With 600,000 job openings in manufacturing, could women be the solution to closing the talent gap?
Host Matt Kirchner dives into this question with Mariana Cogan, Chief Marketing Officer at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence. Mariana brings a unique global perspective to workforce development and shares her strategies for making manufacturing a more inclusive, appealing career path.
From brand transformation to mentorship and flexible work policies, Mariana explains how manufacturers can position themselves to attract and retain diverse talent—and why this mission matters now more than ever.
Listen to learn:
- Why manufacturing's workforce shortage is a branding issue, not just an HR issue
- The difference between mentorship and sponsorship, and how to implement them in your organization
- The impact of cultural perspectives on workforce development and why diversity fuels innovation
Quotable Moments:
On the difference between mentorship and sponsorship:
“Mentorship, it's much more the art of teaching, sharing, guiding… you are sharing what you know, the experiences that you had in the past… Sponsorship is when you actually take an active role on making sure that that person's career actually develops… you might be even using your political capital…to make sure that that person's career really makes it to the next level.”
Advice to her younger self:
"Be patient, be caring, be sweet to yourself. It's going to be hard work, and you have to work hard, but if you combine it with that patience and love for yourself, things are going to work out fine."
3 Big Takeaways from this Episode:
- Manufacturing’s workforce shortage is a branding problem as much as an HR issue: With 3 million women seeking work in the U.S., manufacturing needs to rebrand itself as an industry that's not just "heavy lifting," but has high-tech, interesting and career-supporting roles across all departments. Companies need to rebrand manufacturing as a flexible, well-paying career with opportunities for growth to attract a wider talent pool, especially those women.
- Women need more than mentors - they need sponsors who will advocate for their career advancement: Many organizations ensure new employees have a mentor who can onboard, train and help them learn their role. Sponsorship goes further than mentorship by actively advocating for that individual's promotion and involvement in key projects, which strengthens their paths to leadership. In manufacturing, Mariana encourages both men and women to sponsor women on their path to leadership.
- Diverse perspectives are critical to fostering innovation in manufacturing: Mariana shares that women bring unique qualities, such as collaboration and patience, that enhance team dynamics and drive innovation. Her own multicultural background shapes her approach to workforce development, highlighting how cultural sensitivity and inclusion lead to stronger, more adaptive teams.
Resources in this Episode:
To learn more about Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, visit: hexagon.com
We want to hear from you! Send us a text.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Kirchner (00:00):
Welcome into the TechEd podcast. What do 600,000
job openings in manufacturingmean for the world of
manufacturing? How do we getmore women excited about careers
in manufacturing and give themgreat career pathways to become
leaders in the great world ofadvanced manufacturing? Why is
it that manufacturing companiesstruggle so much at marketing
(00:22):
themselves to the nextgeneration of workforce talent.
We are going to cover all ofthese in other topics today with
our guest Mariana COVID, theChief Marketing Officer of
hexagon manufacturingintelligence, and Marianna. So
awesome to have you with us hereat the TechEd podcast.
Mariana Cogan (00:37):
Thank you very much. Very excited to be here. I
love the opportunity to be ableto talk with you today well, and
Matt Kirchner (00:42):
as we were warming up and just learning a
little bit about yourbackground, you've lived all
over the world, you're doingsome really important work on
the marketing side with acompany. I think most of the
folks that are involved inmanufacturing recognize the
brand hexagon, right? Yourubiquitous, $6 billion company,
but we're going to learn morefor anybody that isn't familiar
with hexagon. But I want tostart out with this. You know, I
know you spent so much time,Marianna, thinking about the
(01:03):
talent gap in manufacturing, thefact that we've got all these
amazing career opportunities,600,000 plus of them, and we're
not always attracting the rightpeople to manufacturing, at
least enough of them. So whatdoes this situation look like
for someone that spends theirtime in and around manufacturing
trying to get people excitedabout these careers? It
Mariana Cogan (01:20):
is definitely an interesting challenge, because,
like you just mentioned, we have600,000 you know, openings in
the industry, and at the sametime, we have close to 3 million
women out there without a job.
Wow, if we could just matchthose two, we will be able to
get rid of one of the biggeststruggle in the industry, which
is that workforce gap that we'recurrently facing,
Matt Kirchner (01:43):
it is really quick math, right? I mean, you
got, you've got all of thesewomen that could solve for, you
know, a huge part, if not all,of the talent gap. When women
are unemployed, they're either,obviously they're not in the
workforce. How do you look atthat in terms of approaching
that opportunity for themanufacturing sector, right? So
we recognize the opportunitiesthere, but how do we capitalize
on that opportunity?
Mariana Cogan (02:03):
There are a lot of things that need to be done.
I think number one is, you know,the industry, the manufacturing
industry, we really need tospend more time, more money,
more effort on our branding.
That shows that manufacturing isnot any more than heavy lifting,
that it really needed to have,that, you know, male power to be
able to get involved inmanufacturing by now, with smart
manufacturing, there's so manyjobs that are so different than
(02:26):
what the old idea it was isreally on the branding side, and
then really the companies,really making sure that we get
more women through the door,that we give them visibility,
that we give flexibility. Youknow, it's a lot of a woman that
are going to be raising a familyif we give this visibility,
flexibility and that reshapingof the branding, I think that
(02:48):
there's a lot that we can do,
Matt Kirchner (02:51):
sure. So let me ask you this, I think about
people working in other sectors.
Let's say I'm working inconsulting, or I'm working in
education or whatever. You know,maybe some of those might lend
themselves a little bit more toflexibility than others. You
know, then you get intomanufacturing, of course, where
you've got production linesrunning, you've got to make sure
that those are fully staffed. Wecan't just tell somebody hey,
you don't have to come to worktomorrow, because you do that
(03:11):
too many times. All of a suddenyou don't have enough people to
backfill on the manufacturingline. What kind of things are
you seeing on the part ofmanufacturers in terms of trying
to address the flexibility thatthe modern workforce is looking
Mariana Cogan (03:23):
for. Well, that's another area that is important
that we address, that there'sdifferent types of jobs that are
out there. From a manufacturingperspective, we definitely have,
you know, people who've been,you know, studying engineering,
and they've been in the spacefor, you know, for a long time.
We have the woman that can be onthe floor, as you mentioned. But
there's also all these otherjobs that happen, you know,
(03:43):
around the industry, frommanufacturing, from, you know,
marketing, you know, there'sdifferent components where you
can find plenty of flexibility,right, to be able to address
more as you you know, knowextremely well. You know, a lot
of the manufacturing happens insmaller companies that are
everywhere, where you can find,you know, different combinations
(04:04):
that address the flexibilitythat is needed absolutely
Matt Kirchner (04:06):
and with more smart manufacturing today. And
then you think about thedifferent careers. A lot of
times, when people think aboutcareers in manufacturing, you
think about a career, you know,maybe working in assembly or
working in production or workingin, you know, welding or paint
or powder or quality or whathave you. And those are all
great opportunities. But we alsohave jobs in accounting, we have
jobs in marketing, we have jobsin production planning,
(04:27):
scheduling, logistics,distribution, all of these
different aspects ofmanufacturing. I'm interested in
this. You know, a lot of timeswhen we think about a company
focusing on workforce andfocusing on bringing people into
an organization, getting peopleexcited about manufacturing
careers. You almost think aboutthat as being a human resource
function, but here you are, theChief Marketing Officer of this
(04:50):
really ubiquitous company. Tellme a little bit about that
connection. Why does hexagonlook at this as a marketing
function and not just an HRfunction?
Mariana Cogan (04:58):
I think it's a change that we see. It all
across everything that we do.
Think a few minutes ago, we werejust talking about executives,
you know, getting active onLinkedIn and social media within
maybe in the old days, you wouldhave said, well, that's the PR
department. But now really beingable to create that
authenticity, that connectionwith the people, it really
everybody's job. And in my case,being, you know, female, you
(05:20):
know, Latin. I represent a verysmall percentage of the
population in the industry,sure. So it's more my, my
obligation. I see it as part ofthe thing that I have to do for,
you know, paying forward to takean active role. And the same
happens with everybody athexagon. I
Matt Kirchner (05:37):
love that. And you're incredibly relatable, I
would think, to any woman toanybody who's maybe Latina,
maybe, and we will talk a littlebit about your time in Japan,
but somebody that maybe didn'tgrew up here in the United
States of America. Obviously,you know, our podcast being
focused pretty, prettysignificantly on unemployment
here in the US and so on. Soyou're incredibly relatable, and
that in that sense. And so youdeserve, deserve a tremendous
(05:59):
amount of credit for that andfor telling this great story of
opportunities in manufacturing.
You know, you think about justthe compensation opportunities
for for women and people havereally of any gender, but, but
women, for sure, inmanufacturing, talk about that.
What, you know, what? What isthe average salary for a woman
working in manufacturing?
