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35: WW2 Child Survivor, Billion Dollar Tech Mogul, & Inspired Philanthropist // The Story of Dame Stephanie Shirley

Background:

Dame Stephanie Shirley CH is a successful IT entrepreneur turned ardent philanthropist. Having arrived in Britain as an unaccompanied child refugee in 1939, she started what became Xansa plc (now part of the Sopra Group) on her dining room table with £6 in 1962. In 25 years as its Chief Executive, she developed it into a leading business technology group, pioneering new work practices and changing the position of professional women (especially in hi-tech) along the way. Her Dameship in the Millennium honours was for services to IT.

She was awarded the Order of Companions of Honour in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2017. She served on corporate Boards such as Tandem Computers Inc. (1992-7), the John Lewis Partnership plc (1999-2001) and AEA Technology – previously the Atomic Energy Authority (1992-2000). Her philanthropy is based on her strong belief in giving back to society. She focuses on IT and autism (her autistic son Giles died age 35 in 1998).

Dame Stephanie was the first woman Master of the IT livery company; the first woman President of the chartered British Computer Society; and the UK’s Ambassador for Philanthropy in 2009/10. Her charitable Shirley Foundation spent out in October 2018. It made over £67m grants and initiated a number of projects that are pioneering by nature, strategic in impact and significant in money terms. This included three autism charities: Autism at Kingwood (support); Prior’s Court (education); and Autistica (research) which together employ over 1000 staff. In 2001 she co-founded the Oxford Internet Institute which focuses on the social, economic, legal and ethical issues – not the technology – of this network of networks.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

  • 1:33 Eric provides a 30 second recap of Dame Stephanie Shirley’s background. He also strongly recommends checking out her autobiographical book Let It Go and her Ted Talk.
  • 6:02 Dame Stephanie compares the stress of caring for an autistic child to the same stress experienced by a soldier in the frontline of the battlefield.
  • 11:18 Being a refugee at such a young age was a traumatic moment for Dame Stephanie. However, this experience helped her later in life when dealing with changes, especially in the IT and digital sector.
  • 13:15 Surviving the holocaust made her feel guilty. It’s as if she felt that she didn’t deserve to live and it made her depressed for many years.
  • 17:21 She believes that it is possible to recover and be cured from mental health problems.
  • 18:23 As Eric shares his story to Dame Stephanie, she points out that there were parallels in their life experiences.
  • 27:04 The discussion between Eric and Dame Stephanie shifts to religion and faith.
  • 30:29 According to Dame Stephanie, having a mindset of always trying to do the right things can make a big difference in the world.
  • 34:08 The rockin’ it moment for her came at the end of her IT career when she started helping others.
  • 35:39 There are a couple of things that she would say to her younger self if she could go back in time.
  • 36:46 When she was younger, women were treated as second class citizens. She talks more about gender inequality in London during her younger years.
  • 38:29 She delves more into the importance of diversity in business and society.
  • 43:27 Now that she is into philanthropy and helping other people, she tries her best to follow the words and teaching of Mother Teresa.
  • 46:00 Information Technology and Autism are the two main issues that she focuses on and cares about today.
  • 48:35 Dame Stephanie and Eric delves into the topic of co-ownership and business partnership.
  • 56:58 Writing her book, Let It Go, was enjoyable but it entails a lot of hard work.

This Episode Brought to You By:

  • 31:33 Quickstart is an early intervention program for autistic children and parents of autistic children. Dealing with autistic children means you need help, and the earlier that help comes, the better. The idea here is to shorten wait times, get the help early, help the child’s mind develop and grow and give it a special nurturing and a special secret sauce to work past some challenges that maybe some people thought weren’t possible. The stories that are successful are just inspiring and we encourage you to check out the Quickstart program at QuickstartAutism.ca
  • 44:31 The Man, the Myth, the Canadian Legend: Eric Gilbert-Williams. Eric put together this very podcast as a passion project to help you & others. If you’d be so kind to Subscribe & Leave a Written Review of the show, it’d really make our day! You can Subscribe & Rate our Podcast right here: From Rock Bottom to Rockin’ It..

 

Key Points from the Interview:

  • “My husband and I finished up discussing, though obviously not doing, a suicide pact for the three of us. We just could not see a way out of an abysmal standard quality of life. It was just grim, and that went on for years and years.”
  • “You are unique Eric, just like everybody else. And this is how it is, each of us is unique and yet we all have that commonality of we’re all different.”

 

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