Dame Stephanie Shirley: Why do ambitious women have flat heads?

Prevodilac: Marina Ivanovic Lektor: Mile Živković

When I wrote my memoir,

Kada sam napisala svoje memoare,

the publishers were really confused.

izdavači su bili veoma zbunjeni.

Was it about me as a child refugee,

Jesu li oni bili o meni kao detetu izbeglici ili kao o ženi

or as a woman who set up a high-tech software company back in the 1960s,

koja je pokrenula visokotehnološku softversku kompaniju davnih 1960-ih,

one that went public

koja je postala javna kompanija,

and eventually employed over 8,500 people?

i naposletku zaposlila preko 8500 ljudi?

Or was it as a mother of an autistic child?

Ili kao majci deteta sa autizmom?

Or as a philanthropist that's now given away serious money?

Ili kao filantropkinji koja sada poklanja ozbiljne svote novca?

Well, it turns out, I'm all of these.

Zapravo, ispada da sam sve od toga.

So let me tell you my story.

Dopustite mi da vam ispričam svoju priču.

All that I am stems from when I got onto a train in Vienna,

Sve što jesam, proizilazi od trenutka kada sam ušla u voz u Beču,

part of the Kindertransport that saved nearly 10,000 Jewish children

za vreme misije "Kindertransport" koja je spasila oko 10 000 jevrejske dece

from Nazi Europe.

iz nacističke Evrope.

I was five years old, clutching the hand of my nine-year-old sister

Imala sam pet godina i stišćući ruku moje devetogodišnje sestre

and had very little idea as to what was going on.

nisam bila svesna šta se tačno događa.

"What is England and why am I going there?"

"Šta je Engleska i zašto tamo idem?"

I'm only alive because so long ago, I was helped by generous strangers.

Živa sam samo iz razloga što su mi tada pomogli velikodušni stranci.

I was lucky, and doubly lucky to be later reunited

Imala sam sreće - dvostruko sreće - da sam kasnije ponovno ujedinjena

with my birth parents.

sa svojim biološkim roditeljima.

But, sadly, I never bonded with them again.

Ali nažalost, nikad se više nisam s njima povezala.

But I've done more in the seven decades since that miserable day

No, za ovih sedam decenija od tog nesrećnog dana

when my mother put me on the train

kada me je majka stavila na voz,

than I would ever have dreamed possible.

uradila sam više nego što sam ikad mislila da je moguće.

And I love England, my adopted country,

I volim Englesku, moju usvojenu zemlju,

with a passion that perhaps only someone who has lost their human rights can feel.

sa strašću koju može da oseća samo neko ko je izgubio svoja ljudska prava.

I decided to make mine a life that was worth saving.

Odlučila sam da napravim svoj život vrednim spasavanja.

And then, I just got on with it.

I tada sam se latila tog posla.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Let me take you back to the early 1960s.

Vratimo se na početak 1960-ih.

To get past the gender issues of the time,

Ne bih li izbegla problem tog vremena o neravnopravnosti polova, pokrenula sam

I set up my own software house at one of the first such startups in Britain.

vlastitu softversku kompaniju, jednu od prvih tog tipa u Britaniji.

But it was also a company of women, a company for women,

Ali bila je to i kompanija sačinjena od žena, kompanija za žene,

an early social business.

rani oblik socijalnog preduzeća.

And people laughed at the very idea because software, at that time,

Ljudi su se smejali mojoj ideji jer se softver u to vreme

was given away free with hardware.

delio besplatno u paketu s hardverom.

Nobody would buy software, certainly not from a woman.

Niko ne bi kupio softver, a pogotovo ne od jedne žene.

Although women were then coming out of the universities with decent degrees,

Iako su žene završavale fakultete sa kvalitetnim diplomama,

there was a glass ceiling to our progress.

naš napredak je naišao na nepremostivu barijeru.

And I'd hit that glass ceiling too often,

I mene je ta barijera često kočila,

and I wanted opportunities for women.

i htela sam prilike za žene.

