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As well as her role at the Chicago-based software development organisation and business consultancy Thoughtworks, Newcastle native Ruth Harrison is a prominent member of several organisations. She’s the UK Chair, Corporate Boards at the Women Economic Forum, for example. An industry advisor at Newcastle College. A member of the CBI Council.
Having spoken with Ruth, there’s a clear link between these otherwise disparate roles: the importance of education. The need to help train people from all walks of life how to code, regardless of their age or social background. The need to educate some organisations on the huge potential benefits of investing in the northeast of England as a growing technology hub.
And the need for technologists to help educate clients and broader society on the best ways to use generative AI. As well as what other disruptive technologies the future will bring.
When Ruth agreed to sit down with us, I was curious to delve more into her career. How did someone with such a stellar track record working 30 years for leading retailers such as Selfridges, Coach, and Estee Lauder end up involved in a tech services firm like Thoughtworks?
At the forefront of technological innovation
Her answer again had a lot to do with education – in this case educating herself about how technology was transforming the world of retail: “I became frustrated that retail wasn’t keeping up with the changes in technology as I could see them,” she explains. “I knew technology was the disrupter and that new technology was the answer, but I wasn’t sufficiently steeped in it to understand how to solve the problem. So I thought I need to be at the centre of what’s going on.”
At the same time, it turned out Thoughtworks had been looking to establish a vertical retail practice.
“With their tech excellence and my retail experience it was a great partnership – a great opportunity to bring the two areas of knowledge together.”
“Clients expect consultancy firms to have a deep understanding of their business… and to collaborate with them to help solve those problems using technology as an enabler.”
Ruth joined Thoughtworks to establish this retail practice. In the following eight years she’s gone on to work on establishing and formalising more verticals, including financial services, energy, health, pharma, life sciences, and public sector.
“I work very closely with our technologists to understand the new and emerging technologies that are coming through. My team and I work with Thoughtworks’ subject matter experts in industry to understand the implications of that technology,” she says, “because clients expect consultancy firms to have a deep understanding of their business, their pain points, the problems that they’re experiencing and to collaborate with them to help solve those problems using technology as an enabler.”
She describes her eight years at Thoughtworks as, “a tremendously fast learning curve for me to learn a new industry, but to also bring to the relationships 30 years of business knowledge, how executives think, and how executives need information presented to them and to digest that.”
She adds: “I would describe my role as being the conduit between technology and the outside world, positioning it into a narrative that business leaders understand to make it digestible and to really give them the information in a way that’s helpful.”
What’s working in D&I – and what isn’t
With this in mind, it’s no wonder Ruth describes herself on LinkedIn as a “super connector”. Of course, another thing she describes herself as is an “Equality Champion”. She’s also a member of Thoughtworks’ Global DE&I Steering Group. In 2019, she founded Limitless, a forum for women executives to network and collaborate. Today Limitless has 400 members in the UK, its ambition “to support Women in Leadership: Empowering, Enlightening and Enabling Executive Women Everywhere.”
“The organisations that drop some activities that support DEI – I think they’ll be at risk going forward.”
I asked her what she thinks about the current state of diversity and inclusion in the world of business and technology. She pauses, hesitant at first to commit herself, although you do get the feeling that she’s disappointed with recent progress.
“Any positive action has to be welcomed,” she says, “but when organisations have challenging economic times, some initiatives get dropped. The organisations that drop some activities that support DEI – and climate change, etc. – I think they’ll be at risk going forward.”
Ruth believes strongly that today’s employees want to work for companies with a sense of purpose, and increasingly that means working towards greater diversity and inclusion. When I ask her what she sees working to make D&I a reality, she answers right away: “What have I seen working? There has to be a very strong commitment from senior leadership. Not just some verbalised loose comments; you have to see senior leaders really commit to being allies and advocates.”
She adds that, while she sees many organisations measuring and celebrating success in increasing the diversity of their recruitment, “go back a year later and look at retention. Are those people hanging around and staying in your business? Do they feel a sense of belonging? How many stay? I think that is really, really critical.”
How do we improve access to careers in technology?
One issue with the relative lack of women in technology – Ruth cites the estimate that, globally, around 90% of technologists are men – is that “today’s technology is being built with an unconscious bias whether we like it or not.”
She gives the example of using artificial intelligence (AI) for recruitment and selection, something which could end up being prejudicial against groups that don’t share the same characteristics of most technologists. For her, increasing diversity in the tech sector must be more intentional.
“We’ve seen actions recently around removing names, removing titles, even removing pronouns to anonymise resumes or CVs. These actions move in the right direction. But I think until we change the human psyche to really be accommodating and embrace proper equity across genders, we’re not going to move the dial.”
