Letter: On Inclusion That Starts Before the Room
Some awards arrive after the work is done. This one arrived while Ted was still mid-journey, catching him off guard on the way back from time away. He wrote this in response to a peer’s nomination for an inclusivity award.
Dear Roy,
This caught me off guard, and I mean that genuinely. Thank you for taking the time to write something so considered. It means more than I can easily put into words.
What makes this recognition land the way it does is that it touches something I’ve carried for a long time, something that predates any role or team or tool. Growing up, I navigated technology largely on my own, figuring things out without much of a guide. I know exactly what it costs someone when access, confidence, or support isn’t there. That experience didn’t leave me. It became the reason I build the way I build, and the reason I invest in people the way I do.
The AI work over the past two years, the trainings, the tools, the cross-team collaboration, none of it was about adoption metrics or innovation for its own sake. It was about making sure nobody in the room felt like the technology was someone else’s domain. Every time someone who felt left behind suddenly felt capable, that was the point. That’s where real inclusion happens.
What you’re recognising here isn’t mine alone. The people on this thread, and the broader teams we’ve worked alongside, are the ones who made it real. You build something lasting only when others carry it forward with you.
So thank you for this. I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done: trying to leave things better than I found them, and making sure more people are equipped to do the same.