Voice Worth Listening To is a podcast dedicated to sharing stories about diversity and inclusion. Stories that I hope will make you think and reflect on how we experience each others’ differences. My goal is to encourage change in our individual perspectives and in the ways in which we live and work together. You can find more information on my work related to diversity and inclusion at www.strat-ology.com.
19: LGBTQ+: Why is it important to have members of the LGBTQ community on staff and in your leadership team?
Being treated differently because you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community is a real issue, and it’s alive and well in many, if not most organizations. This is confirmed in the dozens of conversations I’ve had with gay men and women about their professional experiences at work. But it’s also backed up with quantitative and qualitative data. For example, 15 to 45 percent of LGBTQ people suffer some form of discrimination on the job. 10 to 20 percent have been passed over for a job or been fire...
20 Apr 2022
18: Preservation: What can Global Crises like the War on Ukraine Teach Leaders about Fostering DEI
The world around us seems to be increasingly defined by hate. The Russians and the Ukrainians, the Palestinians and the Israelis, the Chinese and the Uyghur Muslims, India’s war on Islam, the US and women’s rights, Florida and the LGBTQ+ community. Each one of these geopolitical crises is a war on diversity where minority populations are in a “fight to exist.” They are fighting against leaders working to eliminate minority voices. These leaders invoke preservation as their key narrative. They...
23 Feb 2022
17: Weight Stigma: One of the last acceptable forms of discrimination
When we think about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), our mind often goes to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and those that are differently-abled. But do these differences represent the full landscape of DEI? What topics do we still avoid? The one I broach in this episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO is weight stigma. It may surprise you to learn that overweight people regularly suffer discrimination in the form of assumptions that they are lazy, less competent and less quali...
19 Jan 2022
16: Women of Color (2) in the Workplace: Promoting and Retaining Talent
This episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO is the second of a two-part series that answers the following question: How can organizations do a better job of recognizing talented women of color and promoting them into decision making and leadership roles? It is important to realize that talent doesn’t get promoted or retained just because it gets recognized. Part 2 focuses on this reality. We explore stories about the challenges faced by 4 high-performing Women of Color. These stories help...
17 Nov 2021
15: Women of Color (1) in the Workplace: Recognizing Talent to Improve Underrepresentation
This episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO is the first of a two-part series that answers the following question: How can organizations do a better job of recognizing talented women of colour and promoting them into decision making and leadership roles? Women of colour represent an intersectional population that is often subject to overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. This poses significant challenges for professional women of colour when being recrui...
13 Oct 2021
14: Representation: Driving a better form of Representation in your Organization
Is representation important? Whenever you have this discussion with organizational leaders, the answer is always the same, “It’s very important.” But in my experience, the time leaders take to understand representation, its nuances, and its inherent challenges is quite limited. In this episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO, I attempt to answer three key questions organizational leaders must consider when attempting to increase the level of representation in their organizations: (1) Can y...
15 Sept 2021
13: Inclusion: How can inclusion drive your organization's performance?
Why do organizations struggle with creating inclusive organizational cultures that would allow them to retain strong and diverse talent? The Answer: Organizations struggle with creating an inclusive context because with less than 5% of leaders in organizations being women, black, indigenous, people of colour or members of the LGBTQ+ communities, inclusion is simply not a challenge they have personally faced. The majority of leaders of Canadian and US organizations today have not h...
21 Jul 2021
12: Islamophobia: How does the idea of Islamophobia affect how Muslim professionals experience the workplace?
Phobias are a form of anxiety disorder. When you have a fear of heights or a fear of clowns, you can’t be rational, you can’t be deliberate, and you do everything in your power to put distance between you and your fear. Fear of Muslims or fear of Islam doesn’t work that way because it’s not a phobia. It is hate, it is discrimination, it is biased, it is unfair, and it is irrational, but it is not a phobia. When someone has a phobia, the appropriate reaction is empathy....
8 Jun 2021
11: Global DEI: Should organizations take a stance on international issues that cut at the heart of Diversity Equity and Inclusion?
Can organizations afford to be silent or even neutral on important geo-political issues that cut at the heart of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Is silence the right strategy in the face of black voting rights, the tragedy that is Israel and Palestine, the 215 indigenous children found in a mass grave site in Canada, or the internment of almost 2 million Uyghur Muslims in Western China? This episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO explains how silence is not an option. The epi...
