Tim Abbott Shares the need for Social Justice and Empathy in Human Systems

Dr. Dave:

Hello, and welcome to the KnolShare with Doctor Dave Podcast. This is Doctor Dave Cornelius, your host. Give me an elevator pitch, one minute or so about what makes Tim, Tim?

Tim Abbott:

Well, what makes me, me is that I've been working in the Agile space for quite a long time. I'm just passionate about helping teams and helping organizations. I started off as a software engineer developer, and then I moved up pretty quickly because one of the things that was naturally innate in me was the ability to connect with people and the people side of the business. While technically, I was very strong, it was one of the things that stood out, so I immediately started working with teams and leading teams. I would say probably the thing that makes me, me and the thing I'm most passionate about is helping people connect to reach a common goal. That's basically my background and what I've been doing for the past, I guess now it's been almost 25 years.

Dr. Dave:

That's wonderful. Let's talk about social justice. One of the definition that look at for social justice is about fair and compassionate distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. We're talking about equal rights and equitable opportunities for all. How does social justice show up for you where you live in your country? Matter of fact, where do you live?

Tim Abbott:

Well, I mean, I'm from the States. Well, I don't know if that's obvious, but I'm from the States. My father was in the oil business initially. I was raised between Texas and Oklahoma. I don't really say I'm from somewhere, because I was living in West Texas, and Houston, and lived between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. That's where I grew up. And then, I became a software engineer, I went to college, I became a software engineer. And in college, it's funny you mentioned social justice, because in college, that was really, I was deeply involved in a lot of social justice and just, where I'm living now, I live in Saudi Arabia now, I've been here for 14 years, it's funny you ask, because one of the things that brought to Saudi was, I just got tired of ... I was pitching a startup that I was running when I finally left the States, and I never could break that glass ceiling, or get the opportunity when we were generating quite a bit of revenue. But funding, I was in Atlanta at the time, and funding, at that time, for people that look like me because I didn't match a particular pattern, was difficult to come by.

Tim Abbott:

So, I just said, "Forget it," and ended up with a project that I thought I was going to be on for a year in Saudi Arabia, and then, just many different opportunities started opening up for me while I was here, as I was running the company here. We expanded and expanded, and then, finally, we ended up selling that company in 2015. The company expanded quite a bit and we sold it here locally to some investors in 2015.

Tim Abbott:

But how it shows up to me is just the opportunities. People want a chance, right? People want a real chance to be able to prove that they can perform, and for me, that's all that I ask for, that people are given a chance. That's why the majority of my work is about helping people become the best that they can be, and giving them chances to show who they are and what they can do. That's how it shows up for me.

Dr. Dave:

That's wonderful. So, in terms of some of your own personal social justice experiences, what were they that challenged you to want you to bring about change?

Tim Abbott:

I grew up in, I wouldn't say privilege, but my parents did fairly well and I ended up going to an HBCU for undergradu...