Leading with literature, language & action

Next Gen Men: Changing the way the world sees masculinity

Q&A with Jake Stika
Next Gen Men Executive Director and Co-founder

Just for Chic Geek: Next Gen Men would like to offer Chic Geek Diversity Motherboard readers a discount to take part in B.O.O.K. club, which runs quarterly. Register here and use the promo code: CHICGEEK10

About Jake Stika

As Next Gen Men's Executive Director, Jake is a passionate speaker and facilitator focused on gender-based issues related to the social and emotional development of young men, the health and well-being of men in communities, and gender equity in workplaces for a future where boys and men experience less pain, and cause less harm.

Jake was named one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, as well as having earned recognition from Ashoka, the British Council, and the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. He has spoken at the United Nations as part of the Canadian Delegation, and participated in the UN Women Safe Cities Initiative Global Forum. He is also a proud advisor to the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association, Canadian Women & Sport, as well as the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter.

Chic Geek is proud to feature Jake’s perspective on the Diversity Motherboard as his resume includes working with male-identified leaders (as well as all genders) from top tech organizations such as Benevity, Avanti, Clio and more.

Question and Answers with Jake Stika

INTRODUCING JAKE

Q: How did you get into this business?

A: My own struggles with depression in my late teens/early 20s despite all my privileges highlighted that it was this masculine script of “I’ve got to be tough, don’t show emotion, never ask for help,” that was harming me. My best friend losing his 13-year-old brother to suicide solidified that we wanted something better for the next generation of men than what we inherited.

Q: What was your first foray into the tech sector?

A: After a brief stint as a semi-pro basketball player, I came home to Calgary to land in … the oil and gas sector and that was a drag. During my time as a Business Analyst, there I networked with a friend of a friend who was COO at a consumer robotics company. Did I know anything about robots? Hell no! But I knew that I liked learning and was up for a challenge. I made the leap to a 6-person startup on the cutting edge of technology to lead their business development and sales. After landing a major deal with an American retailer, I moved on to consulting other small startups and working with Western Canada’s largest angel investor group.

Q: Who made all the difference in your career?

A: At the beginning of 2018, I brought together a group of nonprofit/charity executive directors to form a support group (including Chic Geek Founder Kylie Woods)! These folks have been invaluable over the past three years as it is a lonely leading social change organizations since the situations we find ourselves in are so unique.

Q: Challenges are part of our life journey, it’s not always easy sailing - Were there moments in your career that challenged you in a way you will never forget?

A: Whether starting a business or a nonprofit, there is obviously the challenge of making something from nothing. I was really blessed to have two great cofounders,. I would say one of the biggest challenges is to keep building on what we started together. It takes resilience and maybe a bit of bullheadedness to keep pushing. I’m glad that I did.

Q: Was there a DEI program or effort happening in the organizations you worked with at the beginning of your career? How have you witnessed the evolution of DEI work since then in your field?

A: When I started my professional career in 2013, the most involved’ my workplace was around social issues was the United Way campaign and Movember. There has been a significant mainstream culture shift, uncomfortably prompted by #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, as well as MMIWG/Every Child Matters that has forced us to look at how we react and contribute to or ignore our role in the community/society we operate in. Businesses can no longer operate solely on the bottom line.

Leading with literature, language & action

Next Gen Men: Changing the way the world sees masculinity

Q&A with Jake Stika
Next Gen Men Executive Director and Co-founder

Just for Chic Geek: Next Gen Men would like to offer Chic Geek Diversity Motherboard readers a discount to take part in B.O.O.K. club, which runs quarterly. Register here and use the promo code: CHICGEEK10

About Jake Stika

As Next Gen Men's Executive Director, Jake is a passionate speaker and facilitator focused on gender-based issues related to the social and emotional development of young men, the health and well-being of men in communities, and gender equity in workplaces for a future where boys and men experience less pain, and cause less harm.

Jake was named one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, as well as having earned recognition from Ashoka, the British Council, and the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. He has spoken at the United Nations as part of the Canadian Delegation, and participated in the UN Women Safe Cities Initiative Global Forum. He is also a proud advisor to the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association, Canadian Women & Sport, as well as the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter.

Chic Geek is proud to feature Jake’s perspective on the Diversity Motherboard as his resume includes working with male-identified leaders (as well as all genders) from top tech organizations such as Benevity, Avanti, Clio and more.

“We are all worse off for a non-inclusive world, so, we have to create ways that the dominant narrative (male, caucasian, heterosexual, etc.) see themselves in the conversations beyond the role of villain,”

— Jake Stika, Next Gen Men.

JAKE’S TAKE ON DEI POLICY

Q: Have you ever been in a leadership or mentorship role where you have put inclusion and belonging work at the top of your list of priorities or made them part of company culture?

A: I lead a very small team, but DEI is important whatever the size of organization or team. I take pride in creating psychological safety at NGM. Every week we have a check-in where we all share our successes and challenges from the week (including me), I create space and encourage bad ideas in order to have good ideas, and I make sure all my direct reports have at least a 30-minute 1:1 with me where they have my full attention to how they experience their work.