Mariana Cogan (06:18):
That is another area that I'm glad that you're
bringing it up. I thinkcurrently, the average woman in
manufacturing makes between63,080 3000 Wow. It's a well
paid job. Not all the jobs aregoing to require you to go to
college. Doesn't really requirethat expensive investment, and
it's a very good seller,especially where we know that
(06:39):
sometimes, you know, women makeabout 82 cents to the dollar
compared to to a male. So it's areally good space for for women
to be able to get a good salary,
Matt Kirchner (06:49):
good salary, indeed, and a really, really
rewarding career. And I think alot of times, you know what I
talk to folks about careers inmanufacturing, and I ran
manufacturing companies for 25years, you know, there's just
something about getting to theend of the day and looking at a
sea of parts sitting on amanufacturing floor, sitting on
a dock, going, ready to gowherever they're going, and
knowing that you had a part inmaking that, I mean, and that's
(07:10):
so incredibly rewarding. Andthen the other part, I think a
lot of folks, if they don'trecognize, or if they haven't
spent a lot of time inmanufacturing, they don't
recognize the amazing people,the types of people from all
walks of life that work inmanufacturing, hard working
people, people that take anincredible amount of pride in
their work. And so for folksconsidering manufacturing jobs,
I mean, that is a huge part ofthe reason to go into
(07:32):
manufacturing. Certainly, thecompensation is fantastic. And,
you know, in my home state ofWisconsin, you know 40, 50% more
than the average non, FarmPayroll job is what
manufacturing jobs pay, andthat's pretty similar as we see
it across the country, and alsoopportunities to advance. So we
think about starting in a rolein manufacturing. You can start
out running a piece ofmanufacturing equipment, and you
(07:54):
can rise up over the course oftime into positions of
responsibility, maybehistorically, more so men than
women in the manufacturingenvironment. And I want to touch
on that women make up 30% of themanufacturing workforce, as I
understand it, about 25% of theleadership position. So we're
certainly making progress, butwe've got some work to do. As
you talk to women about careersin manufacturing. Mariana, as
(08:16):
you see people who are advancingin the world of manufacturing,
women in particular, what aresome of the challenges that they
face in terms of moving ahead?
Mariana Cogan (08:23):
It is an area that is very close to my heart.
I think that you are gettinginto the whole concept of
mentorship and sponsorship. It'snot only about recruitment,
making an extra effort to makesure, in the case of hexagon, we
make sure that we have a womanin every interviewing pool, so
it's important that we get themthrough the door, as you just
(08:44):
mentioned. So when
Matt Kirchner (08:45):
you say a woman who is interviewing for a job or
a woman who's on the team that'sinterviewing on
Mariana Cogan (08:50):
both sides, we're making sure that we're covering
having a candidate. Because ifyou think about it, a lot of the
recruitment happens throughintroductions. And if we have
primarily male, so we're goingto get more males coming through
the interviewing process. So wemake sure that we reach out to
areas where women are going tobe applying for jobs. But then
after that, is making sure, howdo we help these women to make
(09:13):
it all the way to the top? Andwe're talking about mentorship,
making sure that there'ssomebody who's been, you know,
training, sharing, you know,past experience, but also
sponsorship Sure, where youreally have somebody who's going
to be looking after thesecareers, making sure that you're
going to put your reputation,you know, on the line, because
you really believe that this,you know, this woman, deserve to
(09:36):
get another opportunity, anextra opportunity, being Part of
more interesting projects beingthere with the promotions are
going to be happening. So it'scritical that companies you know
invest on that mentorship orsponsorship. And I had, as I
mentioned before, on alsovisibility. When you have women
in the company, how do you makesure that you know we're
listening to their experiences,we're sharing it with everybody,
(09:59):
because you want. To see thatpeople like you have made it to
the top, and that you have thatpossibility.
Matt Kirchner (10:04):
So is this a formal program at hexa? And do
you actually have, like, aformal program around the we're
going to talk about mentorshipand sponsorship and the
differences in a moment, butaround advancing women
throughout the the organization.
Is that something that you'reactively working on, or is it
happen organically? Or how doesthat, how does that come
together?
Mariana Cogan (10:21):
It's very important at hexagon, and as
you're mentioned it, you know,very, very clearly, it's not
just about an organic componentand wishing that it's gonna
happen, right? It really make itinto a program. So we make sure
that we're partnering, we'reentry level, you know, females
with females putting longer inthe industry, making sure that
we have a program strong enoughto support career development,
(10:42):
got it,
Matt Kirchner (10:42):
and as you're supporting that career
development, and as they'redeveloping within the
organization, taking on theresponsibilities and increasing
levels of leadership, are therespecific, you know, attributes
or specific perspectives that awoman would bring to a
leadership team that might be alittle bit, let's just say, non
Traditional, in comparison to a,you know, a typical male led
(11:03):
organization,
Mariana Cogan (11:05):
absolutely. And that's why, you know, we say
that, you know, more morediverse companies are more
innovative. And more innovativecompanies are more diverse
because there is a verydifferent skill set that comes
to the table. You're talkingabout much more collaboration.
You're talking about much morethat, you know, different pool
of ideas, you know, sometimes,you know, woman can be a little
(11:26):
bit more patient, a little bitmore dedicated to an idea. So
there are differentcharacteristics that come into
play.
Matt Kirchner (11:31):
And I've been on, frankly, for a long time. I
would go all the way back to theearly zeros, maybe into the 90s,
and on leadership teams that Iwas a part of. And in fact, the
first manufacturing company Iworked for, the Vice President
of Operations was a woman and,and that was, you know,
pioneering time, right? I mean,that was 3035, years ago. And so
I've been accustomed to havingwomen on leadership teams,
whether being a part of aleadership team led by a woman,
(11:53):
or or being, you know, leading acompany, but having women, women
on the team. And I would agreewith that, and it's you never
want to paint it with too broada brush, but in terms of some of
the the patients and some ofalmost the nurturing aspects of
bringing employees in, listeningthose types of things. I mean
not that men can't do thosethings well as well, but, but
there are definite differences.
So I could see where those aresome, some aspects and
perspectives that women wouldbring to the to the discussion
(12:15):
you've mentioned mentorship andsponsorship, and I don't want to
say interchangeably, butrepeatedly through our
conversation. Are those the samething? Or, if not, how are they
different? And why are they bothimportant? There are
Mariana Cogan (12:26):
very different components. Mentorship, it's
much more the art of teaching,sharing, guiding, making sure
that you are sharing what youknow, the experiences that you
had in the past. You're maybeteaching about even technology
training, soft skill training,so everything is a little bit of
(12:50):
more like a one wayconversation, if you want to
call it that way, sponsorship iswhen you actually take an active
role on making sure that thatperson's career actually
develops. Okay. It means thatwhen that person is not maybe at
the meeting, and somebody isasking for a resource to be part
(13:10):
of the project, you say, Hey, Iwould like to make sure that
such and such person actuallygets, you know, that role,
because A, B, C and D, whatever,you really take an active role
where you might be able to youmight be even using your
political capital sure whereyou're going to be taking a risk
together to make sure that thatperson's career really makes it
(13:32):
to the next level. Versus, youknow, mentoring, that is much
more, sharing, caring,educating,
Matt Kirchner (13:39):
got it so, you know, the mentorship from a
leadership standpoint would be,here's how you lead, here's how
you do the job, here's, youknow, here's how you handle
conflict, here's how youcomplete a, you know, an
employee review these types ofthings, right? So more of the
tactical and then thesponsorship is really almost
becoming an advocate for thatindividual and exactly, and
saying, Look, I'm gonna, youknow, we're gonna go side by
side, and I'm gonna, you know,show you the ropes. I'm going
(14:01):
to, I'll show you through theprocess of becoming a leader in
this organization. Is thatsomething you do formally? I
mean, is that where you have anindividual who is ripe for for
growth from a leadershipstandpoint, and you actually,
how does that work? Do youassign them a sponsor? Do they
choose their sponsor? How does,how does that fit?
Mariana Cogan (14:17):
It is a process that that has to happen a little
bit naturally, because there hasto be an interest from both
parties. So but it is a portion.
Again, as you asked me, I thinkone of the questions at the very
beginning, it's a portion that Isee as an obligation, as one of
the few women you know, who areyou know, were part of the the
manufacturing industry, so Imake sure that you know, all the
(14:39):
females in my team can havethese opportunities, can have
these open conversations to getthem ready for when the
opportunity arrives. I have beenin situations where I do want to
have a political fight and say,I think I remember, you know,
many years ago we wereinterviewing. Different
candidates for a senior role,two senior roles. And for one,
(15:01):
we had a strong internal malecandidate, and for the other
one, we had a strong femalecandidate on the main side.
After we met the internalcandidate, he was okay, he's
awesome. You know. Let's get himthe position fully agree, great
candidate. When it came to thefemale side, it was, well, she's
great, but why don't we seeother people from outside of the
(15:24):
company? I'm like, is she notgood enough? No, she's very
good. So why see that? For themale candidate, we're giving him
the role, but for the femalecandidate, sure, and those are
the conversations that are. Youknow, as a sponsor, you have to
say, Okay, this is not fair, sowe're gonna do it in the way
that it should be. So, you know,I that's something that I take a
(15:45):
lot of pride in, being veryinvolved with the females that
are in my, you know, in myteams, the females that are, you
know, in this case, hexagon, andmany people that through
LinkedIn, I have met and theyneed, you know, help with their
careers.
Matt Kirchner (16:00):
Sure, yeah, it's not fair, and it's not good for
the company either, right? Imean, you've got a talented
individual, both in terms ofmaking sure that you're
promoting talent within theorganization, but also kind of
setting that example for otherindividuals who may be at other
levels or in other roles in theorganization that this is an
organization that, you know,regardless you're if you're
performing at a high level,we're going to make sure that
you have opportunities and thatyou're not going to be
(16:22):
artificially constrained interms of what your your
opportunity to grow in theorganization from the
sponsorship side of things. Howmany women are you? You know,
are you mentoring and sponsoringat any one point in time?
Mariana Cogan (16:32):
That's a great question, and it tends to be
large numbers, not all of themdirectly, but you know one
another thing that I need tomake sure is that all my peers,
my male peers, are alsobecoming, you know, advocates,
and they also have their own,you know, sponsorship to
females, because otherwise Iwill be, you know, almost, you
know, like, you know, like afunnel, that it will get a
(16:55):
little bit too small. So, youknow, a part is to really make
sure that also, you know, themales in the organization are
also supporting, but it tends tobe, yeah, definitely, you know,
larger numbers.
Matt Kirchner (17:08):
So that's an interesting point. So you have
situations where, like, if I'm,if I've got a woman who's
advancing in the organization isher, her spots are always of
another female. Or it could be,it could be a male.
