PowerMath: Your guide to sciencing the s**t out of inequity
About a year ago, I began searching for a way to explain who I was and what I wanted my work in the world to contribute to others. After almost a decade working in Silicon Valley and the global tech and venture industries, it was clear that the flawed notion of the "meritocracy" had broken everything. While people wanted change, there was not enough empirical rigor to drive it; weird for an industry obsessed with data. That's where I found my niche.
Enter: The Mathpath
I needed a way to describe my deep and abiding habit of systems thinking, my love of statistics, my tendency to feel just about everything, and my general obsession with justice & equity. It was a search that seemed impossible.
Then, somebody* called me “The Mathpath”.
And at that moment, everything changed.
It resonated. And I felt it in my soul.
I’m a math nerd and an empath. This new phrase didn’t just feel like a word; it was a new direction and a clear path to how my work should interact with the world.
So what do mathpaths do?
We do PowerMath.
What, exactly, is PowerMath?
The answer, perhaps unsatisfyingly, is a paradox. It’s a double entendre meant to evoke both the literal practice of applying math and science to interpersonal and structural power issues and a tongue-in-cheek reference to the absurdity of the existing beliefs, practices, and norms that make our world so profoundly, deeply unfair and unjust.
PowerMath is:
Literal: We can write mathematical equations and derive statistics that describe relationships of power, emotion, experience. We can use these insights to understand the world as it is more deeply and to maximize our likelihood of success for the change we’re bringing.
Practical: While PowerMath relies on the theoretical and philosophical, it prioritizes real improvement for people who bear the brunt of oppressive, exclusive, and/or discriminatory systems.
Candid but irreverent: PowerMath describes difficult concepts and hard truths, but with a bit of humor (or at least fun) to help us understand, heal, and find joy in the work.
PowerMath is a philosophy: it’s a way of looking at the world--and especially the organizations and institutions we interact with--through the lens of structural power analysis, and the practice of making that analysis automatic.
Advanced PowerMath also requires that we adjust how we move through the world towards the behaviors, actions, and decisions that produce fairness and equal opportunity.
So now, a blog.
As an extension of this work, I’m thrilled today to announce the PowerMath blog launch. Ultimately, my goal with PowerMath is to give everyone new frameworks, tools, and ways of thinking that help them design and build a better world and then hold that world accountable for actually changing.
I won’t be publishing on a set cadence, but I’ll be sharing a variety of resources to help you design and run more equitable organizations, including:
Structural analyses (and some strong opinions on the effectiveness) of common diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI) “best practices” and what we should do instead
Mathematical models (who doesn’t love game theory and regressions?) translating core social justice and emotional intelligence concepts for new audiences
Real, compassionate talk for leaders who have benefitted from structural inequity and need support understanding their role in creating change
Advice for underrepresented people to help them navigate the barriers that still get in their way (or what I like to call How to Navigate the White Space)
Musings on macro trends in all areas of talent, equity, bias (algorithmic or otherwise) and the research I’m using to understand them
If that sounds like your kind of thing, I’d love for you to keep in touch here. I promise not to spam or sell your data, and am incredibly excited to start this journey with you.
*It would be entirely unfair if I didn’t mention that that “somebody” was actually the team at iindividual. Their creativity was a crucial part of this journey, for which I’m deeply grateful.
