Using technology to level the playing field in New York

Photo via https://twitter.com/WriteEditRepeat/status/971186505699004416

I had a great conversation with outgoing Chief Technology Officer of New York City Miguel Gamino earlier this month, when I moderated the fireside chat at the fireside chat at the Zahn Innovation Summit, held March 6 at the City College of New York. The full interview is up at U.S. News & World Report, but you can start reading excerpts from our Q&A right here:

Q: How do you see places like the Zahn Center and entrepreneurs in this city benefiting from being in New York rather than out West?

A: What I came and found (in New York) was this very rich and different ecosystem around tech, in large part because the people here are different and diverse, and I don't just mean that in terms of gender, color, ethnicity. I mean people's backgrounds, where they come from and where they're trying to go is much more diverse here than I've experienced on the West Coast.

And the industry (in New York) is diverse. If you're a tech person here, if you're an engineer, you're not just going and trying to get a job at Facebook and Google or the next startup. Here, software engineers are employed by JPMorgan Chase and food startups and biotech startups and light manufacturing ventures. So there are a lot of different angles.

If I were starting a startup again, I would do it here. Because of the people I can access to help me with that. … It's a richer talent pool and there's a lot of opportunity here because you've got so many different industries contributing to the growth of the tech industry.

Q: Your office's broadband initiative also really addresses equity and fairness. In the age of the internet of things, with access to information at our fingertips, it's easy to forget about the 30 percent of New Yorkers who don't have high-speed internet in their homes. How does that affect their daily lives?

A: For some people it might mean not getting to work because they way you go on transit is by buying a ticket on your iPhone. Or it might mean not being able to apply for a job. It's much more pervasive than my ability to stream Netflix or go on Facebook or chat with friends.

So, one (issue) is what it does to you, as a person, when you can't get online. But the deeper impact is the impact it has on the youth and people who don't have a choice.

In schools, for example, we're spending a lot of time and money and we're really proud of progress we're making in classrooms. We make a bunch of progress, a bunch of investments, to do things in our classrooms to modernize them. And we're proud of that, because it's our effort to keep up with the global competition. But what if your child goes home to an internet-connected home, and mine doesn't? And their homework has been assigned online, or they have to do research for their paper online. Your child, regardless of any other factor, has a significant advantage over mine – maybe one that can't be overcome. Because mine won't be able to do that homework nearly as well as yours will, or maybe at all. So, in some ways, if we're really focused on the equity piece in the U.S. or in New York City, those folks who do not have access at home would be better off if we stuck with stone tablets and paper books, because at least they'd have the ability to compete with the classmates they have in their classrooms. Of course, then the rest of the world would eat our lunch.

So that's a long way of getting you to think about the fact that this is not a luxury, it's not just about the talking points of inclusiveness and diversity. If we're really serious about making opportunity available to people in every corner of New York, and if we're really serious about New York competing with cities around the country, and if we're really serious about this city and this country competing with cities and countries around the world, it's no longer optional, when you break it down that way.

Q: I've been told that you hate the word "innovation." Why do you hate it, and what word or words would you prefer people use?

A: I wrote a little blog post about it some time ago. I think it's not only "innovation" but other terms that get thrown around, and they mean nothing because they mean anything or everything. It's all in the eye of the beholder. So, if you're an agency in government or a big company or whatever and you're still using typewriters, then implementing Microsoft Word is going to feel like an innovation, because you're equating the word "innovation" with progress. You think you're innovating, but you're just implementing – you're implementing something that has been there for a minute, you're just maybe late to the game.

And then you have what I call iteration, which is when you were at the implementation phase, but now you're thinking creatively about how to use it differently – and so you think you're innovating, but you're really not, you're iterating. You're taking something that's existing, tweaking it a little bit or changing your business processes to be improved by the use of technology. Again, in that moment, it feels like progress that we inappropriately call innovation.