I recruited professionally qualified women who'd left the industry on marriage,

Regrutovala sam kvalifikovane žene u struci koje su napustile posao usled udaje

or when their first child was expected

ili kad su zatrudnele po prvi put

and structured them into a home-working organization.

i organizovala ih u udruženje koje radi od kuće.

We pioneered the concept of women going back into the workforce

Začetnice smo koncepta žena koje se vraćaju na radna mesta

after a career break.

nakon pauze u karijeri.

We pioneered all sorts of new, flexible work methods:

Bile smo začetnice raznih novih i fleksibilnih metoda rada:

job shares, profit-sharing, and eventually, co-ownership

podele poslova, podele zarade i konačno, suvlašnistva,

when I took a quarter of the company into the hands of the staff

kada sam dala u ruke zaposlenih četvrtinu kompanije

at no cost to anyone but me.

samo o svom trošku.

For years, I was the first woman this, or the only woman that.

Godinama, bila sam prva žena u ovome ili jedina u onome.

And in those days, I couldn't work on the stock exchange,

U to vreme, nisam mogla da radim na berzi,

I couldn't drive a bus or fly an airplane.

nisam mogla da vozim autobus ili avion.

Indeed, I couldn't open a bank account without my husband's permission.

Zapravo, nisam mogla da otvorim ni račun u banci bez dopuštenja mog supruga.

My generation of women fought the battles for the right to work

Moja generacija žena se borila za pravo rada

and the right for equal pay.

i za jednakost plata.

Nobody really expected much from people at work or in society

Niko nije očekivao mnogo od ljudi na poslu ili u društvu

because all the expectations then

jer su sva očekivanja tada

were about home and family responsibilities.

bila vezana za dom i porodične obaveze.

And I couldn't really face that,

Ja to nisam mogla da prihvatim,

so I started to challenge the conventions of the time,

te sam počela da preispitujem norme tog vremena

even to the extent of changing my name from "Stephanie" to "Steve"

do te krajnosti da sam menjala svoje ime iz Stefani u Stiv

in my business development letters,

u pismima poslovnog plana

so as to get through the door before anyone realized

kako bih se lakše probila pre nego što iko shvati

that he was a she.

da je 'on' ustvari 'ona'.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

My company, called Freelance Programmers, and that's precisely what it was,

Moja kompanija, koja se zvala Honorarni Programeri, upravo je to i bila,

couldn't have started smaller: on the dining room table,

i nije mogla početi kao manja: na trpezarijskom stolu,

and financed by the equivalent of 100 dollars in today's terms,

i finansirana ekvivalentom današnjih 100 dolara,

and financed by my labor and by borrowing against the house.

finansirana mojim radom i zajmom na moju kuću.

My interests were scientific, the market was commercial --

Moj interes je bio naučnog tipa, a tržište komercijalno -

things such as payroll, which I found rather boring.

stvari poput platnih lista, meni su bile dosadne.

So I had to compromise with operational research work,

Zato sam morala da balansiram između razvojno-operativnog posla

which had the intellectual challenge that interested me

koji je imao intelektualni izazov koji me je zanimao,

and the commercial value that was valued by the clients:

i komercijalne vrednosti koju su klijenti cenili,

things like scheduling freight trains,

stvari poput izrade rasporeda teretnih vozova,

time-tabling buses, stock control, lots and lots of stock control.

voznog reda autobusa, nadzora zaliha - mnogo, mnogo nadzora zaliha.

And eventually, the work came in.

I konačno, posao je procvetao.

We disguised the domestic and part-time nature of the staff

Prikrili smo zaposlene koji rade od kuće i one na pola radnog vremena

by offering fixed prices, one of the very first to do so.

tako što smo ponudili fiksne cene.

Bili smo jedni od prvih koji su to učinili.

And who would have guessed that the programming

I ko je mogao da pretpostavi da je programiranje

of the black box flight recorder of Supersonic Concord

crnih kutija supersoničnog aviona Konkord

would have been done by a bunch of women working in their own homes.

napravila grupa žena koje su radile od kuće?

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

All we used was a simple "trust the staff" approach

Sve što smo radili baziralo se na jednostavnom principu

and a simple telephone.

poverenja među zaposlenima i telefonu.

