Discoveries made through examined failures are essential to human evolution. Events become learnings, learnings become narratives, and narratives become templates that can correct for mistakes in future implementation.

Once used primarily for survival, these tactics of social advancement have expanded to serve more complex, strategic purposes with the increased use of tools and technologies to supplement human action. But in a community motivated more by a desire for success than insight, outcomes can often take precedence over methodology — and obscure the organic action that will lead to real discovery.

For Beth Rudden (pictured), distinguished engineer at IBM Corp., the current rise of artificial intelligence and the controversies surrounding its ethical use in a socially homogeneous tech industry bring this growing discord to a head.

“In 75,000 years of human history, we’ve always understood conflict and resolution through storytelling,” Rudden said. “Data represents human behavior, and I think understanding that puzzle and being able to tell that story is something we need to do more of.”

A former archaeologist, Rudden is leveraging her experience in sociological progress to transform industry standards by prioritizing inclusive data narrative processes in AI through IBM Global Technology Services.

Rudden sat down with Rebecca Knight (@knightrm) and Paul Gillin (@pgillin), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the IBM CDO Summit in Boston. (* Disclosure below.)

This week, theCUBE spotlights Beth Rudden in its Women in Tech feature.

Humanity underlying technology

An AI pioneer, IBM remains on the frontlines of innovation as the technology reaches critical mass with the new power of cloud data storage and processing. The company’s continued creativity in the field of data is what attracted Rudden, whose interest in the humanity underlying technology was cultivated over years working in the anthropological field.

With her background studying sociological development through centuries of human behavior, Rudden focuses on social narratives as the crux of an AI strategy she believes will drive the next era of innovation.

“What we’re doing with AI and cognitive today is being able to bind philosophy and psychology and look at it from a computer science perspective,” she said. “We need to understand how data fits together and wisdom is created. That takes a lot of effort from a lot of people, and it involves storytelling.”

Unearthing that wisdom and fully leveraging AI’s potential requires input from a team with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. To ensure the development of solutions that speak to every audience, IBM is fostering a diverse organization that works together to tell a full data story.

“When you’re [looking] for outcomes as they relate to business, clients and customers, we have to have a diverse and inclusive viewpoint. We are looking at how we differentiate ourselves based on our expertise and human capital,” Rudden said.

Measuring collaboration with data

In order to actively engage in the process of conflict and resolution that propels growth, IBM is encouraging professional development at the individual level for all team members. “We want people to continuously learn, adapt [and] develop themselves, because that is our differentiating feature,” Rudden said.

Rudden’s team is not only ensuring access to applicable education across IBM, but tracking the impact of applied learnings on organizational transformation. The company is primarily focused on empowering team members with so-called “soft skills” and measuring how colleagues work with each other through data to optimize collaboration.

“The behaviors we are looking for are people who are helping other people, making sure we are continually the premier leader in the AI game,” she said.

The company uses data gathered to provide a framework for teamwork best practices and incentivize those helping others to excel. Fostering a spectrum of differentiated individual talents creates a rising-tide effect across IBM.

“You look for words like ‘we’ and ‘team’ and people who are enabling and empowering other people,” Rudden said. “That’s something that we can see in the data.”

Future proofing through ‘soft skills’

As an advocate for responsible use of cognitive data science and AI systems, Rudden is intent on utilizing data to highlight those who empower others, as well as spreading the message that diversity is a priority at IBM.

“I want to make sure people are noticed and recognized, but I also want to make sure people know IBM is this amazing company with a very long history of making sure that we are singing the unsung hero’s song,” she said.

That internal support extends to the customers outside IBM, who are better served by teams equipped with the skills and resources to communicate effectively. The company’s global scale means those benefits are felt worldwide.

“We have five- to seven-year relationships with our clients and customers; they interact with our humans every single day,” Rudden said. “We design, create, run and manage the foundational systems of the world.”

IBM’s global scale is part of what enables the diverse collaborations that create solutions for every audience, and the company aims to set a standard in a tech landscape that remains slow to include and celebrate underrepresented minority groups.

That strategy means stronger teams and a healthier bottom line. Diverse collaboration has been proven to create more effective, profitable solutions for businesses. According to research, diversity efforts could earn the IT industry an extra $400 billion net revenue each year.

The definition of “skilled” changes rapidly to keep pace with the breakneck speed of transforming technology. IBM’s commitment to optimizing the “soft skill” learning and collaboration habits gives its teams an edge and future-proofs their ability to seamlessly adapt.

“It’s the will more than the skill,” Rudden said “That it is how people collaborate, and that is more important than some of the skills. We have seen a huge surge in oral and written communications, but to me there’s nothing soft about those skills.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the IBM CDO Summit. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the IBM CDO Summit. Neither IBM, the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE