Jessica Shortall

This talk is part career journey (global and varied and full of surprises), part exploration into where empathy comes from and how to build it, and part praise of the role of data in building surprising bridges among different groups, to create shared goals. A good portion of this talk centers on Jessica’s experience in building the country’s largest state coalition of businesses making the economic case for LGBT non-discrimination – in Texas. But the *how* of that work is what ties in with those themes of empathy and data and facts and bridge-building, in any sphere. While it’s ever-evolving, Jessica gave the first version of this talk as a keynote at SXSW in 2016. It received two standing ovations and an Austin tech reporter called it “one of the best I’ve ever seen at SXSW.”

Jessica has obsessed over this topic for two decades. In trying to do good, most of us rely on the heart to make decisions. But while the heart can drive us to try to change the world, it’s the brain – driven by facts, seeking input and expertise and involvement of those we’re trying to impact, ruthlessly analytical and rigorous – that needs to be in the driver’s seat, if we’re going to do lasting good. This talk pulls from Jessica’s own diverse career as well as from other case studies to illustrate why a rigorous approach matters to doing good, and to prepare the audience for a lifetime of challenging themselves and others to do good well.

In a talk that is thought-provoking, funny, and emotional, Jessica delves into the myriad ways in which our culture reinforces gendered roles in work and caregiving – and how the rules we are expected to follow impact all of us. This isn’t about women and work – it’s about how we tell our children these rules from birth, how we reinforce it to grownups, and how all of that shows up at work. This culture is locking men and women – whether we have children or not – into roles that don’t fit our modern economy or our aspirations. We have to know the problem to find our way out of it, so Jessica shares data, stories, and images from popular culture, and discusses how we, individually and as organizations, can start to find our way out.