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The National Security Agency (NSA) has digitized and published a 1982 lecture by Rear Admiral (then Captain) Grace Hopper entitled, "Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People. The lecture was recorded on a now obsolete medium for which the NSA did not have playback capabilities any more. It was necessary to reach out to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to be able to transfer the recording to a current medium so that the NSA could review the material and approve it for public release.
The lecture, "Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People," features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the potential future challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable insight on leadership and her experiences breaking barriers in the fields of computer science and mathematics.
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On August 26, 2024, the National Security Agency (NSA) released a digital copy of a videotaped lecture, "Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People" that Rear Adm. Grace Hopper gave to the NSA workforce on August 19, 1982. This lecture highlights technological foundational principles, valuable perspectives on leadership and shared experiences overcoming challenges in computer science and math. The legacy of Rear Adm. Grace Hopper continues to echo across the intelligence community to light the path for women in STEM.
The NSA has published via YouTube but has hopefully learned from the experience and has retained a local archival copy.
Previously:
(2023) Misconceptions Put Women Off STEM Subjects
(2018) A Female Engineer's Opinion On Why Fewer Women Go In To Tech
(2017) Women in STEM - Recruitment Efforts Counterproductive
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 29, @04:54AM (3 children)
Somewhere around 35:00 on the second video, Adm Hopper talks about leadership. Yep, even back then, leadership was being lost. An enlisted man never evaluates the officers he works for, or works with. But I did. Some of my officers at that time were real leaders. Others were something else. Adm Hopper calls them managers. I had other names for them, but managers works well enough.
Since I've left the Navy, I've only rarely seen leadership in action. That, mostly on construction sites. Virtually everything is run by managers today, who couldn't inspire a starving man to eat a T-bone steak.
We've often talked about MBAs ruining businesses on this site. Adm Hopper nailed it, all the way back in the 1980s. She would have a lot to say if she were still around to see where Boeing has gone. Boeing, and all the rest of the business world.
Damned good presentation on her part, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to listen to it.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday August 29, @02:52PM
In business, I suspect that leadership can be a double-edged sword. A business that considers people to be resources that can be interchanged and replaced suffers far more serious harm losing a leader than a manager. I wonder if that's why the trait isn't actively developed.
I can't recall the last time I worked under someone that I felt would, and would be competent to, jump in the trenches if things went south.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday August 29, @04:30PM
+1 Insightful on the lecture as well. I just watched the first five minutes and want to watch the rest, but that much was clearheaded and clearly presented with what seems to be falsifiable [iu.edu] observations.
And most importantly, a summary of ~30 (?) years of experience from an intelligent person in one environment continuously observing and being part of changes over that time, at the ground level to 10e3 feet. Making this recording available to the general public for free, presented in the first person, is obviously one of the things that my tax dollars should be spent on.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by OrugTor on Thursday August 29, @04:33PM
I was lucky enough to attend a keynote speech given by Hopper at a UFO (UI framework) convention in the mid-eighties. It was all insightful as well as entertaining but I particularly remember her views on managers. She made it clear she had no use for "leaders" who were no more than technically ignorant bureaucrats.