Colt podcast features career path to engineering leadership

International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) saw Colt celebrate and honor women's achievements in the engineering field.

INWED provides women engineers around the world a profile while they are still hugely under-represented. Marking the day, Colt seeks to demystify the industry and encourage more young women and girls to take up engineering careers.

Sharing her non-traditional career story in engineering

Listen to the first podcast produced by Women+@Colt, the company's women’s network, that spotlights one of Colt's most senior woman engineers, Claire Limbert.

Claire Limbert is Colt's Vice President of Network Operations, who joined as Director of Transformation and was promoted to Vice President.

In the podcast episode with host Shubha Tobias, Claire discusses her non-traditional career story to engineering leadership, while sharing the challenges she’s faced along the way and her career highlights.

"Generally the workplace is much more inclusive than it was when I first started working. When I started working is that people were very focused on process and output, but it was less about understanding people and appreciating the value of diversity, and connecting on a much more human level. One of the things that I have noticed over the years is that authenticity and the ability to be yourself is more and more important. I think it's something that has been increasingly valued through my career," explains Claire.

"That makes a big difference if you don't fit the sort of traditional, conventional model for what a leader looks like. It allows people to play to their strengths, to adapt their own leadership styles to what works for them, and it creates opportunities for people who perhaps don't look like or sound like or behave quite like the people who came before them," comments Claire.

"I think also the focus more work-life balance has really changed the dynamic and the greater level of respect that we now have for people about where they work, and when they work, and how they work. That in itself has also allowed us to bring much more talent and different talents into our businesses. I think that's made a huge difference in the engineering space, and it's made it's made it more accessible to more people. At Colt, I've seen that authenticity and how much value that can bring to an organization if people are free to be themselves," adds Claire.

Listen to the full podcast episode featuring Colt senior engineer Claire Limbert.

Promoting diversity and gender balance at Colt

Women+@Colt aims to promote diversity and gender balance at Colt while engaging with all employees to enable Colt’s women to thrive.

The network connects all kinds of people together through events to discuss important issues, mentoring to support women’s development and partnering with schools to work on equal opportunities for girls.