitation to speak up when it's a male dominated environment. And I know you've probably been in a lot of those. What what advice would you have for people who are in that moment? And are deciding "Do I speak up or not speak up?"
DML: Before you go into a presentation, it is so critical that you just don't build your you know, "What am I going to present?” Just start from the beginning. Before you even start your PowerPoint I want you to write down ‘Who are your stakeholders?’ ‘Who is the key audience that you are presenting to?’ Number two. And three, ‘What is the So What? What are you going to get out of this presentation, and what is your company or organization going to get out of this presentation?’ You need to identify those building blocks. Otherwise, it is just wasted breath.
DU: You've got a LinkedIn page. Give me a one or two more places where people can reach out and find out more about who you are what you're doing.
DML: Absolutely. So LinkedIn, I am, you know, about making every interaction count. I told you, I want to inspire at least one person a week. And I started Fun Fact Friday. And what I can say is if my followers are listening, "Thank You!" I get about 20 or 30 private messages from bump backs so far, and they give me ideas. They give me ideas of what they want to know about, which I love because it helps me build a really impactful, just, post, for anybody that's reading. So LinkedIn is a great way to contact me.
I also have Instagram, you know, Dr. Magan. I'm, an IF/THEN Ambassador, AAAS IF/THEN ambassador. I just finished it. There's some exciting news coming there too. So with that, though, there's a whole bunch of videos and just different, I would say, profile information if you want to learn more about where I grew up, my passion in science, my passion in STEM, my passion for diversity, inclusion, and equity and, and outreach and all that fun stuff.
When I met all the amazing IF/THEN ambassadors back in 2019 … and I came in there I was like, "I get 30 likes on LinkedIn." And I had like a couple hundred in my network. I thought I was living life in 2019. So I show up there and and I get sat down by these amazing women who are doing amazing things on the ambassador program. And after we had our intro session, we actually had a tornado warning. So they had to transfer all 120 women into shelter spaces. And so we were in the hotel in Dallas, Texas. We were where the the workers at the hotel would go in case of emergency. And so I had free cereal and everything is wicked cool. Anyway, so we sat there, and we're alerting and I got sat next to an amazing, she's a LinkedIn influencer. She's like the top voice of LinkedIn. This is a funny story about knowing your audience and stakeholders. And she sat down next to me, and she's just texting. I'm like, "Hi, I'm Magan, so great to meet you!" And she goes, "Hi. So tell me about yourself. Let me see your LinkedIn brand.” You know, how do you do it on LinkedIn? And while she was googling me, I'm like, “Oh, fantastic. I got 29 likes off the plane today. And like hundreds of my network.” And I go, you know, “How about you? What's your LinkedIn profile?” It was in the millions. She had millions of followers at the time. And she, I mean, I mean, she doesn't ever walk away from a post with less than 1000 likes on a post, right? And what she did is she inspired me. She sat down with me in that room for two hours. We looked at my profile, she goes, "Hey, you're a mom, you're a scientist, you're a leader, what is your vision? What do you want people to know from you? What do you want it? What change do you want to make?"
If I can just inspire one person or have that one idea... I love to work and collaborate with a team of amazing people across the world just to go get it and help strengthen very important topics, and feeding the growing population...innovation, diversity, inclusion and equity. I think that we're stronger together, rather than just me soloing it. And I just want to say, put a shout out on LinkedIn. If you have ideas, please send me a message because I am so passionate about giving back but also so passionate about growing and building together.
DU: Magan, thank you very much for your time. And also thank you for the work that you're doing to feed the world and also to grow the next generation of STEM leaders. Again, thank you.
DML: Thank you so much. And thanks, Dave. Let's do together! You know, I always have to end with this. My good friend, one of my mentees said, "Hey, Dr. Magan, it's not 2022 it's 2020-You!" And so to finish it off, you know everybody, go be your best version and enjoy 2020-You!
