On this episode of the Inspiring Great Leaders Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Marita Cheng about robots that save lives, inspiring the next generation of women engineers, and the future of AI, technology, and robotics.

We also dive deeper into leading volunteers, learning and honing crucial leadership skills at a young age, the curiosity to innovate, and instilling a sense of purpose in your organisation.

Marita Cheng  –   Robots That Save Lives

Marita Cheng is  the youngest Member of the Order of Australia, recognised by Forbes twice, as one of the World’s Top 50 Women In Tech in 2018 and a Forbes 30 Under 30 awardee in 2016, 

She holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) / Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Melbourne and soon became the mastermind behind aubot, a company that showcased modular, transportable, and affordable robots in 2018. She also co-founded Aipoly which has been downloaded over half a million times and translated into 23 languages. At the age of 19, she founded Robogals, a movement aimed at inspiring young girls to pursue engineering careers.

She later took the helm as Young Australian of the Year at the age of 22, leading a team of 4000 people across 13 countries.

Marita Cheng talks about:

• Growing up in Cairns, Australia being raised by her mom who worked hard to give her all the early exposure she could possibly get
  
• Being interested in robotics at an early age
  
• Started RoboGirls in university to teach robotics to girls and help increase the number of women in engineering
  
• Robots That Save Lives
  
• Creation of Aubot and the inspiration behind it
  
• Publishing a children’s book called Smart Girl to inspire young girls to pursue robotics and STEM
  
• The importance of giving your people autonomy when scaling organisations
  
• Helping your people develop and upskill and making sure they have a sense of purpose
  
• Protecting future generations with the ethical use of technology
  
• Staying focused on your lane of work rather than trying to solve every problem
  
• The most success comes from going deep in one area that you are truly passionate about.
  
• Learning crucial leadership skills by leading and inspiring passion in volunteers
  
• Finding the balance between the messiness and processes 
  

Tweets

“I’m really, really happy to make something that lasted. I think that’s how I like to think about my companies as well. It’s like I want to create something that lasts, that impacts a lot of people that can scale, that lasts for like like 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 years and beyond.” Marita Cheng talks about creating a legacy that lasts on the Inspiring Great Leaders Podcast.

“The more you keep your eyes open, the more you’re learning from everything that the world is giving you. The more you can bring interesting ideas to your projects.” Boosting your creativity with Marita Cheng on the Inspiring Great Leaders Podcast.

“I think the skills that I learned over that time were to listen and to try and understand, like where people were coming from and what they needed to feel heard, what they need to feel appreciated, what they needed to do that task.” Marita Cheng talks about crucial leadership skills on the Inspiring Great Leaders Podcast.

Resources Mentioned in this show:

Marita Cheng Weblink: www.maritacheng.com/
Marita Cheng LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maritacheng/
Craig Johns www.craigjohns.com.au
Craig Johns craig@nrg2perform.com
Craig Johns LinkedIn
Craig Johns Facebook
Inspiring Great Leaders Podcast
NRG2Perform www.nrg2perform.com

Book

Smart Girl Books:  Marita Cheng