People-Powered: Michelle Henry on Women in Leadership, Resiliency & Reaching SVP of Product
Two years—it may not sound like a long time, but for Michelle Henry, SVP of Product, it’s been a period of rapid-fire development. Since we last interviewed her, Henry’s stepped into the shoes of departing CPO and co-founder John Wirtz. Her promotion to Senior Vice President of Product means she’s the head of Hudl’s global product team, leading the vision, strategy and process for Hudl’s suite of products that spans hardware—like smart cameras and advanced wearables—and software for analysis, recruiting and livestreaming. Hudl’s products are all designed with users in mind, everyone from coaches and athletes to parents and fans.
“This is a new role for me, and I think I have a lot to learn, a lot to prove in this role,” said Henry. “The biggest thing for me right now is making sure our team feels like they understand where we're going, and not just where we're going, but why it’s important to us, and then how their day to day is affected by that.”
We sat down with Henry to hear about her career journey, and ended up walking away with her insights on gender equality in leadership, the best way to achieve goals, and why now is the best time to work at Hudl. Press play on the video below to see her exclusive interview.
Keeping Values at the Forefront
Diversity of opinion has been an important value at Hudl from the company’s start. The “Respectfully Blunt” company value is based on that theory—employees are encouraged to share their ideas and authentic experiences because that’s the best way to innovate and stay at the top of the game.
“We need more parents, moms, whatever that looks like,” commented Henry. “We need more people showing who they are, being themselves, and having a lot of just different views and more diversity on the team.”
This is one of the reasons why Hudl prioritizes supporting employees at all stages of life, including parents of young children. Those are exactly the viewpoints that our team needs.
“I think I've been supported in every way possible,” explained Henry. “I've had multiple children while being here. [...] I've gone through so many life events and I think being able to be a woman and navigate through that, while also having a career here, I think we've done a good job of that.”
I'm obviously biased toward women, but I think there are no greater people to hire than moms. Because if you ask a mom at any point in their life what's in their head, they're gonna have a list of 55 things, and they're so good at prioritizing.
Progress Takes Bravery
Women in the tech industry are still playing catch up, but with leaders like Henry, they can better visualize reaching that top level of leadership. In our last interview with Henry, she talked about confidence being key. And the best way to build that confidence? Doing the nitty-gritty work and getting in reps.
“You need a lot of reps, and you're going to fail a lot, but you start to have this unwavering belief in yourself that you can do it again, because you've faced failure before. And you know, you got over it,” said Henry. “You always got to bet on yourself. I think that's where true confidence comes from. Because when you look around the room, if you don't believe in you, then nobody else is going to.”
If you’re thinking about leadership, but you’re not sure of the right path—don’t worry. According to Henry, it’s more about resiliency than certainty.
“Your career isn't straight,” explained Henry. “There's all these bumps along the way. I think being able to be resilient is the single thing I would point to that gets you to keep going. You're going to fail, you're going to fall down. But it's the people that can get back up and try again and try again.”
A Bright Future in Sports
It’s no coincidence that Henry is a leader in the sports technology industry. She believes in the power of sports, was a DI athlete herself and is now watching her children become athletes. In fact, she’s one of the key personas Hudl’s prioritizing right now: a parent.
“Eliminating friction to me is the most important thing we can do as a company and with our products. And the parent has so much friction in the sports world. There's so many apps, there's so many things to do. There's so many places to be.”
Who better to solve parents’ problems than a parent? But it’s not just the athletes’ parents who Hudl’s focused on. Everyone in the sports world, from the athletes themselves to coaches, analysts and directors, are why it’s such an exciting time to be on Hudl’s product team.
According to Henry, “It is definitely the best time to work at Hudl!”
“You get to come and really change the world of sports, and you're going to be a big part of that. We hire really smart people and then we trust them. We give them a big part of the business to go on, and I think that would be really fun.”
