The following excerpts are from "Business Impact by Women in Science and Technology"
Researched and written for WITI by Anna van Raaphorst-Johnson
Project initiated and managed by Carolyn Leighton

What kind of management style does Bartz have, and how has it influenced Autodesk?

When asked about it in 1996, Bartz responded, "Being CEO is not a popularity contest, it is about running a company to reach its highest potential. When I came to Autodesk four years ago, I found a company that had gone through tremendous growth with an incredibly successful product, but with little grounding in corporate management, vision or strategic planning. I worked to put some corporate infrastructure in place as quickly as possible, eliminating some planned products and committing to new ones. As a company, we now needed to focus on our customers, our competitors and our core technologies. I moved decisively to address these needs, and while these actions moved against the status quo at Autodesk, I feel that they were the best for the business."

What's the work environment like at Autodesk?

Bartz feels it's very important to provide an environment for employees that balances work and family. Along with the more typical telecommuting and flex-time programs, Autodesk has some that are rather unusual and innovative - like allowing dogs at work.

Bartz also serves as a role model for women inside and outside the company. As a breast cancer survivor, Bartz has chosen to take an active role in breast cancer awareness and support. She received her diagnosis a few days after starting her job at Autodesk and chose to speak out about her illness rather than hide it. She is now in remission and supports work directed toward finding a cure and supporting other women with the disease.

Bartz is a working mother with an eight-year-old daughter. Because of her concern for her daughter's future she works to promote an equitable world with respect to teaching young women math and science. In a recent article in the Sacramento Bee, Bartz was quoted as saying, "Girls have got to get under the hood. Otherwise all you've created is a fancy replacement for the typewriter. You'll be able to hire these young women as great Excel or WordPerfect users - and that's not what I want for women."

Bartz both encourages and admonishes women and men to continue to work for progress: "Women need to jump out of their element, out of their comfort zone. And you have to ask the men, what are you doing at your company now so that your daughter or granddaughter can be a vice president or CEO of it?"