TheBridge profile: Malcom Glenn
Name: Malcom Glenn
Current city: Washington, DC
Current job: Senior Fellow, CWI Labs and Fellow at New America
Past job: Head of Global Policy, Accessibility and Underserved Communities at Uber; Executive Communications Manager, Google
Read Malcom’s recent writings:
Atoning for Racism’s Toll on Older Black Americans
What History Tells Us About COVID-19’s Disastrous Impact on Black Households
Black Lives Matter More Than Property
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? The Coffee Bar in Shaw
Q. Describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job. At Google, I crafted talking points, presentations, and helped senior executives find their voice. The work there helped me understand what resonates with audiences and the power of effective storytelling. In my role at Uber, I frequently use my own voice to tell the story of the work we're doing for communities, as well as to convince people internally of what's right and why we should do it. I'm forever grateful for the opportunity I had at Google to find my own voice, and how it's now helping Uber's story resonate.
Q. Job advice in three words? Always be kind.
Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech? Working in an industry town and not being of that industry is a fascinating experience. Whereas doing comms in SF for a Silicon Valley company was a dog-bites-man story, in DC, my work is fresh. Whether it's lawmakers (on tech issues), third parties (on the value of our platform to their communities), or in my personal pursuits (on how working in tech can be a means of doing social good), I'm always educating. I'm super-focused on figuring out how everything that we're doing at Uber can in some way answer a fundamental question: how can we leverage the platform to better serve the needs of marginalized communities?
Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? More important than the perfect set of experiences or a person's background is their "GSD quotient," aka how well they can get "stuff" done.
Q. Best advice you've received? Stop the glorification of being busy.
Q. What can Silicon Valley teach DC? Just because things have always been done a certain way doesn't mean that's the way they should be done.
Q. What can DC teach Silicon Valley? Outcomes matter more than intentions.
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