Jessica (not her real name) is an African American woman who called to ask me whether or not she should take a job....
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
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Latest News from Empowering Partners
Feeling Invisible?
Story After teaching a breakout session at the annual conference of the National Association of Women in Construction,...
Mutual Respect Makes for Meaningful Conversation
“What do I do about the sexist remarks our CEO made toward the marketing staff in our senior leadership meeting?” my...
Resistance to Acceptance: How to Affirm Another’s Identity
A decade ago, I definitely felt resistance – I didn’t want to have the conversation at all, at least not initially....
The Five Keys to Unlocking Cultural Intelligence
“I feel ashamed I had to take a course to be able to slow down and have an intentional conversation with someone who...
Cultural Intelligence Takes Head, Heart AND Hands
One of the executives on the leadership team I was training in cultural intelligence quietly mentioned his Native...
The Four Essential Skills of Cultural Intelligence
Cultural blindness, or the belief that color, class and culture make no difference, is often well-intentioned but...
How to Stop Tokenizing People
“How do you avoid tokenism?” I asked. Because clients regularly ask me this question, I wanted to learn from experts...
Workplace with Headspace
“I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out a good professional goal for my engineering manager. Do you have any...
How Cultural Self-Awareness Leads to Self-Confidence
Based on each of the five stages of Cultural Intelligence, I’m doing a series of blogs about how to promote mental...
Reality Isn’t Harsh
“I’m just being realistic,” said the VP of marketing and sales. “Not really,” I said. He looked confused. “What I mean...
How to Deal with an Ignorant Remark in Five Steps
“I struggle with people who make ignorant remarks,” Larry explained. Larry has his own internationally renowned HR...
Unions or Unity: A CEO’s Dilemma
CEO: “The workers withdrew the petition!” AMY: “What does that mean for the company?” CEO: “There’s not going to be an...
A Hire Power: How to Really Get to Know a Candidate
“Almost everything about interviews, as they are now, reinforces a hiring manager’s bias and conceals the real...
Leadership Enlightened: How to Upend the Status Quo
He thought he was doing everything right. The General Manager, James and his organization were… Hiring people of color...
Lesson Learned the Hard Way
“I thought we were doing everything right,” James told me. “Now I’m afraid I won’t be able to get another job because...
Talking Turkey
The phrase “talking turkey” usually refers to speaking frankly, discussing hard facts, or getting down to business....
How to Hire People on the Spectrum
A CEO asked me, “What do my employees and I need to know to hire and retain people who are on the spectrum?” He has a...
A Case of Sexual Harassment
The Women in Safety & Health (WISH) organization held a panel discussion on “Avoiding, Combatting & Overcoming...
How Middle Managers Can Make a Difference
“When I was first hired as Production Manager, I got a pretty negative impression of one of my Leads,” said José, even...
How to Connect with Your Kid About Tricky Topics
“I don’t know if I did it right,“ Louisa told me. She said she’d overheard her son calling it the “Chinese virus” to a...
Five Ways Whites Can Effectively Respond in Cross-cultural Conversation
When someone is in crisis or the whole world is exploding in pandemics and protests what do you do? Studies show most...
There’s a Better Question
Why is Covid-19 hitting some communities harder than others? Who exactly has been hit the hardest? These are the...
What’s In a Name
The other day, my friend James stopped in at the gas station he frequents. He overheard another customer say, “I can’t...