The tech industry was once a place of idealism. An industry where bright minds came together to build tools that could improve lives, connect communities and expand human potential. Somewhere along the way, the culture changed.
Today, the same industry that connects billions also divides them. Online conversations have become polarised, workplace cultures often filled with friction and conflict rather than principled, honourable or safe, and both men and women are paying the price.
This is not a woman’s issue. It is a human issue. The way we treat one another and the values that guide us shape the technologies we build, the algorithms we train and the legacy that we leave behind.
The State of Tech Today: Progress Without Humanity
Tech prides itself on disruption, innovation and speed. Yet the faster we move, the more we lose sight of what makes progress meaningful. Many workplaces have become competitive rather than collaborative. Burnout is normalised. Empathy is rare, and despite years of discussion about diversity, genuine diversity of thought is shrinking.
For women, the barriers remain exhausting: bias, invisibility and the daily calculation of when to speak up or stay quiet. Not to mention trying to combine this with parenting and career progression.
For men, the culture is not working either. Too many are silently struggling under expectations of toughness, silence and constant productivity. They too, are struggling to fit in with a system focused on deliverables first and living second.
No one wins in a system that confuses aggression with leadership or quiet endurance with strength.
Honour, Decency and the Lost Code of Conduct
There was a time when honour, respect and decency were considered the cornerstones of professionalism. These values were about integrity rather than superiority, the quiet consistency of people who could be trusted to do what was right, even when no one was watching.
In the tech industry, that spirit has been replaced by cynicism. “Move fast and break things” became not just a product mantra but an attitude to people. However, what we have broken most is trust. Trust among our colleagues and trust that the business will do right by its employees.
Reclaiming a duty of care is not weakness. It means:
- Standing up for fairness, not because policy demands it but because it is right.
- Supporting one another, even when no one is watching.
- Refusing to normalise disrespect, whoever it targets.
These are not gendered values. They are human values that make innovation possible. You can't innovate when you can't take risks.
The Cost of Losing Respect
When decency erodes, so does diversity of perspective. When that happens, it is not only people who suffer. The technology itself begins to reflect those failures. Algorithms mirror their creators.
If workplaces reward conformity and discourage challenge, the systems we build will mirror that bias. We end up with products that exclude, platforms that divide and decision-making tools that reinforce inequality instead of removing it.
Technology that once promised to expand human potential now risks narrowing it. AI is learning from our collective behaviour, every dataset, every decision and every bias left unchallenged. If we fail to restore fairness and diversity of thought in the teams that design it, test it and use it, we risk teaching machines the worst of who we are.
A Duty of Care: To Ourselves and One Another
Fixing this does not require another initiative or committee. Culture change begins smaller and much closer to home. It starts with everyone in tech choosing honour over hierarchy. With leaders valuing respect over reputation. With colleagues calling out unfairness without fear of exclusion.
And with each of us remembering that innovation without integrity is not progress but neglect.
Why This Matters Now
The rise of AI has placed technology at the centre of human development. What we build next will define generations. That means the culture behind the code matters more than ever.
A divided, cynical, self-interested industry cannot build ethical systems. But an industry grounded in fairness, humility and mutual respect, led by men and women who value integrity over ego, still can. The future of technology is not about who is the smartest person in the room.
It is about whether anyone in that room still cares enough to do the right thing. Reclaiming honour, decency and duty of care is not nostalgia. It is survival.
If we want technology to reflect humanity at its best, men in tech must lead with the courage to be decent, not dominant.
The next great transformation will not come from code. It will come from restoring what we have lost: our shared humanity.