Mariana Cogan (17:20):
No, it has to be both. Because, can you imagine,
you know, we were just saying,if it's only about a quarter of
the roles that are in our byfemales, it just wouldn't,
wouldn't artificially constrainit exactly. So no one of my, you
know, my my obligations is tomake sure that all the males
that I work with can also see.
Why is it that it's importantthat supporting the female
talent. Do you still get
Matt Kirchner (17:42):
some resistance?
You don't necessarily talk aboutyour organization specifically,
but is there still someartificial resistance that's
built in on the part of kind ofthe culture within a
manufacturing organization tothat? Or are we getting better?
It's
Mariana Cogan (17:54):
a real good question. And I was listening to
a podcast freak economics. Ireally like it, and they were
talking about the fact that it'smore that you're going to find a
male out there who's going tosay, I don't want to hire
females. That's really you know,that does not you know anymore.
It's a little bit more. Whathappens when you you know, who
(18:17):
do you identify with? What arethe conversations that you're
enjoying having. There's there'sthings of that nature that are
going to make it a little bitharder for you to maybe identify
with a young female who maybedoesn't want to talk about
sports. Sure, and it's nothingthat you're really doing
consciously. But if you canconsciously say, hey, I want to
(18:38):
make sure that we get the besttalent, I think, you know,
they're great, great supportingon the male side as well.
Matt Kirchner (18:44):
So give me a good success story you touched on one
which was the woman who neededsome advocacy when she was being
considered for a role, andanother individual who was a
male was being considered for arole. And you know, maybe you
weren't getting exactly the sametype of treatment. Do you have
other success stories of womenwho have risen in the
organization. You're obviouslyone yourself, but you have
others. Yes,
Mariana Cogan (19:03):
I have many happy stories to tell from people who
have followed me, from othercompanies to hexagon, or people
you know, women who have left towork to other organizations,
many who have joined us,individual contributors, and
then you know, nurturing them,preparing them many times with,
you know, hard feedback. Manytimes, you know, pointing out,
(19:27):
what is it that that has to be,maybe done in a slightly
different way? Many times, youknow, supporting them to apply
for that bigger role that theymight not have done before. So,
yes, I do have a good number offemales that I've been able to
now get to director level, VPlevel, SVP level,
Matt Kirchner (19:47):
awesome. That's got to be incredibly rewarding
for you. Absolutely. I
Mariana Cogan (19:50):
think that by now, one of the most rewarding
parts of my career, it reallyhelped other people to make it
to the top.
Matt Kirchner (19:55):
Yeah, that's a great, great feeling. And we see
the same thing in our in ourbusinesses as well. I mean, I
love having an organizationthat's being successful. I love
having an organization that'swinning. Obviously, having a
profitable organization allowsyou to reinvest in your company
and so on and further yourmission. But the most rewarding
part of it is seeing people thatare that are coming into an
organization, believing in amission, and then seeing this
(20:16):
opportunity to to improve theirlives, to improve the lives of
their families, to maybe dothings they didn't know they
were capable of doing, to findinterests or or skills or
talents that they didn't knowthey had. That's just an
incredibly rewarding part ofgetting a little bit deeper in
terms of longevity in theworkforce, for lack of a better
term. And I've been doing this awhile, and that's that's
fantastic. So if I'm a if I'm amanufacturing leader, and I'm
(20:40):
listening to what I'm hearing,and I'm saying, oh, you know, we
need to do a better job at this.
We need to be better about, youknow, whether it's mentoring,
sponsoring, being knowledgeableand aware of the areas in which
we may be holding certainindividuals back
unintentionally. What are somereally innovative strategies
that you would recommend tothose individuals? You know,
where do you start? And whathave you seen work really well.
Mariana Cogan (21:00):
I always say start with your HR department
that you have to make sure thatyou're getting female candidates
into that interviewing process.
Sure make sure that there'svisibility on the ones that you
already have you know within theorganization, and as we spoke at
the very beginning, make surethat you have programs that
allow for the flexibility thatis going to be needed for
(21:22):
females to stay in yourorganization.
Matt Kirchner (21:26):
Got it so making sure that we're working through
the HR department here, if we'retrying to grow females in the
organization and remove theminto into spots of leadership,
we can't do that unless they'rethere to begin with, right? So
we have to recruit them. We'vegot to be, you know, aware at
the HR level, when we're goingout and recruiting candidates
for new positions that we wantto make sure that we're, you
know, that we're bringing womenand people from, you know, all
(21:48):
walks of life into thoseopportunities is provided,
obviously, that they'requalified to be interviewed for
the role, to give them the bestand the greatest opportunity to
be considered for our companies.
And then from there, it's just aquestion of asking the right
questions, of making sure thatwe're open to talent from all
over, and recognizing the uniquebenefits that that all types of
people can can bring to anorganization. You lived around
(22:09):
all types of cultures, all typesof people as we were chatting.
You know, as you mentioned, sawon my phone. Actually, I had a
picture of some time that Ispent in Tokyo that just by by
coincidence, was up on the phoneas we were talking, as we were
warming up and and you mentionedthat you lived in Tokyo for a
long time. Where else have youlived?
Mariana Cogan (22:29):
Yes, I'm born in Mexico City. Okay, so I grew up
in Mexico City. I went to aJapanese school. I lived there
until I was 18, and then I lived11 years in Tokyo. Tokyo is like
my, my second home. Then acouple of years in London, wow.
And then Boston has been homefor the last 20 years. Awesome.
Matt Kirchner (22:50):
Yeah. So you do you speak, you speak Japanese as
well. Then, yes, yeah. SoJapanese and Spanish, obviously,
in English, that's incredible.
I've never been to Mexico City.
I've been to Mexico, but usuallyin manufacturing world, kind of
in the, you know, in the area,yeah, exactly. So yeah, materie
and Juarez and so on. But never,never in Mexico City, although
I'm still three credits short ofa minor in Spanish and at the
(23:12):
university. So, oh, wow. So
Mariana Cogan (23:14):
maybe next up we should do it in Spanish. Yeah,
exactly. Well, I
Matt Kirchner (23:17):
would tell you that that would be a lot more
difficult to follow than thisone would be, but I can still
get by a little bit. And ofcourse, been been to Tokyo
several times. Love London.
Where do you live in? Where didyou live in?
Mariana Cogan (23:27):
London? London, West London.
Matt Kirchner (23:29):
Okay, yeah, absolutely we, we have one of
our businesses, severalsuppliers, in the UK. So wow,
from time to time. So, so those,those are amazing places to in
Boston too. I mean, I love, Ilove Boston as well. And Boston
Harbor is just absolutelybeautiful.
Mariana Cogan (23:43):
And everybody loves a paycheck. So Celtics, a
Bruins, yep, exactly,
Matt Kirchner (23:47):
well. And I, you know, I spent, I spent a week at
Suffolk University a few yearsago, so, you know, right and
right near Boston Common and,boy, it's just, it's an awesome
city. So you did some reallycool stuff. So, so let's talk
about that a little bit. Youknow, you've got experience with
Latin culture, Japanese culture.
Spent time in Europe. How do yousee those cultural influences
shaping leadership andmanufacturing with all those
(24:08):
different perspectives thatyou've got Mariana, there
Mariana Cogan (24:11):
are different components that you get to
apply, because at the end of theday, the manufacturing world is
so rich. You're just talkingabout the maquiladoras scene in
Monterrey, right? You know,we're seeing all these, you
know, foreign companies, youknow, as we're here having this
conversation, IMTS. So it's aworld of diversity, right? As
much as we're talking about theUI, US centric conversation, it
(24:33):
is a very diverse world outthere. So some of the principles
that I use, you know, nemaWashington, when it comes to the
Japanese culture, that is abeautiful culture, it is and it
has many different principles,like NEMA washi that allows you
to convince a large group ofpeople to follow an idea when we
(24:53):
were talking about diversity,inclusion, about females,
collaboration, all the differentcomponents are going to require.
That you know a lot of peoplefollow you. So what the Japanese
say is that when you're going tobe moving a tree from one place
to another place, you just don'tpull out the tree, because if
you do that, it's going to die.
But if you massage the rootslittle by little, then you're
(25:14):
going to be able to transfer thetree and it's going to grow even
better. So the same applies whenyou have different ideas. Yep,
you had to, you know, to talk tomany people. You had to explain
what's going to be the benefit.
It seems that it's going to takea little bit longer, but at the
end of the day, you're notgetting, going to get much
better results. So that's one ofthe principles that I really
(25:35):
love from, you know, fromJapanese culture. And then, as
you mentioned, for, you know,for Mexico, you know, Latin
culture, you know, very big intorelationships. You know, making
sure that you have thatpartnership, even before you get
into business. Again, as youmentioned before, when we
started the podcast today, yourfriends, you get to know each
other, you get to see a littlebit more that authenticity of
(25:57):
the person. You build a littlebit of trust, and then you can
go into doing, you know, muchbigger things together.
Matt Kirchner (26:02):
Absolutely, that's a great perspective, you
know. And as you're, as you'retalking about Latin culture, I
just want to ask you this,because this was something that
I, that I learned in aninteresting way. So I ran a
large contract manufacturingcompany in Wisconsin for 10
years. I was a spin off ofRockwell Automation. We had an
incredibly diverse both, bothleadership teams. So, I mean,
our leadership team, our leadchemist was from Russia, our
(26:24):
Head of Customer Service wasimmigrated from Mexico. Our lead
wastewater treatment person grewup in Ghana. So we had people
literally from all over theworld on that leadership team.
And it wasn't even that we setout to create a real diverse
leadership team. We just,frankly, we hired awesome
people, regardless of where theywere from, and we ended up with
this incredible group.
