 Okay, so, well, I'm going to introduce with my English from Premier de Mar, so sorry for my English, but I have the pleasure of to introduce Angela, who is the head of programs and contributor, yeah, contributor experience of Automatic, we have Angela here, and in fact Angela lives here in Spain, in Madrid, but is her first time here in work in Barcelona, because, well, this work come is the last work come was in like five years ago, so it makes sense. And, well, she's going to talk about leadership, and I think that everyone can be a leader, or everyone has some skills or some little skills, and she will talk about it, and how we can improve in the community, in the WordPress community with improving our skills. So, let's start with this talk, fostering the WordPress of tomorrow today. Thank you, and applause. Hello everyone, and thank you for letting me give this talk in English, I would love to be able to give this talk in Spanish, but I'm not quite there yet, but one day. So, yes, I am the head of programs and contributor experience at Automatic, and I am very fortunate to be able to say that I love my job, I get to work with contributors around the world, and do this incredible work together, and it's with that in mind that I'm really excited to give this talk today, because WordPress has this big mission of democratizing publishing, and while that creates a lot of like wonderful connections and fun, it also unlocks a lot of opportunities for people who otherwise may not have them, things like building digital literacy, and also really advanced tech skills, and so we create a lot of opportunities, both through networking, professional opportunities, we find business partners here in WordPress, and so in my role, I think a lot about this, how do we sustain and make really, really resilient what we have here today, and continually improve that for tomorrow's WordPress, and what I firmly believe we need to do is this, leadership at all levels, and this is something that I think is already there in the WordPress community today, but we may not necessarily recognize it right away, and so what I'd love to do today is to help you see what leadership at all levels is, and how we can bring more of that into our space, and so when I talk about leadership at all levels, this is about a belief that leadership skills and behaviors should be present at all levels throughout an organization, not just for like a few people at the top, and it's grounded in a belief that leadership, excellent leadership is a shared responsibility. It's not something that just a small group of people should have, and the first time I ever heard about leadership at all levels, it was quite a long time ago, this was before I joined the WordPress community, and I was working at a consulting firm where I was the receptionist. It's a very important role, but not necessarily one that people think of traditionally as a leadership role, and I remember I had a performance review, and my boss asked me, he said, how are you demonstrating leadership? I said, well, I'm the receptionist, I'm not a leader, and he looked at me and he said, Angela, you are the receptionist, you interact with all of our clients from beginning to end, and by communicating well and consistently, that's one way that you lead by example, and that really changed my view of what leadership is, right? Because when we think about traditional leadership, we often think about hierarchy and decision making, and if you are a manager at a company, how many people report to you? But that's a really narrow view of what leadership is, and if that is what we measured good leadership against, it might be how many people report to you or how many decisions that you make. But when we think about really good leadership, we think about the qualities, we think about excellent communication, ability to inspire others, to help people through a crisis, to unblock things, to make connections, to make informed decisions, and so by challenging this notion of traditional leadership and having leadership at all levels, we're able to do that in a more resilient way together. We're able to inspire others, welcome more people in, and really think about how we set ourselves up for the future. And so this brings us to leadership in the WordPress community because like our traditional view of leadership is that there's a hierarchy, right? But the WordPress community, we generally don't really like hierarchy. We try to be as anti-hierarchy, hierarchical as possible, and we do, I said this earlier, we do practice leadership at all levels. We just don't necessarily recognize it as such. And traditional leadership comes up, that hierarchy comes up because as you scale, you do need some structure. It makes sense. It is something natural that happens. And so in the WordPress community, we do have some hierarchy. We do have, whether we like it or not, we had to have structure. And so we have Matt Mullinweg as the project co-founder and Josepha Hayden Champosi as our executive director. And so annually they are the ones who put together a vision and the top three things and share that with everybody. However, that is not made, those decisions aren't made in silos. Those decisions are made through tons and tons of input that they gather throughout the year, through conversations and discussions. And so by and large WordPress, this is how WordPress is led through coalitions. We have a lot of discussions. We connect in Slack over on the make WordPress blogs and we discuss a ton of things over and over until we have all the information we need in order to make those decisions. And so it is in this everyday work that we see how leadership works in the WordPress community. And so my personal mission here is to grow leaders at all levels within the WordPress community because what it takes to make things happen in this community, to work together, to communicate together, to make