And then there's the last category, which I think is the breakthrough, the disruptions – the stuff that really has the 10x kind of impact on things and people outside of your organization. They are are more than just business-process improvements, they are fundamental shifts in paradigm. In the current moment, that's things like blockchain, A.I. – not Bitcoin, Bitcoin is an iteration on the disruption. It's a function that has a really strong, obvious use-case, but the real disruption is the underlying technology.

And so the reason that I did that early on and I broke it down into those three buckets, the whole point was to set up that NYCx was intentionally going to be focused on that last one of the three. Because there's people truthfully everywhere in the organization that should be actively doing the other two. … If you're not careful, if you lump it all together, then every time you go into a conversation about innovation, the oxygen in the room gets sucked in that direction, to the things that are easier to understand, easier to measure, less risky. And I wanted to intentionally carve out this space where we could allow ourselves to engage with those high-impact, 10x potential disruptions to make sure that we didn't miss an opportunity to take advantage of that.

Read the rest at at U.S. News & World Report, and look for recaps from the summit on Twitter: #ZahnSummit.

Dr. Farhang Mehr, 1923-2018: Zoroastrians Mourn the Loss of One of Their Brightest Lights

I was honored to be asked to help Dr. Farhang Mehr write his memoirs as a Permanent Legacy Project for the Seventh International World Zoroastrian Congress. I knew of him through my grandmother, Roda Mistry, the first Zoroastrian member of India's Parliament; she had met him during a trip to Iran in the 1970s. After more than a year of interviews and casual conversations in Dr. Mehr's cozy home in Newton, Massachusetts, I had learned not just about his incredible life experiences, but about the rich heritage of the religion and culture I had been born into and his hopes and dreams for the future of Zoroastrianism. The memoir morphed into a full-fledged biography, a project much larger in scope than I had anticipated, and even now, nearly 20 years later, I'm grateful to both Dr. Mehr and his wife, Parichehr, for their patience as this then-young journalist learned how to become a biographer on the fly.

Dr. Mehr rose through the ranks of academia and politics in Iran, shaping economic policy there before fleeing persecution during the Islamic Revolution and settling in the United States. An accomplished scholar, dedicated public servant, and pillar of the Zoroastrian community in diaspora, he died on March 4, 2018, in Southern California. He was 94.

“A thriving Zoroastrian community and a prosperous Iran were my twin dreams,” he said in a 1999 interview for his biography, “Triumph Over Discrimination: The Life Story of Farhang Mehr.” “These dreams were constantly in my thoughts, and their realization is my life’s goal.”

Born in Tehran on Dec. 11, 1923 to Merhaban and Paridokht Mehr, Dr. Mehr earned Bachelors of Science and Bachelors of Laws degrees from Tehran University before traveling to England to earn a Masters of Laws degree from the London School of Economics at the University of London and a PhD from the University of Southampton. He returned to Iran and took a position with the National Iranian Oil Company, heading their International Contracts and Industrial Relations department while also serving as an advisor to the Minister of Commerce.

Dr. Mehr was able to combine his expertise in law and economics with his love for his country by serving in Iran’s Ministry of Finance, where he helped guide economic policy as the Director General of Oil and International Relations, Governor for Iran in OPEC, Director General of Economic Affairs and Monopolies and, eventually, Deputy Minister in charge of finance and economic affairs.

He was nominated to become Iran’s Minister of Finance, but was prohibited from serving in that capacity; only Muslims could hold the title of minister and Dr. Mehr, a devout Zoroastrian, was disqualified due to religious discrimination.

“My religious identity was public knowledge, and my every action was a translation of my beliefs,” he said in 1999. “I fully observed and respected the Muslim customs and traditions, consciously extended equal treatment to the followers of other faiths, all while remaining devout to my own religion. I believed then, and still believe, in a civil society.”

“In a civil society, Zarathushti citizens should be politically active,” he continued. “Without power or access to power, survival and progress are unattainable.”

Persuaded to remain in politics, Dr. Mehr became General Deputy Minister of Iran, and later served as Acting Minister. When he objected to the prohibition against non-Muslims, Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda appointed him to be Deputy Prime Minister of Iran -- the first non-Muslim ever to serve in the highest levels of the Iranian government.

