People
Dame Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley

Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Filmed March 2015 at TED2015

Dame Stephanie Shirley: Why do ambitious women have flat heads?

Dame Stephanie Shirley is the most successful tech entrepreneur you never heard of. In the 1960s, she founded a pioneering all-woman software company in the UK, which was ultimately valued at $3 billion, making millionaires of 70 of her team members. In this frank and often hilarious talk, she explains why she went by “Steve,” how she upended the expectations of the time, and shares some sure-fire ways to identify ambitious women …

In 1962, Dame Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley founded Freelance Programers, a software firm with innovative work practices — and (mainly) women employees.

Why you should listen

In the austerity of post-World War II England, jobs were few, and opportunities for women to earn a wage were even fewer. So, on her dining room table, Stephanie Shirley founded the kind of company she'd like to work for -- one that posed challenging, rewarding tasks, built around flexible work rules that made it possible to have a real life. Her software company, Freelance Programmers made her one of the richest women in England (and one of the few to have earned her own money). Initially employing only women -- Shirley often bid for contracts as 'Steve' to compete in the male-dominated industry -- the company was eventually valued at $3 billion, while 70 of the staff became millionaires when it floated on the stock market.

But money wasn't Shirley's object. 'A lot of people go into business to make money,' she told the Guardian. 'I really didn't; I went in with a mission for women. Conversely, I was determined never, ever to be poor again.' Freelance Programmers became the FI Group became Xansa; it was acquired by Steria in 2007.

Shirley retired in 1993, but she hasn't stopped pushing for progress in the fields she loves. For instance, she works tirelessly to push forward research into autism spectrum disorders, as well as to study and improve the IT industry and the role of the internet in society. She told the Guardian, 'I do get committed, and I don't just give my money; I try to give of myself.'

What others say

“Today, it might even be seen as a social enterprise, since at the start it employed only women -- equal opportunities legislation stopped that -- offered flexible working arrangements, and made the staff significant shareholders in their own business.” — Nick Cater, the Guardian