Don't be a Stamp Licker: Use Common Sense

Hello all,

I was once admonished early in my career for doing something that a work colleague thought was a waste of time, and defended it by reminding them that we were told it was a requirement. Their response was something like- "oh you are such a good little bureaucrat, I'm not doing that." And it stung- because following the rules is part of my nature and part of my work practice.

However, over time I've seen enough rule stretching, bending, and breaking to know that not every rule should be followed, and not every person bothers to even try, and that sometimes following every rule means that you never have time to get to the really important things.

I'm not advocating for chaos- just for common sense. Using our own sense of what is important to protect us against following every rule even when it wastes our time or sets us back or obligates us to something that actually harms our wellbeing. Because especially for any underrepresented and under-respected group, following the rules is often still not enough to help us reach our goals. The rules get changed, the hidden rules get applied, or the game itself gets shifted out of reach.

So a recent NYT Opinion piece How to be Old by Roger Rosenblatt caught my eye, and this paragraph below really struck me as important.

He writes:

"6. Don’t compromise, especially a little.
Unless you’re a professional negotiator, don’t compromise. Give in a little, you might as well give up the ship. During the McCarthy era, students were required to submit loyalty oaths to maintain their scholarships. At a meeting of the Harvard faculty, a professor who had escaped Mussolini’s Italy challenged the dean on this matter. The dean responded that signing and sending in the oaths was merely pro forma and had no more meaning than licking the stamps on the letters. The Italian professor stood and said something like, “Mr. Dean, I’m from fascist Italy, and in fascist Italy you learn one thing. First you lick the stamps. Then you lick something else.”

Because I'm not advocating for chaos, I'm suggesting that we surface the problematic aspects of rules that don't serve us well, enlist like minded supporters, and advocate for changes.

As we move into the summer months and maybe get some down time to reflect back on this last academic year, think about the rules you follow and ask yourself these questions: "What, if anything, did I have to compromise in order to follow that rule?" and "What would be better if I didn't have to do that?"

All the best,
Holly

Time for a Work Dance Break! Let's Play it for Change!

Hello all,

This week I'm sharing a resource you may already know about—the Playing for Change organization.

This amazing project brings musicians together from all around the world to play and sing some of our favorite songs.

"Founded in 2007, PFCF was established to create positive change through music and arts education. Our work engages marginalized youth in diverse communities around the world, primarily located in low and lower-middle income countries. These communities are home to great cultural wealth, which we use to create educational and social opportunities."

A few of my recent views include:

• Everyday People
• A Change is Gonna Come
• Guantanamera
• Teach Your Children
• And this one, celebrating the Women of Change Band...

So, watch, listen, feel the emotions, take a dance break at work, and celebrate the beauty and creativity of humanity.

All the best,
Holly

The GPS of AI: Understanding Algorithmic Bias

Hello all,

This week I'm sharing a post from my LinkedIn feed from the amazing Tonya R. Bennett, MLA, ML (She/Her), one of my co-leads in the EDUCAUSE WIT Community Group.

She writes the following:

Let’s break down a term you keep hearing but no one really explains: “Algorithmic bias.”

Think of it like GPS:
You trust it to get you somewhere fast.
But it was trained mostly on highway data, not side streets.
So it keeps routing you the same way… even when a better route exists.

That is algorithmic bias.
The system is not broken. It learned from incomplete data.

Now the jargon, simplified:
🔹 Algorithm = rules the system follows
🔹 Training data = what it learned from
🔹 Output = the decision it gives you

When the data is limited or skewed, the results will be too.

Why this matters:
AI is shaping decisions in admissions, hiring, and student success.
These systems are not neutral.
They reflect the choices behind them.

👉 You do not need to build AI
👉 You do need to question it

Tonya's message is short, straightforward, and a clear call to action. If we want to continue on our path towards an inclusive technology related workplace and society, we need to be paying close attention and taking actions to reduce AI Bias.

All the best,
Holly

Inclusion on Purpose - Snippet #4

Hello All,

We’re now starting chapter 4 of Inclusion on Purpose: an intersectional approach to creating a culture of belonging at work, by Ruchika Tulshyan (2022, MIT Press). This summary below was the result of my AI prompt:

Shine the Light, Then Get out of the Way

• Amplification: Sponsor and credit women of color; create visibility while avoiding performative tokenism.
• Allyship vs. saviorism: Step back so those most affected can lead; support materially (budget, authority, cover).
• Structural support: Build processes that sustain progress beyond individual heroes. [direct.mit.edu]

That is the Gemini summary of the chapter.

