Tech Community Building

#Diversity in high-tech fields remains critically low. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently reported that #Black and #Latino professionals are underrepresented in high-tech roles, especially in leadership. These numbers highlight ongoing structural barriers in hiring, promotion and retention. This gap is a missed opportunity to tap into a wealth of diverse talent and perspectives essential to the future of tech. However, addressing and thoroughly fixing these challenges will require time, consistent effort and a long-term commitment to systemic change. Companies can support the progression of representation in tech by investing in training, mentorship and internship opportunities that open doors for people who were historically shut out. Programs like internXL, a platform that is committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in the internship hiring process for top companies, are making a significant impact. Similarly, the expansion of STEM education at institutions like Cornell University is helping to connect talented young people from underrepresented communities with opportunities for high-tech careers. When we work together to remove these barriers, we’re fostering a more inclusive workforce and strengthening innovation, problem-solving and leadership in the industry. Let’s build a tech future that reflects the diversity of our society. https://bit.ly/3UNtOCh

What if the most important AI role in your organization requires zero technical expertise? This isn't a provocative question for the sake of being provocative. It's a genuine insight from watching dozens of organizations struggle and succeed with AI adoption. Because here's what most miss: This isn't a technology adoption curve. It's a human transformation curve. And the people who catalyze that transformation often aren't the technical experts. If your organization is betting big on AI engineers while ignoring community builders, you might as well light your transformation budget on fire. I watched a Fortune 500 company spend millions on AI talent only to see adoption stall in the low teens %. Meanwhile, a government agency with a tiny fraction of that budget achieved organization-wide transformation mostly through the efforts of a single individual passionate enough to organize monthly Zoom calls. One of my most-beloved recent posts describes how a Facility Manager at the National Park Service—with no technical background whatsoever—built an AI tool in 45 minutes that's saving thousands of days of labor across the park system. Adam, the facility manager, created a simple tool that automated the creation of complex funding request documents. The impact was staggering: what used to take days now took minutes. His colleagues started sharing the tool, and soon facility managers across the country were using it. People loved this story because it showed that AI impact doesn't require a computer science degree or coding expertise. Just curiosity, a clear problem, and 45 minutes. But here's what I didn't tell you in that post: Adam's breakthrough wasn't spontaneous. It was the direct result of someone working upstream. Want to identify the Adams in your organization and unlock opportunities like the one he found? You need to look farther upstream to a role I've rarely seen discussed: the Convener. At the National Park Service, that person is Cheryl Eckhart. While many organizations are busy chasing the shiny new AI tools, Cheryl was doing something far more radical: creating a space where people could actually use them. Months before Adam built his tool, she had taken the initiative to start convening a community of practice around AI. With no technical background herself, she understood something more fundamental: people need spaces to learn, experiment, and share. Cheryl signs every email with "Today is a great day for learning"—a philosophy that defines her approach. She's not an AI expert; she's a catalyst who creates the conditions for others to become AI experts. What does this look like in practice? Detailed notes from what I’ve seen in Cheryl and other conveners in the full post linked below (LinkedIn character limits!). cc Christa Stout

Hate pitching yourself on LinkedIn? Use the “10:3:1” LinkedIn outreach system a method that builds warm connections, without feeling awkward or salesy. Last week, I spoke to six tech professionals. All job hunting. None with a system. Step 1: Search strategically • Use the search bar. Type roles you want next: “Engineering Manager”, “Product Designer”, “Tech Lead” • Click “People” • Filter by location (e.g. Sydney, Melbourne) • Filter by industry (e.g. Information Technology, Startups) • Add “Current Company” filter if you’ve got a shortlist Step 2: Choose 10 profiles daily (or weekly) Scan for: • Shared backgrounds (bootcamps, unis, career switches) • Work at companies you admire • Mutuals in common Save these to a doc or spreadsheet. Step 3: Personalise the connection note Don’t skip this, people remember those who take the time. 📍 Template: Referencing a post “Hey [Name], just read your post on [topic]super relevant as I’m exploring [similar role or space]. Would love to connect.” 📍 Template: Mutual context “Hey [Name], noticed we both worked in [X] or follow [Y]. Always keen to connect with folks solving interesting problems.” 📍 Template: Direct but friendly “Hey [Name], saw your profile while exploring [industry/role]. I’m currently in transition and learning from others doing solid work. Thought I’d say hi.” Step 4: Engage with 3 of their posts • Leave thoughtful comments (not just likes) • Highlight a takeaway or ask a follow-up • If they haven’t posted, check what they engage with Step 5: Nurture 1 relationship per week • Follow up with a question about their role, team, or journey • Offer something of value (a resource, intro, or perspective) • Ask if they’d be open to a quick virtual coffee Why this works: → You build visibility without spamming → You stand out with relevance → You learn directly from people doing the work Start small. 5 reach-outs per week is plenty. No automation. No sales pitch. Just real conversations. In tech, trust opens doors faster than resumes. If this helped, follow me (Eli Gündüz) for practical tactics that actually move your job search forward.

