Picturing Life and Liberty for All

Hello All,

We know that "a picture is worth a thousand words", and art can reach us on levels that other communications fail to do.

This week I'm sharing a link to a series of three posters created in 2017 as part of a campaign to highlight how few women (about 23 %) were part of the workforce in Egypt at the time.

These stunning posters are part of a larger collection focused on Women's Rights as Human Rights. In particular, look at Finding women in [technology / politics / science] shouldn’t be this hard.

Only 23%.

That's not much below where we are now with women in technology in the U.S., with some variation in industry sectors.

Not enough, not proportional, not fulfilling the promise of a country where all are guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As you celebrate our nation's independence, consider how we can make those words from our Declaration of Independence ever more real for women.

Thanks for everything you do,

All the best, Holly

Navigating the Terrain of the Moment

Hello all,

This week’s post is about the fluidity of effort and the value of clear goals.

I’ve been taking some short hikes this past week. Each time the effort has seemed different; alternatively hard, challenging, frustrating, easy, or glorious. Our Adirondack mountain hikes are buggy, muddy, rocky, steep and occasionally gentle with glorious views and lovely little running streams. So the terrain of the moment certainly influences how I am feeling, and whether I can breathe or need to stop and recover.

I’m doing this because I have a goal. Later in July I want to redo one of the 46 official High Peaks, this time along with my youngest grandson who will turn eight at the end of this month. I haven’t hiked an Adirondack High Peak in probably 20 years, so I’m trying to get stronger in preparation for that.

I'll be 20 years older and certainly slower when I do that hike in July, but I'll also be smarter and better equipped (looking at you waterproof hiking boots!). I'll be using hiking poles on the downhills to protect my knees, and I've learned the value of taking snack and drink breaks instead of pushing through till the top of the mountain like I used to do. I'll be a different person really, so it will be a different hike.

My goal, to be able to share that experience with my grandson, and hopefully set him on a lifetime path of loving the mountains, is one that means a lot to me. So I'll keep training.

Why am I telling all of you this?
Because our work lives and careers often take the same meandering paths as my hikes. And one day at work can be very different from the next day. Things that seemed easy two years ago might seem hard right now. Learning something new might seem more effortful this Wednesday than it did last Friday. A project that you could finish in a month years ago might take three months now because there are so many more customer considerations or integrations or approvals or procurement reviews. Things don't stay the same. Your relationships with your coworkers could seem more challenging or more glorious from week to week, and that is our lives, my friends. That is our lives.

It helps to keep focused on the goals. When we don't understand the goals, or don't believe in the goals every effort feels hard. When we know and are aligned with the goals most of us can push through those challenging times and really appreciate the easier times when we are making visible progress. When you are able to set your own goals, or collaboratively help shape the goals, well that's even more powerful.

So when you're the leader, make sure your team really gets the vision and goals. And when you're the team member, make sure you can get behind the goals.
Work can still be hard, but it might not feel as hard.

All the best,
Holly

A Question for the Community: What Drives Your Professional Growth?

Hello all,

This week, I'm posing a question. 
Why do you engage in professional development activities? What drives you to make the effort?
Doing your job better? Hope for career advancement? Love of learning? Fear of being left out? Supervisory requirement? All of these, none of these, something else entirely? 

I ask because I recently read this marketing blog for a workshop from the Academic Impressions company:

"There’s a belief quietly circulating among higher ed leaders that goes something like this: If I can’t offer my people a promotion, there’s not much point in having a development conversation.

It’s understandable. Institutional budgets are tighter. Headcount is flat or shrinking. Traditional advancement pathways that used to give these conversations a clear destination have narrowed or disappeared entirely. If growth means moving up—and moving up isn’t an option—why raise expectations you can’t meet?

Here’s the problem: That logic conflates two things that are genuinely different. Advancement is a change in position. Growth, on the other hand, is a change in capacity, contribution, and engagement. You can have one without the other, and your team members are already living proof of that—whether or not you’re having the conversation with them about it.

Our research finds that 88% of employees are motivated to pursue professional development simply to be better at their current jobs. Not to get promoted. Not to leave for somewhere else. To do their work better and feel more capable doing it. That motivation is already there—the question is whether you’re meeting it or letting it go unaddressed until it turns into something else."

This made me quite curious. Because, as you know, WIT is working to improve the retention of a diverse SUNY workforce. 

So is professional development an even more significant factor than I realized? Or is this just what a professional development company wants us to believe? 
Is it a significant factor in keeping you at SUNY? I'd love to hear from folks on this topic.

All the best,
Holly

Being a better Allie: Your Visual Choices Matter

Hello all,

Want to help create the expectation of diversity in technology? One way to do that is to regularly include diverse images in materials that you create. 

This week I'm passing along action #4 from Karen Catlin's 5 Ally Actions - Jun 5, 2026.

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She writes: 

"Did you know that tech company Mapbox created “Queer in Tech,” a free collection of stock photos?

As explained in their announcement:
“We created this photo set to promote the visibility of queer and gender-nonconforming (GNC) people in technology, who are often under-represented as workers powering the creative, technical, and business leadership of groundbreaking tech companies and products.”

There’s also “The Gender Spectrum Collection,” which is free for non-commercial purposes. Their recommended usage guidelines state:
“Images of trans and nonbinary people can be used to illustrate any topic, not just stories related directly to those communities. Consider using these photos for stories on topics like beauty, work, education, relationships, or wellness. Including transgender and non-binary people in stories not explicitly about gender identity paints a more accurate depiction of the world we live in today.”

Representation matters. Join me in bookmarking these sites for future stock photography needs.

p.s. I’ve curated a longer list of sites specializing in stock photos and illustrations featuring people from underrepresented groups. Some are free, and some for a fee. Find the list at betterallies.com."

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Will it really be that easy? Of course not..., but remember that we all think- "If I can see it, I can be it!" 

All the best, 
Holly

Wisdom for Pride Month: The Sacredness of Twoness

Hello all,

This week's wisdom comes from a short video (25 min) lecture by Lyla June Johnston, on the Sacredness of Twoness. Lyla has been inspiring me with her writing and lectures for a while—I previously featured her and posted a lecture she did at MIT Solve in 2019.

In this talk she gives background and context to the modern concepts of gender that include the two-spirit gender (from the linked Wikipedia Two-spirit page "contemporary pan-Indian umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) social role in their communities.")

Lyla's talk is summarized as follows:

"From ancient times our faith traditions teach us that everything is inextricably united as a sacred whole. This eternal and perennial wisdom is hard to grasp by the human mind, which tends to see the world dualistically: right/wrong, male/female, sacred/profane. The contemplative, non-dual mind, however, can restore our understanding of the interdependence of all things. It holds paradox, and it is unitive. This session will explore how unifying, and balancing the complementary feminine and masculine aspects of Divine Wisdom is essential to our approaching wholeness, and the non-dual mind."

June is Pride month, so this message of the diversity of nature and people is a good one for us to hear again, "together there is nothing that we cannot achieve"

All the best,
Holly