Systemic Change through Equitable Strategy with Glenn Block

Glenn Block is a seasoned product leader with 25 years+ of experience in software engineering and product management. He is currently the founder of two companies, one as CEO of ProdSense, where he advises early-stage companies as a Fractional CPO, and the second as CPO of a stealth home coffee roaster startup. Throughout his career, he worked at a number of hi-tech companies including Microsoft, Docusign, Auth owe, and Splunk. Glenn has been a big advocate for the open source and developer community and was a maintainer for several successful open source projects. Glenn is also a big champion and advocate for changing the tech industry and making it more inclusive. He devotes a large amount of this time to dismantling white supremacy and working to mentor and sponsor folks from underrepresented groups. He is also a volunteer coding instructor at CodeNation, helping high schoolers from marginalized backgrounds to enter the tech industry. Glenn is a lifelong learner and recently received his Executive MBA from Seattle University. He lives with his wife in San Francisco, and is just a stone's throw from his daughter, who attends USF. Please join me in welcoming Glenn Block to Change the narrative with JD Fuller.

What You Will Hear:

Ramadan and what it symbolizes for GlennDeciding to leave corporate AmericaNon-NegotiablesPartners and communicationNew Company ProdsenseRace and Equity in corporate AmericaWhite supremacy, trigger words and privilegeRacist vs Anti-RacistThe reality of making an impact

Quotes:

“Ramadan is a time of learning and discipline.”

“A lot of times all we need is people to plant a seed in our minds. “

“We know that silence is violence and yet it continues.  Privilege continues to silence itself in far too many ways.”

“There is no middle way. You're either a racist or you're an anti-racist.” - Ibram X. Kendi

“I started to realize that it's not just about the dealings I have with people, it's the system.

The system is the thing that has to go, and you still have to do those other things, but the change is not gonna happen. You can have these great thoughts of like, oh we'll just learn to be nice with one another, but there's a system in place that's telling you not to do those things, and as long as that system exists, things are not gonna change.”

“Whenever there's an opportunity to point out inequities or just get people to think,.

I'm trying to bring that, and that to me is powerful to be able to do that. “ 

“White supremacy is not a thing that is just over on the side here and sometimes pops up. It's everywhere. So we need to look at it that way.”

Mentioned

Podcast : Until The Ice Cream Truck

LinkedIn

https://www.tiktok.com/@glennblocktok

Hudson

Agneshka Girling

Ibram X. Kendi “How To Be an Anti-Racist”

Elizabeth Leiba “I’m Not Yelling: A Black Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Workplace”

[email protected]