Incredible group of people. Sothat was one observation, but
the other one that I that I wassurprised by, was that as
(26:47):
Americans, we kind of tend tokind of lump Latin culture into
one group, right? And we had inthat company, both in the
leadership team and on the shopfloor. We had people who were
from Cuba, we had people fromPuerto Rico, we had people from
the Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic. We hadpeople from Mexico who, in many
ways, while they shared somecultures, they there were a lot
(27:07):
of differences in those culturesas well. Is that common when
you're looking at the wayAmericans look at, you know,
Latin culture, that we tend tolump them all together, lump
them all together as cultures,whereas there are some distinct
differences.
Mariana Cogan (27:20):
It is a very common perspective of Latin
where you say, well, everybodyyou know side of the border must
be similar, and there is plentyin common. Absolutely. I mean,
there's plenty in common, butthat's also a lot of
differences. Even you know, oneof the the challenges that I've
been trying to work through inthe last couple of months is we
(27:43):
have a very big operation, bothin Mexico and in Brazil, okay?
And there are very differentcultures from a business
perspective, not only thelanguage, in this case, in
Spanish and Portuguese, but youknow, Mexico being closer to the
US you have, you know, many morepeople speak, you know, speak
English in a different way, alittle bit closer to the way
(28:05):
that the US works, versus, inthis case, Brazil, that has a
very different personality,works in a different way. So I
think it's, it's healthy toassume that there's a lot in
common, right? But there's alsodefenses, yeah,
Matt Kirchner (28:20):
and we learned that, and we had an incredibly
diverse workforce, and Iprobably 60% of that company,
give or take, was Latino, and Ihad so many great memories of
working with all those wonderfulpeople. It was just, it was just
fantastic so, and it spoke tothe value of a diverse
workforce. I mean, it really. Wegot a lot done. We worked
together. We all had a sharedmission. We created
opportunities from people, nomatter where they were from, or
(28:41):
what walk of life for anybodyworking in manufacturing now,
whether you have a Mexicansupply base, which a lot of
companies do, whether you'reemploying Latin talent here in
the United States, what are thethings that the manufacturing
needs to do Mariana to betterembrace and leverage Hispanic
talent,
Mariana Cogan (28:58):
and you're making an interesting point, that It
all starts with really gettingthe best talent out there. I
feel like with a lot of theconversation that we're having,
I'm preaching to the choir on,you know, how do you create an
environment that is going toallow you to have the best
available talent? And I tend totalk about three components.
First of all, listening. Don'tmake assumptions. Just listen.
(29:21):
You know, to your employees,listen to your vendors, listen
to your partners, so that youcan really understand, you know,
where people are coming from.
Secondly, again, providevisibility. You know, what is it
that the organization isthinking? What are the goals? So
that you can really, again,going back to the first point,
you can listen to, what is itthat is connecting. What you see
that is not connecting. Andthirdly, depending on the size
(29:43):
of the organization, you know,create a space where people feel
at home by now. You have allthese employee resource group,
ERGs, you know, one of thethings that I do at hexagon is I
run something that is calledMarketing and Espanol, so that
we create a moment where. Peoplecan speak in Spanish, even
people who don't really have touse our Spanish on daily basis,
(30:03):
because we hire them for a verydifferent skill set. But
creating that space that makespeople feeling at a home. Sure
you want, you know, a company islike a home, yeah,
Matt Kirchner (30:14):
for sure, absolutely. You spend eight
hours a day, you know, 4050,hours a week there. You want it
to feel comfortable so, somaking it feel like a home,
certainly providing anenvironment where people can
speak their native languages,where they can they can interact
with people, with maybe, youknow, similar backgrounds or
similar spaces in life. Whathave you what are the other
things that we need to bethinking about, as far as making
Hispanic and Latin place feelit, at home, at work,
Mariana Cogan (30:37):
making sure that people, that people understand
that you're valuing them for theskill set that they bring to the
table, right? That you'rethinking about their career
development as you're thinkingof the career development of the
rest of the organization. It'smaking sure that you're
listening, but you're treatingeverybody equally with the same
folks for their own careerdevelopment, absolutely.
Matt Kirchner (30:59):
And you know, people come to us with a wide
variety of capabilities. But youknow, nobody should be limited
in terms of where they can go inthe organization, whether they
need additional training,mentoring, sponsorship, you
know, advocacy, in terms offinding opportunities for them,
maybe helping them through someof the hurdles that they might
run in, run into working in amanufacturing operation, all
really, really important things.
Does that tie in? I know you'resuper, super involved with the
(31:20):
Boys and Girls Club and thegreat work that's going on
there. Talk a little bit aboutthat, both from a, you know,
from an ethnic backgroundstandpoint, from a partnership
standpoint, from getting thatnext generation of talent
excited about great careers.
It's
Mariana Cogan (31:34):
a wonderful organization. I've been involved
with them for about a year.
Okay? It the President is, isphenomenal. You know, Robert
really has a vision for makingsure that we're moving away from
a conversation of donation ofcharity and much more, moving
into getting, really, that nextgeneration of workforce ready
(31:56):
providing, you know, for somechildren that you know might not
have access to, you know, tosome to certain things to to
ensure that they're going to beready to make the most out of
their careers. You know, heavyinvestment into our workforce
readiness, providing children,you know, with internships,
(32:17):
teenagers with all that again,the visibility, the empowerment,
to ensure that they can, youknow, all these children can go
and have great careers, right?
You know, after they finishtheir you know, the basic
studies, and that's why I lovethe organization with a passion,
yeah, doing
Matt Kirchner (32:34):
really, really important work. If I'm a young
person, participating in mylocal Boys and Girls Club. Help
me understand how you'reengaging with them. What does
that feel like? So they're goingto their club meetings, they're
going to the physical space thatthey that they go to, whether
it's after school, weekend,summers. What have you How is
hexagon or how are youindividually, kind of engaging
with those individuals?
Mariana Cogan (32:55):
Yeah, so kids that start from a very early age
just start learning to swim.
It's a space where they can goafter in school. And as they get
older, they get into all these,you know, work, workforce
readiness programs where peoplelike like me, people you know,
who work in differentindustries, you know, we support
them with helping them, gettingtheir resumes ready, getting the
internships you know, ready,ensuring that they can meet with
(33:18):
mentors, with sponsors, greatcollaborations with the with the
industry, you know, in Boston,to make sure that they can get
exposed to internships, again,not only in manufacturing, but
also health care hospitals, sothat they can they can have a
bigger perspective into what'savailable out there as they're
(33:39):
finishing graduates from highschool. And I
Matt Kirchner (33:43):
commend you on the work you're doing. You know,
you think about these, you know,young people that a lot of times
maybe, you know, attending theirlocal Boys and Girls Clubs,
maybe don't have all the sameexposure and opportunities that
that other young people mighthave. And, you know, we talk a
lot about in manufacturing, theimportance of basically pulling
a diverse workforce intomanufacturing, but, but that
(34:05):
doesn't just happen onautopilot. And you think about,
you know, a student that growsup in the suburbs of a, you
know, city like Boston and acity like Milwaukee maybe has
opportunities to go to a greatschool, maybe has
extracurricular activities thatthey wouldn't might not have
had, depending on what part ofthe city they grew up in. I'll
just speak to my city inMilwaukee. I mean, there's a
year you grew up in a town likeGermantown or Cedarburg, your
(34:26):
opportunities are going to lookdifferent than a student that's
growing up on 35th and berlinein the in the middle of the
central city. And capabilitiesare all still there, the drive
and the excitement and thecommitment might all still be
there, but unless we createthose opportunities for young
people and recognize that, youknow, that we don't change the
bar, but we have to change thewe say, raise the floor. You
know, for certain individuals,if they don't have those same
(34:48):
chances and opportunities, we'vegot to create those for them.
And I think manufacturing iswaking up to that. They're
waking up to the point of notjust because there's economic
benefit in recruiting an awesomeworkforce, but because there's
there. There's just a benefit interms of humanity, of making
sure we create as manyopportunities as we can for
people really, really importantwork as those students are in
middle school and high school,that we're thinking through
(35:09):
those things. And I want to takeyou back to that middle school
and high school age, right? Sowhen you were, you know, when
you were 15 years old, still inMexico City. Is that when is
Mariana Cogan (35:18):
that where you were? Yes, I was still in Mexico
City. Yes, yeah. So
Matt Kirchner (35:21):
let's, let's think about that. So Young
Mariana, she's 15 years old.
She's growing up in Mexico City.
You know, who knows that she'sgoing to be chief marketing
officer for this worldwiderecognized, incredible
organization called hex con. Solet's turn the clock back then.
And if you could give that younggirl one piece of advice at 15
years old that she would havereally benefited from. What
(35:44):
would that piece of advice
Mariana Cogan (35:46):
be? I would say that half of the advice will be,
be patient, be caring, be sweetto yourself, yeah, like that.
And then the other half will be,yes. It's going to be hard work,
and you have to work hard andwork out to work super hard, but
(36:07):
if you combine it with thatpatience and love for yourself,
things are going to work outfine. That's
Matt Kirchner (36:14):
awesome. Yeah, I love that. And frankly, you
know, in mentoring, you know,high school kids, from time to
time, we talk a lot about that,about look. You know, you don't
have to look to the rest of theworld to determine what your
value as a human being is. Bekind to yourself. Don't be so
hard on yourself, especiallywhen it comes to personality or
what have you. And if you havethat combination of being kind
yourself self confidence, Ibelieve, and if you have that
(36:36):
self confidence and are willingto work hard and to put the time
in, because none of this happensautomatically. Success doesn't
happen without a degree ofdedication and work. It's
amazing what can happen as aresult of that. It's amazing
what you've done Mariana, as aresult of all the all the hard
work that you've had about ofthe confidence that you've built
for yourself over the course oftime, all the lives you're
(36:56):
changing, all the people you'responsoring and mentoring this
great work you're doing with theBoys and Girls Club really
appreciate you doing doing allthat work getting this next
generation of talent excitedabout careers in advanced
manufacturing and really gladthat you were able to join us
here on the TechEd podcast.
