William A. Adams is a software engineering trailblazer, award-winning DEI innovator, and philanthropist. William has over 35 years of tech experience, most of which has been spent with Microsoft. He's been a big believer in intrapreneurship and exploring passion projects within a company, one of which was launching the LEAP diversity apprenticeship program at Microsoft. Outside of day job, William is dedicated to lifting up minority communities through technology via his non-profits The EV3NT and Cruzan Global. Listen to hear more about William’s incredible career and how he’s making major changes in the tech industry.
William A. Adams is a software engineering trailblazer, award-winning DEI innovator, and philanthropist. William has over 35 years of tech experience and has spent most of his career at Microsoft. Since starting in 1995, he’s been a big believer in being an intrapreneur and exploring passion projects within a company.
One example of his intrapreneurship in action was in 2015 when he co-founded the LEAP apprenticeship program at Microsoft. LEAP matches tech talent in coding academies and other non-collegiate programs with training opportunities at Microsoft. LEAP was named Microsoft's D&I Program of the Year in 2020 and 98% of the program participants have jobs in Microsoft or other high-tech companies.
Outside of Microsoft, William is dedicated to lifting up minority communities through technology. He coined the term ‘techquity’ and educates folks who are typically disadvantaged when it comes to building generational wealth on investing in tech. He’s the founder of The EV3NT, a collaborative, community-based hackathon designed to solve real-world civic, social, and environmental problems. William is also the driving force behind Microsoft’s new push into the U.S. Virgin Island and founder of Cruzan Global, a non-profit that provides seed funding and resources to tech startups that are founded in and benefit the Caribbean region.
Listen to today’s episode to hear more about William’s incredible career and how he’s making major changes in the tech industry.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Simplecast, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Topics Covered:
About our guest:
Special Offers:
Follow Us:
[00:00:00] Anne O'Neil: Hey, hey GB. LERs welcome to get busy living a podcast that brings inspiring people together to discover what ignites them to be bigger than themselves. I'm your host Ann O'Neil. And today I'm joined by one of the most decorated leaders in the technology industry, William A. Adams. He is a software engineering trailblazer, an award winning diversity equity and inclusion innovator, and a multi endeavor.
[00:00:32] For the philanthropist. William is one of the first black entrepreneurs in Silicon valley where he founded his company animation and created mission critical applications for one of Steve Jobs's computer companies called next. He has even featured in the computer history museum in mountain view, California, where his contributions to the tech field are in their permanent archive.
[00:00:55] Now William is at Microsoft where he has built his career for over 20 years and is currently the technical advisor to the CTO, the chief technology officer. In this episode, you will hear how William's career transformed from being code and tech focused to amplifying empathy while the sizing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
[00:01:18] William is a charismatic and visionary leader. Enjoy our conversation. As he invites you to look at the world through his lens, where each perspective matters and elevates success and opportunities for everyone.
[00:01:38] All right, right. Here we go. William. Welcome to the get busy living podcast. Yay. Let's get busy. Let's get a busy living. Well, I originally came across you and the work you did creating the diversity hiring program called leap for Microsoft mm-hmm . But as I continued to learn more about you, wow. I cannot believe your dynamic ways of thinking and seeing the world.
[00:02:05] So let's go back to the beginning. Where did you come up with this optimistic mindset? Where'd it come from and continue to grow for
[00:02:12] William A. Adams: you. Well, I suppose to go all the way back, I was born a poor black child in place, central California. I think there's a, it's an evolution of things. So I've been in tech, you know, my whole adult life.
[00:02:25] I'm 57. I've been doing technology stuff professionally for 35 plus years. And of course that whole time I, I am a black man. And that means that pretty much for that whole time, I've been an only right. I mean, it's very common story. And that was, uh, I had my own business and then I joined Microsoft in 1998 and I was just like any other tech.
[00:02:49] Person is like deliver the code, deliver the code, deliver the code. And you're just running on the, the treadmill, right. Deliver the code . And at some point when I was about 40 ish, I just had a, a sit down, I would say, because I was about to go off to India and to live mm. Uh, for a few years to teach our Indian engineers.