We even used to ask job applicants, "Do you have access to a telephone?"

Čak smo znale i da pitamo kandidate za posao: "Imate li pristup telefonu?"

An early project was to develop software standards

Rani projekat bio je razviti softverske standarde

on management control protocols.

za protokole kontrole upravljanja.

And software was and still is a maddeningly hard-to-control activity,

Softver je bio i još uvek jeste zastrašujuće izdržljiv,

so that was enormously valuable.

što je bilo od velike vrednosti.

We used the standards ourselves,

I same smo koristile standarde,

we were even paid to update them over the years,

čak smo bile plaćene da ih ažuriramo tokom godina,

and eventually, they were adopted by NATO.

te ih je na kraju usvojio i NATO.

Our programmers -- remember, only women,

Naši programeri - setite se, samo žene,

including gay and transgender --

uključujući homoseksualne i transrodne -

worked with pencil and paper to develop flowcharts

radili su sa olovkom i papirom kako bi nacrtali dijagrame

defining each task to be done.

koji su definisali svaki zadatak koji je trebalo napraviti.

And they then wrote code, usually machine code,

A onda bi radili kodiranje, obično kodiranje za mašine,

sometimes binary code,

a ponekad i binarni kod,

which was then sent by mail to a data center

koji bi se tada slao poštom u centar podataka

to be punched onto paper tape or card

kako bi bio utisnut na papirnu traku ili karticu bušenjem

and then re-punched, in order to verify it.

i onda ponovno izbušio kako bi se proverio.

All this, before it ever got near a computer.

Sve ovo, pre nego što bi došao i blizu kompjutera.

That was programming in the early 1960s.

To je bilo programiranje u ranim 1960-im.

In 1975, 13 years from startup,

Godine 1975, 13 godina nakon početka,

equal opportunity legislation came in in Britain

donesen je zakon o ravnopravnosti polova u Britaniji

and that made it illegal to have our pro-female policies.

zbog čega je pro-ženska politika zapošljavanja postala nelegalna.

And as an example of unintended consequences,

I kao primer neželjenih posledica,

my female company had to let the men in.

moja ženska kompanija bila je prinuđena da zaposli muškarce.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

When I started my company of women,

Kada sam osnovala svoju kompaniju žena,

the men said, "How interesting, because it only works because it's small."

muškarci su govorili: "Kako zanimljivo, uspevaju zato što su mala kompanija."

And later, as it became sizable, they accepted, "Yes, it is sizable now,

Kasnije, kada se proširila, prihvatili su: "Da, sada je veća,

but of no strategic interest."

ali bez strateškog interesa."

And later, when it was a company valued at over three billion dollars,

I kasnije, kada je kompanija procenjena na preko 3 milijarde dolara,

and I'd made 70 of the staff into millionaires,

i kada sam 70 zaposlenih učinila milionerima,

they sort of said, "Well done, Steve!"

rekli su nešto tipa: "Sjajno obavljeno, Stive!"

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

You can always tell ambitious women by the shape of our heads:

Uspešnu ženu uvek možete prepoznati po obliku glave:

They're flat on top for being patted patronizingly.

spljoštene na vrhu od snishodljivog tapšanja po glavi.

(Laughter) (Applause)

(Smeh) (Aplauz)

And we have larger feet to stand away from the kitchen sink.

Imamo i veća stopala tako da stojimo što dalje od sudopere.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Let me share with you two secrets of success:

Dopustite mi da podelim dve tajne uspeha s vama:

Surround yourself with first-class people and people that you like;

okružite se vrhunskim ljudima i onima koji vam se sviđaju;

and choose your partner very, very carefully.

i odaberite svog partnera vrlo, vrlo, pažljivo.

Because the other day when I said, "My husband's an angel,"

Jer, pre neki dan kad sam rekla da je moj suprug anđeo,

a woman complained -- "You're lucky," she said,

jedna žena se požalila rekavši: "Ti si tako srećna.

"mine's still alive."

Moj je još uvek živ."

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

If success were easy, we'd all be millionaires.

Da je uspeh jednostavan, svi bismo bili milioneri.