Thank
Mariana Cogan (37:12):
you very much.
It's been a pleasure, and thatlove the work that you're doing.
Matt Kirchner (37:16):
Thank you very much. Yeah, securing the
American Dream for the nextgeneration of STEM and workforce
talent, that's what we do hereat the TechEd podcast this week
with Marianna, and every singleweek. Hope you enjoyed this
episode with Marianna, COVID,Chief Marketing Officer of
hexagon manufacturingintelligence, as much as I did
such an amazing background,incredible work that she is
(37:36):
doing now you'll find all thatinformation on the show notes
for this page, which you willfind at TechEd
podcast.com/colgan that isTechEd podcast.com/cogan and
remember, you'll find us allover social media. Doesn't
matter if you're on Instagram,LinkedIn, tick tock, Facebook,
wherever it is that you're goingto consume your social media and
(37:58):
learn what's going on in theworld, you will find the TechEd
podcast there. When you see us,when you find us, leave us a
note. Let us know that you lovewhat you're hearing on the
TechEd podcast. We would love tohear from you, and we would love
to see you again next week.
Until then, I am your host. MattKirk, here, thanks for being
(38:22):
here.
Welcome into the TechEd podcast. What do 600,000
job openings in manufacturingmean for the world of
manufacturing? How do we getmore women excited about careers
in manufacturing and give themgreat career pathways to become
leaders in the great world ofadvanced manufacturing? Why is
it that manufacturing companiesstruggle so much at marketing
(00:22):
themselves to the nextgeneration of workforce talent.
We are going to cover all ofthese in other topics today with
our guest Mariana COVID, theChief Marketing Officer of
hexagon manufacturingintelligence, and Marianna. So
awesome to have you with us hereat the TechEd podcast.
Mariana Cogan (00:37):
Thank you very much. Very excited to be here. I
love the opportunity to be ableto talk with you today well, and
Matt Kirchner (00:42):
as we were warming up and just learning a
little bit about yourbackground, you've lived all
over the world, you're doingsome really important work on
the marketing side with acompany. I think most of the
folks that are involved inmanufacturing recognize the
brand hexagon, right? Yourubiquitous, $6 billion company,
but we're going to learn morefor anybody that isn't familiar
with hexagon. But I want tostart out with this. You know, I
know you spent so much time,Marianna, thinking about the
(01:03):
talent gap in manufacturing, thefact that we've got all these
amazing career opportunities,600,000 plus of them, and we're
not always attracting the rightpeople to manufacturing, at
least enough of them. So whatdoes this situation look like
for someone that spends theirtime in and around manufacturing
trying to get people excitedabout these careers? It
Mariana Cogan (01:20):
is definitely an interesting challenge, because,
like you just mentioned, we have600,000 you know, openings in
the industry, and at the sametime, we have close to 3 million
women out there without a job.
Wow, if we could just matchthose two, we will be able to
get rid of one of the biggeststruggle in the industry, which
is that workforce gap that we'recurrently facing,
Matt Kirchner (01:43):
it is really quick math, right? I mean, you
got, you've got all of thesewomen that could solve for, you
know, a huge part, if not all,of the talent gap. When women
are unemployed, they're either,obviously they're not in the
workforce. How do you look atthat in terms of approaching
that opportunity for themanufacturing sector, right? So
we recognize the opportunitiesthere, but how do we capitalize
on that opportunity?
Mariana Cogan (02:03):
There are a lot of things that need to be done.
I think number one is, you know,the industry, the manufacturing
industry, we really need tospend more time, more money,
more effort on our branding.
That shows that manufacturing isnot any more than heavy lifting,
that it really needed to have,that, you know, male power to be
able to get involved inmanufacturing by now, with smart
manufacturing, there's so manyjobs that are so different than
(02:26):
what the old idea it was isreally on the branding side, and
then really the companies,really making sure that we get
more women through the door,that we give them visibility,
that we give flexibility. Youknow, it's a lot of a woman that
are going to be raising a familyif we give this visibility,
flexibility and that reshapingof the branding, I think that
(02:48):
there's a lot that we can do,
Matt Kirchner (02:51):
sure. So let me ask you this, I think about
people working in other sectors.
Let's say I'm working inconsulting, or I'm working in
education or whatever. You know,maybe some of those might lend
themselves a little bit more toflexibility than others. You
know, then you get intomanufacturing, of course, where
you've got production linesrunning, you've got to make sure
that those are fully staffed. Wecan't just tell somebody hey,
you don't have to come to worktomorrow, because you do that
(03:11):
too many times. All of a suddenyou don't have enough people to
backfill on the manufacturingline. What kind of things are
you seeing on the part ofmanufacturers in terms of trying
to address the flexibility thatthe modern workforce is looking
Mariana Cogan (03:23):
for. Well, that's another area that is important
that we address, that there'sdifferent types of jobs that are
out there. From a manufacturingperspective, we definitely have,
you know, people who've been,you know, studying engineering,
and they've been in the spacefor, you know, for a long time.
We have the woman that can be onthe floor, as you mentioned. But
there's also all these otherjobs that happen, you know,
(03:43):
around the industry, frommanufacturing, from, you know,
marketing, you know, there'sdifferent components where you
can find plenty of flexibility,right, to be able to address
more as you you know, knowextremely well. You know, a lot
of the manufacturing happens insmaller companies that are
everywhere, where you can find,you know, different combinations
(04:04):
that address the flexibilitythat is needed absolutely
Matt Kirchner (04:06):
and with more smart manufacturing today. And
then you think about thedifferent careers. A lot of
times, when people think aboutcareers in manufacturing, you
think about a career, you know,maybe working in assembly or
working in production or workingin, you know, welding or paint
or powder or quality or whathave you. And those are all
great opportunities. But we alsohave jobs in accounting, we have
jobs in marketing, we have jobsin production planning,
(04:27):
scheduling, logistics,distribution, all of these
different aspects ofmanufacturing. I'm interested in
this. You know, a lot of timeswhen we think about a company
focusing on workforce andfocusing on bringing people into
an organization, getting peopleexcited about manufacturing
careers. You almost think aboutthat as being a human resource
function, but here you are, theChief Marketing Officer of this
(04:50):
really ubiquitous company. Tellme a little bit about that
connection. Why does hexagonlook at this as a marketing
function and not just an HRfunction?
Mariana Cogan (04:58):
I think it's a change that we see. It all
across everything that we do.
Think a few minutes ago, we werejust talking about executives,
you know, getting active onLinkedIn and social media within
maybe in the old days, you wouldhave said, well, that's the PR
department. But now really beingable to create that
authenticity, that connectionwith the people, it really
everybody's job. And in my case,being, you know, female, you
(05:20):
know, Latin. I represent a verysmall percentage of the
population in the industry,sure. So it's more my, my
obligation. I see it as part ofthe thing that I have to do for,
you know, paying forward to takean active role. And the same
happens with everybody athexagon. I
Matt Kirchner (05:37):
love that. And you're incredibly relatable, I
would think, to any woman toanybody who's maybe Latina,
maybe, and we will talk a littlebit about your time in Japan,
but somebody that maybe didn'tgrew up here in the United
States of America. Obviously,you know, our podcast being
focused pretty, prettysignificantly on unemployment
here in the US and so on. Soyou're incredibly relatable, and
that in that sense. And so youdeserve, deserve a tremendous
(05:59):
amount of credit for that andfor telling this great story of
opportunities in manufacturing.
You know, you think about justthe compensation opportunities
for for women and people havereally of any gender, but, but
women, for sure, inmanufacturing, talk about that.
What, you know, what? What isthe average salary for a woman
working in manufacturing?
Mariana Cogan (06:18):
That is another area that I'm glad that you're
bringing it up. I thinkcurrently, the average woman in
manufacturing makes between63,080 3000 Wow. It's a well
paid job. Not all the jobs aregoing to require you to go to
college. Doesn't really requirethat expensive investment, and
it's a very good seller,especially where we know that
(06:39):
sometimes, you know, women makeabout 82 cents to the dollar
compared to to a male. So it's areally good space for for women
to be able to get a good salary,
Matt Kirchner (06:49):
good salary, indeed, and a really, really
rewarding career. And I think alot of times, you know what I
talk to folks about careers inmanufacturing, and I ran
manufacturing companies for 25years, you know, there's just
something about getting to theend of the day and looking at a
sea of parts sitting on amanufacturing floor, sitting on
a dock, going, ready to gowherever they're going, and
knowing that you had a part inmaking that, I mean, and that's
(07:10):
so incredibly rewarding. Andthen the other part, I think a
lot of folks, if they don'trecognize, or if they haven't
spent a lot of time inmanufacturing, they don't
recognize the amazing people,the types of people from all
walks of life that work inmanufacturing, hard working
people, people that take anincredible amount of pride in
their work. And so for folksconsidering manufacturing jobs,
I mean, that is a huge part ofthe reason to go into
(07:32):
manufacturing. Certainly, thecompensation is fantastic. And,
you know, in my home state ofWisconsin, you know 40, 50% more
than the average non, FarmPayroll job is what
manufacturing jobs pay, andthat's pretty similar as we see
it across the country, and alsoopportunities to advance. So we
think about starting in a rolein manufacturing. You can start
out running a piece ofmanufacturing equipment, and you
(07:54):
can rise up over the course oftime into positions of
responsibility, maybehistorically, more so men than
women in the manufacturingenvironment. And I want to touch
on that women make up 30% of themanufacturing workforce, as I
understand it, about 25% of theleadership position. So we're
certainly making progress, butwe've got some work to do. As
you talk to women about careersin manufacturing. Mariana, as
(08:16):
you see people who are advancingin the world of manufacturing,
women in particular, what aresome of the challenges that they
face in terms of moving ahead?
Mariana Cogan (08:23):
It is an area that is very close to my heart.