[00:03:08] This was all for Microsoft. How to become better engineers. So I sat down on a beach in Hawaii and just contemplated, you know, midlife crisis. And why am I really here? You know, all those things that you do when you're, when you're midlife licensing. And then I went off to India and moving to India yeah.
[00:03:27] Its like, okay, I'm in India. And that was a, a revelation in culture and all sorts of things. Um, it was quite an awakening. And I came back and this is all preamble to leap. Okay. And I, I did various engineering things after that. And at some point I just. I don't know if it was a wake up or it was a, huh, I can deliver some more software, but what else?
[00:03:53] You know? Oh, mm-hmm and I just went and asked one of our VPs, like what other high, um, impact business things do you have? And he said, well, you know, there's this diversity thing oh, for him, I'm sure. Cuz I've, I've talked to him about it. Subsequent years is kind of a throw off. I was like, yeah, a diversity thing, but he didn't, he wasn't thinking like we're gonna transform, you know, the way we do diverse hiring and all that.
[00:04:19] It was like, why don't you work with this HR person? And, you know, go figure that out. Oh, mm-hmm . That was the Genesis of it. It was basically one of our VPs who said, maybe you should look into this. And at the point that I was at in my life right then and there in that moment, I said, okay, you know, initially thinking, oh, I'll just tackle it like an engineering problem, you know?
[00:04:41] Okay. And the problem, the challenge was essentially, Hey, you know, women in underrepresented minorities. Are not plentiful in tech mm-hmm particularly in core engineering roles. Mm-hmm, , uh, you'll find a lot of us in marketing sales support, test, stuff like that. And I said, well, let's tackle core engineering cuz that's.
[00:05:04] The bread and butter of a lot of companies. And if you can get there, then you can spread out to other things. right, right. Mm-hmm so that was the, that was the beginning of it. And the methodology like, okay, well everyone's had this thought, what are you gonna do different? And the difference was to say, well, the normal way that we pursue getting anybody is we go to the top 15 schools in the country and we get what we get.
[00:05:28] Right? Yeah. Uhhuh predominantly white male. And that's, that's why the industry is the way it is. right, right. Cause everyone knows for the same thing. So I thought, all right, it's true that you are not going to find more women and minorities at those places because you got what you already got out of them.
[00:05:46] You can't get more blood from that stone. So where are they? Right, right. and the answer was well they're in coding academies and they're coming from different walks of life. You have women who were moms who have CS degrees were in tech mm-hmm stopped raise the family and they're out. And there's just no way back.
[00:06:09] Right? Mm-hmm you have people who are biotech engineers working in a lab. They've got a stem degree, but they've gone through learning, coding through a coding academy. They just decided I'm gonna become a coder, you know? And you just got all sorts of people who are switching careers and they going through coding academies.
[00:06:29] So we tapped the coding academies. Oh. But alright, well, but the gap here is that. We typically get people through a college interns. Mm-hmm well, if you were something else and then you're going through a coding academy, there's no connection there. Mm-hmm right. There's no internship. And we don't have professional internships.
[00:06:49] Uh, so leap filled that gap and basically created a pipe between all that talent that was out there, but really they had no way in. Oh, yes. Mm-hmm so that was the, that was the Genesis of it is to say, all right, we're going to create these cohorts. We're going to have these people come in. They're going to act like interns, essentially the teams get to check them out.
[00:07:09] They get to check us out. And at the end of 16 weeks, we get to say, Hey, we wanna offer you a job. And they get to say yes or no and right. Yes. Yeah. That very long story. But that that's. How leap came about. Oh,
[00:07:23] Anne O'Neil: wow. And, and you said it originated in almost a midlife crisis for you working in India for three years.
[00:07:31] Yep. And then was there something particular at that point that transformed your way of thinking, you know, for, you know, living in a completely different culture for those three
[00:07:40] William A. Adams: years? Well, I think it was a, a combination of things. One was I, I went into this group called engineering excellence because at the time I wanted to learn how to teach.
[00:07:51] Mm mm-hmm because I just thought, well, when I retire, if I ever retire, I'm going to be a teacher. I'm always a teacher mm-hmm right. So I wanna get better at teaching. What better way to get better as a teacher than to teach adults in high tech, right? Yes. So that's what I was doing in India was teaching.
