[Applause]
come with me back to one of the most
magical ages of childhood 6 your mind
was exploding with the powers of
imagination your vocabulary rocketing to
thousands of words words you could now
recognize and use when a neighborhood
kid knocked on your door and asked want
to play you had one overwhelming urge to
say yes if you’re like me you spend
hours testing the lengths of your
superpowers wondrous right well the age
of six is also a turning point according
to researchers it’s when most girls
start to believe that boys are smarter
than they are
as a mom to six-year-old twins a boy and
a girl
this isn’t research it’s personal as a
consultant focuses on making workplace
cultures more inclusive to women I
tackle grown-up versions of this bias
every day unless you’re just parachuting
into our modern world you know that
women make up a tiny fraction of
business leaders in fact there are more
male CEOs named John or David then there
are total female CEOs running big
businesses today that’s despite the fact
that women make up half the population
half the US workforce and are the most
educated group of our time in my line of
work I see more companies today
proclaiming that they value women some
set hiring quotas some groom women for
the management fast-track others fire
leaders who have a record of not
respecting women and those actions are
meaningful don’t get me wrong but I
believe the gates of large-scale change
are lined with
all scale disruptions see companies
today are moving away from a strict
hierarchy where work is commanded from
above and intently overseen more
businesses are shifting toward a team of
teams one where we quickly join meet and
disband from teams only to do it again
on the next project we’re collaborating
with each other more not less and we’re
doing it through meetings how do you
feel as you trudge into that early
morning meeting on a dreary Monday yeah
yeah there’s a good reason for that
these daily team encounters don’t tend
to bring out our best thinking but they
could how I’ll give you a hint it has to
do with women today I’m gonna give you
three ways you can disrupt gender bias
at work through meeting culture by
rethinking who’s at the meeting table by
unleashing people’s best thinking and
ideas and by making people feel heard
first of all who you invite to the
meeting means everything it colors not
only the decisions we make but the
results we create in the 1950s and 60s
when car safety regulations were
tightening a life-changing innovation
was born airbags who was testing and
iterating the prototypes who was
sketching the vision of what would be
the first airbags were developed by
all-male design teams and they were
fashioned to fit one size passenger the
95th percentile of adult male bodies
when those airbags deployed the result
was unintended but tragic avoidable
deaths of child and female passengers
see the mere existence of difference in
a team creates a rub attention and
according to researchers
it’s our need to diffuse that tension
that leads us to more careful decisions
gender diverse groups they debate a
wider range of data inputs and they’re
likelier to generate a better solution
to a problem tension isn’t this sign of
strain to be avoided in a meeting it’s
actually a sign of health what if I told
you when we do this right more people
live in parts of Africa the provision of
water has long been seen as women’s work
life-saving life-sustaining water and
yet when new water improvement projects
come to communities ironically women’s
input their counsel is not always sought
out where women have gained a seat at
the table though it’s making a
difference in fact when there are more
women among project engineering teams
and community representatives life
altering freshwater projects are six to
seven times more effective and they last
longer women don’t need to be granted a
voice we already have them what can you
do to amplify those voices say the names
of people who should be in the room
staffed on the project or leading the
charge advocate nominate and use your
power and position to name-drop
rather than retrofit our services and
products to women involve them from day
one inviting women to the table improves
diversity yes but it doesn’t guarantee
inclusion there’s something else that
drives better team performance and it’s
something you learned in kindergarten
taking your turn
when their shared airtime in a meeting
where no one person dominates meeting
results improve but this isn’t common
practice is it no women are far more
likely to be interrupted when speaking
in a meeting than men and get this
they’re likely to be talked over by both
men and women interrupting isn’t just
rude it’s impractical
we not only diminish a woman when we
interrupt her we lose out on her
thinking her idea why does this matter
across our culture women say less in the
public domain from writing fewer
newspaper opinion pieces to being
featured less often as experts in the
media women have fewer speaking roles in
films
remember age six even children’s books
are likelier to have male central
characters messages are everywhere that
men can and should sound off in fact
just this year PepsiCo faced a social
media backlash when they suggested they
would make a subtle Dorito just for
women one that would be quiet when
crunched yes the priority of our time
yes quiet chips yeah
how can you interrupt interruptions ask
women to speak first
research shows when a woman speaks first
in a meeting other women are likely to
speak up to echo women’s messages give
credit and visibility to the originator
of an idea use an app yeah there’s an
app for that
gender timer and woman interrupted track
either who speaks in a meeting or who
gets cut off to illustrate that this
WAIS is so important even the best
intentioned meritocracy can become a
mirror TOC recei similarity is one of
the strongest drivers in who were likely
to befriend admire or endorse all of us
have used similarity or the airport test
to make an important decision at work
who would we want to be stuck in
Minneapolis with during a six-hour
layover often someone like us what do we
call this at work culture fit who best
matches and corresponds to us but I’m
challenging you to use the life raft
test instead imagine your plane has
crash-landed you’re bobbing adrift with
four other people in a dark unknown