I think that you are gettinginto the whole concept of
mentorship and sponsorship. It'snot only about recruitment,
making an extra effort to makesure, in the case of hexagon, we
make sure that we have a womanin every interviewing pool, so
it's important that we get themthrough the door, as you just
(08:44):
mentioned. So when
Matt Kirchner (08:45):
you say a woman who is interviewing for a job or
a woman who's on the team that'sinterviewing on
Mariana Cogan (08:50):
both sides, we're making sure that we're covering
having a candidate. Because ifyou think about it, a lot of the
recruitment happens throughintroductions. And if we have
primarily male, so we're goingto get more males coming through
the interviewing process. So wemake sure that we reach out to
areas where women are going tobe applying for jobs. But then
after that, is making sure, howdo we help these women to make
(09:13):
it all the way to the top? Andwe're talking about mentorship,
making sure that there'ssomebody who's been, you know,
training, sharing, you know,past experience, but also
sponsorship Sure, where youreally have somebody who's going
to be looking after thesecareers, making sure that you're
going to put your reputation,you know, on the line, because
you really believe that this,you know, this woman, deserve to
(09:36):
get another opportunity, anextra opportunity, being Part of
more interesting projects beingthere with the promotions are
going to be happening. So it'scritical that companies you know
invest on that mentorship orsponsorship. And I had, as I
mentioned before, on alsovisibility. When you have women
in the company, how do you makesure that you know we're
listening to their experiences,we're sharing it with everybody,
(09:59):
because you want. To see thatpeople like you have made it to
the top, and that you have thatpossibility.
Matt Kirchner (10:04):
So is this a formal program at hexa? And do
you actually have, like, aformal program around the we're
going to talk about mentorshipand sponsorship and the
differences in a moment, butaround advancing women
throughout the the organization.
Is that something that you'reactively working on, or is it
happen organically? Or how doesthat, how does that come
together?
Mariana Cogan (10:21):
It's very important at hexagon, and as
you're mentioned it, you know,very, very clearly, it's not
just about an organic componentand wishing that it's gonna
happen, right? It really make itinto a program. So we make sure
that we're partnering, we'reentry level, you know, females
with females putting longer inthe industry, making sure that
we have a program strong enoughto support career development,
(10:42):
got it,
Matt Kirchner (10:42):
and as you're supporting that career
development, and as they'redeveloping within the
organization, taking on theresponsibilities and increasing
levels of leadership, are therespecific, you know, attributes
or specific perspectives that awoman would bring to a
leadership team that might be alittle bit, let's just say, non
Traditional, in comparison to a,you know, a typical male led
(11:03):
organization,
Mariana Cogan (11:05):
absolutely. And that's why, you know, we say
that, you know, more morediverse companies are more
innovative. And more innovativecompanies are more diverse
because there is a verydifferent skill set that comes
to the table. You're talkingabout much more collaboration.
You're talking about much morethat, you know, different pool
of ideas, you know, sometimes,you know, woman can be a little
(11:26):
bit more patient, a little bitmore dedicated to an idea. So
there are differentcharacteristics that come into
play.
Matt Kirchner (11:31):
And I've been on, frankly, for a long time. I
would go all the way back to theearly zeros, maybe into the 90s,
and on leadership teams that Iwas a part of. And in fact, the
first manufacturing company Iworked for, the Vice President
of Operations was a woman and,and that was, you know,
pioneering time, right? I mean,that was 3035, years ago. And so
I've been accustomed to havingwomen on leadership teams,
whether being a part of aleadership team led by a woman,
(11:53):
or or being, you know, leading acompany, but having women, women
on the team. And I would agreewith that, and it's you never
want to paint it with too broada brush, but in terms of some of
the the patients and some ofalmost the nurturing aspects of
bringing employees in, listeningthose types of things. I mean
not that men can't do thosethings well as well, but, but
there are definite differences.
So I could see where those aresome, some aspects and
perspectives that women wouldbring to the to the discussion
(12:15):
you've mentioned mentorship andsponsorship, and I don't want to
say interchangeably, butrepeatedly through our
conversation. Are those the samething? Or, if not, how are they
different? And why are they bothimportant? There are
Mariana Cogan (12:26):
very different components. Mentorship, it's
much more the art of teaching,sharing, guiding, making sure
that you are sharing what youknow, the experiences that you
had in the past. You're maybeteaching about even technology
training, soft skill training,so everything is a little bit of
(12:50):
more like a one wayconversation, if you want to
call it that way, sponsorship iswhen you actually take an active
role on making sure that thatperson's career actually
develops. Okay. It means thatwhen that person is not maybe at
the meeting, and somebody isasking for a resource to be part
(13:10):
of the project, you say, Hey, Iwould like to make sure that
such and such person actuallygets, you know, that role,
because A, B, C and D, whatever,you really take an active role
where you might be able to youmight be even using your
political capital sure whereyou're going to be taking a risk
together to make sure that thatperson's career really makes it
(13:32):
to the next level. Versus, youknow, mentoring, that is much
more, sharing, caring,educating,
Matt Kirchner (13:39):
got it so, you know, the mentorship from a
leadership standpoint would be,here's how you lead, here's how
you do the job, here's, youknow, here's how you handle
conflict, here's how youcomplete a, you know, an
employee review these types ofthings, right? So more of the
tactical and then thesponsorship is really almost
becoming an advocate for thatindividual and exactly, and
saying, Look, I'm gonna, youknow, we're gonna go side by
side, and I'm gonna, you know,show you the ropes. I'm going
(14:01):
to, I'll show you through theprocess of becoming a leader in
this organization. Is thatsomething you do formally? I
mean, is that where you have anindividual who is ripe for for
growth from a leadershipstandpoint, and you actually,
how does that work? Do youassign them a sponsor? Do they
choose their sponsor? How does,how does that fit?
Mariana Cogan (14:17):
It is a process that that has to happen a little
bit naturally, because there hasto be an interest from both
parties. So but it is a portion.
Again, as you asked me, I thinkone of the questions at the very
beginning, it's a portion that Isee as an obligation, as one of
the few women you know, who areyou know, were part of the the
manufacturing industry, so Imake sure that you know, all the
(14:39):
females in my team can havethese opportunities, can have
these open conversations to getthem ready for when the
opportunity arrives. I have beenin situations where I do want to
have a political fight and say,I think I remember, you know,
many years ago we wereinterviewing. Different
candidates for a senior role,two senior roles. And for one,
(15:01):
we had a strong internal malecandidate, and for the other
one, we had a strong femalecandidate on the main side.
After we met the internalcandidate, he was okay, he's
awesome. You know. Let's get himthe position fully agree, great
candidate. When it came to thefemale side, it was, well, she's
great, but why don't we seeother people from outside of the
(15:24):
company? I'm like, is she notgood enough? No, she's very
good. So why see that? For themale candidate, we're giving him
the role, but for the femalecandidate, sure, and those are
the conversations that are. Youknow, as a sponsor, you have to
say, Okay, this is not fair, sowe're gonna do it in the way
that it should be. So, you know,I that's something that I take a
(15:45):
lot of pride in, being veryinvolved with the females that
are in my, you know, in myteams, the females that are, you
know, in this case, hexagon, andmany people that through
LinkedIn, I have met and theyneed, you know, help with their
careers.
Matt Kirchner (16:00):
Sure, yeah, it's not fair, and it's not good for
the company either, right? Imean, you've got a talented
individual, both in terms ofmaking sure that you're
promoting talent within theorganization, but also kind of
setting that example for otherindividuals who may be at other
levels or in other roles in theorganization that this is an
organization that, you know,regardless you're if you're
performing at a high level,we're going to make sure that
you have opportunities and thatyou're not going to be
(16:22):
artificially constrained interms of what your your
opportunity to grow in theorganization from the
sponsorship side of things. Howmany women are you? You know,
are you mentoring and sponsoringat any one point in time?
Mariana Cogan (16:32):
That's a great question, and it tends to be
large numbers, not all of themdirectly, but you know one
another thing that I need tomake sure is that all my peers,
my male peers, are alsobecoming, you know, advocates,
and they also have their own,you know, sponsorship to
females, because otherwise Iwill be, you know, almost, you
know, like, you know, like afunnel, that it will get a
(16:55):
little bit too small. So, youknow, a part is to really make
sure that also, you know, themales in the organization are
also supporting, but it tends tobe, yeah, definitely, you know,
larger numbers.
Matt Kirchner (17:08):
So that's an interesting point. So you have
situations where, like, if I'm,if I've got a woman who's
advancing in the organization isher, her spots are always of
another female. Or it could be,it could be a male.
Mariana Cogan (17:20):
No, it has to be both. Because, can you imagine,
you know, we were just saying,if it's only about a quarter of
the roles that are in our byfemales, it just wouldn't,
wouldn't artificially constrainit exactly. So no one of my, you
know, my my obligations is tomake sure that all the males
that I work with can also see.
Why is it that it's importantthat supporting the female
talent. Do you still get
Matt Kirchner (17:42):
some resistance?
You don't necessarily talk aboutyour organization specifically,
but is there still someartificial resistance that's
built in on the part of kind ofthe culture within a
manufacturing organization tothat? Or are we getting better?
It's
Mariana Cogan (17:54):
a real good question. And I was listening to
a podcast freak economics. Ireally like it, and they were
talking about the fact that it'smore that you're going to find a
male out there who's going tosay, I don't want to hire
females. That's really you know,that does not you know anymore.
It's a little bit more. Whathappens when you you know, who
(18:17):
do you identify with? What arethe conversations that you're
enjoying having. There's there'sthings of that nature that are
going to make it a little bitharder for you to maybe identify
with a young female who maybedoesn't want to talk about
sports. Sure, and it's nothingthat you're really doing
consciously. But if you canconsciously say, hey, I want to
(18:38):
make sure that we get the besttalent, I think, you know,
they're great, great supportingon the male side as well.
