Hou’s efforts in leading the team behind Paramount+’s livestream of Super Bowl LVIII—which introduced a High-Dynamic Range signal and Key Moments Highlights—are impressive, but so is the team he built to reflect Paramount+ and Pluto TV’s diverse global audiences. He created a workplace culture that fosters open communication to ensure team members understand each other and their customers. Having fled genocide in Cambodia, Hou knows the traumas refugees face, which is why he supports several refugee relief organizations.
Why do you think DEI has come under attack by some? Fear. DEI is under attack from those who fear unfairness—the same unfairness that led to the advent of DEI in the first place. Those in the minority are often unseen and unrepresented because of the implicit bias of those in the majority. As the majority makes decisions, these decisions are often made in their own likeness and according to their own beliefs, which historically led to decisions that were unfair to the minority. Over the past six decades, DEI has shifted the tide—and some now fear losing control as more and more representation has begun to influence decisions made for generations to come.
Has the Internet created more inclusion or exclusion? For all the advances that we have made in this digital age, going from single massive mechanical computers like the ENIAC to an entire world interconnected through light, wire, and waves transmitting bits and bytes between billions of devices and servers within mere decades—we are often reminded, especially in this day and age, that it is not the technology that isolates us or brings us together—it is each of us challenging the orthodoxies of generations before us to sustain a world in which we are able to live fulfilled lives with empathy, appreciation and care for each other — because it is something that we choose to do. The Internet will always be a reflection of what we all choose to be.
Advice I would give a recent graduate: Don’t wait until you feel fully prepared or confident to take your shot—just start. The best way to learn and grow is by diving in, experimenting, and figuring things out along the way. Progress comes from repeated action. Success begins with failure.