How Tech Employees Can Organize for Change (with Lisa Conn and Anne Wootton)

About this episode

The episode discusses how tech employees can organize for change and advocate for a better future in the industry.

When tech is at its best, it is a group of people working together to solve hard problems in a way that makes the world a better place. That goal is what motivated so many folks in Silicon Valley to come here. How then did we cede the microphone to a small number of people who espouse an authoritarian, rich get richer algorithm? How can people working inside tech companies grab the bullhorn away from the authoritarians to describe the world we want to create? How we can take action to advocate for our vision of a better future? One recent manifestation of this is the ⁠ICEout.tech⁠ movement. In this episode, Kim speaks with Lisa Conn, founder of Gatheround and former Meta employee, and Anne Wootton, co-founder of Pop Up Archive and current senior engineering manager at Apple, about why they signed the pledge and what they hope it can accomplish. Kim, Lisa and Anne also discuss more generally ideas for people who are frustrated with the state of affairs at their companies or in tech more broadly, but are not sure where to start and how to find a community of similarly civic-minded people to take action. They discuss ways to host meetups for your like-minded co-workers while still…

People in this episode

Host: Kim Scott

Guests: Lisa Conn, Anne Wootton

Topics covered

• tech industry
• employee advocacy
• organizing for change
• community building
• civic engagement

Keywords

• tech employees
• organize for change
• advocacy
• Silicon Valley
• community
• meetups
• civic-minded

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Meta, Apple, Gatheround, Pop Up Archive, ICEout.tech

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