[00:08:10] And that is, that's a certain transformation because it's quite different from delivering code. Right? I mean, it's a common phrase for people to say. Those who can't teach, you know, it's like really, really? Yeah. Don't you think it's the people who are the best are teachers.
[00:08:26] Anne O'Neil: Definitely. Absolutely. Even in my life, definitely the teachers are the ones that show you the way and open up doors for you.
[00:08:33] Of course.
[00:08:34] William A. Adams: Right. So teaching was what I got. The other thing I got from my, in the experience was compassion and empathy, which is. Perhaps surprising because it's like, oh, I'm an engineer. You know, we don't, we we're not all touchy, feely
[00:08:52] Anne O'Neil: oh, wow. Yep.
[00:08:53] William A. Adams: Mm-hmm I mean, big secret software engineers, aren't always the most, uh, high EQ people.
[00:09:00] right. Yes. Mm-hmm so I think I evolved my empathy, you know, I think I was already empathetic, but it, it emerged more. Mm-hmm . Because when you live in a place like India, you see so many disparities of wealth and health and all sorts of things. Yeah. And you feel compassion if you feel . Right. Right. So I think that was awakened.
[00:09:23] And then of course, the program that I created in India was called leap. That was the origins of the word leap mm-hmm . And it was to accelerate the engineers entree into the engineering groups. Right. Let's take three months instead of nine months. So that was the origins. And then when I finally did come back to the us, it was let's see, 2015 is when we started the leap here and I left India in 2009.
[00:09:51] So it was six more years before I actually did the leap. Yes. So yeah, that's what I think I learned in India was just, it was more of this awakening of compassion and, but I was still on the treadmill, deliver the code, deliver the code, the.
[00:10:06] Anne O'Neil: Right. Yes. It's like, you're constantly learning like a whole new world even emerged for you of, of how to operate as a leader, you know, and then was able to create this, an amazing program, the hiring of the diversity program of, of leap.
[00:10:21] And one of the things I really liked on, I watched the YouTube video. From Microsoft of leap was that you're quoted saying diversity is more than just your DNA. Yeah. Is it about the diversity of your experience? So I'd love for you to expand on that because that was like a home run hitting for me about what it looks like to be in the workforce, a team, a community, a family, everybody is involved with their own perspective.
[00:10:45] So share a little bit about that. What that looks like.
[00:10:47] William A. Adams: What I try to emphasize most is inclusion because diversity is a, is a sub aspect of inclusion in my mind. The key thing in why inclusion, what is that? And it's just in the context of technology. It's like, well, you realize you're creating products.
[00:11:05] For as broad, a set of people as possible, right? Mm-hmm , that's how you're gonna make money. it's total addressable market. Right? Any business person knows that mm-hmm . So when you look at Tam , you know, in the common jargon, you say, well, how are you going to get the total, the biggest total addressable market?
[00:11:24] Well, The world, right? yeah, because how do you do that? Mm-hmm well, you had to create product that the maximum number of people will find appealing. Mm-hmm well, how do you do that? well, you need to have something that incorporates their perspective, their culture, their viewpoints, all that sort of stuff.
[00:11:44] So they'll go. Yeah. Whether you're a farmer in Kentucky or an inner city person in. I don't know, pick a European C or here in Washington. What is it now? WhatsApp might be that everybody in the world wants to communicate. Mm-hmm . Preferably for free , you know, and TikTok. Everybody wants to, everyone's a voyeur and everyone's an exhibitionist
[00:12:14] Anne O'Neil: and a dancer.
[00:12:14] Yeah, yeah,
[00:12:15] William A. Adams: yeah. It seems to be a universal thing. So they're, they're winning big mm-hmm right. So diversity of experiences brings you more market because it's like, yeah. I want to have the perspectives of the farmer in Kenya, as well as the, the suit in New York. Yes. Right. To get my total addressable market.
[00:12:36] If I don't and I just hire a bunch of MIT grads, sit 'em down in Redmond, Washington, and say, code me up something that farmers in Kenya will love. I don't think so.
