60 | Inclusive Tech Innovation and Adoption Across Cultures & Communities

The Data Binge

This month, February of 2021, is a very special month for many different communities, February is officially designated as "Black History Month" - an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans, and for recognizing their central role in U.S. History. Originally this special time of year was sponsored by the Association for Study of African American Life and History, as the national Negro History week, chosen in February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln & Fredrick Douglass. In 1976, President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month, calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history”. Since 1976, every American president has followed the February designation of Black History Month and endorsed a specific theme. The theme for 2021, "Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity".

In honor of Black History Month, the content of this podcast through February, will focus on black leadership in technology, and will give more attention to voices that are very seldom elevated.

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Joseph Akoni is a Product Manager at LinkedIn, and joins this LIVE recording of the Data Binge Podcast to discuss how different cultures and communities develop and consume technology. Joseph's first product release as a LinkedIn Product Manager was highlighted in the Wall Street Journal in July of 2020. The profile name pronunciation feature allows for the opportunity of correct pronunciation of names, a critical component in creating an inclusive workplace. If you haven't seen this capability, it allows you to record a 10 second clip of a LinkedIn member recording their name, a brilliant piece of tech changing a very important part of how we relate and communicate to each other as humans - the correct pronunciation of our very names.

Joseph brings with him a collection of product manager and consulting experiences across some very recognizable businesses from Lyft, Intel, and Nvidia, all the way to Ford Motor Company. Joseph's academic achievements include an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, and a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Joseph was also a fellow of the Management Leadership for Tomorrow's MBA Prep program, a non-profit led fellowship focusing on accelerating the career outcomes of African Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Americans. If you are interested in the program or would like to find out more about Management Leadership for Tomorrow, you can find links in the show-notes of this episode.

 

Key Takeaways:

[07:56] Joseph’s Management Leadership for Tomorrow experience, and background on his career trajectory to LinkedIn

[09:49] The LinkedIn profile name pronunciation feature, and the product debut in the Wall Street Journal

[11:04] Joseph’s experience with LinkedIn

[13:53] Careers in product management, and the types of experiences and capabilities that are native to the role

[20:11] The intersection of product and culture

[23:32] Understanding multi-constituent cultures, and how they consume technology

[27:55] Product management trends and changes to expect in 2021

[34:09] The criticality of recruiting for diverse and inclusive talent pools, and how organizations can look at changing their recruiting patterns

[34:52] Joseph’s journey across academics, organizational networks, and creating connections for future opportunities

[39:17] The “lived experience”, and the global perspective needed to capture product adoption at a planetary scale

[43:19] Adopting new perspectives, and how to increase the aperture for perspective across product management and development

[46:55] Future projects

Memorable Quotes:

[15:17] “If you’re in that mental space where you like to build things and improve how people interact with technology, the PM role is ideal.”

[18:02] “Your professional life is not just what you do at work. Your personal, your culture, all that affects how you bring yourself to work.”

[18:41] “Your name is the first thing that refers to you as. It represents who you are or where you came from.”

[40:05] “It is in understanding that you have to dive deep into various cultures and how products resonate with them: how they interact with technology, how they interact with each other outside of technology, to understand the best way to build your product, to ensure that it gets adopted worldwide."

Resources:

Joseph Akoni on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephakoni/

Joseph Akoni Product Management Blog - https://www.thepzeropm.com/

Management Leadership for Tomorrow - https://mlt.org/

Boomerang by Michael Lewis - http://michaellewiswrites.com/#boomerang

LinkedIn Wants to End Pronunciation Gaffes on Names With New Audio Feature - WSJ - https://www.wsj.com/articles/linkedin-wants-to-end-pronunciation-gaffes-on-names-with-new-audio-feature-11594067349

The 5 Top Trends in Product Management to Watch in 2021 - https://www.productplan.com/top-trends-in-product-management/

9 Surprising Stats about Product Management (and What They Actually Mean for You) | airfocus - https://airfocus.com/blog/surprising-product-management-stats/

Why Software is Eating the World - https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world/

Thank you for listening!

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