decisions together, those are all exemplary leadership skills that we need. And so I hope that everyone in this space can think about how they are leading and how they can set the best example for each other. And to do that, we start with you. How are you leading in this space today? And what leadership skills do you already have? And if you're thinking like, well, I'm not a leader, let me change your mind a little bit and challenge that notion because I believe that in all of you, we have really excellent leadership skills. And I see them every single day in the WordPress community. And so I hope that you can kind of realize that you have these. And if you don't believe that, let me tell you the other secret about leadership, which is that all leadership skills can be learned. And so it really takes intentionality and practice. But we all can do it. And because I find frameworks very helpful, I'd like to share this framework with you called the four stages of leadership. This is a really common framework when it comes to growing your leadership. And there's a lot of different versions of what I'm about to share with you. But this is the one that I find is most relevant to the WordPress community. And so the first stage of leadership is called self-leadership. The emphasis is on being able to lead yourself. You're showing up, you're holding yourself accountable, and you're using the knowledge you already have to contribute to the space. A really good example of self-leadership is team reps. The basic expectation of what a team rep does is that they show up to the team, they put together an agenda, they facilitate a meeting, they put up some notes afterwards. That's all it takes. But by showing up consistently, you are leading in this space. And so that's a great example of what self-leadership is. The next stage of leadership is direct leadership. And in direct leadership, you are actively taking on more responsibility. You're proactively taking on more responsibility. And it often looks like helping somebody else out. So at this point, you have knowledge around how to do something. And so you go, you see somebody else trying to figure it out. And so you say, hey, can I help you do this? And then you walk them through it, and then they're able to do it on their own. And a good example of this is a polyglots, a GT or a PT. They review translations, they give feedback, and they help a new translator make a translation. And the third stage is intentional leadership. And here we have a distinct break between the first two stages, because the first two stages are based off of knowledge that you have. In intentional leadership, you may not have all the information. Leaders never have all the information. If we counted on leaders to have all the information, we would have no leaders at all. Nobody has all the information. But in intentional leadership, your confidence continues to build because you know the value that you bring. And that value often translates into being able to solicit input, to gather lots of opinions, and bring together lots of people to make decisions. And so, yeah, you're constantly seeking input, facilitating dialogue, and holding others accountable as well. A good example that we see in the WordPress community is what our community deputies do. These are people who are familiar with how our community team works, with how word camps and meet-ups are organized, and so they work together to guide how the community team itself continues to grow. And the last stage of leadership is mentoring leadership. And here, the emphasis is on modeling the behavior and not necessarily doing the thing yourself, but helping others discover their leadership, knowing that they have to find their own style. It cannot be exactly the same as yours. And so, here, you are leading by example. You're creating opportunities and sharing them with others so that they can take on more leadership roles as well. And so, in these four stages of leadership, none of this is tied to hierarchy or decision-making, but it is tied to experience and willingness to lead. And we see a lot of this across the WordPress space, and I would love to see more of it, because I think having this really sets us up for long-term success. It would really change the way that we bring people in and help them continue to grow in this space. Now, the four stages of leadership might help you recognize where you are in your leadership today, but it's not necessarily the most immediately actionable. And so, I wanted to take some time to talk through things that you might be able to do today that are all excellent leadership skills and behaviors to practice as you interact in this space. And so, yeah, here are some quick thoughts. First is be the example. Beyond just giving advice or showing people how to do something, think about how you show up in this space. In any community, people will look to each other to know what is acceptable, especially new contributors. And so, by showing up in the way that you are most proud of, you also set that example for others. Then I want you to listen and be really, really curious, because this is how we hear and this is how we welcome other people and help them feel very included in this space. A great way to do this is to ask a lot of open-ended questions. How did you get started in WordPress? What do you hope to achieve here today? And this is a really lovely way to gather information. And beyond listening, I want you to actively seek input. How are you getting feedback and getting opinions and thoughts on the projects that you are doing? And this is really valuable, because what your perspective is just one side of things. And if we are building WordPress for everybody, we need lots and lots of opinions in order to make this the most reflective of who we are building WordPress for. And so, be bold, be clear in your communication, tell everyone what you know, what you don't