An Interview with Carol Bartz

Gemperlein :   Is technology bridging the gender gap or widening it?
Bartz :   I don't think it's bridging it. To say it's widening it might be over-speaking. I think technology might be widening the gap between incomes more than gender. I believe that the gender gap is already very wide in the whole math and science area anyway. Technology just fall into that category as far as I'm concerned.
In schooll, you're more nurtured. People, your parents, your teachers, are there to help you succeed. When you get out in the business life, frankly, you have to run your own safety net.
In that, I don't see much changing to help young women, girl, believe and get excited about the math and sciences part of the curriculum. I don't see anything changing. And I think it's a pretty desperate situation.
Gemperlein :   How do you feel about the education system in the United States? Does it need to be improved? Is it lagging behind in technology?
Bartz :   I think the education system in the United States needs to be dramatically improved. Are we lagging behind in technology? I think technology's one piece of it. I think that I'd like to start with how we lag behind in basic skill, like reading, mathematics, sciences. I don't think we require enough of our students. I don't think we ask enough of the kids.
I don't see much changing to help young women, girl, believe and get excited about the math and sciences part of the curriculum. I don't see anything changing. And I think it's a pretty desperate situation.

And that begins with: We don't have them going to schooll long enough. We're one of the shortest length-of-schooll, you know, time of going to schooll, in the world. If you look at Japan, a lot of European school, they go much longer than our children do in hours per year.

Gemperlein :   Are you or your company involved in any of the initiatives to help improve education in California school?
Bartz :   Well, one of the things that we do here that I'm very excited about is that I ask that every Autodesk employee volunteer at their local school on Autodesk time. And they work out with their manager how they want to do it. If they want to do it on a monthly basis, if they want to do a big project and take a week.
I ask that every Autodesk employee volunteer at their local school on Autodesk time.
But I ask that if they have children, they visit their school, they get very acquainted with the teachers, they help out. If they don't have children, we help assign them to schooll so they can adopt a classroom, if you will. And we very much encourage the employees to pay attention to what's happening in our school. Actively and on Autodesk time.

Unfortunately, schooll times and work times overlap in our country. And a lot of times, employees are really caught between how often they can go visit their children in schooll, if they can help with projects, if they can help with field trips, and that sort of thing. And I wanted to take pressure away.

Talitenu :   How do you think technology has changed education?
Bartz :   Well, I think one of the important things it's done is the content side, what's available for students to see. For instance, when my daughter was studying caterpillars to butterflies, they actually did it watching a CD and watching the technology evolve, and they were actually doing some Hypertext indexing. It was just fun.

So they were using technology to visualize a process that would be much harder to understand if you just saw a series of pictures. But you could literally see the butterfly exploding from the cocoon, and that's very powerful. And without the technology, it's a flatter, deader concept. So the content, I think, is the biggest play.

We all will have available at our fingertips a lot more information and a lot more, easier ability to connect with people. The downside of that, of course, is it can be very overwhelming. And I think might cause continued confusion in life.

I think that the wired world's going to be the next biggest play for school. The fact that -- I'm less impressed that a student can actually do their term paper using a word processing format -- well, that's great. But I don't think that's necessarily helped education. But the content and the fact that they can be wired into the greater world, I think is going to have a big impact.

Talitenu :   What do you look for when you hire somebody?
Bartz :   Well, it depends on the job. But, basically, you're looking for people who are very driven; they're smart. Many times, some have some experience in whatever the job is that they're being asked to do. We also look for a personality fit. A person can be a great achiever, but nobody wants to work with them. So we also look to see how they fit into the particular organization they're going to work for. It's not really any magic.
Gemperlein :   What do you think the consequences of technology in the future are?
Bartz :   Well, I think one of the most obvious consequences is the fact that we all will have available at our fingertips a lot more information and a lot more, easier ability to connect with people.

The downside of that, of course, is it can be very overwhelming. And I think might cause continued confusion in life.

You know, we all can be a bit in information overload. But I think it's going to get sorted out. And it's going to go far beyond the simple search engine concept, if you will. To where I think technology -- I hope technology -- will allow us to have more legitimate free time because we can do things easier. We'll have to see. About the turn of the century might be about the time frame we see some of that coming in.

Gemperlein :   Billions of dollars are made in corporations and by people in the corporations in the Silicon Valley. Do you feel that enough of it is given to charity, and should something be done about alerting companies to be more socially responsible?
Bartz :   I think companies have an enormous responsibility in this area. Not necessarily --and I'm gonna take a stand here -- not necessarily as much to the arts as they do to, you know, schooll-to-work programs, to programs to help the needy, programs to help, you know, people basically get on their feet. Because we are all affected by society around us and we need to have a great living and a great work environment. And we have to help with that.

The last figures I've read (show that) giving in Silicon Valley is actually up. I think that . . .companies are starting to pay attention. And, of course, there are some wonderful mode like Hewlett-Packard. I think part of it's also an age issue. When you're in your 20s and early 30s, nothing's ever going to happen to you. It's going to be a wonderful life. And I don't think you actually look around a whole lot.

Now, surely, there are some people in those age brackets who are wonderfully compassionate and aware. But for the most part, I think, as the Valley ages a bit, you'll see more attention to issues and support of issues as cancer and the homeless, and the schooll system, and so forth.

Gemperlein :   Have you ever thought of running for political office?
Bartz :   Oh, God, no!

Gemperlein: Why?

Bartz: I would be horrible!

Gemperlein: Because?

Bartz: I am not patient enough. I would be a disaster. I wouldn't win because I wouldn't say what needs to be said to please everybody to get voted in. And if, by some miracle, I got voted in, I wouldn't do what it takes to please everybody in the state office. So, it sounds entirely like an entirely losing proposition. I wouldn't consider it.