“Empathy, collaboration, and the ability to understand someone’s sensibilities are critical skills in the workplace – now more than ever.”
Perhaps more pertinently, Ruth believes so-called “soft skills” are too often undervalued. That even calling such skills “soft” is to see them as less valuable than the technical skills, accreditations, and qualifications that have been traditionally given more weight when recruiting employees.
“As we come out of Covid, that’s a narrative we need to change. I’m not sure we should have it as hard and soft anymore. Empathy, collaboration, and the ability to understand someone’s sensibilities are critical skills in the workplace – and perhaps more so now than ever they were before.”
So, how do we solve the thorny issue of getting more girls to study STEM subjects? For Ruth, this is where the diversity question goes a lot broader than just gender: “One of the things I do have a very strong point of view on is that most technology companies tend to employ a graduate workforce, and even that in itself is discriminatory,” she says. “I think we have to be very mindful that there are tremendous skills and life experiences across a broader social demographic, and we’re missing bringing that into the workforce.”
“I’ve been working with a local college to develop a coding course available to everybody… to encourage a higher proportion of people in the technology sector who come from more working-class backgrounds.”
For her, the answer is to widen access to quality training: “In a personal capacity, I’ve been working with a local college here in the northeast to develop a coding course available to everybody. I’m exploring ways to get it funded, and at the moment it’s available to any age, any background, any gender as a paid course at the college. That really is to encourage a higher proportion of people into the technology sector who come from more diverse backgrounds.”
This is one reason why Ruth sees the northeast of England as an emerging tech hub: “I was really fortunate to open an office for Thoughtworks in Newcastle two years ago, because we did see the potential. Not only are there great universities, but also colleges, and there’s a lot of organisations that are really seeking to try and make coding much more accessible and not exclusive.”
She adds that the technology ecosystem in the region is very close and connected. Along with Thoughtworks, other significant scale-ups have been choosing the area as their UK or European hubs in recent years and months, helping to cement its position – “because of the connected ecosystem, because of the pipeline of talent, and because it’s got a great quality of life.”
The responsibility to educate and inform the public
When talking about AI, Ruth is once again impassioned about the importance of education: “At the moment there’s a great buzz about AI and people asking is this the beginning of the end of humanity? No, I don’t think it is, but I do think technology consultancies have a responsibility to inform the public as well as our clients about the pros and cons of new and emerging technologies.”
For Ruth, this is about taking away the fear of new technology: “The fear in society is understandable because we fear what we don’t know. And actually technology does have the answers. It does know. And you know, we have a responsibility to inform correctly and dispel the hype. To present a very clear message, explain where there will likely be changes and why those changes will occur and how that could help.”
For example: “With generative AI, the reality is that some jobs will change and new jobs will emerge. I think we have to take away the fear and just start managing the narrative in a very grown up and sensible way.”
“We believe new and emerging business opportunities will be created, initially by incorporating AI into clients’ existing data strategies to create value. This disruption will happen quite quickly, probably within the next 12 months.”
At the same time, Ruth emphasises that there are always plenty of unknowns when it comes to new and emerging technology.
“Every time there’s a new technology, more disruptors come onto the scene. Blockchain created a lot of disruption and startups. AI will undoubtedly do the same – and that’s the exciting part of our industry. We believe new and emerging business opportunities will be created, initially by incorporating AI into clients’ existing data strategies to create value. This disruption will happen quite quickly, probably within the next 12 months.”
AI’s impact on Thoughtworks’ clients
Where does Ruth see AI having a genuine impact on the verticals of Thoughtworks’ clients in what continues to be a difficult market? As Ruth sees it, companies are looking to technology to help stimulate growth:
“Most mature economies have flatlined and I think that’s just recognised. Technology can and will continue to help and one of the things that we’re seeing is our clients still want to develop and invest in their digital transformation strategies. They now want to understand how to incorporate AI into those strategies.”
“I think we’re going to come through 2023 understanding where AI can really add value and where we can work with clients to accelerate that.”
The result of this growth focus is that companies are asking where AI can provide genuine value and where it’s relevant to them: “I think we’re going to come through 2023 understanding where AI can really add value and where we can work with clients to accelerate that and where we can have cautionary conversations to say this may not be the technology you need to deploy.”
In the end, as well as accelerating technology strategies, companies will probably benefit most from deploying AI to deal with repetitive work and free up the more creative time for employees:
“I saw that Reuters news agency is embracing AI and looking at how it can enrich its industry. Now you can think, surely journalism as an industry will be disrupted by AI? But they actually want to take away mundane tasks for journalists and free up time for creative writing and research. And isn’t that the exciting part of anyone’s job?”
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