Putting The Band Back Together- Carl Smith

<p>When Carl Smith’s eleven-year-old daughter started getting into classic rock like Joan Jett, she asked her dad how he wanted to be remembered. Carl had run his own digital agency nGen Works for twelve years, but his daughter’s questions about legacy made him realize his true passion was boosting other leaders into the stratosphere. “If you’re a leader, you probably didn’t go to school for that,” he says and gave himself the goal of figuring out how to help people in leadership roles unlock their potential. </p><p>The first <a href="https://bureauofdigital.com/" target="_blank">Bureau of Digital</a> event was a couple of dozen digital shop owners talking about what worked and what didn’t. And, as Carl says, “We fell in love with each other.” Their mission was to provide community to the digital space. </p><p>But from the beginning, it was clear that some folks weren’t in the room. In 2012, there were only a handful of women and BIPOC people at the table, and gender diversity became a bigger issue as the Bureau took off. Carl shares that women often didn’t sign up for owner-focused events, sticking with ones designed for operators. After another gender-unbalanced event, <a href="https://medium.com/leading-design/an-interview-with-margaret-lee-169f62a5976f" target="_blank">Margaret Lee</a>, who ran Google Maps for nearly a decade, pulled him aside for a chat. She suggested they offer a women’s leadership camp. His response? “Yes, ma’am.” </p><p>It turned out to be a half-solution. At one event, he was approached by a participant who said, “White women’s leadership camp is going great.” When he flinched, she reminded him, “It’s going to be work, Carl.” He knew he had to figure out where to go from there, but he couldn’t do it on his own. </p><p>Enter <a href="http://www.projectinkblot.com/" target="_blank">Project Inkblot</a>. Co-founders Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin work with organizations as coaches to build diversity—the real stuff, not trendy hashtags—into their operations. For Carl, it meant taking a step back