Category: Inclusive Leadership
| 40 min
In Episode 110, Donald Thompson, CEO and Co-Founder of The Diversity Movement, joins Melinda in an enriching conversation about how underestimated leaders can pave a pathway to success. Donald shares his successful journey overcoming adversities as an underestimated leader and how his path can help leaders create access and opportunity for marginalized people in their workplaces. He shares his strategies for implementing inclusive leadership across large organizations and growing companies by maximizing everyone’s unique talents and evaluating team performance. He also provides practical ways for underrepresented entrepreneurs to gain access to funding by knowing how to approach the right VC firms.
In Episode 105, Lily Zheng, Consultant at Zheng Consulting, joins Melinda in a discussion on how we can use our power to create real systemic change around diversity, equity, and inclusion. They explore different types of power and practical ways we can build movements that address inequities in the workplace. They also discuss the importance of trust in creating change and how managers can earn their team members’ trust by understanding and utilizing the currency of trust when making decisions.
In Episode 96, Melinda starts Season 8 with an extensive discussion with Dr. Nika White, President & CEO of Nika White Consulting, about inclusive leadership as a key to building empathy and understanding in a distributed workforce. They explore how to overcome proximity bias in a hybrid workplace, support team members’ well-being, and provide equitable opportunities for everyone. They also delve into how we can improve our cultural intelligence to encourage effective collaboration within diverse teams and how DEI practitioners and HR managers can approach resistance to DEI efforts across global teams.
In Episode 94, Melinda speaks with Dr. Rohini Anand, Principal & CEO of Rohini Anand LLC and author of Leading Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Guide for Systemic Change in Multinational Organizations. Dr. Rohini describes her work to advance DEI across different countries and cultures. She addresses some common missteps that global leaders make when localizing their work and how we can disrupt our own biases and worldview to foster inclusion and cultural competence in the global workplace. She also shares how we can be better allies across global teams by understanding local contexts and bringing outside perspectives to challenge harmful and oppressive practices.
In Episode 83, Laura Liswood, Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders, joins Melinda in a thoughtful discussion about how we can improve workplace diversity faster. They discuss tactics that help leaders address the roadblocks brought by the ‘Elephant-Mouse’ dynamic between dominant and non-dominant groups in organizations. Laura also addresses some of the key topics from her latest book, The Elephant and the Mouse: Moving Beyond the Illusion of Inclusion to Create a Truly Diverse and Equitable Workplace, such as the meritocracy myth, code-switching, the risks posed by a homogeneous workforce, and the rewards of allyship. Bonus: Laura shares her research findings on what it would take for the US to have a woman President.
In Episode 82, Doc Jana, CEO & Founder of Doc Jana LLC and TMI Consulting Inc, joins Melinda in a conversation that gives individuals and organizations a clear approach to interrupting what Doc calls “subtle acts of exclusion,” also known as microaggressions, at work. They guide us through the steps in addressing our own biases, which are often the root of these subtle acts of exclusion. Doc also shares their latest work and their participation in pleasure activism as a way to reclaim joy and find liberation and healing from the pain of trauma.
In Episode 75, Deepa Purushothaman, author of THE FIRST, THE FEW, THE ONLY: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America, joins Melinda to discuss the structural and cultural dynamics of what women of color are experiencing in the workplace, how women can get comfortable sitting in positions of power, and why it’s important to shift away from a scarcity mindset to allow more women of color a seat at the table.
In Episode 69, Scott Hanselman from Microsoft joins us to discuss how we can bring more people in to become allies and what allyship means to Scott. We discuss Scott’s path to allyship, why Scott works to be an ally, and what to do when you make mistakes as an ally.
In Episode 66, Melinda is joined by the founders of Own Trail: Rebekah Bastian and Kt McBratney. Rebekah and Kt share their journey on how they’ve blazed their own trail as entrepreneurs building a platform that’s intentionally diverse, builds empathy, encourages authenticity, and creates impact for women globally. They also provide actionable takeaways on how you can increase allyship and incorporate DEI into your own platforms.
![Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the ] Empovia logo and photos of Jennifer Brown, a White cisgender woman with blonde wavy hair and royal blue blouse; Rohit Bhargava, an Indian-American male in his mid-40s with black hair and white shirt paired with navy blue suit; and host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, glasses, and orange shirt holding a white mug behind a laptop.](https://empovia.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/EP65.png "Leading With Empathy & Allyship promo with the ] Empovia logo and photos of Jennifer Brown, a White cisgender woman with blonde wavy hair and royal blue blouse; Rohit Bhargava, an Indian-American male in his mid-40s with black hair and white shirt paired with navy blue suit; and host Melinda Briana Epler, a White woman with red hair, glasses, and orange shirt holding a white mug behind a laptop.")
In Episode 65, Melinda is joined by Jennifer Brown and Rohit Bhargava, the incredible authors of the book Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-Obvious Ways To Build A More Inclusive World. Jennifer and Rohit share their personal experiences and perspectives on creating a more inclusive world. They present key learnings from their book on storytelling, retail, and leadership, as well as their own educational moments they experienced while writing the book and how those moments helped them grow as allies.