Q: Where do you see DEI work starting and why?

A: It has to come from everywhere, however, I think it ends with leadership. By that I mean it can start grassroots or within a team or from the board, but if leaders refuse to lead it’s all for naught. A lot of it comes from their own hopes and fears so if you can meet them where they’re at (even if that’s stuck), that’s where you will see the greatest return for your efforts.

Q: How important is it for organizations to measure their DEI efforts and why?

A: Maybe a controversial answer, but I don’t think it’s that important. Often, I see organizations obfuscate effort with the ‘need’ for measurement. I do believe that ‘what gets measured, gets managed’ however, it’s not the be-all end-all since they would discount ‘feelings’ of belonging anyways. The business-case for inclusion has existed for 30+ years, yet we have not seen nearly enough progress. We like to think of ourselves as rational beings, but it is stories and personal commitment/narrative that inspires us to make progress (see: every male leader who cites their daughter as an inspiration – had they not worked with and listened to women before she was born?).

Q: What is the biggest challenge to DEI work?

A: People love to talk the talk and not walk the walk.

Q: What’s the greatest reward of doing DEI work?

A: People feeling seen, heard, and empowered.

Jake’s advice on crafting dei policy

Q: How do you keep your team engaged in the process?

A: By making sure it’s integrated and embedded in what we do rather than another thing apart from/on top of. As well as making sure they’re recognized for it.

Q: How do you ensure trust and transparency?

A: Communication. If you failed at something, say it. If you can’t do something, say why. If you hurt someone, apologize. If you’re struggling with something, name it.

Q: What do you wish people knew about the importance of creating diverse teams, and protecting each other’s diverse perspectives?

A: I think that diversity gets in the way of inclusion. What I mean by that is that I think it’s more important to have an inclusive culture rather than a diverse workplace because if you have representation, but those people don’t feel empowered or like they belong, they’re just going to leave. But if you have an inclusive culture that does not yet have representation, with a little effort, I think you’ll see word of mouth bring that diverse talent in.

Q: We know that statistically, DEI work improves not only company culture, retention, reputation and work performance as a whole, it also improves bottom line profitability. What’s the most important part about getting varied perspectives, voices, genders, races… etc. into tech organizations as well as startups and fostering those teams?

A: I have another favourite quote on this: “When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.” – Toni Morrison.

I love this quote, but we don’t need to overthink what ‘freeing’ someone else means. Shut up and listen to them. Believe them when they tell you they experience something that way. Invite them to contribute and build on their ideas.

“The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem. ”

— Bell Hooks (1952 - 2001) American author, professor, feminist, and social activist.

summing it up

Q: If you could sum up what makes your organization’s DEI journey unique - what aspects would you talk about?

A: When you ask organizations who is their most stuck or resistant demographic when it comes to advancing DEI, the vast majority would say men, probably white, mostly older. We thrive on working with these groups, the dominant narrative, to get them moving on a journey of believing in diversity, behaving inclusively, and becoming equitable.

I’m especially proud of our B.O.O.K. Club, aimed at male-identified leaders, it is a shared experience with other men across industries and organizations working to understand what it means to be an inclusive leader. The vast majority of thought leadership shared among professional men is written by white and male authors. Through this club we commit to reading underrepresented voices to build our empathy and understanding.

Q: Where are you at in the process right now (this could be personally or with an organization you work with or lead)? And What’s next tactically?

A: We’ll have to see what’s next in a post-COVID world, but we hope to scale up the ways we engage and look forward to seeing who we can help along the way!

Q: Where do you hope your organization will be in 3, 5, 10 years?

A: My dream would be to have a BOOK Club where hundreds of men took part in the learning and unlearning each quarter and invited others to do so. This would seed many great opportunities to collaborate further with male-dominant industries on their journeys to better leveraging and valuing the contributions of all their talent. Which, if successful, would mean that Obama shouts us out at some point and then I know we’ve done it!

Q: What would you most like Chic Geek to capture (get right!) in this Q&A about you - what questions would you like to add if any?

A: Just that we’re here to help and we believe in leaving no man (literally) behind!

About the Diversity
Motherboard

Chic Geek’s Diversity Motherboard is here to help you put Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to practice in your organization! Chic Geek exists to build gender diversity in technology, a sector that’s shaping the world we live in. Our mission is to engage, retain and support intermediate women so they can thrive in their technology careers. Welcome to Chic Geek, your space to thrive!

Next Gen Men is on a mission to change how the world sees, acts and thinks about masculinity among youth, in communities, and at workplaces. Their workplace-focused social enterprise, Equity Leaders, specializes in engaging leaders in male-dominant sectors in advancing DEI.

Special Thanks to

This resource is proudly brought to you through funding from Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC), which promotes the development of Alberta’s venture capital industry by investing in venture capital funds that financial technology companies. Learn more at alberta-enterprise.ca

Alberta Innovates is a provincial research and innovation agency that expands the horizon of possibilities to solve today’s challenges and create a healthier and more prosperous future for Alberta and the world. Learn more at albertainnovates.ca