Out Of The Clouds
Wesley Faulkner on how community shapes us, inclusion and neurodiversity
In this episode, host of Out of the Clouds Anne Muhlethaler interviews Wesley Faulkner.
Wesley is a first-generation American, public speaker, and podcaster, and he currently works as a Head of Community at SingleStore, co-hosts the developer relations focused podcast Community Pulse and serves on the board for South by Southwest. He is a founding member of the government transparency group Open Austin and a staunch supporter of racial justice, workplace equity and neurodiversity.
A tech enthusiast since his teens, Wesley first trained as an electrical and computer engineer (despite growing up without owning a personal computer himself). He shares the arc of his multipronged career from hardware to software, how being an early adopter of Twitter led him to social media management, and later to ‘dev rel’ (or developer relations).
The two discuss how Wesley navigated his life and career with a late diagnosis of ADHD and dyslexia, and how he became a passionate advocate for neurodiverse populations in the work environment.
His THAT conference keynote, ‘Be like me… different’ was a great starting point to discuss how ‘community shapes us’, in which Wesley offers his perspective on the evolution of the role of social media manager, what to consider to create a community and his vision for the metaverse.
Finally, Wesley offers his thoughts on how organisations can work towards being more inclusive for neurodivergent team members, including by measuring effort, not just success, and encouraging experimentation.
A very passionate, in-depth and honest conversation. Happy listening!
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Selected links from episode
You cand find Wesley on Polywork and on Twitter
On LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesley83/
AMD - https://www.amd.com/en
DevRel - or developer relations - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developer_relations
THAT conference - https://that.us/that-conference/
Wesley's keynote 'Be just like me... different' - https://that.us/activities/f0ByacQCrzrCC5kYNsMo
which you can watch on Youtube - https://youtu.be/YP7RfeX8xnY
The Workology Podcast with Wesley Faulkner - https://www.peatworks.org/podcast-neurodiversity-intersectionality-a-disclosure-challenge/
SMART goals - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria
Priya Parker book - The Art of Gathering
You Can Change Other People book - https://bregmanpartners.com/books/you-can-change-other-people/
The End of Bias book by Jessica Nordell - https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250186188/theendofbiasabeginning
Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU
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If you enjoyed this episode, click subscribe for more, and consider writing a review of the show on Apple Podcasts, we really appreciate your support and feedback. And thank you so much for listening!
For all notes and transcripts, please visit Out Of The Clouds on Simplecast - https://out-of-the-clouds.simplecast.com/
Sign up for Anne's email newsletter for more from Out of the Clouds at https://outoftheclouds.com.
Follow Anne and Out of the Clouds: IG: @_outoftheclouds or @annvi Or on Threads @annvi On Youtube @OutoftheClouds
For more, you can read and subscribe to Anne's Substack, the Mettā View, her weekly dose of insights on coaching, brand development, the future of work, and storytelling, with a hint of mindfulness.
