Alumni Spotlight: Jane You MBA 14

What does being a collaborative leader mean to you?

Being a collaborative leader for me means curating a team culture with openness and common goals, in which everybody can feel free to contribute and do their best work.

How do you collaborate at work to make an impact?

In product management, we rely on collaboration with people to make things happen. Our principles are, put users first, always start with why, and influence without authority. That means to understand first, then to be understood.

What are the highlights of your career the last few years?

My career highlights are all about building products that can be helpful. I spent over five years at Autodesk and co-founded the Autodesk Data Platform to shift to the company's data culture. Recently, at Dropbox, I'm establishing a new Product Management team, unifying our go-to market data and tools in one service.

What are your biggest challenges in your industry?

In tech industry, one of the biggest challenges is to apply machine learning effectively to create better customer experiences, as well as reinvent how we operate to embrace a more efficient way of work in the future.

Which professors had the biggest impact on you?

There are so many. To name a few, Professor Tsai always teaches with heart and his statistic courses are a must-have. Professor Bhargava's Technology, Computation and Strategy class is instrumental for people entering tech. Professor Lowe and his new Business Venture course enabled me to build a startup-like team, right in the class.

What are you seeing that future business graduates should be aware of as they start their careers?

Always be curious and don't stop searching accounts and life tasks while enhancing your understanding to the business. Practice trial and error. Embrace failures, mistakes and iterate from them. Keep an open mind and adapt quickly, having fun while making a positive impact to the world.