Looking ahead, he wants to drive understanding and internal cultural change within the company. He is now working with other indigenous employees in North and South America who face similar challenges and have similar aims. Together they have just launched Microsoft's first Indigenous Employee Resource Group (ERG), which Walker co-chairs. "We are helping to change Microsoft from the inside. That is my sense of purpose here at Microsoft. It's an amazing experience." He also has supported and promoted diversity and inclusion initiatives by teams within Microsoft, such as this year's addition of te reo Māori to a list of more than 60 languages on Microsoft Translator app and the insertion of Māori features, language, and cultural references into Minecraft in schools. [caption id="attachment_111412" align="alignleft" width="372"]

Two men with one weaing a traditional Maori feather cape.

Walker (left) hosts a Powhiri welcome ceremony for new Azure specialist intern Dylan Apera at Microsoft New Zealand's Auckland office. Apera is wearing a Korowai coat made of feathers. Credit: Dan Te Whenua Walker.[/caption]

"Microsoft wants to drive Māori and Pasifika (Polynesian) initiatives," he says. "I have never been in a company like this before."

He has even bigger plans for mentoring and recruiting, which he hopes will help close the digital gap for Māori people. While they make up about 25% of New Zealand's population, they and Pasifika people represent just 2% of workers in the country's fast-growing IT sector. Instead, too many remain in low-paid, low-skilled jobs. "We don't have a lot of role models who can lead the way," he explains. "We need to focus on getting our children educated in the right ways to change that. We need to invest in our people." Greater participation by Māori people in the technology sector would deliver broad benefits for all New Zealanders, he says. "Yes, Māori need to embrace tech. But tech also needs Māori. What I mean by that is technology was born as a science around facts and figures. Whereas for Māori and other indigenous cultures, our values are at the core of the framework for how we operate," he says. "The danger is that new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), are susceptible to social bias, often against minorities. AI can be a force for good, but we need to base it on values that put the environment and our people in the right space, so that AI doesn't steamroll us." As Walker outlines his vision for the future, he again looks back to the past – this time to the example set by his great grandfather, Hori Taranaki. After serving New Zealand and the British Empire in World War I, he donated land for the building of a tribal school. Hori wanted his descendants to have the power to keep their culture and language while thriving and growing strong in a fast-changing modern age. "He saw the need for us to walk in two worlds. It is the same challenge today," Walker says. "My Māori culture has taught me that my ancestors are always with me. My deep wish is that he, and all of my ancestors, are proud of me and that I am enacting their dreams." MAIN IMAGE: Dan Te Whenua Walk visits Waipapa Marae, or Māori meeting house, on the campus of the University of Auckland. Credit: Brett Phibbs / PhibbsVisuals

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