ocean would you want everyone to think
like you to have the same
problem-solving approach as you the same
exact temperament as you know as you
staff teams and vet candidates let’s end
culture fit annihilate it activate
culture ad be skeptical when a team
comes to a collective rationalization
for something with little or no dissent
if your team suffers from overconfidence
will invite skepticism when you attend a
meeting with a woman round-up assume
she’s more credible or expert than you
initially think you’ll treat her
accordingly let’s do a quick thought
experiment think back to a time you were
in a meeting you had something to share
but you held back as a young management
consultant I can remember my first day
at a new job like it’s tattooed on my
brain I was hired to assess work
cultures and leadership using
assessments that I would design I was in
nerd heaven well I was headed to my
first meeting a few floors up from my
office and I happen to ride up with my
boss’s boss attending the meeting with
me now he was a commanding presence this
Titanic six foot plus former marine
colonel as we exited the elevators I saw
two hallways and I asked what I thought
was a harmless question which way is the
large meeting room he turned and looked
down at me and said you know women are
directionally challenged right that was
the last question I asked of him and
despite being frustrated with myself I
stopped contributing in meetings when he
was present when you wear your power and
you use it to reduce people trust me
they will disengage
it’s like logical safety is the degree
to which we feel comfortable sharing our
perspective without fear of humiliation
and it’s been consistently identified as
the top attribute of the highest
performing teams at Google sounds like
lightning in a bottle doesn’t it but in
meetings women experience the safety
less than men Amy Edmondson at Harvard
University found that women are more
reluctant to share an underdeveloped
feeling safe to speak is human it
shouldn’t be negotiable each of you can
make meeting safe places to speak up by
setting the example foster a no fear
culture if you’re a leader recognize the
power of your stature speak after your
team voices their opinions on an issue
before to make it less risky to
contribute ask people what ideas
wouldn’t work and then afterwards
ask them what ideas would work realize
the impossible bind a woman’s put in if
she’s diminished or seems galled in a
meeting if she says nothing she appears
weak if she challenges an offender she
can’t take a joke shoulder some of the
burden here by speaking up unconscious
bias is the unfinished business of our
time you can stand aside as a passive
observer or you can take some of the
tiny actions I’ve shown you and use them
to disrupt business as usual we are the
workers we’ve been waiting for we are
the future of work we have to know that
and constantly reaffirm it to shape the
work world we want regardless of your
gender you’re tangled up in the problem
and you’re the answer to the problem I’m
issuing a call to interrupt gender bias
an invitation to healthy tension this is
the next step thank you
come with me back to one of the most
magical ages of childhood 6 your mind
was exploding with the powers of
imagination your vocabulary rocketing to
thousands of words words you could now
recognize and use when a neighborhood
kid knocked on your door and asked want
to play you had one overwhelming urge to
say yes if you’re like me you spend
hours testing the lengths of your
superpowers wondrous right well the age
of six is also a turning point according
to researchers it’s when most girls
start to believe that boys are smarter
than they are
as a mom to six-year-old twins a boy and
a girl
this isn’t research it’s personal as a
consultant focuses on making workplace
cultures more inclusive to women I
tackle grown-up versions of this bias
every day unless you’re just parachuting
into our modern world you know that
women make up a tiny fraction of
business leaders in fact there are more
male CEOs named John or David then there
are total female CEOs running big
businesses today that’s despite the fact
that women make up half the population
half the US workforce and are the most
educated group of our time in my line of
work I see more companies today
proclaiming that they value women some
set hiring quotas some groom women for
the management fast-track others fire
leaders who have a record of not
respecting women and those actions are
meaningful don’t get me wrong but I
believe the gates of large-scale change
are lined with
all scale disruptions see companies
today are moving away from a strict
hierarchy where work is commanded from
above and intently overseen more
businesses are shifting toward a team of
teams one where we quickly join meet and
disband from teams only to do it again
on the next project we’re collaborating
with each other more not less and we’re
doing it through meetings how do you
feel as you trudge into that early
morning meeting on a dreary Monday yeah
yeah there’s a good reason for that
these daily team encounters don’t tend
to bring out our best thinking but they
could how I’ll give you a hint it has to
do with women today I’m gonna give you
three ways you can disrupt gender bias
at work through meeting culture by
rethinking who’s at the meeting table by
unleashing people’s best thinking and
ideas and by making people feel heard
first of all who you invite to the
meeting means everything it colors not
only the decisions we make but the
results we create in the 1950s and 60s
when car safety regulations were
tightening a life-changing innovation
was born airbags who was testing and
iterating the prototypes who was
sketching the vision of what would be
the first airbags were developed by
all-male design teams and they were
fashioned to fit one size passenger the
95th percentile of adult male bodies
when those airbags deployed the result
was unintended but tragic avoidable
deaths of child and female passengers
see the mere existence of difference in
a team creates a rub attention and
according to researchers
it’s our need to diffuse that tension
that leads us to more careful decisions
gender diverse groups they debate a
wider range of data inputs and they’re
likelier to generate a better solution
to a problem tension isn’t this sign of