Technical leadership isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about creating a framework where the right answers can emerge. 1 / The best leaders don’t rush to provide solutions. Instead, they frame the problem so the team can see it clearly and then step back. Leadership isn’t about showing what you know — it’s about empowering others to think. 2 / In technical fields, complexity is the enemy of progress. Great leaders aren’t adding layers; they’re stripping them away. They know that simplicity and clarity are often harder to achieve but lead to solutions that last. 3 / And the strongest leaders don’t seek followers; they build thinkers. A team that only executes orders will eventually stall. A team that questions, explores, and challenges assumptions will find breakthroughs you can’t plan for. True technical leadership isn’t about controlling every detail — it’s about fostering an environment where innovation thrives. Thoughts??

I spend my days with people who aren’t just “using AI.” They are reshaping our world by using these tools to solve pressing local challenges and imagining new ways of expressing dignity and agency. When I’m in classrooms, clinics, community centers, and research spaces, I see the early architecture of a future where technology strengthens the systems we rely on and opens universal opportunity.  They name a simple truth: our digital future will be shaped by people who carry responsibility for their communities, not by technologists alone. A few months ago, I opened this feed to my colleagues through the #PJMFLinkedInTakeover. That experiment reminded me that leadership grows when we make room for many voices. This month, I want to extend that spirit outward and highlight partners whose lived experience and judgment guide how AI and data show up in civic life. So this week, I’m launching #InnovationInPractice. Each day, you’ll hear directly from leaders in our community: • A youth organizer building AI literacy with women and older adults in Nigeria. • A paramedic designing digital tools that help communities respond to emergencies. • A climate advocate using data and AI to turn local policy into climate action. • An education leader in Brazil equipping teachers to reach every student. • An Indigenous researcher advancing data sovereignty as a pathway to justice. I hope you will spend time with these stories, share them, and add your own reflections in the comments. The future of AI will not be decided only in labs, boardrooms, or parliaments. It will be shaped by leaders like the ones you’ll meet here, in communities around the world, who are building a more just digital future in real time. Stay tuned for the first story in the series. #InnovationInPractice #AI #TechForGood #AIForPublicPurpose #Leadership #Philanthropy

We've seen some pretty troubling things happen in the tech world, especially in regard to marginalized communities. As a result, researchers are being pushed to think more deeply about ethics and how their work affects us a society. There are a lot of new rules and guidelines popping up about how to do research responsibly, but we need to make sure these ethical considerations are built into research from the very beginning, not just tacked on all willy-nilly at the end. In response to this growing concern, several colleagues ( Sara S., Yacine Jernite, Ben Marwick, Malvika Sharan, Kirstie Whitaker, Valentin Danchev) and myself, published a scholarly article titled 'Ten simple rules for building and maintaining a responsible data science workflow,' with PLoS Computational Biology. This publication aims to help researchers do data science in a way that's both effective and ethical. It's open access, so feel free to read it yourself, pass it along to your colleagues, and/or add it as supplemental material in your classrooms. Click the link in the comments to check it out and have a great week, y'all! 👋🏾

We’ve all seen how quickly a single moment on social media can spiral. One tone-deaf comment, one AI-generated response that misses the mark, or just a slow internal handoff and suddenly, your brand is trending for all the wrong reasons. When I started building our AI-First Mindset™ transformation program, I knew we couldn’t just focus on opportunity. We also had to prepare leaders for risk and that includes public-facing crises fueled by speed and automation. That’s why I developed a new module focused on building a social media crisis management plan designed for today’s AI-powered workplace. We cover the essentials: • How to build a clear, flexible crisis communication plan • The best crisis management tools to monitor and respond in real time • How to define team roles across marketing, legal, leadership and tech • And how to account for AI-powered systems that can escalate issues if not handled properly In a world where content and backlash move at machine speed, your people need clarity. That starts with a plan that’s actually usable and practiced before the pressure hits. This isn’t about fear. It’s about preparation. AI adoption comes with incredible potential, but it also changes how we manage trust. A good crisis response needs to e part of your broader AI change management strategy. If your team is using AI but hasn’t revisited your crisis plan, now’s the time. Stay tuned for practical guidance on creating crisis plans that perform under pressure. #DigitalCrisisStrategy #CrisisCommunication #CrisisResponse #DigitalCrisis #SocialMediaCrisis

