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Description
The Diversity Experiment, v0.0.1 - Sara Itani, Microsoft
"Hey guys!" - Oh wait, I'm not supposed to say “guys”... but I'm a girl, so it's okay, right? No, Sara. Stop it, and don't call yourself a girl. You’re a “woman”, not a child! Stop disempowering yourself. Lean in. *Ugh* this whole diversity/inclusivity thing is way too hard. Let's change things up.
If you're sick of people promoting diversity/inclusivity at the expense of pretty much everything else, attend this talk. If you care about promoting diversity/inclusivity, attend this talk. If you’re still not sure, but read this far, get off the fence, and attend this talk. :)
No preaching, I promise. Instead, I'll share some interesting learnings from successful and unsuccessful change movements, and then together, we’ll launch a small experiment and make it more than just "all talk."
A
B
B
Why
do
you
have
a
device
that
shocks
you
and
the
reason
is
because
it's
get
rid
of
bad
habit
habits
based
off
of
Pavlovian
conditioning,
so
you
know
I
associated
a
negative
stimuli
with
whatever
that
bad
habit
is
that
I
want
to
break
and
over
time,
I
stopped
doing
the
thing
that
I
don't
want
to
do
now.
People
ask
naturally
like
okay.
Well,
if
you
have
the
self-awareness
to
actually
know
that
you're
doing
something
that
you
don't
want
to
do.
Why
is
it
that?
B
Tv
I
replaced
it
with
a
habit
to
read
more,
and
so
why
don't
we
just
like
apply
this
to
anything
everything
right
like?
Wouldn't
it
be
amazing
if
you
know
what
about
everyone
in
the
room
it's
like,
we
all
had
one
of
these
devices
like
everyone
in
the
world
could
have
one
of
these
devices
and
anytime
someone
posted
some.
You
know
racially-charged
comment
on
Twitter
or
you
know,
like
you
know,
some
misogynistic
comment
like
it
would
electrocute
you
and.
B
B
This
there
there
is
a
very
significant
danger
to
base-2
too
too
much
negative
conditioning,
and
so,
for
instance,
I,
would
not
trust
this
device.
I
trust
it
was
maybe
a
friend,
a
colleague,
something
like
that.
I
wouldn't
trust
it
with
some
random
person
who
doesn't
necessarily
have
my
best
interests
at
heart
and
one
of
the
the
problems
with
this
negative
stimuli
right
like
when
you
actually
start
moving
away
from
these
moral
implications
is
that
when
there
are
multiple
ways
to
actually
avoid
a
negative
stimulus
right,
one
of
those
ways
is
to
stop
doing
whatever
behavior.
B
It
is
that's,
maybe
not
so
positive.
Another
way
is
to
just
avoid
you
know
the
person
who
might
be
nagging
you
about
it
or
whatever
right
there.
There
are
multiple
different
avenues
and
it
turns
out
or
to
just
stop
speaking
altogether,
and
there
also
there's
also
a
lot
of
research.
That
shows
that
you
know
you
actually
lose.
B
You
know
that
facts,
don't
matter
or
anything
like
that,
but
just
that
when,
when
we
get
that,
we
need
to
be
aware
of
some
of
the
trade-offs
that
we're
making
when
we're
actually
calling
some
of
these
things
out
and
because
it
could
actually
act.
You
know
in
the
opposite
direction
of
our
what
our
actual
intentions
were
to
actually
produce
positive
change.
B
And
then
you
have
water
going
into
the
the
the
pipe
and
those
represent
the
people
going
into
those
fields
and
then
the
pipe
is
leaking
and
those
represent
the
people
going
out
of
the
field
and
apparently
like
some
people,
have
different
viscosities
than
other
people,
and
so
like
the
leak
at
like
different
rates
and
the
the
problem
with
the
pipe
example.
Is
that
it's
just
like
it's?
B
B
It's
inside
of
the
pipe
right.
It's
actually
the
you
there's
not
very
much
complexity
there.
It
also
makes
the
assumption
that
there's
you
know
people
have
kind
of
equal
standing
within
the
pipe,
and
so
it's
just
it
doesn't
really
work,
and
so
instead
I
like
to
think
about
it.
You
know
just
picture
like
this.
