As we click into month seven of 2023 and the grey skies settle in here in Ōtautahi Christchurch, it’s nice to look ahead and reset efforts for the remainder of the year, and to reflect on the last quarter.
April, May and June have been really interesting with some professional growth opportunities and rewarding projects, here’s three of them and the key take outs:
Judging the Hi Tech Awards
For a few years now I’ve had the privilege for Judging one of the categories in the Hi Tech Awards and a few things continue to stand out.
One is the calibre of ventures around Aotearoa across the spectrum of industries and from SaaS to deep bio-tech. The other is the lack of diversity in the founders, exec teams and investors.
As a small island nation with a primate city (Tāmaki Makaurau of course), and it’s supporting ‘golden triangle’, it’s logical that there’s North Island-heavy representation. But as that region that’s ethnically diverse, more so than London or Paris according to reports, where the hell is the richness in the founders, teams and backers? We meet and interview the top candidates in the category before deciding a winner, but we also review the 60+ applications and it’s alarming that for many, the founding team, Board and investors are all male.
With it being proven that more diverse organisations deliver greater profits, surely these money-savvy venture backers can put their horsepower into that, and everyone wins. Not least, it’s the right thing to do. While there’s a lot of good work being done in this area, the ‘noise’ on LinkedIn doesn’t reflect the reality and yes, the awards are a slice of a much bigger pie, but ultimately those that enter the awards are achieving, are funded and have ambition – the exact arena we want to see more diverse teams succeeding in.
On the plus side, the judging cohort continues to be impressive, and I love being in a room where I can learn from others. The range of experiences and world-views from a 50/50 gender split judging cohort from around Aotearoa lent itself to robust discussion, with strong debate and differing views, to nail the top five and the eventual winner. As it should be.
Key Takeout
The tech and start-up space is still largely homogenous and the positive noise on socials doesn’t reflect the reality yet – there’s still a long way to go so keep asking the questions and creating discomfort until we get sustained change and have better representation from all people in Aotearoa.
Working with Good Humans
I’ve been working on a Client project with people I really like and trust and that is something I do not take for granted.
There is so much to be said for high value, high trust working relationships yet they’re not often things we talk about. Most social feeds feature tips and tricks for relationships of the romantic or familial kind, yet our wellbeing is significantly impacted by the quality of our working relationships too.
I read “The Speed of Trust” by Stehen Covey a decade or so ago and it’s one I truly believe in as a formula for leadership, and developing great working (and personal) relationships. Being trustworthy pays dividends, and working with others who engage in trust-building is awesome. It makes the ‘work’ easy, fun and undoubtedly better quality.
The first behaviour to enable trust to be built is ‘talk straight’. In this relationship in particular that is absolutely core to it. In the last few projects we’ve collaborated on we’ve also shown up with the clients this way too. We’ve had to respectfully offer a counter-view, challenge their assumptions and question the direction they’re wanting to go in by talking straight and offering expertise and a logical argument as to why we disagree. In every instance, it’s landed well, and the client has achieved great outcomes. We’ve also been able to do work we’re proud of and know we’ve acted with integrity. We also have a lot of fun along the way. So grateful for these kinds of working relationships.
Key Takeout
Working on your professional comms toolkit is important – be someone who is ‘easy’ to work with because people know where they stand and what’s expected. Refining how to ‘talk straight’ and saying what you mean is powerful. If building trust is important, check out the other behaviours summarised here.
Speaking at Unpopular Opinions
Michelle and the team at Publica rebooted their popular event, run with Empire9, Unpopular Opinions last month. With six speakers and a strong turnout of over 130 people, it was a bigger deal than I expected. When I said yes to speaking, I imagined a business forum, a group of maybe 50 people in a room, sharing a view for a couple of minutes – not the tightly timed four minutes, into a mic, with a room of people seated at the Piano. Intimidating, yes. Good for you, also yes.
Prepping for this felt akin to prepping for a school speech or debate. Perhaps this was the timed element of it, but I’m glad I was nerdy and practised and practised, edited it all down and landed right on the bell.
I was also glad to have my opinion remain a little unpopular (the audience ‘votes’ after each presenter) – it can be easy when there’s a larger audience to try and moderate views and want to be accepted, I definitely felt the pressure when I saw some of the audience who I know are vocal supporters of the concept I was challenging. But it was also a good reminder to have a sharp and considered argument in support of your view and to allow space for them to hold theirs too. The post-event chat was great for that.
Kudos to Publica for engaging some high-calibre folks to attend the event and to present at it. There was so much richness in the conversations, and in the presentations and if you can get along to the next one, definitely do as the speakers will get the cogs turning and you’ll likely meet some really cool folks too. Or if you’ve got a view you want to share, get in touch with Michelle and get up there and share it!
Key takeout
Do things that challenge you and enable growth. Be okay with having an opinion that is different to the rest as long as it’s authentically you, and you can hold space for those that disagree.