Is your leadership's management philosophy stuck in the 1960s? Let's redefine it: Leadership by Being Engaged. The concept of "management by walking around" came from Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (HP founders) in the 1960s, popularized by Tom Peters in 1982, and gets used today to describe what's missing in #remote work. "The expected benefit: by random sampling of events or employee discussions, managers are more likely to facilitate improvements to the morale, sense of purpose, productivity and and quality... compared to remaining in a specific office area, or the delivery of status reports." The literal concept doesn't work if your managers have people who are working in multiple locations, now the majority case. 60 to 80% of all "enterprise" company managers now have #distributed teams. 100% of Fortune 500 Execs have teams that are #distributed today, according to Atlassian (kudos Molly Sands, PhD). #RTO mandates rooted in this philosophy are trying to return to a world that no longer exists. Leaders need a both/and approach. Get employees together to jump-start #belonging, and build better #culture and #performance by being involved in the digital #collaboration tools that your teams use every day. Let's redefine a philosophy rooted in co-location into one for the #digital age. Four starting points for leaders looking to get digitally engaged: 🔸 Increase transparency. Internal transparency around clear goals and realistic progress against them drives focus on outcomes, and builds trust. 🔸 Get engaged in the work. Execs need to stop saying "Teams/Slack etc are for the kids; you'll find me in email" and get into the tools people use every day to work through account issues, project updates, and problem solving. 🔸 Participate in digital communities. Social forums at work build belonging. That cuts across everything from an Abilities ERG to Sneakerheads. Finding community at work boosts retention; even leaders need to find that. 🔸 Get a reverse mentor. Being available and engaged digitally can feel foreign as a leader, and initially scary to a team. Find a digital native in your organization who can coach you! What's your take? Retire the phrase, or revive an important concept?

I do dozens of interviews with top CMOs every year. I always ask what the best performing marketing channel is. And right now everyone is saying events. Post COVID events are back, but also now in an AI world, I think there's a stronger appetite to get out and connect with real people vs. just getting answers from ChatGPT. But: like anything in marketing, running events just because everyone else is doing them is a great way to set money on fire (and still not drive any incremental business). Whether it's a booth at a trade show. A VIP dinner. A 500-person conference. They can all work. They can all flop. The difference: having a real plan and strategy for that event going in. Why do it in the first place? (which continues to be the most important lesson in marketing - what's in it for me? what's the hook? why should people come to our thing?) We talked to two event experts on the Exit Five pod recently Stephanie Christensen and Kristina DeBrito — and here are 5 keys they shared for B2B event success: 1. Pick the right format. Not all events do the same job. Big splash? Go flagship. Want pipeline? Try VIP roundtables. Tiny budget? Host micro-events around existing conferences. Set real goals. 2. “Leads” are not enough anymore. Are you driving awareness? Accelerating deals? Generating pipeline? Define this upfront—or you’ll waste time measuring the wrong stuff. There are more metrics than just "did we get leads from this event" and in today's world leads are tablestalkes. 3. Align your team, bro. Sales and marketing must move in lockstep. Slack alerts for registrations. Sales meeting updates. Leaderboards. It all matters. This is a team effort. 4. Make it memorable. People forget panels. They remember custom pancakes and great venues. Was the food good? Did the WiFi work? Did Oprah show up? Just kidding. Making sure you'r reading. But think surprise and delight, not branded frisbees. 5. Put the work in on the follow up. Events don't close deals - follow-up does. Segment attendees. Create custom offers. Babysit the handoff to sales like your job depends on it. Because it does. You just went shopping and got all these fresh groceries - dont let them spoil. B2B buyers want real connection again. Events can create that. Are you feeling this desire for events? Are you doing events in your business right now? Let me know...

The UK tech sector employs over 1.8M people, contributing billions to the economy and driving innovation. Yet, beneath the surface, we're facing a diversity crisis. Women currently make up just 21% of tech teams, with only 5% in leadership positions. Alarmingly, 1/3 of women in tech are considering leaving their roles due to limited career progression and an unsupportive work culture. This attrition isn't due to a lack of talent, but structural barriers and cultural biases that remain deeply embedded. Ethnic minorities face a similarly tough landscape, with representation dropping significantly at senior levels. We have to move beyond viewing diversity as a box-ticking exercise. Genuine inclusion means dismantling biases, embedding transparency, and holding ourselves accountable. For a truly equitable future, we must: • Create inclusive cultures with psychological safety • Ensure flexible work environments • Implement structured career progression and mentoring • Foster authentic role models • Hold leadership accountable with clear ED&I metrics I’ve been running businesses for 25+ years, and this has proved to be an indisputable fact: Diverse teams are more innovative, resilient, and powerful. The future of UK tech relies on making the tech ecosystem more diverse - so let's commit to making it happen. 📷 - quote by Grace Hopper, graphic by Words of Women