Your
neighborhood
Street
right,
where
you
know
you
walk
down
this
every
day,
you're
super
familiar
with
it,
and
if
you
walk
with
a
friend
who
you
know,
you
might
know
very
well,
and
maybe
they
know
take
the
same
routes
as
you.
B
You
probably
won't
notice
very
much
right.
You
might
notice
if
there's
like
a
new
construction
site
or
new
restaurant
changed
or
something
like
that,
but
you
won't
necessarily
you
know,
but
but
but
let's
say
that
you
start
walking
down
with
someone
who
hasn't
been
to
the
area
before
and
keep
in
mind
you're
way
more
familiar
than
they
are.
They
might
actually
start
seeing
things
that
you
have.
B
You
might
expend
some
additional
cognitive
energy
when
you
are,
you
know
trying
to
figure
out
this
new
route
or
something
like
that.
But
in
the
end
you
know
ends
up
being
good.
Now,
perhaps
one
of
the
most
effective
habits
for
actually
promoting
behavioral
change.
Is
that
thing
that
we
all
learned
in
grade
school
right
like
the
thing
with
the
two
ears,
one
mouth,
that
ratio
keeping
that
good,
but
it
is
listening
right
and
it's
a
little
bit
more
than
that.
B
It's
not
just
about
listening,
but
it's
about
active
listening
and
what
I
mean
by
that
is
is
reaching
an
understanding
of
someone's
viewpoints
and
everything.
Now
there's
there's.
This
sounds
like
super
mushy
gushy
and
everything
like
that,
but
this
is
actually
one
of
the
top
techniques
used
by
FBI
hostage
negotiators
and
they,
you
know
on
the
call
they'll
actually
have,
in
addition
to
the
one
person
who's
actually
talking
to
the
hostage
taker.
B
They'll
have
like
five
people
who
are
listening
in
to
the
phone
call,
and
you
know
because
they're
all
bringing
with
them
their
own
experiences
like
they
are
able
to
hear
different
things
and
that's
absolutely
critical,
because
these
are
the
most
emotionally
charged
dangerous,
like
like
high-pressure
situations
right,
even
under
high
pressure
right.
They.
This
is
the
thing
that
is
prioritized
and
the
the.
Why
does
this
work
so
well
right?
B
They
say:
okay,
you
understand
me
like
you
can
actually
start
making
progress
on
tangible
goals,
and
so
what
I
did
was
I
actually
decided
to
put
this
into
practice.
So
after
one
of
the
diversity
talks
recently
I
went
around
and
for
anyone
who
knows
me,
you
know
that
I
carry
this
like
little
notebook
around
with
me
everywhere
and
I
went
around
and
asked
bunch
of
people,
it's
like
hey
what
what
did
you
think
about
diversity
session
and
the
response
is
always
something
like
yeah,
that's
good!
It's
like
high
confidence
there.
B
What
did
you
really
think
and
when,
when
you
actually
press
people
right
like,
we
were
actually
able
to
have
some
really
really
amazing
discussions
and
they
brought
up
a
lot
of
really
good
critiques
and
points,
and
so
I'm
gonna,
try
and
address
a
few
of
these
now
I.
Don't
have
the
time
to
actually
go
through
all
of
them,
but
they
definitely
all
deserve
a
lot
of
discussion
and
thought.
B
So
the
first
one
is.
The
real
problem
is:
is
that
the
early
stages
right
so
before
people
even
enter
technology
fields?
How
do
we
even
get
little
girls
interested
in
diversity
right
shouldn't?
We
just
focus
on
that
and
absolutely
there
is
a
massive
problem
with
actually
getting.
You
know
people
actually
interested
in
tech
in
the
first
place
and
that
would
and
and
and
being
able
to
address
that
problem
would
certainly
make
a
huge
impact
on
promoting
diversity
at
the
later
stages.
B
If
you're,
you
know
looking
down
this
like
depressing
pipe
and
like
you
see,
you
know
your
future
and
you
know,
and
you
see
that
hey
it
actually
doesn't.
Look
all
that
great.
There
aren't
any
good
role
models
or
anything
like
that.
Are
you
gonna
be
inspired
to
actually
like
travel
down
there?
