Elissa Shevinsky...Lean Out

Seeing the Lean

Our guest on today’s Popping the Bubbl is Elissa Shevinsky. Elissa from the jump, has been creating, founding, leading, and influencing people in the tech world.

She’s the author of “Lean Out,” a collection of essays that chronicle the experiences of women, LGBTQ folks, and people of color in the start-up world. In contrast to Sheryl Sandberg's widely read Lean In, Elissa’s main message is not that women (and other groups) need to change their behavior, but rather it is the companies themselves that must change and reach these groups that are leaning out because of marginalization.

FastCompany article, “As former Google employee Jamesha Fisher told Fast Company, when she landed in the Bay Area, she became aware of a systematic stigmatism for being both black and female, which made her feel like "the odd egg." She had to work to develop a support circle of peers and mentors, in part through social media, so she could feel more a part of a community.”

“Brogrammer” culture.

In the micro, Elissa’s evocative personal vignettes about her own experiences are shocking. The disregard for her talents, the targeted bullying, these barriers that exist belie our expectations of companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook.

From my view on the edges of the industry (I live in the SF Bay and have consulted with dozens of local tech based clients) my impression was that start-ups and tech giants were leading the way, with some exceptions, in terms of including diversity groups—I was wrong.

One of the baseline tools I bring clients is to re-orient with other perspectives in mind. If the perspective of your target/partner/customer would improve how you approach your objective, it’s critical to obtain and accept their perception to open collaboration.

Recognizing another’s perception isn’t agreeing with it. I don’t agree with a lot of things I experience, but I do accept that someone else’s reality was formed in a different environment; and that matters in ways that create wonderful opportunities.  

In a recent interview with Rob Bell we discussed “the furniture of the mind.” If we run through someone’s “mind room,” blindfolded and unaware of their furniture, we disrupt or ignore their world. Leaving them to wonder what they are supposed to do to prevent our chaotic influence...then, they put their room back just as it was, and then begin to lean outside the organization.

Our institutional and personal cultural perceptions tend to revert back to a comfortable setting similar to a compass—in the case of the Silicon Valley, the archetype of Brogrammer with Mark Zuckerberg as its poster boy or “white male nerd” is celebrated and actively sought out by Angels and VC’s.

The trick is realizing you are stuck on magnetic north when you intend to work off of true north. The hard work comes in actually improving the culture of an organization. That improvement requires discomfort, mistakes, patience and a guide.

Illustrating this, Elissa’s stories exposed my own dis-perception of diversity. I realized my experience was shallow and white male (hi, I’m a white dude) based…and dismissive of other experiences; and I know better.

She talked to us about Squinky. I had no idea who or what a Squinky was, I immediately judged simply based on the name. That position, is completely wrong, dismissive and unfair to Squinky. Elissa afforded me the chance to see the “lean” and evolve. I’m thankful to Elissa for coming on Popping the Bubbl, and for her wonderful book.

Notes:

Elissa is a passionate advocate and recruiter at Kearney, Boyle and Associates delivering underrepresented candidates to companies looking bring diversity to their workforces.  Elissa is available and excited to give talks on her book, if you are interested in booking her, please reach out to her agent Melissa Broadway.

In this episode I mention Anthony Iannarino, who writes “The Sales Blog.”