Checking Your PrivilegeA How-To for Hard Things

Leslie Hawthorn Director of Developer Relations

leslie.hawthorn@elasticsearch.com @lhawthorn

The Human Element

in development

Laying the Foundations Ground Rules for this Talk

My opinions, not my employer’s

Knowledge Sharing

Judgement Free

Our Story So Far… Under Represented Groups in Tech

• Women are 25x more likely to be harassed online than men

• Women are more likely to be interrupted

• Women make up 20% or less of tech workforce at major companies

• The numbers for most people of color are much, much worse

• Transgendered people receive disproportionate & violent harassment both on & off the job

• The list goes on ….

Why This Matters Diverse teams increase the bottom line

Our System Defaults & Their Discontents

Bias & discrimination are inherent in our social systems, making them hard to detect & even harder to combat.

Examining Our Defaults

“I can be fooled by anyone who looks like Mark Zuckerberg.”

- Paul Graham, Y Combinator, on whom he’ll choose for Venture Capital investment

Hidden Bias & You

Why We Cling to Our Biases

• Biases are part of how we define ourselves

• We benefit from our biases

• We’re uncomfortable that we have these biases at all

Overcoming bias requires increasing empathy

Overcoming Bias Experiment 1: Change Your Speech Defaults

Hi, guys.

That’s gay!

You throw like a girl.

You’re crazy!

What a retarded idea.

This code is lame.

• Use social media to understand other perspectives

• Listen != retweet, +1, reposting, commenting, providing advice

• #NotAllMen is not a useful addition to a conversation

Overcoming Bias Experiment 2: *Listen* to People Who are Not Like You

Your next empathy building mission….

Change your online avatars & profile pics to depict you as:

• a woman

• a man of color

• a woman of color

• a person of size

Overcoming Bias Experiment 3: Change Your Online Persona

• Recenter discussions on people whose points have been dismissed, then restated

• Bring the conversation back to individuals who were interrupted or ignored

• Point out individuals’ mistakes with respect

Overcoming Bias Experiment 4: Speak Up for Others

Provide sincere apologies when you make a mistake.

Overcoming Bias Experiment 5: Ask for Help & Accept It Humbly

Leveling UpWays to Improve Your Communication with *Everyone*

Practice Active Listening

Gain More Understanding

Ask more questions. Make fewer assumptions.

Measure Your Actions• Count how often you

• have the floor in meetings and discussions

• interrupt other people

• dismiss ideas without working them through with the other person

• Use the results of these measurements to change your behaviors.

Leveling Up: Share Your Tips

Questions & Knowledge Sharing Time

Thank you for attending!

Leslie Hawthorn Director of Developer Relations

leslie.hawthorn@elasticsearch.com @lhawthorn

The Legal Bits

• This presentation is licensed Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

• Please reuse, remix and share widely!

• The images used in this presentation are copyright their respective owners and used with permission under a Creative Commons license.

Photo Credits• Creation / Leaf in Hand: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smanography/2299171379/

• Foundation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/city-amsterdam/12101321055

• Justice: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ensh/6204837462/

• Harassment / Hand: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keoni101/5132652314/

• Money: http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/8463683689

• Bandaid: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanie_in_love/5434424913/

• Young man in a hoodie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100013566@N03/12853691273/

• Young women in orchestra: https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcomartinscosta/418200303/

• Static cling kitten: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31333486@N00/1802425453/

• Empathy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/15925430129/

• Speech bubble: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddsock/2979328682/

• Social media: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/9894304255/

• Avatar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31333486@N00/2037593361

• Megaphone: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hazzat/5412540184/

• Humility: http://www.flickr.com/photos/indymetro/13310400055

• Can and String ‘Telephone’: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiertz/13195153284

• Listening is an act of love sign: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oneworldgallery/2245563352/

• Assume: http://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/3949835761/

• Broken bulb: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uaeincredible/1458303830/

• Bridge: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kpaulus/14574838075/