“I love my company, but I’m afraid to go back to work. I’ll see her in the hall and won’t know how to act. If I’m this...
Shift Happens
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Latest News from Empowering Partners
How to Maximize Group Participation
“I want to facilitate a discussion where everyone feels included and we all learn from one another. But instead of...
Five Steps for Solving “Wicked” Problems
The lady initially repulsed me. Her clothes and hair unkempt, eyes bugged out and head was misshapen. For just a...
What’s a Guy to Do?
One manager lamented, “I can’t even compliment a woman on how she looks anymore.” What he hadn’t realized is that...
Disagree, Don’t Suck It Up
“I just want to be able to talk with my sister again.” said the Chief Marketing Officer. I had asked why he’d signed...
Civil, Right?
“There are no such things as micro-aggressions.” Charles Bryson said in his talk. It was a curious statement from the...
How to Diversify Your Talent Pool Pipeline
“There’s nothing I can do about those people if they don’t want to show up for work,” a Chief Executive Officer...
Degree Inflation Doesn’t Always Pay
In less than a year, Gail went from cashier to coder and she didn’t need a bachelor’s degree to do it. Here’s how: My...
White Work: Why Being Nice Isn’t Enough
In Darrell’s 25-year experience in corporate America as an African American, he’s found when a company’s leadership...
Why Even Talk About Race?
“Why do we have to talk about race?” Halina asked our book club group. No one in the group volunteered to answer and...
Five Ways to Hire and Retain Hispanic Talent
Gabriela and I met for coffee together one morning before work. Gabriela Ramírez-Arellano is the Business Counselor...
Four Ways to Be an Ally
A new study from McKinsey and Co (2017) found that companies with most ethnic and cultural diversity on their...
What I Learned in 2017
Prior to my work developing cultural self-awareness and intercultural competence, I didn't realize how disconnected...
Outsmarting Unconscious Bias
“Have you ever seen this test before?” my friend Julie asked in an email. She’d just completed the Harvard Implicit...
Leadership Upended
Working together can oftentimes be more effective than taking the lead. And since I was new to the situation, I just...
Don’t Ditch the Relationship
"I don't know, maybe it's OK to end a relationship in order to stand up for what you believe in," stated my friend...
Do Our Monuments Inspire?
"The $350,000 would be better spent on education. Why is the City of St. Louis spending so much to pull down a...
Smaller
After the shooting death of Philando Castile during a traffic stop, award-winning author Marlon James took his...
The Impact of Minimization
My husband, Cyril lives and works in the U.S., was born to French parents and reared in Rio de Janiero and Rotterdam....
White Privilege …Really?
When I first heard the words “white privilege” years ago, I bristled at the term. My colleague, Pastor Sims and I were...
When Silence Isn’t Golden
While interviewing Pastor Sims and me about our monthly cross-race discussions at Word of Life Christian Church in St....
Listening Too
“What makes listening hard is that sometimes we do not really care how the other person feels,” explains Burley-Allen,...
I Thought I Was Listening
After reading my December Blog, Taking Time, my sister, Anne Collier called to tell me how much she appreciated the...
Taking Time
Sarah and Paul Krumsieg, co-owner-operators of Dr. Jazz Soda Fountain & Grill in Lebanon, Illinois, know all about...