11 May 2021
10: Chief Diversity Officer: Do you need one?
Are you more aware of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in your organization today than you were a year ago? Your answer is likely YES. Is hiring a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) an important move for your organization? A CDO is someone who helps your organization create not only an inclusive working context but also leverage diversity to make an important contribution to your competitive advantage and your bottom line. This episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO ans...
13 Apr 2021
9: Asian Hate: Challenges faced by Asian Professional in the Workplace: Suggestions for Change
You probably have a few friends of Asian Descent. Have they ever shared with you their Chinese or Korean names? Probably not. Have you ever wondered why? Maybe it's a matter of personal choice. Maybe it's deeply rooted in unbelievable levels of discrimination faced by Asian professionals in the workplace. This episode of Voices Worth Listening to Answers three questions: What does this discrimination look like? Why is it largely ignored? What can orga...
14 Mar 2021
8: Privilege: Why should privilege-based diversity matter to organizations?
The stories in this episode are raw and unfiltered and help answer three key questions: (1) How should organizations think about privilege-related diversity when it comes to recruiting and promoting people? (2) What questions will allow them to determine if privilege or lack there of has shaped a candidate positively? and most fundamentally, (3) Why should organizations care about privilege as an important source of diversity - are there benefits of having privilege related diversity among yo...
17 Feb 2021
7: Diversity + Leaders: A Diversity Deficit in Leadership Teams: Why it exists and how to change it
This episode answers two key questions: (1) What explains the deficit of diversity in leadership teams? and (2) How can organizations change this reality? To answer these questions, we must explore the relationship between grit, lived experience, diversity, homeostasis - a complex form of inertia that plagues too many management teams, and the perceived risk of difference held by too many leaders. To offer some perspective, I have a special guest, Dr. Nancy Wallis, who will share ...
13 Jan 2021
6: Diversity = Performance: Is Diversity a Key Driver of Organizational Performance?
This month’s episode explores the link between diversity and organizational performance. The research is clear - diversity drives profitability and organizational outcomes - but almost 50% of executives remain unconvinced. Why? This episode suggests (1) ways to define diversity so that organizations can hire individuals who will be well poised to make performance generating contributions and (2) how to create work environments that support those with diverse lived experience...
10 Dec 2020
5: Power: Managing Power as a way to Deal with Discrimination in Organizations
Diversity, equity, and inclusion remain lofty goals for organizations. If they remain, as aspirational rhetoric, they are of little use or value. They only matter if they are operationalized. But operationalizing DEI is difficult because it requires facilitating access, a willingness to take action, and holding people accountable. Discrimination exists in all organizations. And its not a secret who are the most egregious actors; in fact many are open about their ...
10 Nov 2020
4: Women @ Work (2): Challenges Faced by Professional Women in the Workplace - Part 2
This podcast is the second part of a two-part series exploring some of the challenges women face related to diversity, inclusion and equity. Over the course of my career, I have heard many passing comments and full-throated opinions about the challenges women face in the workplace. Many of them have been less than empathetic. I have heard so many people use examples of very successful women as proof that women don't actually face many challenges at work, but what I am struck by a...
14 Oct 2020
3: Women @ Work (1): Challenges Faced by Professional Women in the Workplace: Part 1
During this episode, I share my personal journey to understand, come to terms with, and finally stand by and up for women who face bias in the workplace. In 2020, professional women still struggle to be recognized and valued in the workplace. They silence their voices not because of weakness or fear, but because many highly successful professional women work in traditionally male-dominated contexts, where there is little actual interest in the challenges women face in the workplace when...
9 Sept 2020
2: Marginalization: Organizations dealing with real issues related to marginalized employees and customers
Marginalization is frightening. You feel like you have no power. You feel like justice is not something you are likely to receive. It feels like people think you are less. The consequence? Marginalization robs you of your voice and your sense that you matter. From my perspective, marginalization is a key driver of the protests across the globe since the murder of George Floyd. This pivotal event caused a reawakening among all people that racism, bias,...
24 Aug 2020
1: Voice: The importance of voice in diversity and inclusion
Why is it that individuals who are different struggle to find their voice in organizations? What is the role of voice in our own well being and the wellbeing of the organizations in which you live and work? Voices are what allow us to create civil society. Voices are what allow us to create successful organizations. Voices are what allow us to create effective government. The problem, of course, with all of those things, is we have broken governments - broken civil societies...
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