[00:12:51] Anne O'Neil: they haven't sat over in their shoes. Yes, no,
[00:12:54] William A. Adams: there's right. You can't. So you cannot possibly just say, we're gonna hire the best people and they'll just figure it out. It's like, probably not . Right, right. They just lack the experience. That's all there is to it. And,
[00:13:10] Anne O'Neil: and even, you know, that some of that perspective, I, I work in performance consulting in a tech company.
[00:13:15] You know, I work at Palo Alto networks and cybersecurity, and I always look at our. Divisions and departments like, you know, a football team or a basketball team where everyone has a role and everyone's speaking the same language and everyone's aligned to the same, you know, vision and, you know, winning the game.
[00:13:33] But you know, you couldn't do that with having a team of 70 quarterbacks. So I always try to look at the people in the seats. Everyone has the voice and a active that we should listen to it.
[00:13:43] William A. Adams: Yeah, that's the magic for me is the inclusion and the diversity of perspectives is just required. Yes. You know, and if you cannot.
[00:13:52] Figure out how to do that as a company, you're just gonna be behind because other people are gonna figure it out. And since we're all working on world stages, it's like, they're gonna win. You're not, , it's
[00:14:03] Anne O'Neil: as simple as that, right? Yeah. Winning, you know, whether it's business, community, all of those things.
[00:14:08] So, you know, let's talk a little bit about tech equity, since we're on the of diversity inclusion equity, you have this great phrase that you've come up with with equity. So talk a little bit about that and your perspective of, of what that looks like in the world for. Anyone with diverse inclusion backgrounds.
[00:14:25] Yeah.
[00:14:25] William A. Adams: Tech equity is, uh, with my way of, of consolidating my own mind, what it is. My mission is right. Going forward for the rest of my life. Yeah. And succinctly it's. I recognize that for myself, I have an equity share in technology G I have stock in Microsoft, right. Mm-hmm . So, as Microsoft becomes a bigger company, I become wealthy.
[00:14:50] Yes, mm-hmm, I'm sharing in the growth of the wealth based on technology. Mm-hmm and I just point out to people that owning an iPhone is not the same as owning a piece of apple stock. Yes. . When you own an iPhone, you own a piece of technology. Mm-hmm you don't own anything terms of the equity. In technology.
[00:15:11] Mm. When you own apple stock, you own equity. So as apple rises and they're the biggest, highest value company in the world, your wealth is going to increase, right? Yes. I think this is a critical component for, particularly for minorities and women who are typically disadvantaged in terms of wealth. Mm. And inter, uh, uh, intergenerational world is to say, Yes, get the big paycheck.
[00:15:36] Um, but it's not enough. You need equity and assets that are growing mm-hmm . So as the economy grows in that area, you too grow and your children's lives grow and, and on and on. Right, right. It's generational wealth. If you only have a good paycheck once that stops, that's it? Yes. And the rest of your family, I'm in your community, you're left with nothing.
[00:15:57] So I just identify it as a key component for my black community is to say, You need equity and we're gonna do that through technology. Cause that's what I know. Mm-hmm, , mm-hmm, there's other ways of, of having equity and things. So that, that doesn't mean we all have to become multi-billionaires, but it has to be a component of our, our economic mix.
[00:16:19] Mm-hmm right. And right now it's, it's not, you don't see a lot of black tech firms being built and bought and millionaires being made. And we can be right, right. Yes. . I mean, we can be, so you, you need people like myself, who've been in tech and say, let's go start more black owned tech companies so that we can build our own equity through our own intelligence or get purchased by other company, whatever let's get in the game.
[00:16:47] Yeah. Right. And the game is equity.
[00:16:50] Anne O'Neil: That's tremendous. And, you know, looking at, even your career before Microsoft, that you are an entrepreneur and now you're being. What we call an entrepreneur where you're creating these programs to build out and create more equity for yourself and others speak a little bit about what people can learn from, you know, taking the chance of being an entrepreneur within the corporate world.
[00:17:13] I know we have a lot of people that, that work for organizations right now. So I thought that was such a profound way of looking at it. Like I'm an entrepreneur within this company and, and talking about that equity.
[00:17:23] William A. Adams: Yeah, the entrepreneur thing is, uh, can be quite challenging depending on the, the nature of your company.
[00:17:28] Right? Mm-hmm I think I've been fortunate enough that Microsoft's culture has encouraged me to do the things I do. Mm-hmm now. Encourage might be a strong word because it's like, well, did they actively encourage me? Or did they just not kick me out? right.
[00:17:43] Anne O'Neil: Oh, I love
[00:17:44] William A. Adams: that. But the is, I've been able to explore various entrepreneurial things inside the company.
[00:17:52] Now it's a combination of you had to have some credibility, right? I mean, I've been there 24 years. It's I didn't just stand up one day and say, I'm doing leap. You know, it's like I had already delivered software a thousand times built teams. It's all internal product. Mm-hmm so I've done a lot of internal product.
[00:18:09] Like the very first thing I worked on was this thing called XML. Mm-hmm . Which back in the day was it's like saying HTML. It's just one of those fundamental core things that no one really knows about, but there it is. so, and I've done two or three things like that where it's like, oh, that's a core thing that everyone uses now.
[00:18:27] Mm-hmm so you had to have some credibility and you had to have a, a strong sense of your own mission, right? Like let's use. Even me going to India. As an example, I took a trip 2005 ended 2005. I went to both India and China, and these are places where we were growing development centers. Mm-hmm and I thought I was originally gonna go and do, uh, stuff in China, but then the India guys said, oh, we really want you to come here.
[00:18:55] Okay. my direct boss at that time told me, oh, I don't, you know, it's not like you're really gonna succeed there. Mm-hmm and I was like, Thanks boss. Right. You know, and I bring that up to say, you have to have your own internal compass and mission mm-hmm right. Because you'll get this, you know, either your direct boss or someone out there's plenty of naysayers who want you to fail.
[00:19:20] Yes. Mm-hmm because you succeeding kind of makes them look bad. right, right.
[00:19:26] Anne O'Neil: yes. That's why I love your mindset. Yeah.
[00:19:29] William A. Adams: I mean, you have to have your own compass and drive and reason for doing things. Um, because even with leap, uh, in the earliest days, there are plenty of detractors. There are plenty of people who wanted us to just kind of disappear.
[00:19:44] Because we're solving a problem that they couldn't solve for 10, 15, 20 years. Mm-hmm right. It's like, well, how come you guys couldn't have done this a long time ago? So you know, it it's hard cuz people are detractors, but you have to have a strong. Mission and you have to have solid support. Mm, right.
[00:20:05] That VP, that, that put me down that path in the first place, he stood up to his peers and cuz they're like, ah, you're gonna keep paying this guy. He's not doing engineering. And he said, I'm paying for this. Because this is what needs to be done. oh, right. Yes. Uhhuh. So he, without that support, I wouldn't have been able to do it cuz they would've said, okay, you're done.
[00:20:26] Go look for another job. So it takes support of somebody who's powerful enough to shield you. If, if you will. So that you can do the thing that you're gonna do cause it's off the beaten path. Right,
[00:20:38] Anne O'Neil: right. Yes. I, I love that story. And also having at least one person in your corner that, that sees the vision the same way you do, especially when you're taking big chances.
[00:20:48] Like you have. So. You know, being a leader and being a visionary. I have a two questions in one. How has your leadership changed over the years? You know, being in technology and then where do you see creating the work culture that you have just even in 10 years, where do you see it in the future? So a little bit about your leadership and the culture that we're creating in organizations and outside.
[00:21:11] William A. Adams: Okay. My leadership has changed over the years. The easiest explanation is Samuel L. Jackson turns into yo oh my gosh. That that's easiest explanation. And I would say about 20 years ago, I read a book called ants at work. Okay. And it describes how aunt colonies operate. Mm. You know, and it's this distributed management thing, you know, many people think, oh, the queen sits in the middle and tells everyone what to do.
[00:21:39] It's like, Nope, it doesn't work like that at all. Mm. You know, it's completely distributed and there's some specialization mm-hmm, , you know, just like with us humans, but for the most part, the ants run around and they use various signals to say, oh, looks like the. The an hill needs to be fixed up. I'm gonna do that cause no, one's doing that right now.