Matt Kirchner (18:44):
So give me a good success story you touched on one
which was the woman who neededsome advocacy when she was being
considered for a role, andanother individual who was a
male was being considered for arole. And you know, maybe you
weren't getting exactly the sametype of treatment. Do you have
other success stories of womenwho have risen in the
organization. You're obviouslyone yourself, but you have
others. Yes,
Mariana Cogan (19:03):
I have many happy stories to tell from people who
have followed me, from othercompanies to hexagon, or people
you know, women who have left towork to other organizations,
many who have joined us,individual contributors, and
then you know, nurturing them,preparing them many times with,
you know, hard feedback. Manytimes, you know, pointing out,
(19:27):
what is it that that has to be,maybe done in a slightly
different way? Many times, youknow, supporting them to apply
for that bigger role that theymight not have done before. So,
yes, I do have a good number offemales that I've been able to
now get to director level, VPlevel, SVP level,
Matt Kirchner (19:47):
awesome. That's got to be incredibly rewarding
for you. Absolutely. I
Mariana Cogan (19:50):
think that by now, one of the most rewarding
parts of my career, it reallyhelped other people to make it
to the top.
Matt Kirchner (19:55):
Yeah, that's a great, great feeling. And we see
the same thing in our in ourbusinesses as well. I mean, I
love having an organizationthat's being successful. I love
having an organization that'swinning. Obviously, having a
profitable organization allowsyou to reinvest in your company
and so on and further yourmission. But the most rewarding
part of it is seeing people thatare that are coming into an
organization, believing in amission, and then seeing this
(20:16):
opportunity to to improve theirlives, to improve the lives of
their families, to maybe dothings they didn't know they
were capable of doing, to findinterests or or skills or
talents that they didn't knowthey had. That's just an
incredibly rewarding part ofgetting a little bit deeper in
terms of longevity in theworkforce, for lack of a better
term. And I've been doing this awhile, and that's that's
fantastic. So if I'm a if I'm amanufacturing leader, and I'm
(20:40):
listening to what I'm hearing,and I'm saying, oh, you know, we
need to do a better job at this.
We need to be better about, youknow, whether it's mentoring,
sponsoring, being knowledgeableand aware of the areas in which
we may be holding certainindividuals back
unintentionally. What are somereally innovative strategies
that you would recommend tothose individuals? You know,
where do you start? And whathave you seen work really well.
Mariana Cogan (21:00):
I always say start with your HR department
that you have to make sure thatyou're getting female candidates
into that interviewing process.
Sure make sure that there'svisibility on the ones that you
already have you know within theorganization, and as we spoke at
the very beginning, make surethat you have programs that
allow for the flexibility thatis going to be needed for
(21:22):
females to stay in yourorganization.
Matt Kirchner (21:26):
Got it so making sure that we're working through
the HR department here, if we'retrying to grow females in the
organization and remove theminto into spots of leadership,
we can't do that unless they'rethere to begin with, right? So
we have to recruit them. We'vegot to be, you know, aware at
the HR level, when we're goingout and recruiting candidates
for new positions that we wantto make sure that we're, you
know, that we're bringing womenand people from, you know, all
(21:48):
walks of life into thoseopportunities is provided,
obviously, that they'requalified to be interviewed for
the role, to give them the bestand the greatest opportunity to
be considered for our companies.
And then from there, it's just aquestion of asking the right
questions, of making sure thatwe're open to talent from all
over, and recognizing the uniquebenefits that that all types of
people can can bring to anorganization. You lived around
(22:09):
all types of cultures, all typesof people as we were chatting.
You know, as you mentioned, sawon my phone. Actually, I had a
picture of some time that Ispent in Tokyo that just by by
coincidence, was up on the phoneas we were talking, as we were
warming up and and you mentionedthat you lived in Tokyo for a
long time. Where else have youlived?
Mariana Cogan (22:29):
Yes, I'm born in Mexico City. Okay, so I grew up
in Mexico City. I went to aJapanese school. I lived there
until I was 18, and then I lived11 years in Tokyo. Tokyo is like
my, my second home. Then acouple of years in London, wow.
And then Boston has been homefor the last 20 years. Awesome.
Matt Kirchner (22:50):
Yeah. So you do you speak, you speak Japanese as
well. Then, yes, yeah. SoJapanese and Spanish, obviously,
in English, that's incredible.
I've never been to Mexico City.
I've been to Mexico, but usuallyin manufacturing world, kind of
in the, you know, in the area,yeah, exactly. So yeah, materie
and Juarez and so on. But never,never in Mexico City, although
I'm still three credits short ofa minor in Spanish and at the
(23:12):
university. So, oh, wow. So
Mariana Cogan (23:14):
maybe next up we should do it in Spanish. Yeah,
exactly. Well, I
Matt Kirchner (23:17):
would tell you that that would be a lot more
difficult to follow than thisone would be, but I can still
get by a little bit. And ofcourse, been been to Tokyo
several times. Love London.
Where do you live in? Where didyou live in?
Mariana Cogan (23:27):
London? London, West London.
Matt Kirchner (23:29):
Okay, yeah, absolutely we, we have one of
our businesses, severalsuppliers, in the UK. So wow,
from time to time. So, so those,those are amazing places to in
Boston too. I mean, I love, Ilove Boston as well. And Boston
Harbor is just absolutelybeautiful.
Mariana Cogan (23:43):
And everybody loves a paycheck. So Celtics, a
Bruins, yep, exactly,
Matt Kirchner (23:47):
well. And I, you know, I spent, I spent a week at
Suffolk University a few yearsago, so, you know, right and
right near Boston Common and,boy, it's just, it's an awesome
city. So you did some reallycool stuff. So, so let's talk
about that a little bit. Youknow, you've got experience with
Latin culture, Japanese culture.
Spent time in Europe. How do yousee those cultural influences
shaping leadership andmanufacturing with all those
(24:08):
different perspectives thatyou've got Mariana, there
Mariana Cogan (24:11):
are different components that you get to
apply, because at the end of theday, the manufacturing world is
so rich. You're just talkingabout the maquiladoras scene in
Monterrey, right? You know,we're seeing all these, you
know, foreign companies, youknow, as we're here having this
conversation, IMTS. So it's aworld of diversity, right? As
much as we're talking about theUI, US centric conversation, it
(24:33):
is a very diverse world outthere. So some of the principles
that I use, you know, nemaWashington, when it comes to the
Japanese culture, that is abeautiful culture, it is and it
has many different principles,like NEMA washi that allows you
to convince a large group ofpeople to follow an idea when we
(24:53):
were talking about diversity,inclusion, about females,
collaboration, all the differentcomponents are going to require.
That you know a lot of peoplefollow you. So what the Japanese
say is that when you're going tobe moving a tree from one place
to another place, you just don'tpull out the tree, because if
you do that, it's going to die.
But if you massage the rootslittle by little, then you're
(25:14):
going to be able to transfer thetree and it's going to grow even
better. So the same applies whenyou have different ideas. Yep,
you had to, you know, to talk tomany people. You had to explain
what's going to be the benefit.
It seems that it's going to takea little bit longer, but at the
end of the day, you're notgetting, going to get much
better results. So that's one ofthe principles that I really
(25:35):
love from, you know, fromJapanese culture. And then, as
you mentioned, for, you know,for Mexico, you know, Latin
culture, you know, very big intorelationships. You know, making
sure that you have thatpartnership, even before you get
into business. Again, as youmentioned before, when we
started the podcast today, yourfriends, you get to know each
other, you get to see a littlebit more that authenticity of
(25:57):
the person. You build a littlebit of trust, and then you can
go into doing, you know, muchbigger things together.
Matt Kirchner (26:02):
Absolutely, that's a great perspective, you
know. And as you're, as you'retalking about Latin culture, I
just want to ask you this,because this was something that
I, that I learned in aninteresting way. So I ran a
large contract manufacturingcompany in Wisconsin for 10
years. I was a spin off ofRockwell Automation. We had an
incredibly diverse both, bothleadership teams. So, I mean,
our leadership team, our leadchemist was from Russia, our
(26:24):
Head of Customer Service wasimmigrated from Mexico. Our lead
wastewater treatment person grewup in Ghana. So we had people
literally from all over theworld on that leadership team.
And it wasn't even that we setout to create a real diverse
leadership team. We just,frankly, we hired awesome
people, regardless of where theywere from, and we ended up with
this incredible group.
Incredible group of people. Sothat was one observation, but
the other one that I that I wassurprised by, was that as
(26:47):
Americans, we kind of tend tokind of lump Latin culture into
one group, right? And we had inthat company, both in the
leadership team and on the shopfloor. We had people who were
from Cuba, we had people fromPuerto Rico, we had people from
the Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic. We hadpeople from Mexico who, in many
ways, while they shared somecultures, they there were a lot
(27:07):
of differences in those culturesas well. Is that common when
you're looking at the wayAmericans look at, you know,
Latin culture, that we tend tolump them all together, lump
them all together as cultures,whereas there are some distinct
differences.
Mariana Cogan (27:20):
It is a very common perspective of Latin
where you say, well, everybodyyou know side of the border must
be similar, and there is plentyin common. Absolutely. I mean,
there's plenty in common, butthat's also a lot of
differences. Even you know, oneof the the challenges that I've
been trying to work through inthe last couple of months is we
(27:43):
have a very big operation, bothin Mexico and in Brazil, okay?
