Laura Earle

Information Technology is notorious for being one of the most male dominated sectors and has been since the field’s beginnings. Despite many attempts to attract more women into the technology world (for example, Apple and Facebook offer to freeze eggs for female employees, Microsoft supports girls a…

In 2011, I wrote a blog called “The Results: How Reverse Mentoring Can Enhance Diversity and Inclusion”. The blog described the benefits, the lessons learned and the most popular areas to mentor from a Reverse Mentoring Program I led at Cisco. Since publishing this blog, I’ve been touched by the num…

When you hear about Russia, what images come to your mind? Grand Palaces, matryoshka dolls, vodka? Since studying Russian history at school and in my endeavour to visit as many countries as possible during my lifetime (I’ve currently visited 42), I’ve always wanted to visit the largest country in th…

Earlier this month Shane Snow, Tech journalist and co-founder of @Contently, opened up a can of worms with his article “Hug vs. Handshake”. When he, a “married dude”, runs into a male acquaintance both in and outside the workplace, a handshake is an acceptable and preferable greeting for both men. B…

Imagine a world where homosexuality is both natural and normal and heterosexuality is perceived and treated as a sinful aberration. The award winning short film Love Is All You Need? powerfully depicts this world where “gay” is “straight” and “straight” is “…

Having worked together with different generations, it’s obvious there are different styles of working and approaching situations. We heard a stat that by 2020, 50% of all US workers will be Millennials.  Even for us it’s hard to believe that it is only 7 years away.  What we wanted to explore…

A Cisco colleague came to me recently and asked if she could talk to me about her daughter.  Having no children myself, I wasn’t sure how I could help.  She confided to me that she suspects her 13 year old may be lesbian, and that she had real worries about obstacles that her daughter may face. …

What image comes in to your mind when you think of mental health? And, does that change when you think of it in the workplace? There is still a substantial taboo on the subject and many  people are uncomfortable speaking about it largely due to a lack of informed knowledge.…

In preparation for International Women’s Day, the March French edition of “Marie Claire” features a number of famous men wearing their day clothes, with one unusual detail: they are all wearing bright red stilettos, arguably the symbol of femininity. How did these men feel to be perched on such flas…