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Business, Curiosity, Self-awareness 17 May 2013

When Should You Start Following Your Big Dream?

One of the great gifts that comes with the work I do is that people share some big and tender questions with me. I’m always humbled by the experience of hearing them, because it’s such a vulnerable thing to open up and share the stuff we are wrestling with. I received an email recently from [...]

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Business, Fun 10 May 2013

Moms Like Crosswords, and the NYT is ON IT.

Picture of someone playing the NYT Crosswords app on an iPad

Dear New York Times Crosswords marketing team, As an avid NYT Crossword aficionado, you can probably imagine the delight with which I opened your email with the subject line, “Announcing the Mother’s Day Collection.” The thought sequence sparked by that subject line alone went something like this: OMG, imagine if on Mother’s Day, my partner [...]

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Community 9 May 2013

The Rebel Grandma: What my grandmother taught me about sex, love, and loneliness

Photo of a young woman, perched high atop a fence, taken in the early 1940s.

I am Lauren, daughter of Barbara, daughter of Eleanor, daughter of Elsie, daughter of Eleanor, daughter of Jane, daughter of Ann. Years ago, I attended a ceremony to bless a mother-to-be. And the powerful woman who led the ceremony asked us to gather in a circle and introduce ourselves with our matrilineal heritage. She is [...]

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Technology, Values 1 May 2013

Fitter, Happier, More Productive: How Tech Can Help Us Be & Do Better

Photo of a BMX bike rider performing a trick in mid-air

Last night, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Vancouver User Experience group (AKA VanUE). The theme was “Inspiration,” so I decided to focus on something that’s preoccupied me for my entire career in tech, which is how we can bring our best selves to technology, and use technology in ways that help us [...]

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Business, Technology, Values 16 Apr 2013

What Men (and Everyone, Really) Can Do To Support Gender Equity in Tech

Architectural photo of a glass walkway between buildings

A thoughtful reader recently asked about the role of male allies in solving the gender imbalance in the tech industry: As a guy in the tech industry, I honestly don’t know how to fix most of the issues… I do want to help, but like many other guys I don’t know the best way to [...]

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Business, Values 9 Apr 2013

Diversity Messes With Your Culture… And That’s a Good Thing

Photo of birds perched atop a street lamp - ten facing away and one facing the camera

One of the real challenges of diversifying your team is that – at the risk of stating the obvious – your workplace is going to feel different, because it will include more difference. And that’s not always a comfortable feeling. I see small companies struggle with this all the time. For a small team, every [...]

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