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The Data Binge REFRESH | Communities & Culture $$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$
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The Technology, The People, and The Ideas
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Welcome to this REFRESH monthly update, where I’m sharing provocative ideas from discussions focused on the human relationship with technology.
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My Monthly FavoritesHere are some things that I’ve discovered over the past month, that ignited thoughtful reflection and brought me ⚡️ ENERGY⚡️. The Economist - I reinstated by subscription to the economist this last month - I love the global sense of proximity I get from stories from across the world, and the detailed journalism into tech and business. I enjoy the style of writing, and it helps me get better at story telling. Book of the Month - Neverwhere - It's hard to finish off a long day with a self development or business book - reading 10-15 minutes of fiction before bed has been a life saver for a soothing nights rest. Gaiman's penmanship and boundary-less imagination creates a subtle and relaxing euphoria of fantasy that takes the edge off. Interesting app - SleepCycle: according to the American Sleep Association, 37% of 20-39 year-olds report short sleep duration, while 50-70 million US adults have a sleep disorder. - you can't manage and optimize your sleep unless you track it, I’ve found this is a great way to start being more planful and pro-active about your sleep. Mind Over Mood - I was recommended this workbook as a provocative framework for approaching toxic moods, like anxiety or depression, with toolsets to accept and cope with our emotions and the physical reactions that develop from them. An incredible asset for folks looking to face and accept their deepest emotional challenges.
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“The connecting lines show that each different part of our lives influences all the others...understanding how these (5) parts of our lives interact, can help us understand our problems” - Five-part model to understand life experiences. Copyright 1986 by Christine A. Padesky
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Recent EpisodesLast month's discussions largely centered on elevating the voices of the black community, in honor of Black History Month. I felt it a critical time to make a very special space for how technology can enhance the human experience, specifically experiences amongst our Black and African peers, friends, family, and loved ones. One outcome from purposeful proximity to this month's conversations, was the feeling of gratitude and inspiration. Stories of adversity, shrouded in courage and kindness, do something to the soul - I've gained a deeper understanding of people, and why their individual experiences are so important. It reminds me that as we are individual, we share so much with each other collectively. 🌍 Creating a better world starts with listening, and understanding 🙏🏽
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#61. Chris Redlitz & Jason Jones | Refactoring the Mass Incarceration System - Hope, Transparency, Technology
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What I learnedIt's so easy to take for granted the special things in our lives: whether it be loving parents, an education, or the clear path paved through opportunity and hope. What I learned about most in this episode, is that which I take most for granted: the gift of being able to create a vision of my best self, so I can spend my life working toward that vision - while allowing this vision to grow and change as I move across my life experience. What if this was all taken away, or broken? How would you select and prioritize your values, and how would you find the hope to create and reach your best future self? Meet Chris Redlitz and Jason Jones from The Last Mile, a non-profit breaking the mass incarceration cycle by combating recidivism through in-person education and post-release mentorship focused on coding and software engineering. Chris is a venture capitalist, and co-founded The Last Mile with his wife, Beverly. Jason is a Remote Instruction Mgr. and a returned citizen alumni of The Last Mile. Although Jason spent 13.5 years incarcerated, today he is a software engineer, and a shining example of what could be for many more people in our country, that are impacted by the system. The LIVE discussion aired on February 14th, 2021, and featured >100 LIVE participants at any one time, with 245 event attendees across the discussion - by far the largest participation in any of the discussions I've hosted thus far. It's clear, that there is so much compassion for the returned citizen community, the currently and formerly incarcerated, and their families.
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What does it mean to be system impacted. Some data was shared in the episode, that 1 in every 3 black males born in 2001 (based on 2001 data), would face imprisonment at one time in their lives. Due to the recent fall of violent crime and incarceration across the entire population in the last several decades, this probably looks more like 1 in 4 today - still a staggering statistic. When a mother or father is incarcerated, this creates further adversity and challenge within their families, which cascade domino effects across many different areas ranging from education, to income creation, to overall accessibility to opportunity. Incarceration not only impacts families, but it impacts communities and economies, both directly and indirectly. Clearly, there is a problem.
