New Engineous CEO Says She's Always Wanted To Run a Company. Now Janet Wylie Has Her Chance

CARY — Editor's note: Each Tuesday, Local Tech Wire features a Q-and-A session with a leading tech executive. This is the first of a two-part interview with Janet Wylie, the new CEO of Engineous Software.With more than 20 years of experience at Fortune 100 companies, you could say Janet Wylie, the chief executive officer and president of Engineous Software since February, knows a thing or two about how large companies work.

But for Wylie, who has a degree in civil engineering from Georgia Tech, smaller companies -- such as Engineous, which develops integration, automation and design improvement software - are where it's at.

"I've always wanted to run a company, but the question was what size," she says.

It's not that she has anything against large companies; Wylie says she just likes the challenge and fun of taking a hands-on approach and trying to grow a small, entrepreneurial company.

She has always been up for a challenge, though. As a woman in the male-dominated world of corporate America, Wylie is used to having to prove herself. But she says being a female executive also has its advantages.

How did you begin your career and where has it taken you since then?

I began my career as an engineer out in the Gulf of Mexico working for Exxon. This is an interesting question, because really, I moved very quickly into the IT side of engineering after about a year. Since then, I've spent more than 20 years on the IT side of the business. And that's taken me to some pretty big companies. I was at Boeing for eight years, Xerox for six and Computer Sciences Corporation for three. And then I did a startup services company called Intelicent that was pre-IPO, but was bought before it went public.

How do you feel about being a woman in a largely male corporate executive world? Have there been any advantages?

I think in some ways being a woman offers a lot of advantages. I actually wrote a book on this very subject. ("Chances and Choices: How Women Can Succeed in Today's Knowledge-Based Businesses"; 1996; EBW Press of Vienna, Va.) Women have different views and strengths than men. There are some very real advantages to being a woman.

Women tend to look at problems more holistically...instead of systematically, rather compassionately. Women look at a change in a company and view what impact it has not just on the bottom line, but on people and customers. It's a much more holistic view.

Half of my book is about men and women's brain differences. The other part is a real-life assessment...data about how they manage their differences. Basically, what we've found, is that women are much better than men in an information-type environment, because we're better at being collaborative and listening to people and putting our egos aside. So the main difference is that women work much more collaboratively and are better at building a team, in terms of management style.

What obstacles have you faced as a female executive, particularly with receiving venture capital?

A couple of different things. In research for my book, I found that women are considered incompetent until proven competent and men are considered competent until proven incompetent, across all nations and all industries. It does make it harder for a woman to raise capital, because you have to prove all that over again. My 20-plus years of experience wouldn't mean as much to a banker as if I were a man.

Do you think that's changing?

I think very slowly...much more slowly than most of us would like to see it change.

Do you have a family, and if so, how do you balance your home and work life?

I'm not married, but I have an ex-husband and a stepdaughter in Alexandria, Va. I do have a significant other, too, so I try to balance my work with that. The way to do that is by planning and organizing and by absolutely making it a priority to do that balancing, because if you don't, it's not going to happen. Time just gets whittled up, so it's a matter of prioritizing and planning.

How and why did you choose to leave big corporate America for an entrepreneurship role?

I had been in, really, Fortune 50 corporations. I had turned 40, and had held a number of very senior positions in large companies and felt I'd done most of what I could do in a big company. The small-company atmosphere was a chance to experience new things and to develop and grow. So that was what made me want to do it.

For example, with a big company, you don't worry about infrastructure, like where to locate a company, operations in the mailroom, if you have enough cash to make payroll...it's all taken care of. In a small company, those are the day-to-day concerns you deal with. Those aspects of management you don't do even as a CEO of a big company. But those are all things that I like to do...build a company and grow them and manage them and shape them. And you just don't get that experience in a big company.

Is that something you always planned on doing, joining a smaller entrepreneurial company, or did you just reach a point in your career where you were ready to leave large companies?

I've always wanted to run a company, but the question was what size. For me to develop a company, personally, is a lot more fun. You don't get bogged down in internal politics. You get to deal with client and product issues that actually have some substance.

Do you think that's where you remain for the future?

Yes, I do.

Wednesday: Part II of LocalTechWire's Executive Q & A with Janet Wylie will look at her goals, challenges and thoughts as they relate to Engineous Software.

For more information about Wylie and Engineous, see www.localtechwire.com/article.cfm?u=233

Part II of LocalTechWire's Executive Q & A with Janet Wylie will look at her goals, challenges and thoughts as they relate to Engineous Software.