Engineering Inclusivity with Rich Archbold

How do we build inclusive organizations that actually value diversity? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus talks with Rich Archbold, vice president of engineering at Intercom.io, about developing an inclusion and diversity plan for his company. According to Archbold, organizations must learn to be inclusive of the people they already have before they can become diverse. He says that this responsibility falls largely on managers, who are the most important factor in an employee's growth and development. Creating and implementing a plan will create a stronger, more creative organization. Failure to act fosters a culture of unconscious bias that results in the loss of talent.

Show Notes

• What Rich has been learning about diversity and inclusion in engineering teams (1:22)
• Why diversity isn’t enough (3:33)
• The shifting power dynamic between employers and prospective employees (7:05)
• Rich’s 4 Pillars of Inclusivity (9:24)
• An organization can only become diverse after it has become inclusive (12:10)
• Managers are the most important factor in an employee’s growth and development   (16:41)
• The “why” and “how” of D&I strategies (19:27)
• D&I consultants lend credibility and a skilled eye to your organization (24:20)
• How to tell if your long-term D&I plan is working (26:05)
• How likability bias affects our judgment (33:41)

Links:

• Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
• Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg 
• Rich Archibold on Medium
• Rich Archibold on Intercom.io’s blog 
• O’Reilly Infrastructure & Ops Conference: http://oreilly.com/infraops/blankenship