[00:21:57] And so I tried this, this, uh, in general, this style of like, well, You're all capable. So here's the work that needs to be done. Mm-hmm I have some guidance, but I'm gonna depend on you to figure out how to get this work done. Oh, right. Great. Mm-hmm because I, you know, I, I don't like the style of centralized control.
[00:22:17] I'm not a micromanager mm-hmm, perhaps to a fault, but I, I assume that it's like, well, you are an adult. We're paying you a lot of money. You're supposed to be good. It's foolish for me to treat you. Like, you don't know how to do your job. Mm-hmm . And I'm not gonna maximize the benefit to the company of having you, if I try to do everyone's work mm-hmm right.
[00:22:39] so I I'm like that. And I'm also a as a, when I'm a manager I manage and manages about hands on meaning mm-hmm . I'm here to help you. I'm not here to take credit for what you do. That's silly, right? and a lot of, uh, younger managers try to do that. Right. Mm-hmm they manage up, right? It's like, how do I look to the bosses?
[00:23:00] That's what they're concerned about. Well, I'm way past that phase. So I, I, I don't do that as much. What I care most about is the people and making sure they get elevated and their career growth and development and stuff like that. Oh, just incredible.
[00:23:14] Anne O'Neil: Incredible.
[00:23:15] William A. Adams: Yeah. And then the last thing that I bring to the table is like, I've had 35 plus years of engineering experience.
[00:23:21] I have a lot to teach . So I try to impart that in a, not a paternalistic way, but as in just a humble, like, Hey, you know, Here's some stuff that you might want to know because this pattern looks like that pattern over there that I've seen for the last 20 years, you know? So I try to part
[00:23:38] Anne O'Neil: knowledge. Right, right.
[00:23:40] Yes. You've been there. and then the second piece of the question, you know, where do you see organizational culture growing in the next, you know, now that we're going through the pandemic and working from home, and then how does that kind of, you know, Open up into, you know, our communities and our, you know, just life culture.
[00:23:59] William A. Adams: Yeah. There's a, a paper I wrote in 2018. I think it was, it was called workforce 2050. Ooh. Okay. And this is, this is pre pandemic where I was trying and I was working the office of the CTO mm-hmm and I was trying to lay out what does the workforce look like in 2050? Wow.
[00:24:18] Anne O'Neil: Okay. So even further out than I was looking, right.
[00:24:21] I said, he's a visionary. Everyone looks. So there you go.
[00:24:23] William A. Adams: Yeah. So what does it look like in 2050? And I was doing that because I was trying to tell the company, if it looks like that by 2050, what do we have to do today to prepare for this transitions? Right? Mm-hmm because you can be pretty darn sure. It's not gonna look the same as it does.
[00:24:39] Today, right. Mm-hmm as of 2018 mm-hmm and I recognize things like this whole gig economy thing. It's not in the one sense, the gig economy is kind of bad because it's, it's really about not having single sources of income that are adequate enough. Mm. So you have to have multiple sources of income. But the other thing it recognizes is that people are just willing to work in different dynamics.
[00:25:04] Right? And that will force us to have different setups. So we still have Upworks for example, mm-hmm , which is one of those places where you can go and sign up and say, I know how to write code and you can get jobs ad hoc, Uhhuh . I said, that's gonna happen more frequently. And you're going to have teams of people who get together to do ad hoc things.
[00:25:24] Mm. And a company like a Microsoft, won't be so much about, we have 50,000 employee engineers, but we have the center. We have a big pot of. Resources and we farm out stuff. Oh yes. And we're gonna farm out to these groups, you know, that come together, do something and disband. Yes. Right. Mm-hmm , that's gonna be more common and we're, and, and then the pandemic came.
[00:25:52] Yeah. And it's like, we all went.
[00:25:55] Anne O'Neil: And you, you were ahead
[00:25:56] William A. Adams: of the game way ahead of the game. Yes. And it's like, oh, it's not 2050. It's more like 2030, right?
[00:26:01] Anne O'Neil: Yes. Right. from the inside outwards. Yes.
[00:26:04] William A. Adams: Yeah. And the, so that's a cultural sort of thing and a structural thing and a business sort of thing. Right.
