Dame Stephanie Shirley: Why do ambitious women have flat heads?
デイム・ステファニー・シャーリー: 上昇志向の女性は、なぜ頭が平らなのか?
In 1962, Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley founded Freelance Programmers, a software firm with innovative work practices -- and (mainly) women employees. Full bio
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software company back in the 1960s,
会社に成長させた女性の話なのか?
of an autistic child?
now given away serious money?
慈善活動家の話なのか?
I got onto a train in Vienna,
列車に乗った時に始まりました
nearly 10,000 Jewish children
ユダヤ人の子どもを1万人近く救った
of my nine-year-old sister
9才の姉の手を握り
what was going on.
why am I going there?"
なぜ そこに向かってるの?」
I was helped by generous strangers.
見知らぬ寛大な人々のおかげです
to be later reunited
でも さらに幸運だったのは
with them again.
深い絆は結べませんでした
since that miserable day
あのつらい日から
成し遂げてきました
イギリスを熱烈に愛しています
who has lost their human rights can feel.
特有の感情でしょう
that was worth saving.
思えるような人生にしようと誓いました
of the first such startups in Britain.
イギリスで最初の新興企業の1つです
a company for women,
女性が作る 女性のための会社で
because software, at that time,
当時ソフトウェアはハードにつけて
certainly not from a woman.
「買う」人などいるはずありません
of the universities with decent degrees,
ちゃんとした学位を持っていましたが
見えない障害がありました
ぶつかってばかりだったので
who'd left the industry on marriage,
結婚や妊娠で ―
home-working organization.
going back into the workforce
職場復帰するという発想を
new, flexible work methods:
開発していきました
and eventually, co-ownership
そして「共同所有」です
into the hands of the staff
or the only woman that.
唯一の女性と言われ続けました
on the stock exchange,
できませんでした
without my husband's permission.
銀行口座も開けませんでした
the battles for the right to work
from people at work or in society
大した支援は望めませんでした
family responsibilities.
the conventions of the time,
ステファニーから「スティーブ」に
from "Stephanie" to "Steve"
before anyone realized
and that's precisely what it was,
名前の通りの会社でした
on the dining room table,
使っていたのは食卓テーブル
of 100 dollars in today's terms,
by borrowing against the house.
家を担保にした融資でした
the market was commercial --
市場なんて 扱うのは賃金台帳くらいの
which I found rather boring.
operational research work,
手がけることで妥協したのです
that interested me
知的な挑戦がありましたし
that was valued by the clients:
顧客も高く評価してくれました
lots and lots of stock control.
膨大な量の在庫管理をしたりしました
part-time nature of the staff
働いていることを隠すために
one of the very first to do so.
これを取り入れた会社は ほぼ初めてでした
that the programming
of Supersonic Concord
フライトレコーダーのプログラムを
of women working in their own homes.
誰が想像したでしょう?
"trust the staff" approach
「社員を信頼する」という方針と
"Do you have access to a telephone?"
「電話は受けられますか?」と聞いたものです
software standards
ソフトウェアの品質管理手続きの
maddeningly hard-to-control activity,
腹が立つほど品質管理が難しいので
them over the years,
長年アップデートを続け
ゲイやトランスジェンダーを含む
to develop flowcharts
定義するフローチャートを
usually machine code,
大抵はマシン語 ―
by mail to a data center
paper tape or card
in order to verify it.
パンチし直されました
near a computer.
こんなに作業があったのです
プログラミングでした
came in in Britain
イギリスで制定され
our pro-female policies.
違法になってしまいました
unintended consequences,
男性を雇う必要に迫られたことです
it only works because it's small."
「面白いけれど 小規模だからできるんだ」
they accepted, "Yes, it is sizable now,
彼らも認めました「確かに成長した ―
まったく面白みがないね」
valued at over three billion dollars,
30億ドルを超えて
into millionaires,
「がんばったな スティーブ!」
by the shape of our heads:
頭の形を見ればわかります
patted patronizingly.
てっぺんが平らですから
away from the kitchen sink.
台所から離れても立っていられます
two secrets of success:
and people that you like;
お気に入りの人で固めること
very, very carefully.
とても慎重に選ぶことです
"My husband's an angel,"
「私の夫は天使なの」と言ったら
"You're lucky," she said,
「あなた ついてるわね ―
we'd all be millionaires.
私たちはみんな億万長者です
of family trauma and indeed, crisis.
家族は苦痛と危機の真っ只中でした
a beautiful, contented baby.
赤ちゃんの時は愛らしく満ち足りていました
unmanageable toddler.
なってしまったのです
and he never spoke again.
二度としゃべることはありませんでした
house of the first charity that I set up
サービスを開発するために設立した
初の入居者になりました
a groundbreaking Prior's Court school
草分け的な
again, all for autism.
慈善活動をしてきました
in services, I tried to help.
必ず手を差し伸べました
and making new things happen.
新たなことを始めるのも好きなんです
think tank for autism.
シンクタンクを始めたところです
to the industry from which it stems,
一部が還元されるように
the Oxford Internet Institute
focuses not on the technology,
テクノロジー自体ではなく
and ethical issues of the Internet.
経済的 法的 倫理的な問題です
思いがけなく 亡くなりました
息子がいなくても ―
without his need of me.
生きられるようになってきました
would quickly come and find me.
すぐ私を見つけるでしょうから
for an enterprise,
self-belief and determination,
自分への信頼 決意 そして
that borders on the obsessive.
一時も休まぬ献身が必要です
that I'm a workaholic.
よかったと思います
do it properly and in humility.
素晴らしいものだと思います
when I'd rather be doing something else.
やるものではありません
何を学んだのでしょう?
never going to be like today,
歓迎できるようになりました
すごく頑固だって言われますけどね
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dame Stephanie Shirley - Entrepreneur and philanthropistIn 1962, Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley founded Freelance Programmers, a software firm with innovative work practices -- and (mainly) women employees.
Why you should listen
In the austerity of post-World War II England, jobs were few, and opportunities for women to earn a wage were even fewer. So, on her dining room table, Stephanie Shirley founded the kind of company she'd like to work for -- one that posed challenging, rewarding tasks, built around flexible work rules that made it possible to have a real life. Her software company, Freelance Programmers made her one of the richest women in England (and one of the few to have earned her own money). Initially employing only women -- Shirley often bid for contracts as "Steve" to compete in the male-dominated industry -- the company was eventually valued at $3 billion, while 70 of the staff became millionaires when it floated on the stock market.
But money wasn't Shirley's object. "A lot of people go into business to make money," she told the Guardian. "I really didn't; I went in with a mission for women. Conversely, I was determined never, ever to be poor again." Freelance Programmers became the FI Group became Xansa; it was acquired by Steria in 2007.
Shirley retired in 1993, but she hasn't stopped pushing for progress in the fields she loves. For instance, she works tirelessly to push forward research into autism spectrum disorders, as well as to study and improve the IT industry and the role of the internet in society. She told the Guardian, "I do get committed, and I don't just give my money; I try to give of myself."
Dame Stephanie Shirley | Speaker | TED.com