Civic News

Highlights from #MILLSUMMIT’s leadership-focused first day

One lesson: Inclusive teams may be uncomfortable sometimes. Create them anyway.

Zack Jones, Margaret Arzón, Cierra Hall and Sebastian Little on a #MILLSUMMIT 2019 leadership panel. (Photo by Holly Quinn)

Leadership was the theme of day one of the 2019 Millennial Summit, which took over the Chase Center on the Riverfront on Tuesday with more than a dozen panels, high-profile keynotes and a room full of exhibitors.

Here’s a combo of our top takeaways, plus favorite #MILLSUMMIT tweets to help fill the gaps:

1. The definition of inclusivity is broader than you might think.

Twinkle Borge, leader of Pu’Uhonua O Wai’anae (POW), a self-governed village of people living unhoused (Borge doesn’t use the word “homeless”) in Hawaii, and a keynote speaker, said communities should build relationships with its members who don’t have houses.

2. Inclusive teams may be uncomfortable sometimes.

Create them anyway, because, as Mike Wisler, CIO of M&T Bank said during the “Diversity as a Business Imperative” panel, “disagreement is not optional.”

https://twitter.com/NatalieHines1/status/1158872378115534848?s=20

3. Take risks, choose your fear.

Kechi Okwuchi — a burn victim advocate who survived a plane crash, immense personal loss and the trauma of body-transforming injuries — talked in her powerful keynote about accepting that fear will always be there, but doesn’t have to hold you back. Since the accident, she went on to become a finalist on “America’s Got Talent.”

4. Action (even if it’s small) begets action.

The panel “The First Person You Must Lead is You” brought together leaders in the area innovative leadership. Zack Jones, director of Dual School, talked about teaching people to start something, “so they can go on and start more things.”

5. Education equity starts with listening to students.

In the fishbowl talk on “Education Equity and Adequacy,” administrators and educators were “tapped out” and replaced by students, who shared their own stories of firsthand experiences in today’s high school classrooms.

Do you have a #MILLSUMMIT takeaway that we missed? Reach out to us on Twitter.

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

19 tech and entrepreneurship events to check out before the holidays

EDA officials are ‘hopeful’ Tech Hubs program will live on under Trump

AI is being used in more and more of the hiring process, especially at high-volume companies

This Week in Jobs: 27 hot open roles to warm up a frosty career

Technically Media