How Math, Science, and Star Trek
Prove the Value of Diversity
slides.com/fmitchell/math-science-diversity
Mental Models
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
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?
This is the definition of bias
No way to "win" or avoid
Perspective
How one looks at a problem
Heuristic
How one searches for a solution
Our team is full of superheroes
Diversity Defined
- Demographic diversity
- Experiential diversity
- Cognitive diversity
Star Trek: Voyager
Captain Janeway
Keep your shirt tucked in; go down with the ship; and never abandon a member of your crew.
Am I open to unorthodoxy?
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
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
Tuvok
On the contrary, the demands on a Vulcan's character are extraordinarily difficult. Do not mistake composure for ease.
What is the logical solution?
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
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
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
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.
How do we evaluate talent?
The Difference
- Scott Page
- Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics
- Published 2007
- bit.ly/scottpage-difference
I want to hire the most qualified
How do you define
most qualified?
Hint: What is your perspective and heuristic?
You must change your perspective to arrive at a new heuristic
Innovation
Consider this...
Seven of Nine
But that is irrelevant.
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
Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem
Mathematical simulation models
http://bit.ly/div-v-ability
Counter
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/20375/
http://www.ams.org/notices/201409/rnoti-p1024.pdf
Counter-Counter
http://bit.ly/1juIvFI
http://www.ams.org/notices/201501/rnoti-p9.pdf
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.
The pipeline problem of talent is actually an incentive problem of industry.
Consider this...
Problem solvers with diverse perspectives may have trouble understanding solutions identified by other agents.
Dr. Scott Page, Professor at Univ. of Michigan
EQ
What if...
Open source could make the world a better place by requiring
equity and emotional intelligence
integral to its interoperability
Mental Models
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
Efficiently collaborate
Develop emotional intelligence
Additional Stories
Thanks for listening
IDIC
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
Symfony World: How Math, Science, and Star Trek Explain Team Diversity
By fmitchell
