
Empathy in Tech
Empathy is transforming technology in surprising ways. Join hosts Andrea Goulet and Ray Myers as they discuss industry trends, cutting-edge research, practical skills, and ethical explorations around empathy in tech.
Latest episodes

Oct 16, 2024 • 37min
Designing Brave New Organizations With Amy J Wilson
Amy J Wilson, founder of The Empathy Action Lab, shares her quest to build brave new organizations by centering worker voice and changing our relationship with change.LINKS Amy's website Amy's LinkedIn Amy's Book "Empathy For Change" "New Power" by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms "Power Over vs Power With" and Mary Parker Follett Buddhist Impermanence "God is change" - Octavia Butler quoteHOSTS Andrea Goulet LinkedIn | andreagoulet.com Ray Myers LinkedIn | Craft vs Cruft on YouTubeABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech is on a mission to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry by: Closing the empathy skills gap by treating empathy as a technical skill. Teaching technical empathy through accessible, affordable, actionable training. Building community and breaking down harmful stereotypes and tropes. Promoting technical empathy for ethics, equity, and social justice.Learn more at empathyintech.com

Oct 2, 2024 • 34min
They Called Me a Turnip! With Jeremy Adamson
Jeremy Adamson, author of Geeks With Empathy, shares his journey learning the value of human connection in workplace and how it shapes his approach to business strategy.LINKS Jeremy's website Geeks With Empathy book Jeremy's LinkedInHOSTS Andrea Goulet LinkedIn | andreagoulet.com Ray Myers LinkedIn | Craft vs Cruft on YouTubeABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech is on a mission to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry by: Closing the empathy skills gap by treating empathy as a technical skill. Teaching technical empathy through accessible, affordable, actionable training. Building community and breaking down harmful stereotypes and tropes. Promoting technical empathy for ethics, equity, and social justice.Learn more at empathyintech.com

Sep 12, 2024 • 37min
AI Meets The Enterprise with John Willis
DevOps pioneer John Willis talks about his journey through decades of changes in the IT industry, the rise of Artificial Intelligence, and the people behind it.LINKS John's LinkedIn John's books Deming's 14 Points / video AI Model Collapse (Nature article) Goldratt's Theory of Constraints DevOps (wikipedia)HOSTS Andrea Goulet LinkedIn | andreagoulet.com Ray Myers LinkedIn | Mender.AIABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech is on a mission to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry by: Closing the empathy skills gap by treating empathy as a technical skill. Teaching technical empathy through accessible, affordable, actionable training. Building community and breaking down harmful stereotypes and tropes. Promoting technical empathy for ethics, equity, and social justice.Learn more at empathyintech.com

Sep 4, 2024 • 46min
Who is "The Business"?
What do we mean when we talk about what "The Business" wants? Aren't we part of the business? If not us then who? Andrea and Ray discuss the tension between roles, and the alienation experienced from both sides.LINKS Dr. Nick Morgan (communications coach) Paper: “A grounded theory of coordination in remote-first and hybrid software teams” by Ronnie de Souza Santos and Paul Ralph How Empathy Drove Grace Hopper's Software Development by Andrea Goulet ACL2: A Computational Logic for Applicative Common LispHOSTS Andrea Goulet LinkedIn | andreagoulet.com Ray Myers LinkedIn | Mender.AIABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech is on a mission to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry by: Closing the empathy skills gap by treating empathy as a technical skill. Teaching technical empathy through accessible, affordable, actionable training. Building community and breaking down harmful stereotypes and tropes. Promoting technical empathy for ethics, equity, and social justice.Learn more at empathyintech.com

Aug 28, 2024 • 29min
Are GUIs Anti-Social?
Does accessibility put up it's own kind of wall? Andrea and Ray discuss how GUIs are arguably more AND less "social" than alternatives such as textual interfaces like scripting.LINKS CoRecursive Episode "Navigating Corporate Giants" - Jeffrey Snover and the Making of PowerShell PowerShell Bret Victor Bret Victor talk: Inventing on Principle HyperCard Archaic Windows version saves the day during CrowdStrike outage "Expect it most when you expect it least" - Lorin Hochstein on CroudStrike OutageErrata: The rumor of South West airlines using Windows 3.1 is likely an exaggeration, see the link above for up-to-date reporting.HOSTS Andrea Goulet LinkedIn | andreagoulet.com Ray Myers LinkedIn | Mender.AIABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech is on a mission to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry by: Closing the empathy skills gap by treating empathy as a technical skill. Teaching technical empathy through accessible, affordable, actionable training. Building community and breaking down harmful stereotypes and tropes. Promoting technical empathy for ethics, equity, and social justice.Learn more at empathyintech.com

Aug 22, 2024 • 31min
Empathy and Organizational Effectiveness with Belle Walker
Belle Walker, owner of Belleview Consulting and bestselling author, discusses the transformative power of empathy in organizations. She emphasizes the importance of human-centric models for enhancing engagement and efficiency. The conversation dives into systems engineering, using spacecraft as a metaphor to address complexity in organizational dynamics. Walker highlights empathy-driven problem-solving techniques, like the five whys and systems thinking, advocating for inclusive leadership as a key to optimizing performance and fostering a collaborative atmosphere.