“I resisted exchanging my religion for a higher political office, and I refused to sacrifice my heritage at the altars of prestige and political acceptance,” he said in 1999. “As such, I was able to set an example for other Zarathushtis in Iran, one that I hope will continue.”

Dr. Mehr eventually resigned from government service and became the Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of Bimeh-ye Iran, the largest insurance company in the country. In this capacity, Dr. Mehr reshaped the insurance industry, creating a new regulatory agency and a new college of insurance to train agents in Iran and other countries.

His illustrious career extended to positions of great responsibility in higher education, including teaching positions at Tehran University, the National University of Iran, the College of Insurance, and the country’s military academy. He was president of Pahlavi University in Shiraz for eight years, guiding the school to greatness and polishing its reputation on the world stage.

In 1981, Dr. Mehr was forced to flee from Iran to avoid religious persecution, risking his life during a perilous journey through Turkey and eventually finding freedom in the United States. His wife and children joined him and they settled in the Boston area, where Dr. Mehr taught international relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.

But he did not limit himself to the classroom. Dr. Mehr authored more than 80 articles and 12 books, including “The Zoroastrian Tradition, An Introduction to the Ancient Wisdom of Zarathushtra” and “A Colonial Legacy: The Dispute Over the Islands of Abu Musa, and the Greater and Lesser Tumbs.” He retired from Boston University as professor emeritus in 1997, later moving to California.

“When I left Iran, I also left my dreams for that country unrealized,” he said in 1999. “But I carried within me my dreams for the future of Zoroastrianism, and I continue to work toward strengthening the fabric of the Zoroastrian community in diaspora.”

His dedication to his faith and community was a driving force throughout his life. As a very young man Dr. Mehr was focused on fostering unity and securing rights for Zoroastrian youth in Iran; he served in leadership positions in Anjumans and cultural associations in Iran, England and the United States, and was a founding member of the Ancient Iranian Cultural Society and the World Zoroastrian Organization. While in Boston, he was active in establishing and supporting the Zoroastrian Association of the Greater Boston Area, gave speeches at Harvard University, the World Zoroastrian Congress and the North American Zoroastrian Congress, and mentored countless young Zoroastrians, encouraging them to understand and live their faith.

He personified the most important tenets of the Zoroastrian religion -- good thoughts, good words, good deeds -- and worked tirelessly to create unity and inspire the Zoroastrian community to evolve and “work toward the greater good.”

“As a single entity we should be showing love, upholding justice, exercising compassion, working for peace, engaging creatively in constructive work,” he said in 1999. “These goals cannot be achieved with the current social and religious attitudes of our fractured community. Though at times difficult, some traditions can -- and should -- be modified as social conditions demand change.”

Dr. Mehr was awarded a FEZANA Lifetime Achievement Award for his service to the Zoroastrian community worldwide, an honor bestowed upon just five others in the history of the organization.

He is survived by his devoted wife, Parichehr Naderi, and their children, Mehrdad, Mehran and Mitra Mehr, whom he adored with all his heart.

Dr. Farhang Mehr: Hopes, Dreams, and Aspirations

It's been nearly 20 years since Dr. Mehr asked me to help him write his memoirs as a Permanent Legacy Project for the Seventh International World Zoroastrian Congress, and out of all of our many, many conversations, the ones that I remember most fondly are the ones in which he described his hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the Zoroastrian community worldwide. He called himself "a Zarathushti by birth and by choice" -- a revolutionary idea, given the view that Zoroastrianism is both a race and a religion. He passed away on March 4, 2018 (you can read his obituary here). Here is an excerpt from that chapter of my book, “Triumph Over Discrimination: The Life Story of Dr. Farhang Mehr,” where he shares those hopes in his own words.

