Real Matters

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Let's start with the DevTernity software developer conference and its fake female speakers. Did you hear about this one yet? Two women on the event's speaker list turned out to be AI fabrications.

Another event run by the same company, Dev.events, had a mysterious female senior engineer that also appears to be fake. DevTernity's founder Eduards Sizovs tried to explain the conference agenda's lack of diversity as the result of “1000s of events chasing the same small sub-group of female speakers.” It's also possible that a prominent female influencer with whom he's connected (Coding Unicorn) is actually just a hoax, as well.

In the Bubble

A Fortune piece covering the debacle included this reality check: "Women make up 29% of the tech workforce, according to a 2023 report by female technologist advocacy group AnitaB.org, which surveyed workers at 40 US companies." Even if women are still in the minority, there's far more than a small sub-group happening here. I think Sizovs must be talking about the female personas he keeps creating. He’s in his own tech-bro bubble on that.

Not In the Bubble

The good news is that nearly half of the 23 speakers had already canceled their appearances before the conference was canceled — including key players from Amazon, Microsoft, and Atlassian.

Spidey Sense

Other good news: We're getting sensitized to spotting fakes. It’s like a new Spidey sense, an unintended consequence (perhaps) of being subjected to such an onslaught of AI-generated content. It may also be that we really don't like being tricked. There's something about real thinking that you can't actually fake. It's not a matter of I'll have what she's having. Thought leaders, take note.

Don't Stop Thinking Yet

While GenAI may tap into millions of documents to regurgitate information repackaged any way we want it, it can't add to the conversation except by accident. If we still have tech conference organizers and other table-setters concocting fake women rather than inviting real ones, then we still need to do some real thinking. Fake it til you make it does not apply to diversity and inclusion. It just doesn't help.

What Does Work? 3 Ways to Keep It Real:

1. More Talking

Show up for real conversations with real people about real needs. After this year of sinking engagement, quiet quitting, employee pushbacks on return-to-work policies, and other friction points, we need to find ways to be resilient in our businesses and our work cultures.

You can't be resilient if there's no creativity or flexibility in your thought process. You can't close the engagement gap by disengaging as a leader. You can't get others to open up and you shut down and stay silent.

2. Fewer Buzzwords

We're all guilty of using them: circle back, innovative, viral. For a laugh and also a pretty clear caution sign, check out this great FastCompany clip on the annoying buzzwords we'd love to leave behind.

Okay, there's some irony in the fact that one of the words is baked into this newsletter's brand DNA. But maybe it makes this conversation more interesting. There's also something satisfying about seeing a very smart woman in tech complain about the term "girl math." And I hereby promise to stop using "circle back" ever again.

3. Be a Fountain

Inc.'s ever-astute Minda Zetlin riffed off a lesson shared by football boyfriend-of-the-moment Travis Kelce. A coach once told him: "Everyone you meet in this world is either a fountain or a drain." Zetlin pointed out that the Chiefs tight end and his superstar girlfriend Taylor Swift aren't just extremely famous, they're also extremely publicly generous.

Spending more time giving and less time taking may be one of the best things we can do for ourselves, as well. You could wind up experiencing a helper's high, attracting more employees, and improving teamwork in your workforce. On the other hand, you could just fill a speaker's seat by using AI to concoct a fake person. But look how that worked out.

How Do You Keep It Real?

How are you navigating the veil between real and fake these days? How are you keeping it real with your colleagues, your teams, your direct reports? 

I’m hearing concerns about being able to communicate person-to-person in a way that keeps us all feeling human. How are you doing it?  

Let me know by sharing a comment. As always, thanks for contributing to this open conversation. Really!

Best,

—MMB

If you enjoyed this issue of The Buzz, check the #WorkTrends Podcast at TalentCulture, where I talk with leading HR experts, innovators, and practitioners about key issues and opportunities we’re facing in the modern world of work.