If
you
know
that,
that's
what
what's
going
to
happen
and
so
that
that's
that's
one
of
the
reasons
that
we
should
still
be
focusing
on
those
earlier
stages.
The
second
piece
is
it's
all
about
diversity
of
thought.
Why
are
we
focusing
on
gender
race?
B
And
you
know
all
you
know,
age
all,
etc?
Right
and
again
it
that's
that's
absolutely
right.
It
is
I
mean
there
I'm
sure
there's
like
so
there
are
some
socio-economic
factors
that
I
don't
claim
to
understand,
but
the
way
that
I'm
thinking
about
this
is
that
gender
race
age.
All
of
these
factors
are
there
are
things
that
are
like
more
immeasurable,
like
I,
don't
know
how
else
to
measure
like
the
diversity
of
one's
brain
as
compared
to
like
another
person's
brain
like
that
doesn't
really
like.
B
They
tend
to
be
good
indicators
and
as
engineers
we
need
like
some
way
to
actually
measure
our
progress
here,
and
so,
if
there's
a
better
way
to
actually
say
hey
we're,
you
know
we're
doing
better
and
actually
dry
it
like
and
have
these
tangible
goals
to
drive
towards
then
that's
something
that
we
should
actually
absolutely
do.
But
that's
that's!
You
know
they're
indicators
of
diversity,
but
not
necessarily
the
end
goals
in
enough
of
themselves,
and
you
know
the
other
pieces,
isn't
an
affirmative
action,
lowering
the
bars.
B
Well,
you
know
what,
if
we
have
all
these
quotas
and
everything
like
that,
and
is
this
like,
like
you?
Could
we
risk
over
optimizing
for
that
and
the
truth
is
like
I
think
whenever
you
introduce
any
sort
of
metric
or
number
that
you're
having
people
drive
towards
whether
it
be
like
quotas-
and
you
know,
diversity
or
whether
it
be
the
bug
counts
on
like
a
github
repo
right,
like
you
always
risk
going
overboard
there,
but
I
think
one
of
the
things
that's
important
is
that
we're
not
trying
to
lower
the
bar
here?
B
We
are
attempting
to
raise
it
and-
and
it's
the
only
but
but
for
the
team
collectively,
not
necessarily
like
we're
thinking.
We
need
to
be
thinking
about
this
as
far
as
how
do
we
actually
make
all
of
our
teams
as
efficient
as
possible,
and
the
way
to
do
that
is
by
increasing
innovation
and
efficiency
as
much
as
possible
as
possible,
and
so
there
are
a
bunch
of
other
points,
but
I'm
not
going
to
go
through
them
right
now.
B
B
And
that's
okay
and
that's
healthy.
Then
that's
actually
weirdly
enough,
like
the
best
stage
to
be
in
for
people
to
change
now
the
problem
with
this-
and
this
has
gone
under
like
a
lot
of
scrutiny,
not
necessarily
because
there's
anything
wrong
with
like.
If
you
can
get
to
that
state,
then
you
know
you
are
most
likely
to
actually
produce
some
healthy
degree
of
change.
B
The
problem
is
that
psychotherapy
is
like
super
slow
and
if
you
talk
to
like
a
therapy
and
a
therapist
is
by
definition
supposed
to
like
help,
people
change-
and
this
is
just
not-
or
you
can't
reliably-
expect
everyone
to
reach
this
relationship
with
everyone
that
they're
working
with
and
so
there's
another
field,
which
is
solutions
focused
therapy
which
is
interesting
because
what
they,
instead
they
say.
Okay,
we
want
to
get
to
our
answer
as
quickly
as
possible.
How
do
we
do
that?
B
And
so
let's
ask
these
targeted
questions
so
one
of
those
questions-
and
this
is
the
miracle
question:
if
you
wake
up
tomorrow-
and
a
miracle
happened,
what
would
be
the
first
signs
that
that
miracle
actually
occurred
right?
How
would
you
know
that
everything
is
like
suddenly
magically
fixed
and
then
you,
you
know
you
follow
up
right,
and
you
say:
okay
great,
so
now
that
we
have
this
tangible
goal
in
mind
and
you
have
this
tangible
vision.
What
are
wait
like?