strain to be avoided in a meeting it’s
actually a sign of health what if I told
you when we do this right more people
live in parts of Africa the provision of
water has long been seen as women’s work
life-saving life-sustaining water and
yet when new water improvement projects
come to communities ironically women’s
input their counsel is not always sought
out where women have gained a seat at
the table though it’s making a
difference in fact when there are more
women among project engineering teams
and community representatives life
altering freshwater projects are six to
seven times more effective and they last
longer women don’t need to be granted a
voice we already have them what can you
do to amplify those voices say the names
of people who should be in the room
staffed on the project or leading the
charge advocate nominate and use your
power and position to name-drop
rather than retrofit our services and
products to women involve them from day
one inviting women to the table improves
diversity yes but it doesn’t guarantee
inclusion there’s something else that
drives better team performance and it’s
something you learned in kindergarten
taking your turn
when their shared airtime in a meeting
where no one person dominates meeting
results improve but this isn’t common
practice is it no women are far more
likely to be interrupted when speaking
in a meeting than men and get this
they’re likely to be talked over by both
men and women interrupting isn’t just
rude it’s impractical
we not only diminish a woman when we
interrupt her we lose out on her
thinking her idea why does this matter
across our culture women say less in the
public domain from writing fewer
newspaper opinion pieces to being
featured less often as experts in the
media women have fewer speaking roles in
films
remember age six even children’s books
are likelier to have male central
characters messages are everywhere that
men can and should sound off in fact
just this year PepsiCo faced a social
media backlash when they suggested they
would make a subtle Dorito just for
women one that would be quiet when
crunched yes the priority of our time
yes quiet chips yeah
how can you interrupt interruptions ask
women to speak first
research shows when a woman speaks first
in a meeting other women are likely to
speak up to echo women’s messages give
credit and visibility to the originator
of an idea use an app yeah there’s an
app for that
gender timer and woman interrupted track
either who speaks in a meeting or who
gets cut off to illustrate that this
WAIS is so important even the best
intentioned meritocracy can become a
mirror TOC recei similarity is one of
the strongest drivers in who were likely
to befriend admire or endorse all of us
have used similarity or the airport test
to make an important decision at work
who would we want to be stuck in
Minneapolis with during a six-hour
layover often someone like us what do we
call this at work culture fit who best
matches and corresponds to us but I’m
challenging you to use the life raft
test instead imagine your plane has
crash-landed you’re bobbing adrift with
four other people in a dark unknown
ocean would you want everyone to think
like you to have the same
problem-solving approach as you the same
exact temperament as you know as you
staff teams and vet candidates let’s end
culture fit annihilate it activate
culture ad be skeptical when a team
comes to a collective rationalization
for something with little or no dissent
if your team suffers from overconfidence
will invite skepticism when you attend a
meeting with a woman round-up assume
she’s more credible or expert than you
initially think you’ll treat her
accordingly let’s do a quick thought
experiment think back to a time you were
in a meeting you had something to share
but you held back as a young management
consultant I can remember my first day
at a new job like it’s tattooed on my
brain I was hired to assess work
cultures and leadership using
assessments that I would design I was in
nerd heaven well I was headed to my
first meeting a few floors up from my
office and I happen to ride up with my
boss’s boss attending the meeting with
me now he was a commanding presence this
Titanic six foot plus former marine
colonel as we exited the elevators I saw
two hallways and I asked what I thought
was a harmless question which way is the
large meeting room he turned and looked
down at me and said you know women are
directionally challenged right that was
the last question I asked of him and
despite being frustrated with myself I
stopped contributing in meetings when he
was present when you wear your power and
you use it to reduce people trust me
they will disengage
it’s like logical safety is the degree
to which we feel comfortable sharing our
perspective without fear of humiliation
and it’s been consistently identified as
the top attribute of the highest
performing teams at Google sounds like
lightning in a bottle doesn’t it but in
meetings women experience the safety
less than men Amy Edmondson at Harvard
University found that women are more
reluctant to share an underdeveloped
feeling safe to speak is human it
shouldn’t be negotiable each of you can
make meeting safe places to speak up by
setting the example foster a no fear
culture if you’re a leader recognize the
power of your stature speak after your
team voices their opinions on an issue
before to make it less risky to
contribute ask people what ideas
wouldn’t work and then afterwards
ask them what ideas would work realize
the impossible bind a woman’s put in if
she’s diminished or seems galled in a
meeting if she says nothing she appears
weak if she challenges an offender she
can’t take a joke shoulder some of the
burden here by speaking up unconscious
bias is the unfinished business of our
time you can stand aside as a passive
observer or you can take some of the
tiny actions I’ve shown you and use them
to disrupt business as usual we are the
workers we’ve been waiting for we are
the future of work we have to know that
and constantly reaffirm it to shape the
work world we want regardless of your
gender you’re tangled up in the problem
and you’re the answer to the problem I’m
issuing a call to interrupt gender bias
an invitation to healthy tension this is
the next step thank you
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