Overcoming Bias

Enabling a Pro-Diversity Culture

In order to create a pro-diversity culture, it is important for the executive team to be vocal and open about their stance. This requires individuals to bring their whole selves to work and be open about their unique backgrounds. Additionally, trainings should be embraced as a way to educate employees about unconscious bias and microaggressions. By practicing empathy and taking these issues seriously, organizations can create a diverse and safe environment for all employees.

Resolving severe personality conflicts

Through personal therapy and psychology training, I have developed a set of techniques to help address personality conflicts between two individuals. By facilitating 1-on-1s with a third party present, the technique encourages each person to speak openly and be heard. This has been successful in transforming relationships, and has led to me being called the "Chief Therapy Officer" at my company. The lesson learned is that organizations can survive with dysfunctions, but those that can have employees listening to each other with empathy until they are truly heard are more likely to function without excessive bureaucracy.

Owning Your Career

A person with Imposter Syndrome has learned to take ownership of their career and to believe in themselves. They have done this by learning to catch their self-doubt, to accept positive feedback, to see negative feedback as systemic, and to fake it until they make it. They have also sought out mentors, networking opportunities, and therapy to help them on their journey. They have learned that many people, especially women in male-dominated fields, are struggling with Imposter Syndrome and should be encouraged to introspect, speak up, take risks, and believe in themselves.

Dealing with Personal Conflict

In a previous role, a manager was taking ownership of projects and trying to take control of the team, which caused a power struggle. The manager was also passing up promotions for people of color and giving them pay increases under the table. The speaker took action by talking to their team and CTO, and eventually confronting the manager privately. They learned to never be aggressive with their manager, to submit but not to the point of suffocation, and to be aware of discrimination.

Getting Creative to Land Your First Tech Job

This article details the journey of a job seeker who was unable to gain a job in the Fintech industry. To stand out from other candidates, the job seeker created a PowerPoint presentation that detailed features and business proposals related to the company they were applying for. This strategy worked and the job seeker eventually landed a job in the product management market. The article also provides lessons learned, such as the importance of leveraging experience and taking any opportunity as a junior to build a resume.

Building a Gender-Balanced Engineering Team

In order to build a gender-balanced engineering team, a company had to reconsider their entire recruiting and hiring process. This included sourcing from different places, changing the interview process, and providing better employee support. Lessons learned from this experience include the need to analyse talent acquisition strategies, hiring process, and employment benefits with an emphasis on thinking outside of the traditional male-oriented engineering hiring mentality, as well as seeking advice from those who have successfully staffed their engineering teams with a balanced approach.