32: Don Wettrick and Aliya Janjua - Gender Diversity Means Taking Chances

No organization is getting gender equality right all of the time.  That is why we need safe places to talk about the real issues holding us back.  That means taking chances and accepting risk and failure as part of the process.  In this episode, you will learn from two leaders doing just that.   Don Wettrick is an educator and innovation expert.  He thrives on increasing access to innovation for young people today.  He believes in providing more choices through open sourced learning to meet young people where they are at.  Noticing the lack of gender diversity in his classroom, he began an active campaign to bring young women into the innovation and technology spaces to grow and learn.  Through achieving gender balance in his own learning environment, he reflects on his journey, sharing wisdom for all leaders to learn from.  He instills the chance to fail and full transparency to his students, garnering trust and safety for novel ideas to thrive.    Aliya Janjua, senior technology leader, shares her own candid conversation about bias in the workplace.  As a successful woman leader and women's Employee Resource Group (ERG) leader, she steps into hard conversations and utilizes them as tools to promote positive change for herself and her team.  Her fearless passion for more women leaders in tech inspires others to do their best work and take more risks.  Upon recognizing a void of Asian women's stories on podcasts, she took a risk and launched her own "Confessions of Successful Asian Women" podcast.  From Aliya's own battle with overcoming imposter syndrome, we learn what it takes to sit at the table with men and hold our own, and contribute in ways you are an expert in.    Follow Aliyah and her podcast at Confessions of Successful Asian Women https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/confessions-of-successful-asian-women/id1089038606?mt=2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliyajanjua/   Follow Don at http://www.startedupinnovation.com/.    Follow us @nextpivotpoint on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and connect with us 1:1 at www.NextPivotPoint.com.  We post daily about leadership, equality, and career development on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliekratz/.