How Math, Science, and Star Trek
Prove the Value of Diversity
@fredricmitchell
slides.com/fmitchell/math-science-diversity/live
Mental Models
@fredricmitchell
Inversion
Prove me wrong vs. What am I missing?
Circle of Competence
Being right vs. Being successful
- Diversity is a fact
- Inclusion is a practice
- Equity is a goal
@fredricmitchell
Neutral
Growth
Inertia
Integration
Segregation
Privilege
Oppression
Let's play a game...
A young woman was 3 years old
when she started to read books.
<2.5
2.5 - 3.5
3.6+
What is her college GPA?
@fredricmitchell
This is the definition of bias
No way to "win" or avoid
@fredricmitchell
Perspective
How one looks at a problem
@fredricmitchell
Heuristic
How one searches for a solution
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
Our team is full of superheroes
Diversity Defined
- Demographic diversity
- Experiential diversity
- Cognitive diversity
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
Star Trek: Voyager
@fredricmitchell
Captain Janeway
@fredricmitchell
Keep your shirt tucked in; go down with the ship; and never abandon a member of your crew.
@fredricmitchell
Am I open to unorthodoxy?
@fredricmitchell
IQ
- Intelligence Quotient
- Ability to learn, not what you know
- Doesn't change much after childhood
EQ
- Emotional quotient
- Ability to recognize one's own emotions and others
- Changes over time
@fredricmitchell
Emotional Intelligence of Groups
- Source (HBR): bit.ly/ei-hbr-2001
- Teams who develop greater emotional intelligence (EQ) boost their overall performance
- EQ: Trust among members, a sense of group identity, and a sense of group efficacy
- At the heart of these three conditions are emotions, like the ability to listen
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
Tuvok
On the contrary, the demands on a Vulcan's character are extraordinarily difficult. Do not mistake composure for ease.
@fredricmitchell
What is the logical solution?
@fredricmitchell
What do you hear about great groups? Not that the members are all really smart, but that they listen to each other.
Anita Wooley, Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon
@fredricmitchell
Women Are Key to Smart Teams
- Published in HBR 2011: bit.ly/women-hbr-2011
- High correlation between number of women in the group and high collective intelligence
- Carnegie Mellon and MIT
- Group satisfaction
- Group cohesion
- Group motivation
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
Why do diverse teams outperform?
-
Teams focus on facts
- Alter the behavior of a group’s social majority
- Facts processed more carefully
-
More innovation
- Dodge the costly pitfalls of conformity, which discourage innovative thinking
@fredricmitchell
Bold Statement #1
@fredricmitchell
No such thing as common sense
@fredricmitchell
B’Elanna Torres
If I sprain my ankle, at least I feel something […] I'm not trying to kill myself! I'm trying to see if I'm still alive.
@fredricmitchell
How am I evaluating talent?
@fredricmitchell
The Difference
- Scott Page
- Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics
- Published 2007
- bit.ly/scottpage-difference
@fredricmitchell
I want to hire the most qualified
@fredricmitchell
How do you define
most qualified?
@fredricmitchell
Hint: What is your perspective and heuristic?
You must change your perspective to arrive at a new heuristic
Innovation
@fredricmitchell
Bold Statement #2
"Innovation"
- Ambien - Women are tiny men
- Apple HealthKit - No period tracking
- Harvard - Lauded admission practices
- Pockets
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
Seven of Nine
But that is irrelevant.
@fredricmitchell
What makes someone care?
- Vanity
- Virtue
- Fear
- Profit
@fredricmitchell
Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem
Conditions
- The problem must be hard
- Each solver has a local optima to the problem
- An improvement can be made to a non-optimal solution
- Large pool of solvers to form a decent-size collection
@fredricmitchell
Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem
Mathematical simulation models
http://bit.ly/div-v-ability
@fredricmitchell
Counter
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/20375/
http://www.ams.org/notices/201409/rnoti-p1024.pdf
@fredricmitchell
Counter-Counter
http://bit.ly/1juIvFI
http://www.ams.org/notices/201501/rnoti-p9.pdf
@fredricmitchell
What the model tells us
Think of people as collections of tools
Ability is a reflection of the applicability of those tools to a given set of problems.
@fredricmitchell
The pipeline problem of talent is actually an incentive problem of industry.
@fredricmitchell
Bold Statement #3
Problem solvers with diverse perspectives may have trouble understanding solutions identified by other agents.
Dr. Scott Page, Professor at Univ. of Michigan
@fredricmitchell
@fredricmitchell
EQ
@fredricmitchell
Hypothesis
Open source will make the world a better place by requiring
equity and emotional intelligence
integral to its interoperability.
@fredricmitchell
How to grow?
@fredricmitchell
Mental Models
@fredricmitchell
Inversion
Prove me wrong vs. What am I missing?
Circle of Competence
Being right vs. Being successful
In Conclusion...
Solve difficult problems
Ability - people with lots of tools
Diversity - people with distinct tools
@fredricmitchell
Efficiently collaborate
Develop emotional intelligence
Additional Stories
@fredricmitchell
Thanks for listening
IDIC
@fredricmitchell
slides.com/fmitchell/math-science-diversity
Sources
Groups are smarter with women - http://hbr.org/2011/06/defend-your-research-what-makes-a-team-smarter-more-women/ar/1
EQ (HBR link) - http://www.mindsetmatters.com.au/Portals/0/dox/building%20emotional%20intelligence%20of%20groups.pdf
Group Intelligence Correlates More with Social Aptitude than IQ - http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/10/collective-intelligence-and-th/
Being an Ally as a Person with Privilege - http://www.scn.org/friends/ally.html
Risk of Speaking Up - http://www.ashedryden.com/the-risk-in-speaking-up
21st Century Talent Spotting: Potential Trumps Brains, experience, and competencies - http://www.egonzehnder.com/files/_b_77ddd4d.pdf
Mathematical Model of Diversity - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/science/08conv.html
Scott Page: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Schools, Societies - http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~spage/thedifference_content.html
Diversity Trumps Ability - http://www.crowdsourcing.com/cs/2008/05/chapter-6-the-m.html
Scott Page, Lu Hong Research - http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.full
http://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/now-voyager-the-least-beloved-star-trek-offered-some-of-the-franchises-strongest-feminist-messages
http://www.startrek.com/page/star-trek-voyager
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/20375/
https://www.knightfoundation.org/articles/having-uncomfortable-conversations-a-new-communications-imperative
@fredricmitchell