[00:26:10] Mm-hmm the other aspect of it more around the technology itself is okay. AI is. And however you want to define that. The machine mm-hmm broadly speaking is going to be more integral to our programming process. Mm. So it's a steady March. It's not like there's a single point in time where suddenly the machine will start programming.
[00:26:36] It's like, The machine already programs today, right? Yeah. there's a lot. The machine already does. It's just been a slow, steady growth, right? Mm-hmm mm-hmm so what is our place as humans going to be in 20, 30, 20, 40 mm-hmm it's not gonna be about slamming keys on a keyboard. It's like we're already moving past that.
[00:27:00] Yes. It's the machine can do that. What our value is going to be is to inform the machine to work for us. Mm. Right. I need more. And this is where inclusion is even more important. I need philosophers. I need ethicists. I need data scientists. Yeah. Today pretty soon not, we won't even need that, but I need people who can with the machine say, Hey, machine.
[00:27:25] This is how you serve us. Here's what we care about. This is what's important. This is, this is how we Debi things, right? Yes. Without us. Or, or because of us, the machine left to its own devices will create systems that are hyper biased based on past data. Right. So racism get to amplify it mm-hmm right.
[00:27:46] Mm-hmm so we have to have the humans in the loop to say, yeah, racism is not good. this is how, this is how you take this input. I'm giving you now to Debi things so that they're more equitable. We have to teach the machine. Equity fairness, you know, all these things, right? Wow. Yes. So this is, this is how I see the future unfolding and, and I, I laid it out as 2050.
[00:28:10] I think that's still appropriate, but it'll just be a little accelerated. So I was wrong. it's more like 20, 40, right. The vision that I laid out in that particular document, I think is more 20, 40 than 2050, cuz I didn't anticipate the pandemic mm-hmm mm-hmm which, which accelerated the distribution of work thing.
[00:28:31] Mm-hmm but all these other things are still true. AI is still marching, a slowly along. We still need these people to be in the loop in terms of training the machine. So that's what I see. ,
[00:28:42] Anne O'Neil: uh, William, that was so profound. I felt like I got insights right here. Just talking one on one with you. But I know that that, you know, people are going to be rewinding the podcast to hear that vision because it's so true.
[00:28:53] We need to inform the machine of, of what we need, you know, and coming from the future, not from the past and have the past amplified. Right future amplified. I absolutely love that. And we're about ready to wrap up, but the intention of the show is discovering what ignites people to be bigger than themselves.
[00:29:12] And I can, you know, everyone that's listening your whole life is an example of that. And you're still doing more things even after, and even after of everything you've already shared. So let's talk a little bit about the event and cruise on global and all these other philanthropic endeavors that you're up to.
[00:29:30] You know, always setting yourself out into the future and giving back and building community.
[00:29:35] William A. Adams: Yeah. Where to start. So , I think it was started about a year ago or, or, well, during the pandemic. So post George Floyd, I had a. Epiphany and awakening. I mean, I'm always waking up. It's like, when am I ever actually awake?
[00:29:50] Oh, I love that.
[00:29:51] Anne O'Neil: What a great quote. We're always waking up. yeah. Keep
[00:29:54] William A. Adams: waking up to a new reality every day. Mm-hmm and uh, post George Floyd, I just kind of looked at my own situation and I was like, all right. Am I gonna go out on the streets and protest? No, that's not my style. Mm-hmm but here I sit and I've accumulated my little treasure and I've had this career and, you know, I'm nearing the point where I can just say, okay, time for retirement and let's just go hang out.
[00:30:19] But I thought, no, that's not right. What, what I felt like doing was saying, all right, let's take some of this treasurer. How can I amplify it? How can I get more people to a better state mm-hmm right. And this is where the birth of that word tech equity came from. Yeah, because I was just trying to, I'm just trying to figure out, like, what, what am I about?
[00:30:42] Do I just hand out a hundred dollars bills to everyone I see. Or do I go run kitchens? What is it that I can do? Because of my 35 plus years in tech mm-hmm specifically. Right. And then I started thinking about, um, community growth and development and hackathons and self-determination and all these things.