know, and ask for their thoughts as well. And this is how WordPress builds coalition. This is how we make decisions to the best of our ability. And when you do share information that you have, do it in a way that encourages further input. If anybody here is into improv, there's an exercise called yes and, where one person says something and then the next person says yes and then they add another sentence. And this is a really lovely way to build together in a very encouraging way. Sometimes we do have to say no, but say no, but, and then provide context as to why we do need to say no, and what we can do instead. And then give kind of feedback. I know feedback sometimes can be a scary thing because we often associate it with negative feedback. But feedback can also be positive feedback. In all cases, it should always be constructive. And giving, if you're going to give feedback, do check in with the other person to make sure they are willing to receive the feedback because feedback is a two-way street. It's a conversation. And by giving feedback on the work itself and providing lots of context and describing what the impact is, we are able to know how we want to continue to working, how we want to continue working together. It's also a really excellent skill for any manager to have as well if you do work in a more traditional environment. And then I want you to go and create and let others have opportunities. If you are constantly the one doing that one thing and nobody else can do it, that also means that you are less open to new opportunities. So the more that you can think about what opportunities you do have that you can encourage others to have that makes you less likely to be a single point of failure and it also opens you up to take on something new and keep growing yourself and celebrate all the successes because who doesn't love a good celebration? This, I think all too often sometimes we focus on the hard things and the failures because they draw our attention and it's easy that we keep working and keep working and we skip past all of these successes but celebrate them because there's a lot to celebrate and it's worth sharing that with your teammates. And so these are just some very quick and very common leadership skills and behaviors that anyone can do today. And so as I wrap up here, I'm going to challenge you to think about how you lead in this space. And this is what I want you to do. I want you to reflect on a leadership skill you already have. It could be something I mentioned here. It could be something else that you've identified. Think about all the great leaders that you look up to. What do they do that you want to be able to do? And I want you to commit to applying it this week at least once. Try for a few more times. All right. And that's really all I have for you today. I love talking with people about growing leadership. It is something that I personally find most gratifying about my work. And so if you want to talk about leadership, I have a ton more recommendations than what I just threw here today for you. And this is how you can find me. So I would love to hear from any of you. If you want to try in Spanish, I will do my best. But English is the language that I am most comfortable with today. So thank you so much. Congrats, Angela. Thank you so much for your talk. Well, let's go with the questions. The first one. Yeah. Okay. We are going to translate it. Okay. In English. Thank you very much, Angela. We love your talk with your speech here. Thank you very much. I just have a question. You mentioned the word democracy. And I wonder if you understand the organization of WordPress. Would you describe it also as a meritocracy? I don't know if this word exists in English. Yeah. So, yes. So hopefully everyone can hear the question since it's piped through the microphone. But the question, as I understand it, is earlier I mentioned that WordPress's mission is to democratize publishing. And you were wondering how it ties into the concept of meritocracy. Great. Excellent. So meritocracy is a concept that has been part of open source for a very long time. And it is around that by showing up and consistently showing up, that is how we gain more power or decision making. We have that our voice has a little more weight in the project. We gain, what am I trying to say? We have merit by showing up consistently. And so where meritocracy fell out of favor with open source was that it's not everyone can show up consistently. Not everyone can show up safely. And so we have abandoned meritocracy to some degree. There have been updated definitions of what meritocracy looks like in a more equitable way in open source. And so I do think some of the updated definitions of meritocracy do apply. But yeah, I think when we think about democratizing publishing, I really, the question that I really love to ask is if we are building WordPress for everyone, how are we hearing everybody's voice? Not just those who are able to show up today. Thank you, Angela. Very good reflection. Do you have some book recommendation about leadership? So many. One of the best books that you are reading about. So three or? Yes. I don't know. Two numbers. Thank you. Leadership books. Yeah, I mean leadership is one of those topics that is written about extensively. A few that I really like. Simon Sinek. Leaders eat last. The coaching habit. And then just one more. I'm going to say being strategic by Erica Anderson. And the culture map. Yeah. That one is really good for working around the world as we do, because there are so many cultures. The way we work with each other is incredibly different. And so putting together, like I said, I love frameworks, putting together some framework for that has been really, really wonderful for me. Really interesting. Okay. Another question. We can throw this. So, I mean, why do they say it in English? We can translate it. So if someone wants to speak in Spanish, or