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[22:14] “It was really important for us to sort of break that mental ceiling. There are people in prison who are living in a box and many think in the box, and you have to blow away that perceived ceiling and we’ve done that now.” - Chris Redlitz
—————— Recidivism is the tendency for a convicted criminal to reoffend. The Last Mile's returned citizen alumni, maintain 0% recidivism. ——————
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The most memorable story shared, was the relationship that Jason had with his son, while Jason was incarcerated. Jason clearly communicated the direct change in his relationship with his son while enrolled in The Last Mile Program - the conversation changed, Jason’s goals changed, the future changed, both for Jason and his family. Through the work at The Last Mile, we can now embrace this idea that through technology, and education…hope, and transparency… we can begin to reshape and refactor how systems are maintained, created, and innovated, to positively serve and impact ALL us all 🌍. —————— How do we inspire more change in conversations, in people, and in communities? How do we help break through the perceived ceilings in the people that are impacted by mass incarceration, so that they can envision and then achieve a better future for themselves and their families?
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Highlights✴️ The particular problem that The Last Mile is trying to solve, and the real impact driven through creating hope and transparency in the lives of the formerly incarcerated and system impacted - real stories of hope, innovation, and humanity.
✴️ Technology and social innovation, as drivers for life long change - how skill development and mentorships can pivot mindsets, and add humanizing aspects of language and vision that redefine student and new citizen potential
✴️ Breaking generalizations and known stereotypes, and the simplicity of driving impact through conscious acts of kindness and acknowledgement - how to partner with the TLM, and what we can all do to incrementally re-factor our challenged systems. Connect with Chis Redlitz and Jason Jones from The Last Mile Learn more
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Simply Tech LIVE is a live video production co-hosted by Ali Mazaheri and I, featuring discussions with technologists, business practitioners, and academics about the evolving landscape of tech in the Microsoft ecosystem and beyond.
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Technology for Good: Leadership, Community, and Culture Transformation
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What I learnedSonya Weaver-Johnson is a Director of Sales in the Healthcare and Life Sciences business at Microsoft, and Celeste Alleyne is the Director of Executive Engagements; Content Operations & Corporate Events, at Microsoft. I’ve been lucky to closely work with both Sonya and Celeste, and these two incredibly passionate, energetic, and impactful leaders have some singular things in common: transforming culture, and building communities. Sonya is the founder of the Blacks at Microsoft (BAM), Southern California Chapter - a regional sect of the larger BAM employee resource group at Microsoft, the very first and oldest in the organization. Sonya believes that community building comes from the “heart”, and talks through the (3) P’s of building community.
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Community has never been more important than it is today. With the continued collapse and uprooting of many different skilled AND unskilled jobs from COVID and digital transformation, new skillsets are needed as businesses continue to refocus on emerging digital trends. The digital divide, is being reframed into an emerging digital “minefield”, that many different ranges of people in the world are in critical need of guidance in navigating. How do these specific populations find and learn from others in a reframe of skill sets and capabilities? Connecting, learning, and contributing to growing communities. —————— Celeste founded and designed frameworks for community Ambassador Councils in 10 different markets in the US. Ambassador Councils are internal Microsoft employee communities focused on internal and external relations, bolstering and strengthening causes across social and community good in each specific regional market. Celeste’s thematic guidance for culture transformation really centralizes across this idea that “We can’t be great with our customers and partners, until we are great with each other internally”
This introspection on organizational culture, through empathic action - a now programmatic internal culture initiative at Microsoft led by Kate Johnson, Microsoft’s US Sales President - has also led Celeste to urge community builders to engage on the following best practices for delivering lasting and impactful change for organizational culture transformation and community development:
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What transformations do you think are possible through the power of community? What can you do individually, in your organization, geography, or local community, to inspire lasting change and impact? Highlights✴️ The importance of organizational inclusion and support during tumultuous times - how Microsoft has provided empathic leadership to embrace its’ employees, customers, and communities.
✴️ Culture transformation and progression: observations and learnings of real culture change.
✴️ Opportunities for technology to create good, build communities, and bring people together - reaching underserved populations, and the cross section of culture, community, and impact. Connect with Sonya & Celeste. Learn More
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