Tag Archives: Middle East

April 21, 2013 · 4:10 pm

Prayer for Peace

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A Prayer for Peace

May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease, when a great peace will embrace the whole world.
Then nation will not threaten nation, and mankind will not again know war.
For all who live on earth shall realize we have not come into being to hate or to destroy.
We have come into being to praise, to labor, and to love.
Compassionate God, bless the leaders of all nations with the power of compassion.
Fulfill the promise conveyed in Scripture:
I will bring peace to the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall terrify you.
I will rid the Land of vicious beasts and it shall not be ravaged by war.
Let love and justice flow like a mighty stream.
Let peace fill the earth as the waters fill the sea.
And let us say: Amen.

This is the prayer I said yesterday standing at the bema of Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto, California, celebrating the Bar Mitzva of my young friend Max. The prayer for peace text is part of the regular service.  Even though I am an Episcopalian, I was deeply honored to be part of his big ceremony.  I was very impressed not only with Max’s first public leadership of the large congregation but also with his wise interpretation of the Torah verses he had read in Hebrew – on leading a decent life.

All of Max’s family and friends were there and the whole weekend has been devoted to joyous gatherings and celebrations of his coming of age – including a big Chinese dinner with a video game truck for the younger guests. I have known Max since he was born – I am so proud!

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Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson

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April 11, 2013 · 5:02 pm

Building a Community Through Mentoring

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In my Katysblog entry yesterday “Sheryl Sandberg, Leaning In on Mentoring“, I included a quote from Ms. Sandberg’s March 2013 book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead:

Many companies are starting to move from informal mentoring that relies on individual initiative to more formal programs. When taken seriously, these formal mentorship/sponsorship programs can be remarkably successful.

One of the sometimes-unexpected successes of formal mentoring programs is the development of a strong long-term community of mentors and mentees who have come to know and respect each other through the program.  These communities can continue far beyond the boundaries of the company or program that created them.

Some examples:

  • I have written frequently about the Sun Microsystems mentoring programs participated in by over 7,000 employees from 1996-2009. Over 630 of those who joined my Sun Engineering mentoring program (SEED) chose to join a private LinkedIn group to stay in communication after Sun was purchased by Oracle in 2009. I am sure more continue to work and learn with each other through through professional and private connections.  The initial match between one mentor and one mentee quickly becomes the base for more complex and lasting relationships: the mentor introduces the mentee to associates or recommends him for a position, the mentee becomes a mentor herself and introduces her new mentee to her own mentor, etc.  In 2010-2011, when I was the Process Architect for the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen mentoring program, many of the potential mentors I contacted to join the new program were former Sun mentoring program participants.
  • In July 2011, toward the end of the first TechWomen term, I wrote a Katysblog entry called “37 Sisters – TechWomen“. That feeling of family, of a strong and growing US-MENA-based sisterhood, has only increased since then. The photo above was taken after our Successful Panel at the October, 2012 Grace Hopper Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, when several dozen TechWomen mentors,  mentees, and staff from the 2011 and 2012 terms met to celebrate. Fifty of us gathered again in February 2013 to join the TechWomen delegation to Jordan.  The photo below shows us at Injaz, one of the many schools and programs we visited in Jordan to talk with local girls and young women about STEM, TechWomen, and TechGirls.

The worlds of STEM and the Silicon Valley in particular are small places.  Even though there are over seven million people in the San Francisco Bay Area, after a few years working here, it becomes hard to to go anywhere without meeting folks you know.  Professional trust and connections, such as those built and supported by formal mentoring programs, enhance both reputation and effectiveness.

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March 25, 2013 · 12:55 pm

Virtual Choir

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My daughter Jessica is the musician in our family: she sings folksongs and opera and frequently writes about music on her blog. In February 2013, during long bus trips through the Jordan mountains as part of the TechWomen delegation – to pass the time, Shahryan and I traded earbuds back and forth, each playing favorite songs stored on our smart phones. Although I am no musician, this blog entry is a gift of music for my friend Shahryan – who lives almost 9,000 miles away in Yemen.

American conductor Eric Whitacre is one of the most popular and performed composers of this generation. His Virtual Choir projects are both inspiring and amazing technically – and also present very good music. The projects are successful artistically and organizationally: for example, in 2012, Whitacre’s “Virtual Choir: Bliss” project was funded on Kickstarter at $122,555 (122% of asking).

In past projects, Eric Whitacre used a worldwide virtual choir singing recorded parts. For the just-released “Cloudburst”, he combined live and virtual choirs.

The lyrics are from “Cloudburst” by Mexican poet Octavio Paz. I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do.
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March 22, 2013 · 11:25 am

Women in the Global Economy: Leading Social Change

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Trish Tierney (Executive Director of the Institute of International Education in San Francisco) is the editor of a new IIE-published book called Women in the Global Economy: Leading Social Change. Many of the TechWomen mentors and program staff joined Trish with authors Nuket Kardam and Fredric Kopp (both from the Monterey Institute of International Studies) and social media expert Beth Kanter, to celebrate last night at IIE’s penthouse offices near the Lion Gate entrance to Chinatown.

