Laverne H. Council, Global Operations And Information Technology Strategist and Mathematica Board Member, Delivers Riveting Address to Close SICSS-Howard/Mathematica 2022
LaVerne H. Council
This blog post is part of the 2022 series “The Future of Computational Social Science is Black” about SICSS-Howard/Mathematica, the first Summer Institute in Computational Social Science held at a Historically Black College or University. To learn more about SICSS-H/M’s inaugural start, read last year’s blog “Welcome SICSS-Howard/Mathematica 2021” or our first blog “Uncovering new keys to countering anti-Black racism and inequity using computational social science.” If you are interested in applying to participate in SICSS-H/M 2023, check out our website.
On the final day of the 2022 Summer Institute in Computational Social Science sponsored by Howard University and Mathematica (SICSS-Howard/Mathematica), LaVerne H. Council, a global operations and information technology strategist and member of Mathematica’s Board of Directors, addressed participants as Closing Plenary Speaker. Council began her career as an “intrapreneur” over 35 years ago and is now the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Emerald One, a 100% women-owned small business. She was introduced by Akira Bell, the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Mathematica. Laverne Council’s keynote was a meditation on wisdom, truth, and the execution of brilliance, topics she knows a lot about.
After reviewing the definition of wisdom, Council admired how the participants were already seeking wisdom by “asking the right questions, thinking about the environment that the situation is in and what really is happening and how people are really feeling.” The result of that endeavor, she suggested, is truth and knowledge. “You all are seekers of the truth. People that use data and facts and understand the factual leaning of what data says and why it says what it says are my people.” She encouraged participants to also keep their peers in a zone of wisdom and truth to make sure that we remain “grounded in reality”. Policy has to do what it is meant to do. Policy is not good policy if for example machine learning and AI are biased and not fair, or if a new program does not help the child it was meant to help.
Council then dove into Emerald One’s trademarked process - based on Council’s experience getting things done - that includes five elements, which she defines as brilliance.
The first element is leadership, which involves “painting the vision for the team, and giving them the resources they need to figure out the path of how to get there,” according to Council. For any project to be successful, there has to be someone that has the courage and is willing to step behind their team so the team can move forward.
The second element is cultural awareness. As she pointed out, “people always talk about the culture they want, not the culture they have. But what I am talking about is awareness of the culture you have, the environment you are working in, …knowing what you are really dealing with, and who is half the battle to be successful.”
The third element is trust, which is the core value as to why people would make changes in an organization and take the time to listen and follow. A true leader has to be vulnerable enough to trust someone they do not know. One of the pieces of advice that Council gave to the participants was to not let anybody take away their power to give someone trust.
The fourth element is value maximization, which she defines as getting the most out of whatever one sets out to do or minimizing how much time is spent to achieve the goal or intent.
The fifth element is time compression. Council believed that waiting to take action is a waste of time, since having more time does not guarantee better outcomes and “time does not make bad news any easier to share.” These five elements could be done anywhere, anytime.
Finally, she also shared that the perspective of the person you are talking to matters. The five elements are based on who is being talked to. Some bring up their strong belief that technology always trumps policy and policy has never been able to address technology fast enough and quick enough-people will always be ahead of any new policy. However, others believe that policy trumps culture, and Council directs to the participants when she says that “policy hurts positive culture, …, and culture trumps pop technology. To conclude her presentation, Council said that she was counting on our participants to keep society honest and create policies that matter so people can engage in a culture that respects them for who they are.
During the Q&A portion, Council offered advice on what a mindset of giving trust to other people looks like. One takeaway of particular note was, “when you have to rely on others to be able to do the things you have to do especially as a leader, you start to understand the characteristics of folks who you should not trust; and you start to understand the characteristics of people that have never had anybody to trust them…and you just say you know what, I’ve got to make a bet that there are better angles.” This is a necessary step despite all the risks that come with it, because if leaders never establish this trust, they could not lead since nobody would trust them.
While Council was scheduled to close SICSS-Howard/Mathematica, she went above and beyond, surprising the participants by coming to listen to their presentations and supporting them three hours early. These presentations showcased a week's worth of collaborative or individual work. All projects were based on the principles and tools participants learned at SICSS-Howard/Mathematica. Throughout her time with us, Council engaged with all of the presenters and learned about each of their journeys to their selected research topic. As we continue to thoughtfully engage more diverse voices in computational social science through SICSS, we will continue to look to, and look up to long-standing leaders such as LaVerne H. Council. The participants, organizers, and staff of SICSS-Howard/Mathematica are indebted to our dynamic speaker.
If you’re interested in hearing more from LaVerne H. Council, we invite you to check out the video and to also get to know our scholars on our website.
For more information about SICSS-Howard/Mathematica, check out our website, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and join our email list. Apply now!
About the authors
Naniette H. Coleman is a PhD candidate in the Sociology Department at the University of California, Berkeley and a UC-National Lab In-Residence Graduate Fellow (Los Alamos National Lab). Her work sits at the intersection of the sociology of culture and organizations and focuses on cybersecurity, surveillance, and privacy in the US context. Specifically, Naniette’s research examines how organizations assess risk, make decisions, and respond to data breaches and organizational compliance with state, federal, and international privacy laws. Since 2016, Naniette has directed the AAC&U award winning Interdisciplinary Research Group on Privacy/Coleman Research Lab at Berkeley. Naniette holds a Master of Public Administration with a specialization in Democracy, Politics, and Institutions from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and both an MA in Economics and a BA in Communication from the University at Buffalo, SUNY. A non-traditional student, Naniette’s prior professional experience includes local, state, and federal service, as well as work for two international organizations, and two universities.
Nianyao (Amber) Du is currently a first-year master in Statistics at the National University of Singapore. Her professional interest lies at the crossroads of machine learning, environmental justice, energy, and privacy. Amber received her Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley and is an Edward Kraft Award winner. Amber previously served as a research assistant, project lead, and co-lab manager in the AAC&U award-winning, Berkeley based Interdisciplinary Research Group on Privacy/Coleman Research Lab. Amber also served as an Event assistant at SICSS-H/M in 2021 and Event Manager for SICSS-H/M in 2022.