But in my case, it came in the midst of family trauma and indeed, crisis.

U mom slučaju došao je usred porodične traume i krize.

Our late son, Giles, was an only child, a beautiful, contented baby.

Naš pokojni sin Džajls, jedinac, bio je divno, mirno dete.

And then, at two and a half,

Kada je napunio dve i po godine,

like a changeling in a fairy story,

kao magično dete iz bajki,

he lost the little speech that he had

izgubio je i malo govora što je imao

and turned into a wild, unmanageable toddler.

i postao divlje, neobuzdano dete.

Not the terrible twos;

Nije to bila dečija zloba,

he was profoundly autistic and he never spoke again.

već teži oblik autizma i više nikada nije progovorio.

Giles was the first resident in the first house of the first charity that I set up

Džajls je bio prvi stanovnik u prvoj kući dobrotvorne ustanove koju sam pokrenula

to pioneer services for autism.

da pruži usluge za ljude s autizmom.

And then there's been a groundbreaking Prior's Court school

Usledile su alternativna škola "Prajors Kort"

for pupils with autism

za đake s autizmom

and a medical research charity, again, all for autism.

i medicinsko-istraživačka ustanova, takođe za autizam.

Because whenever I found a gap in services, I tried to help.

Uvek kada sam našla rupu u usluzi, nastojala sam da pomognem.

I like doing new things and making new things happen.

Volim da radim nove stvari i da ih realizujem.

And I've just started a three-year think tank for autism.

Pokrenula sam trogodišnju neprofitnu istraživačku organizaciju za autizam.

And so that some of my wealth does go back to the industry from which it stems,

Tako se deo mog bogatstva vraća odakle je i došao.

I've also founded the Oxford Internet Institute

Takođe sam osnovala institut Oksford Internet

and other IT ventures.

i pokrenula druge IT poduhvate.

The Oxford Internet Institute focuses not on the technology,

Institut Oksford Internet se ne fokusira na tehnologiju,

but on the social, economic, legal and ethical issues of the Internet.

već na socijalna, ekonomska, pravna i etička pitanja vezana za internet.

Giles died unexpectedly 17 years ago now.

Džajls je iznenadno umro pre 17 godina.

And I have learned to live without him,

Naučila sam da živim bez njega,

and I have learned to live without his need of me.

i naučila sam da živim bez njegove potrebe za mnom.

Philanthropy is all that I do now.

Sada se bavim samo filantropijom.

I need never worry about getting lost

Nikada ne treba da se bojim da ću se izgubiti

because several charities would quickly come and find me.

jer će neka od dobrotvornih ustanova brzo doći i naći me.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

It's one thing to have an idea for an enterprise,

Jedna je stvar imati ideju za preduzeće,

but as many people in this room will know,

ali kao što mnogi u ovoj prostoriji znaju,

making it happen is a very difficult thing

ostvariti je vrlo je teška stvar.

and it demands extraordinary energy, self-belief and determination,

Zahteva ogromnu energiju, veru u sebe i odlučnost,

the courage to risk family and home,

hrabrost da se reskira porodica i dom,

and a 24/7 commitment that borders on the obsessive.

neprestanu predanost koja se graniči sa opsesivnošću.

So it's just as well that I'm a workaholic.

Tako da je dobro što sam radoholičarka.

I believe in the beauty of work when we do it properly and in humility.

Verujem u lepotu posla kada je urađen kako treba i u poniznosti.

Work is not just something I do when I'd rather be doing something else.

Posao nije nešto što radim kada bih radije radila nešto drugo.

We live our lives forward.

Živimo ovaj život gledajući napred.

So what has all that taught me?

I čemu me je to sve naučilo?

I learned that tomorrow's never going to be like today,

Naučila sam da sutra nikada nije kao danas,

and certainly nothing like yesterday.

i nikako kao juče.

And that made me able to cope with change,

I to mi je omogućilo da se nosim s promenama,

indeed, eventually to welcome change,

i da naposletku prigrlim promene

though I'm told I'm still very difficult.

iako mi je rečeno da je još uvek sa mnom teško.

Thank you very much.

Mnogo vam hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)