in Catalan, of course. We are here. Or in Calego. I don't know can see. Hi. Thank you for the presentation. I'm interested in the from the perspective of leadership. Can you please explain in a few words how WordPress stands apart in the open source community? How the WordPress community stands out in the open source landscape? That's a good question. You know, one thing that I've always found really interesting about the WordPress community is that we've taken open source, because open source, the concept of open source was originally tied to code. But what we've done is taken these open source values around like everybody being able to read the thing and take it for themselves and build on top of it. And we've applied it to the way that we work. And so that is really how the whole WordPress community works. Whereas some of the other open source communities, they only apply open source values to just the code or to very specific segments of their community, not the whole thing. And so that's one thing that is very unique about WordPress that I particularly enjoy. Another one? Come on, Nora. In English? Okay. Let's do that. Thank you very much for your talk. Sometimes when we are trying to be in leaders in a project, in a group, we sometimes misunderstood leadership with being like the protagonist, it's okay to say that. I mean, to be the main person and to keep the others in that spot, do you understand me? Not quite. Sorry. I mean, when you are trying to be a leader, like, okay, I'm taking the leadership of a project, sometimes we misunderstood it and we've become the one person, the person who is above the rest. Can you recommend us something we have to keep in our minds to avoid like a collapse on the rest of the people and being a leader, but not being the protagonist of the thing? Yeah. Yeah, I think, yeah, that's a really good question. I think sometimes as it's challenging, right? Like, when leaders often will have a very broad view of things and feel that that is holistic enough, I think one question that all leaders should continually continue to ask themselves is, what am I missing? And how do I go about seeking that kind of information? Who am I not talking to that I really need to talk to in order to take the next step, to make a recommendation, to make sure that I am connected with as many people as possible? Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Nora. Another one? Hi, just a question. Two years ago, I discovered a concept that originated with me in terms of leadership and sort of teamwork that was using vulnerability as an asset to connect with other people. Is there anything that you have discovered, some style of leadership that has challenged your view of leadership or has challenged you to see leadership in a different light? Yeah. Yes. One concept that I really like to use is where a leader should be if they were leading a group of people. And so if a group of people are in a room together, are you the leader that stands at the front of the room? Are you the leader that stands in the middle of the crowd? Or are you a leader that stands at the back of the room? And I really like this visual representation of leadership because it really represents different styles of leadership, right? And one of the most challenging things about leadership is that there is no one right way. It's depending on the situation that leadership is most effective. And so if everybody is in a crisis and things are not going well, sometimes a leader being at the front of the room and saying, all right, let's go that way is really helpful because it gives that kind of grounding sense of like, okay, we're in chaos, but we have a direction to go. A leader being in the middle of the room and working alongside everybody is a really empowering thing for the whole group. And if the group is doing really well and they're, they have direction, you know, you don't want a leader there saying like, okay, everyone, now let's go this way. Instead, you want a leader at the back of the room saying, great job, everyone, let's keep going. And so I really like that visual representation when I think about leadership and where I want to be with a group of people. So yeah, yeah. Okay, that's question. If there's anyone. Okay, yeah. Okay, so this question is more about your experience itself, because as a woman in interest in tech industry, it's been complicated in order to scale, let's say, or to have leadership roles. So my question will be because I'm right now in a position where I'm growing in the field, let's say, and I hope every day together to gather a little bit more of leadership. So what will you say are like three tips or something that you can give to someone as in my spot for a woman in my spot that can be taken into consideration for good leadership? Yeah, surround yourself with people who are supportive and who are going to be helpful and who are who are helpful in a very constructive way. And it is it is really hard in in this world to to there are a lot of people who may want to get in your way. But just as much there are people who will support you. And so surrounding yourself with the people who are who want to see you succeed and will celebrate your successes. That's that's very much my my top suggestion. And then discover your own leadership style. Everyone's leadership style is going to be different. There's no one right way. Find the style that is most true to you, that you feel the most comfortable with the one that you feel the most proud of. And then never stop learning. There is I think leadership doesn't just stop. You just you have to keep learning and you have to be willing to to iterate just like word for us. And so the more that you are absorbing information and continuing to grow yourself, I think that's a really a really powerful thing. Okay, thank you so much. Okay, the real last question. Okay, more. Anyone? Okay, so let's thank you so much.