My husband and I enjoyed hearing the authors speak about the book, seeing our IIE and 2011-2012 TechWomen colleagues and friends, discussing plans for the upcoming TechWomen-2013 program (selection of mentees from the Middle East and Africa is going on now), what I am doing at MentorCloud and John’s new job at EVault, and answering questions from potential TechWomen mentors. The rooftop view at sunset is lovely! Mimi Hills and my husband won the door prizes – a copy of the new book in an handmade bag. I look forward to reading it.

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March 18, 2013 · 1:22 pm

TechWomen Mentors Lunch

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16 TechWomen 2011-2012 mentors (and potential-2013 mentors) gathered at my house in San Jose California last weekend for a potluck lunch and to hear Conference Chair Taghrid Samak tell us about EgyptNEGMA (Entrepreneurship for Development in Egypt – to be held next week at MIT).  One of our own TechWomen mentees, Heba Hosny, is an EgyptNEGMA-2013 finalist. My guests enjoyed the new porch and a tour of WP668 – the backyard caboose where I have my office.  Three had also been mentors in my SEED mentoring program at Sun Microsystems.  It was such a pleasure to be able to host this remarkably talented and energetic group of technical women!

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March 18, 2013 · 12:47 pm

Shakespeare Reading Group – Update

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Since the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California) Shakespeare Reading Group started meeting in 2012, we have read:

Last night was Antony and Cleopatra. I had great fun as the ambitious and deadly Octavius Ceasar (whom Rome later called the Emperor Augustus). John read Domitius Enobarbus (who gets most of the famous lines in this play) with delightful energy. Melita Thorpe was the subtle Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, and John Watson-Williams read Antony (Marcus Antonius, Consul and Triumvir) with verve.  All of the other major characters had great fun dying dramatically – it being a tragedy after all.

As is true for many Silicon Valley social events, the professional backgrounds around our table were highly varied. In addition to the expected high-tech gurus and computer company executives, our cast included among others, a church Deacon, mortgage expert, haematologist, astronomy travel director, social worker, physiology professor, technical writer, video director, artist, and physical therapist – all of who enjoyed an evening with The Bard. We will read Othello in May.

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February 28, 2013 · 11:23 am

Honoring Our Own Generosity

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LORD POLONIUS
My lord, I will use them according to their desert.

PRINCE HAMLET
God’s bodykins, man, much better: use every man
after his desert, and who should ‘scape whipping?
Use them after your own honour and dignity: the less
they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty.
Take them in.

– William Shakespeare, Hamlet Act II, Scene ii, 1600

I recently returned home from my fifth trip to the Middle East, visiting Jordan and Lebanon. I was in Jordan as a member of the TechWomen delegation – TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). I visited Lebanon to see my friends, the TechWomen program alumnae and to talk with Al-Makassed (the Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association of Beirut).

As the Vice President for MentorCloud, I talked a great deal about mentoring during my trip. I traveled with my daughter Jessica. She and I were welcomed with world-class generosity and open hearts and minds. In discussing the motivations for mentors, I often use the phrase paying it forward. That is, mentors often say that they are giving back the wise and generous advice and support that they themselves were given during their development. I was surprised and concerned when discussing these motivations for mentors not once but twice to be told that in Arabic, the saying is not “Give and Take” but “Take and Give”. This seemed to reflect doubt among some audience members that mentoring would work in their culture. I have been thinking about these discussions for the two weeks that I have been home.

During one of our long bus trips in Jordan, our tour guide played a video for us in which His Majesty King Abdulla of Jordan gives a Royal Tour of his country. “Jordan – The Royal Tour” is a 2002 tourism promotion piece but a good overview nonetheless. During the tour, King Abdulla tells a story from his youth. His uncle (then heir-apparent to King Hussein) and he were traveling in the desert and met an old man on a white horse. The man wanted to give them lunch, so he sold the stallion, his only possession, to buy fifteen sheep for a feast. Of course, when this became known, the white stallion was repurchased with fifteen more sheep as a present in return. King Abdullah calls this tradition of generous welcome the “code of the desert”. My experiences in the Middle East have been consistent with the King’s story – I have been honored by extraordinary generosity.

So, why would my Middle Eastern audiences doubt their community’s welcoming of mentoring – a relationship based on long-term generosity? As a life-long fan of William Shakespeare, I thought of the interchange above between Hamlet and Polonius – about the merit in treating others according to our own honor and dignity. Coming to terms with our own generosity and motivations is part of the journey that leads many of us to become mentors.

Recommended additional reading: “Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?”  by Susan Dominus, 13 March 2014, _New York Times_

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