[00:31:04] And that's where the event came from. And the event is very specifically about going into a community and helping learn. How to solve hard problems on their own and not sitting, waiting for someone to come and solve it for them. Right. Right. Yes. And also bringing resources in terms of like, Hey, I know you guys are trying to solve a waste management problem here locally, but you don't know any experts in waste management.
[00:31:32] I can connect to people that are experts in waste management, and I can bring them to the table mm-hmm and they'll even be willing to do a hackathon with you to come up with solutions oh. That you then own mm-hmm right. That's what the event is about is just bringing communities together with resources that are outside their community, that they just don't know have access to.
[00:31:52] Right, right. Incredible, incredible. That's the key thing there? Uh, cruising global is, is, uh, I went to the Caribbean last year, the Caribbean us Virgin islands, specifically mm-hmm and we're talking as Microsoft talking with the government and education, all this to say. I don't see why we can't have developers here.
[00:32:13] You guys are intelligent, and this is around the whole Caribbean region, right? From 40 million people. It's like, well, let's, let's get started.
[00:32:24] I'm gonna bring Microsoft. And so we're doing that, but cruise global is my own personal VE in the islands to say I'm invested here because I believe in the people here. And I believe in. My African American roots are through the Caribbean in places like that. So I want to invest personally in that community and doing startups and, and whatnot.
[00:32:46] So I created my own business and I actually have an office there and it dovetails with their desire to train the people up in tech. So it's like, Hey. Let me help these young people get some drones so they can fly with the island and do a 3d map of the island. So they can create a 3d experience for the church that are coming.
[00:33:05] Right. And they can sell that to the tourist board or whatever. mm-hmm so it's it's to do stuff like that, where it's like, it doesn't take much, it takes a little bit of resources and believe and experience to say, I believe you guys can do this. Let me help you out. And it's like, yeah. And once you do it once.
[00:33:24] Then they're like, Hey, we can do this. And here's the next idea. And here's the next idea. Mm. Right. So that's, that's what all of that is about, is like, I just want to leverage all that I've learned and all of the connections that I have. To have positive outcomes, right. In lots of different areas.
[00:33:41] Anne O'Neil: Oh wow.
[00:33:43] it's, it's absolutely incredible. You've you've used the word amplify a couple of times in here and, and it's like, you're always waking up. You're always growing and you're amplifying your vibration of. Goodness and your resources out into the world that are only going to continue to grow those waves bigger and bigger and bigger.
[00:34:01] It's such an awesome journey. And I'm so thankful that I'm able to meet you and share your story with some of people in my community. So li where can people find you and support all that you're doing out here in the world?
[00:34:14] William A. Adams: I do have of website now. So William A. Adams. Dot com.
[00:34:20] Anne O'Neil: Okay, great. And any social media in particular that you want them to follow?
[00:34:25] William A. Adams: Yeah, it's on my, on the website and I'm on Twitter and I'm on LinkedIn. Mostly. I've been sending things out on Twitter, not so much on LinkedIn, but like that. We'll grow over time.
[00:34:36] Anne O'Neil: all right. And we'll put everything in the show notes too, so everyone can follow find you. And then, you know, possibly get involved with something like the event or cruise and global, because once you learn about something you're only one or two degrees away from someone else that can help build something, you know, bigger than you.
[00:34:52] It it's so funny how that works out.
[00:34:54] William A. Adams: Yeah. It's not that hard. Any
[00:34:57] Anne O'Neil: last comments for you, William, before we sign off?
[00:35:01] William A. Adams: My universal comment is, Hey, everybody, let's be more humane.
[00:35:07] Anne O'Neil: you can't beat that. You can't beat that. Well, thank you so much for being on the get busy live-in podcast. This was just an incredible conversation to be able to share all that you've done all your experiences, all of your mindsets of growing the world and making it a more of a humane place.
[00:35:22] William A. Adams: Yeah, that's very good for me. Thanks.
[00:35:29] Anne O'Neil: Well, thank you so much for listening to our conversation. If you have a GBL story in your life, share it with me on Instagram at get busy living underscore pod. I might just share your story on a future episode. Thank you for sharing in the good vibes and giving back. And GBL with us.