This is what I call “The Zoroastrian Odyssey.” Zoroastrianism and Zarathushtis are undergoing a tumultuous intellectual and spiritual voyage: An effort by Zarathushtis in Diaspora to preserve their cultural identity. Knowledge about one’s religion and culture, one’s history and heritage, are some of the tools needed in order to make this Odyssey successful. Other tools required for the journey are freedom of choice, protection of human rights, protection of the environment, global solidarity, and cooperation with the democratic process. Zarathushtis must be dedicated to good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; tolerance and inclusiveness are essential to achieving our goal of maintaining a strong and solid community. We must hold fast to this dream.

I cherish other dreams for the future.

I dream of the preservation of Zarathustra's teachings, which make up the core of Zoroastrianism, and of the preservation of the meaning behind our rituals and customs. The core of our religion is the beliefs and doctrines contained within the Gathas. They are everlasting and unchangeable. They give us the strength to undertake our mental quests. The rituals are described in the literature accompanying the Gathas. The actions of the rituals appeal to our senses. Imbued with meaning, the rituals are a manifestation of the faith, a reminder of our demotion and commitment. Without meaning, rituals become empty motions, devoid of significance. The core and the rituals together are necessary in order to maintain faith. It is possible to be open-minded and acquire new and different political identities without sacrificing one’s religious identity. … When our youths understand the significance of our rituals, they are better prepared to take our religious community into the future, armed with understanding and religious knowledge, confident in themselves and their heritage.

I dream of the formation of a large and flourishing Zoroastrian community. A living religion must also have a vibrant community rich in real religious commitment. Without a community of practicing believers, a religion becomes nothing more than a museum, an artifact, a relic to be viewed by the curious and studied by historians and scientists. We should maintain a community of Zarathushtis in mind and in heart, treading together the path of truth and righteousness. As a single entity we should be showing love, upholding justice, exercising compassion, working for peace, engaging creatively in constructive work. Together we should be practicing good thoughts, good words, and good deeds in order to reach a community-wide goal of enlightenment and unity with Spenta Mainyu and Ahura Mazda. These goals cannot be achieved with the current social and religious attitudes of our fractured community. Though at times difficult, some traditions can -- and should -- be modified as social conditions demand change. In a civil society, issues can be resolved through discussion and the application of reason, goodwill, and compromise. Compromises should not be confounded by hypocrisy, but should come through constructive confrontation and a willingness to work toward the greater good.

I dream of creating unity within the Zoroastrian community. In a quest for survival and in an attempt to fight social ills, the Zoroastrian community has split into three distinct ideological groups: Traditionalists, Reformists, and Moderates. The division in and of itself is not a threat to the solidarity of the Zoroastrian community; it is merely a sign of spiritual awakening and religious revival. In the modern, free world no religion is monolithic. Doctorinal diversity is a product of freethinking -- a value cherished by Zoroastrians and mandated by Ahura Mazda. Religious understanding is no longer the domain of the priesthood; every individual is entitled to knowledge and has the right to study and make inquiries into religion. It is a personal choice. The threat to community solidarity comes, then, not from freethinking, but from intolerance. … Liberty is the most previous of Ahura Mazda’s gifts to humankind. It is a component of divine law. The right to liberty is so undeniable that Ahura Mazda does not curtail humankind’s actions, even in regard to one’s choice of religion. Intolerance is not a tradition sanctioned by the Gathas. … The acceptance of people born to non-Zarathushti parents is not a threat to the survival of the religion. The tradition of non-acceptance is a threat to our very existence.

I dream that the spirit of Zarathushtra will live on in our youths. We, the elders of the Zoroastrian community, charge out youths with maintaining the ideals of Zoroastrianism. It is up to you, especially those of you living outside of Iran and India, to prove that Zarathushtis have the talent, motivation, strength, and benevolence needed to flourish in the next millennium. You must lead the way. You must do what is right for righteousness sake. You must be vigilant, working hard to protect and promote Zoroastrian values, and to keep the eternal flame alight.

I am confident that my dreams will come true, and that Zarathushtis will not only survive, but also excel in the years to come.