“Your crown has been bought and paid for. Put it on your head and wear it.” — Dr. Maya Angelou

This quote is widely interpreted as meaning we should not shrink from using our talents, holding our place, or sharing our ideas…that others fought for the opportunities we now have, and that we ought to use them, and not let them be taken from us.

Tulshyan then shares another story: the story of Laura Gomez, a woman excited for a 2015 meeting with a successful startup founder (p.75). She was looking for a co-founder and technical officer for her technology startup. She showed the potential co-founder her prototype, but he remained silent. He politely thanked her but said he needed more time to think about his next career move.

18 months later, she had raised $2 million in seed funding. Then she discovered that an interested investor had “just invested $5 million in another HR tech company that sounds very similar to yours.” It was the same person she had met 18 months previous. He had been sending "advisors" to absorb her designs and pass them to this competitor. He was actively stealing her ideas. Her legal advisors told her not to pursue action as she could not compete with his financial standing.

Tulshyan says the lesson (p. 77) is not just that there are people who will steal ideas, but that many others might be complicit. When this happens, the system gets rigged against justice. Her message to all of us is not to be complicit! She writes (p.78):

“I urge you to reflect on how you can use your influence to create opportunities for women of color to surface great ideas, advocate for those great ideas to flourish, and most importantly, get duly recognized and rewarded for them.”

Here’s what we need to know:

1. Making sure the right people get credit really matters. (p. 78 to 80)

The prevailing cultural narrative is to be humble and that hard work is its own reward. However, research shows (Williams and Multhaup, 2018) that women of color are often unfairly assigned "office housework" that doesn't lead to advancement. Inclusive leaders must intentionally select women for high-profile assignments.

2. Allies need to use their privilege to advance women of color. (p. 80-93)

I’m going to simply list the actions here, but there are excellent resources online for all of these strategies:

• A. Run inclusive meetings (ensure everyone is at the table/video call).
• B. Designate meeting facilitators to ensure equal speaking time.
• C. Interrupt the interrupters.
• D. Repeat overlooked ideas and point back to the original speaker.
• E. Pass the mic to amplify unheard voices.
• F. Amplify good ideas and credit the original source.
• G. Sponsor women of color for high-visibility projects.
• H. Spread public speaking opportunities equitably.
• I. Redistribute the office housework; rotate these tasks.

Until next month—be well and keep learning!

All the best,
Holly

Protect Your Wellbeing with the Strategic "No"

Hello all,

Do you have trouble saying no? If you're anything like me...and I know I am...the answer is yes.

I've written about this before—but it keeps coming up as an issue for people in IT and IT related fields. The pressure to deliver is intense. The work never ends, the urgent gets conflated with the important, and the pace of change keeps increasing. Despite all our advances in programming and productivity and automation, we can't always keep up.

And what do we often sacrifice in our attempts to keep up? Our own wellbeing. And our long-term success depends on our long-term wellbeing. There are so many reasons for us to protect our time and energy for the tasks and people we value most, and yet we often find ourselves agreeing to things we'd rather not do.

So, we have to be the strategic project managers of our own lives. Being strategic in what we say yes to (assuming we have a choice!) also means being strategic in what we say no to!

There are some resources for us to review as we work to be more strategic in loading up our plates:

The No Club: "Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work. A practical, timely guide for bringing gender equity to the workplace: unburden women’s careers from work that goes unrewarded."

And here's a bonus Leadership 480 Podcast, where professor of organizational behavior, Laurie Weingart, author of "The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work," joins DDI to discuss why saying no at work is such a crucial skill for leaders, especially woman leaders.

Empowering women in tech to say “no”: "Women in tech today still face unique challenges, including the pressure to do more and the need to prove themselves. Simply put, there’s a ‘yes’ problem. Many women feel the need to say “yes” and often the assumption is that we will."

The Gentle Art of Saying “No” At Work: This resource from Cornell University can be one to printout and post in your workplace for regular reference!
"It can be difficult to say “no,” but it’s a critical skill if you are to protect your own priorities, time, and even your mental wellbeing. Saying “no” does not mean you’re rejecting the other person; it means that you’re turning down a specific request that the person is making of your time and energy."

Whatever strategies you use, I wish you all the best,

Holly