“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 nervous about being at work, I can only imagine how she feels," said the high-performing employee as she left for a business trip immediately after...
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 sharing their experiences and perspectives, people keep turning it to a political discussion and no one is listening to anyone,” an exasperated...
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 moment I hesitated to even hug her. But it was fellowship time in our church, and we’re asked to greet and hug one another. So, I looked at her, asked...
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 context matters. For those men who have walked the straight and narrow and valued female colleagues for their intellect, regardless of their looks, the...
Disagree, Don’t Suck It Up
Encouraging different perspectives offers one of the biggest challenges to and opportunities for innovation and collaboration in a corporation. It’s important to disagree and not just suck it up.
Civil, Right?
“There are no such things as micro-aggressions.” Charles Bryson said in his talk. It was a curious statement from the Director of the Civil Rights Enforcement Agency for the City of St. Louis. Then he went on to say, “Remarks which leave a person feeling labeled...
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 remarked. The statement made me wonder if that were actually true. A leader may well feel there’s nothing he or she can do about the hire-ability of a group...
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 mom recommended LaunchCode after she heard about it on the radio. I applied to their program and passed the screening tests, which look for aptitude...
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 reflects the end-user, there is often an inclusive culture. Whereas, when the organization is predominantly homogeneous and simply wants to appear more...
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 the subject was changed. We moved on but I could tell her question was genuine. After the meeting, I sat down next to her. “I’ve heard you ask that...