A session on personal growth, mindfulness of our own biases, and re-invention.
Adam is the Associate Director of Engineering at CivicActions and a prolific contributor to the Drupal project.
George Orwell wrote, “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” We can often be blind to our own predispositions -- those behavioral habits formed over time that we can’t recognize, much less transcend, unless we look at them with new eyes. As for me, I have recognized a tendency to act like a “honey badger.” We have a tireless drive for what we pursue, but this same singularity of focus can come at the expense of social and emotional considerations (sometimes, we just don’t give a ….). This talk helps to share how I have harnessed my inner honey badger to be a better co-worker, community member, family member, and friend.
I will discuss how I became mindful of my honey badger standing driven by my analytical mind, self doubt, and Imposter Syndrome. I learned to see a honey badger through the lens of others and found parallels to topics like “origins of evil”, social vampirism, and toxicity. I discovered how our minds become programmed to see the world with our own biases and I share strategies of how to become more self aware of this. Even honey badgers can evolve to re-invent themselves as balanced, emotionally intelligent, and capable of selectively using our own winning strategies.
Rachel Andrews recently tweeted, “Seems like there is enough miserable stuff happening in the world without us being nasty to folk in our own industry. We can be better.” Let’s explore how we can see our daily interpersonal interactions as an opportunity to be better, even as we struggle with our own inner honey badgers.
Recital Hall