About the author: Sarah Hebert is the CEO and creative director at Curious Pixel. She serves on the marketing committee for the Central Exchange’s Women in STEMM initiative and serves on the communications committee for the Women’s Foundation of Greater Kansas City. Hack of the Sexes is a tech contest she recently co-founded that was created to target the engagement of women in technology.
Late last year over lunch, I was complaining about the lack of diversity in tech to Hack of the Sexes co-founder Jason Carrigan. He challenged that we should do something about it. Although our original idea of a boys vs. girls challenge in the tech space sparked a lot of controversy, much of the heat came from people who were opposed to the premise and thought that dividing the sexes is counter-productive and a step backward. We believe that providing a friendly competition where women are challenged to work with other women and compete on the same playing field as men will create a foundation for involvement, not division. We all add unique value to the creation of powerful ideas because of our differences in race, sex, social status, economic standings, etc. Creating a platform where everyone is invited and encouraged to share ideas presents a unique opportunity, but one that we are attempting to address with Hack of the Sexes. Our hope is the combination and promotion of great ideas from both sides will lead to really powerful results.
The value of conflict
There is a growing movement that argues good disagreement is central to progress. Margaret Heffernan discusses this very topic in her TED Talk, “Dare to Disagree.” Collaboration is easy when we are all thinking about the same thing. When you surround yourself with like-minded individuals who act the same way and have the same values people tend to feel productive. But the truth is real progress only occurs in the face of adversity, and adversity only occurs when you invite opposing views into your discussion.
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Diversity and adversity as a driving force for civic innovation
What are the complex challenges facing humanity? Those challenges are different to different people. Knowing and understanding this is the foundation for creating solutions that work for all, not just the vocal majority.
A lot of people believe the biggest problem facing the development of civic innovation is political red tape, lack of technology resources and a shortage of development super “ninja” minds. I disagree. Engaging people—inviting them to be part of the discussion—is one of the biggest challenges facing civic innovation. Often, ideas are generated by vocal thought leaders, who are influenced by peers and whose rhetoric often exists in a perpetual bubble of their own making. To believe that only certain people with certain backgrounds, education and economic status can generate valuable ideas is counterproductive, especially when it pertains to developing practical, open-source technology that solves civic challenges. With Hack of the Sexes, we intend to address this issue by encouraging gender diversity in a meaningful way through the growing technology and entrepreneurship community in our city
So join us on April 26-27 as we attempt to prove that positive discord is central to progress and collaborate through our different backgrounds to develop technology that solves civic challenges. You will have the opportunity to meet new people, sharpen your skills and compete. We will keep your energy high with great food and your motivation high with great prizes.
Credits: Sarah Hebert photo courtesy of Hebert.