And there are very differentcultures from a business
perspective, not only thelanguage, in this case, in
Spanish and Portuguese, but youknow, Mexico being closer to the
US you have, you know, many morepeople speak, you know, speak
English in a different way, alittle bit closer to the way
(28:05):
that the US works, versus, inthis case, Brazil, that has a
very different personality,works in a different way. So I
think it's, it's healthy toassume that there's a lot in
common, right? But there's alsodefenses, yeah,
Matt Kirchner (28:20):
and we learned that, and we had an incredibly
diverse workforce, and Iprobably 60% of that company,
give or take, was Latino, and Ihad so many great memories of
working with all those wonderfulpeople. It was just, it was just
fantastic so, and it spoke tothe value of a diverse
workforce. I mean, it really. Wegot a lot done. We worked
together. We all had a sharedmission. We created
opportunities from people, nomatter where they were from, or
(28:41):
what walk of life for anybodyworking in manufacturing now,
whether you have a Mexicansupply base, which a lot of
companies do, whether you'reemploying Latin talent here in
the United States, what are thethings that the manufacturing
needs to do Mariana to betterembrace and leverage Hispanic
talent,
Mariana Cogan (28:58):
and you're making an interesting point, that It
all starts with really gettingthe best talent out there. I
feel like with a lot of theconversation that we're having,
I'm preaching to the choir on,you know, how do you create an
environment that is going toallow you to have the best
available talent? And I tend totalk about three components.
First of all, listening. Don'tmake assumptions. Just listen.
(29:21):
You know, to your employees,listen to your vendors, listen
to your partners, so that youcan really understand, you know,
where people are coming from.
Secondly, again, providevisibility. You know, what is it
that the organization isthinking? What are the goals? So
that you can really, again,going back to the first point,
you can listen to, what is itthat is connecting. What you see
that is not connecting. Andthirdly, depending on the size
(29:43):
of the organization, you know,create a space where people feel
at home by now. You have allthese employee resource group,
ERGs, you know, one of thethings that I do at hexagon is I
run something that is calledMarketing and Espanol, so that
we create a moment where. Peoplecan speak in Spanish, even
people who don't really have touse our Spanish on daily basis,
(30:03):
because we hire them for a verydifferent skill set. But
creating that space that makespeople feeling at a home. Sure
you want, you know, a company islike a home, yeah,
Matt Kirchner (30:14):
for sure, absolutely. You spend eight
hours a day, you know, 4050,hours a week there. You want it
to feel comfortable so, somaking it feel like a home,
certainly providing anenvironment where people can
speak their native languages,where they can they can interact
with people, with maybe, youknow, similar backgrounds or
similar spaces in life. Whathave you what are the other
things that we need to bethinking about, as far as making
Hispanic and Latin place feelit, at home, at work,
Mariana Cogan (30:37):
making sure that people, that people understand
that you're valuing them for theskill set that they bring to the
table, right? That you'rethinking about their career
development as you're thinkingof the career development of the
rest of the organization. It'smaking sure that you're
listening, but you're treatingeverybody equally with the same
folks for their own careerdevelopment, absolutely.
Matt Kirchner (30:59):
And you know, people come to us with a wide
variety of capabilities. But youknow, nobody should be limited
in terms of where they can go inthe organization, whether they
need additional training,mentoring, sponsorship, you
know, advocacy, in terms offinding opportunities for them,
maybe helping them through someof the hurdles that they might
run in, run into working in amanufacturing operation, all
really, really important things.
Does that tie in? I know you'resuper, super involved with the
(31:20):
Boys and Girls Club and thegreat work that's going on
there. Talk a little bit aboutthat, both from a, you know,
from an ethnic backgroundstandpoint, from a partnership
standpoint, from getting thatnext generation of talent
excited about great careers.
It's
Mariana Cogan (31:34):
a wonderful organization. I've been involved
with them for about a year.
Okay? It the President is, isphenomenal. You know, Robert
really has a vision for makingsure that we're moving away from
a conversation of donation ofcharity and much more, moving
into getting, really, that nextgeneration of workforce ready
(31:56):
providing, you know, for somechildren that you know might not
have access to, you know, tosome to certain things to to
ensure that they're going to beready to make the most out of
their careers. You know, heavyinvestment into our workforce
readiness, providing children,you know, with internships,
(32:17):
teenagers with all that again,the visibility, the empowerment,
to ensure that they can, youknow, all these children can go
and have great careers, right?
You know, after they finishtheir you know, the basic
studies, and that's why I lovethe organization with a passion,
yeah, doing
Matt Kirchner (32:34):
really, really important work. If I'm a young
person, participating in mylocal Boys and Girls Club. Help
me understand how you'reengaging with them. What does
that feel like? So they're goingto their club meetings, they're
going to the physical space thatthey that they go to, whether
it's after school, weekend,summers. What have you How is
hexagon or how are youindividually, kind of engaging
with those individuals?
Mariana Cogan (32:55):
Yeah, so kids that start from a very early age
just start learning to swim.
It's a space where they can goafter in school. And as they get
older, they get into all these,you know, work, workforce
readiness programs where peoplelike like me, people you know,
who work in differentindustries, you know, we support
them with helping them, gettingtheir resumes ready, getting the
internships you know, ready,ensuring that they can meet with
(33:18):
mentors, with sponsors, greatcollaborations with the with the
industry, you know, in Boston,to make sure that they can get
exposed to internships, again,not only in manufacturing, but
also health care hospitals, sothat they can they can have a
bigger perspective into what'savailable out there as they're
(33:39):
finishing graduates from highschool. And I
Matt Kirchner (33:43):
commend you on the work you're doing. You know,
you think about these, you know,young people that a lot of times
maybe, you know, attending theirlocal Boys and Girls Clubs,
maybe don't have all the sameexposure and opportunities that
that other young people mighthave. And, you know, we talk a
lot about in manufacturing, theimportance of basically pulling
a diverse workforce intomanufacturing, but, but that
(34:05):
doesn't just happen onautopilot. And you think about,
you know, a student that growsup in the suburbs of a, you
know, city like Boston and acity like Milwaukee maybe has
opportunities to go to a greatschool, maybe has
extracurricular activities thatthey wouldn't might not have
had, depending on what part ofthe city they grew up in. I'll
just speak to my city inMilwaukee. I mean, there's a
year you grew up in a town likeGermantown or Cedarburg, your
(34:26):
opportunities are going to lookdifferent than a student that's
growing up on 35th and berlinein the in the middle of the
central city. And capabilitiesare all still there, the drive
and the excitement and thecommitment might all still be
there, but unless we createthose opportunities for young
people and recognize that, youknow, that we don't change the
bar, but we have to change thewe say, raise the floor. You
know, for certain individuals,if they don't have those same
(34:48):
chances and opportunities, we'vegot to create those for them.
And I think manufacturing iswaking up to that. They're
waking up to the point of notjust because there's economic
benefit in recruiting an awesomeworkforce, but because there's
there. There's just a benefit interms of humanity, of making
sure we create as manyopportunities as we can for
people really, really importantwork as those students are in
middle school and high school,that we're thinking through
(35:09):
those things. And I want to takeyou back to that middle school
and high school age, right? Sowhen you were, you know, when
you were 15 years old, still inMexico City. Is that when is
Mariana Cogan (35:18):
that where you were? Yes, I was still in Mexico
City. Yes, yeah. So
Matt Kirchner (35:21):
let's, let's think about that. So Young
Mariana, she's 15 years old.
She's growing up in Mexico City.
You know, who knows that she'sgoing to be chief marketing
officer for this worldwiderecognized, incredible
organization called hex con. Solet's turn the clock back then.
And if you could give that younggirl one piece of advice at 15
years old that she would havereally benefited from. What
(35:44):
would that piece of advice
Mariana Cogan (35:46):
be? I would say that half of the advice will be,
be patient, be caring, be sweetto yourself, yeah, like that.
And then the other half will be,yes. It's going to be hard work,
and you have to work hard andwork out to work super hard, but
(36:07):
if you combine it with thatpatience and love for yourself,
things are going to work outfine. That's
Matt Kirchner (36:14):
awesome. Yeah, I love that. And frankly, you
know, in mentoring, you know,high school kids, from time to
time, we talk a lot about that,about look. You know, you don't
have to look to the rest of theworld to determine what your
value as a human being is. Bekind to yourself. Don't be so
hard on yourself, especiallywhen it comes to personality or
what have you. And if you havethat combination of being kind
yourself self confidence, Ibelieve, and if you have that
(36:36):
self confidence and are willingto work hard and to put the time
in, because none of this happensautomatically. Success doesn't
happen without a degree ofdedication and work. It's
amazing what can happen as aresult of that. It's amazing
what you've done Mariana, as aresult of all the all the hard
work that you've had about ofthe confidence that you've built
for yourself over the course oftime, all the lives you're
(36:56):
changing, all the people you'responsoring and mentoring this
great work you're doing with theBoys and Girls Club really
appreciate you doing doing allthat work getting this next
generation of talent excitedabout careers in advanced
manufacturing and really gladthat you were able to join us
here on the TechEd podcast.
Thank
Mariana Cogan (37:12):
you very much.
It's been a pleasure, and thatlove the work that you're doing.
Matt Kirchner (37:16):
Thank you very much. Yeah, securing the
American Dream for the nextgeneration of STEM and workforce
talent, that's what we do hereat the TechEd podcast this week
with Marianna, and every singleweek. Hope you enjoyed this
episode with Marianna, COVID,Chief Marketing Officer of
hexagon manufacturingintelligence, as much as I did
such an amazing background,incredible work that she is
(37:36):
doing now you'll find all thatinformation on the show notes
for this page, which you willfind at TechEd
podcast.com/colgan that isTechEd podcast.com/cogan and
remember, you'll find us allover social media. Doesn't
matter if you're on Instagram,LinkedIn, tick tock, Facebook,
wherever it is that you're goingto consume your social media and
(37:58):
learn what's going on in theworld, you will find the TechEd
podcast there. When you see us,when you find us, leave us a
note. Let us know that you lovewhat you're hearing on the
TechEd podcast. We would love tohear from you, and we would love
to see you again next week.
Until then, I am your host. MattKirk, here, thanks for being
(38:22):
here.
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