Aug 14, 2024 • 33min
Building Inclusive Cultures with Minette Norman
Minette Norman is an award-winning author, speaker, and leadership consultant who previously spent decades leading global technical teams in the Silicon Valley software industry.Her most recent position before starting her consultancy was as Vice President of Engineering Practice at Autodesk. Responsible for influencing more than 3,500 engineers around the globe, she focused on state-of-the-art engineering practices while nurturing a collaborative and inclusive culture.As the author of The Boldly Inclusive Leader and the co-author of The Psychological Safety Playbook, Minette is committed to helping leaders unleash the full potential of the people in their organizations.Named in 2017 as one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” by the San Francisco Business Times and as “Business Role Model of the Year” in the 2018 Women in IT/Silicon Valley Awards, Minette is a recognized leader with a unique perspective.REFERENCES minettenorman.com Minette's LinkedIn Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer JohnsonABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech’s mission is to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry to help humanity solve our most pressing and complex problems. We do this by focusing on three key areas: Technical Empathy - Close the empathy skills gap in the tech industry by leading a scientific revolution that embraces new research. Ethical Empathy - Ensure empathy is used for social good through ethical, equitable, and responsible choices. Actionable Empathy - Build a thriving community that makes effective empathy training accessible, affordable, and widely available.Learn more at empathyintech.com

Aug 7, 2024 • 35min
Star Trek and Empathy Stereotypes
Andrea and Ray explore perspectives of empathy in the pop psyche through the portrayals of characters Deanna Troi and Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation!LINKS Jamil Zaki on the Roddenberry Hypothesis SWE-Agent paper reading on NopilotHOSTS Andrea Goulet LinkedIn | andreagoulet.com Ray Myers LinkedIn | Mender.AIABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech’s mission is to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry to help humanity solve our most pressing and complex problems. We do this by focusing on three key areas: Technical Empathy - Close the empathy skills gap in the tech industry by leading a scientific revolution that embraces new research. Ethical Empathy - Ensure empathy is used for social good through ethical, equitable, and responsible choices. Actionable Empathy - Build a thriving community that makes effective empathy training accessible, affordable, and widely available.Learn more at empathyintech.com

Aug 1, 2024 • 38min
Overcoming Isolation at Work with Nethra Samarawickrema
Nethra Samarawickrema is a career and executive coach who helps people align their work with their values. She supports her clients in making career transitions and writing their own scripts to actualize lives that express who they are. Her work is grounded in empathy and she coaches entrepreneurs, engineers, academics, writers, artists, and startup co-founders to listen to their needs and actualize their full potential. She also works with organizations, combining insights from Anthropology, Design Thinking, and Nonviolent Communication to train teams in transforming their communication to enhance their collaboration. She has a PhD in Anthropology from Stanford University and has taught at the Stanford d.School.References: Upcoming Event: Empathy at Work: Transforming Workplace Communication, Tuesday, September 10 Work with Nethra: workwithnethra.com Nethra's LinkedIn Set Boundaries Find Peace by Nedra TawwabABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech’s mission is to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry to help humanity solve our most pressing and complex problems. We do this by focusing on three key areas: Technical Empathy - Close the empathy skills gap in the tech industry by leading a scientific revolution that embraces new research. Ethical Empathy - Ensure empathy is used for social good through ethical, equitable, and responsible choices. Actionable Empathy - Build a thriving community that makes effective empathy training accessible, affordable, and widely available.Learn more at empathyintech.com

Jul 23, 2024 • 31min
AI Ethics with Madison Mohns
Madison Mohns is an AI product manager at Indeed.com who specializes in developing deep learning approaches to enhance metadata generation for candidate job matching in 19 global markets. A passionate advocate for AI ethics, she takes an optimistic yet conscientious approach to the use of AI solutions. Her expert-in-the-loop approach to scaling taxonomy coverage was recognized and featured in a published paper at RecSys Conference 2022. She manages a team of more than 120 taxonomists, data scientists and engineers, and has pioneered her team's ability to drive innovation by augmenting her teams' work with AI solutions.Madison is currently pursuing a master's degree in AI Ethics and Society at The University of Cambridge. Her research interests center around the intersection of AI and the future of work, a topic she has elucidated upon in a thought-provoking TED talk aimed at guiding managers through the complexities of workforce transformation in the era of AI. Madison's Ted Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/madison_mohns_ai_and_the_paradox_of_self_replacing_workers?subtitle=en Madison's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-mohnsABOUT EMPATHY IN TECHEmpathy in Tech’s mission is to accelerate the responsible adoption of empathy in the tech industry to help humanity solve our most pressing and complex problems. We do this by focusing on three key areas: Technical Empathy - Close the empathy skills gap in the tech industry by leading a scientific revolution that embraces new research. Ethical Empathy - Ensure empathy is used for social good through ethical, equitable, and responsible choices. Actionable Empathy - Build a thriving community that makes effective empathy training accessible, affordable, and widely available.Learn more at https://empathyintech.com