April 16, 2021
Colloquium Topic: Neurodiversity and the Future of Work
The pandemic-era embrace of remote work could have long-lasting implications for neurodiversity in the workplace—for neurotypical people as well as for people who are autistic. As we transition to a hybrid workplace that combines office days with work from home, we can not only create more opportunities for people to thrive outside the conventional office, but also take this moment to notice all the ways in which office environments and interactions can become less stressful and more sustainable for all of us. In this interactive conversation, Remote, Inc. author Alexandra Samuel will draw on her recent Wall Street Journal article to talk about how a neurodiversity lens can make the future of work more productive and fulfilling for everyone.
Colloquium Speaker: Alexandra Samuel
Alexandra Samuel is a speaker, data journalist and tech writer. She is the co-author (with Robert Pozen) of Remote, Inc: How To Thrive at Work….Wherever You Are, which will be published by Harper Business in spring 2021, and the author of Work Smarter with Social Media: A Guide to Managing Evernote, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Your Email (Harvard Business Review Press).
Alex’s work helps people and organizations excel at working and living together online. She is regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Harvard Business Review, Medium’s Forge and JSTOR Daily, and has written for many other outlets, including Macworld, Oprah.com, The Atlantic.com, The Toronto Star and CBC Radio. In addition to her data-driven stories for media outlets, Alex works with customer experience giant Sprinklr as the data journalist on the annual Forbes report on The World’s Most Influential CMOs.
Alex’s work is grounded in more than two decades of experience as a technology researcher and strategist. As Vice President of Social Media at Vision Critical, a customer intelligence software provider, Alex worked with the company’s F1000 customers to develop innovative approaches to social media research and to deliver groundbreaking reports like Sharing is the New Buying and What Social Media Analytics Can’t Tell You About Your Customers. She was the founding Director of the Social + Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she led applied research projects with companies like Mozilla and Paperny Films. And as the founder and principal with Social Signal, one of the world’s first social media agencies, Alex shaped the online strategy for a wide range of online community projects, including Tyze, Change Everything and NetSquared.
Alexandra holds a B.A. from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University, where her dissertation examined the phenomenon of hacktivism — politically motivated computer hacking — as a window on online political participation.