B
Are
there
anything
that
in
the
past
that
you
know
you're
saying
that
you're
not
in
that
state
now?
Are
there
any
exceptions?
If
there's
something
that
you
can
remember,
you
know,
are
there
any
other?
When
was
the
last
time
you
were
feeling
that
way
right
and
then
you
say:
okay
great,
so
you
remember
the
last
time
you're
feeling
that
way,
keep
doing
more
of
that,
and
this
makes
the
goal
actually
achievable
and
it
kind
of
shrinks
the
change
that
people
need
to
do
because
they
know
hey
I
already.
B
Like
you
know,
I
already
know
how
to
get
there,
so
I
should
be
able
to
get
there
again
and
then
the
last
piece
that
I
wanted
to
touch
on
before
I
get
to
like
how
all
this
you
know
actually
applies
back
into.
The
node
community
is
maximizing
group
intelligence,
and
so,
but
basically
it
turns
out
that
if
you
actually
look
at
a
group
of
people,
the
effectiveness
of
that
group
is
not
has
nothing
to
do
with
the
average
intelligence
of
each
individual
in
the
group
it
has
to
do
with
yeah.
B
So
the
first
one
is
promoting
active
listening
right
and
you
know
have
some
different,
like
tips
for
habits
that
you
can
use
for,
that.
The
next
piece
is
maximizing
group
intelligence,
and
so
one
of
the
things
that
you
notice
is
like.
We
have
all
the
working
groups
and
note
right,
but
we
always
focus
on
like
the
way
people
actually
enter
into
those
working
groups
is
that
they
are
individually
totally
rockstars
right,
but
we
we
don't
spend
as
much
time
thinking
about
okay.
B
What
are
the
gaps
in
the
team
that
we
have
and
how
do
we
fill
those
gaps
and
I?
Think
if
we
did
more
of
that,
we
were
able
to
define
those
types
of
roles.
People
would
be
more
compelled
to
actually
pitch
in
because
they
know
that
the
the
you
know
different
pieces
that
they
bring
to
the
skills
that
they
bring
to
the
table
are
actually
valued
there
and
then
you
know
really
going
back
to
the
negative
stimuli.
Considering
what
our
battles
are.
B
B
Someone
who
you
wouldn't
normally
otherwise
identify
with
and
the
game
is
I.
You
know
we
have
a
list
of
different
I.
Don't
know,
there's
no
internet,
okay!
Well,
let's
see
do
I
have
how
men
are
you
serious?
This
is
this
is
no
good.
Oh
wait.
No,
no
I
didn't
say
that
so
the
game
is
a
hat.
I'll,
give
you
the
URL.
It's
at
github.com,
slash,
mousetraps,
slash
diversity,
experiment.
B
There
are
a
bunch
of
different
words
there
and
so
they're
a
bunch
of
different
words
there,
and
you
know
you
can
pick
out
of
a
list
of
ten
words,
pick
two
of
those
words
and
come
up
with
some
sort
of
product
pitch,
and
so
the
goal
is
to
get
the
most
original
creative
pop
product
pitch
that
you
can
find.
So
some
of
the
words
are
like
snow
and
I.
Think
net
was
one
of
them,
so
you
could
create
like
a
snow
net.
You
know
to
prevent
snow
from
ever
reaching
your
or
you
could.
B
Let's
see
you
could
catch
snow
with
your
snow
net,
I,
don't
know
you're
all
creative
and
if
you
can
pair
up
and
there's
no
time
limit
or
anything
on
this,
it's
just
kind
of
like
a
fun
way
to
actually
go
meet
different
people
because
it's
called
Note
interactive.
So
like
she's,
like
interact
so
anyways.
Let
me
know
if
and
I
actually
there
that
if
you
have
any
more
feedback
on
this
talk
like
I,
you
know
like
I
titled
it.
B
It
was
an
experiment
and
I
probably
got
a
lot
of
things
wrong
in
this,
and
I
want
to
know
what
those
things
are
so
I
can
actually
improve
on
the
next
time
and
and
also,
let
me
know
what
what
were
the
the
things
that
actually
resonated
with
you
as
well.
So
with
that,
thank
you
all
for
for
coming
and
they've
been
an
awesome
audience.