A new study from McKinsey and Co (2017) found that companies with most ethnic and cultural diversity on their executive team were 43% more likely to experience higher profitability. Diversity has two-dimensions; inherent diversity (skin color, gender, age) and...
What I Learned in 2017
Prior to my work developing cultural self-awareness and intercultural competence, I didn’t realize how disconnected and isolated I felt. For the most part, I didn’t know how to be real with people and still feel safe. I had a connection problem. Now that I’m settled into this work, I see that I have the opportunity to be in authentic relationships like I’ve not encountered before. I get to experience deeper friendships both personally and professionally. Professionally, businesses hire me because they want to foster authentic connection within their employee group; and between their employees and customers. We’ve found this decreases disruption in the corporate environment and accelerates the speed at which people adopt a cross-cultural mindset; increasing collaboration, innovation, and profit. Looking back through the year, here’s a recap of my growth chronicled in my favorite blogs of 2017.
Outsmarting Unconscious Bias
“Have you ever seen this test before?” my friend Julie asked in an email. She’d just completed the Harvard Implicit Association Test for cultural competency training. “I am shocked at how biased my results are.” she said. When I saw her later in the day,...
Leadership Upended
Working together can oftentimes be more effective than taking the lead. And since I was new to the situation, I just wasn’t even sure what I could do. In late August, Word of Life Christian Church in north city St. Louis was holding their annual church fair and school...
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 Patte. Later that day, I found I was still thinking about her remark. I asked her what prompted the statement. She explained that...
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 confederate statue in Forest Park?” Linda’s protest echoed that of others around the city and country. That morning my daughter Abby had sent me...
Smaller
After the shooting death of Philando Castile during a traffic stop, award-winning author Marlon James took his frustration about racism in Minnesota to Facebook. In an essay, Smaller, and Smaller, and Smaller, James noted, “You will never know how it feels to realize...
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. At times he shares his observations of American culture with me. I was intrigued by his recent remark, “I get frustrated with how mono-cultural the US...
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 mid-conversation, so I didn’t tell him it bothered me. I wouldn’t have known what to say anyway. As I reflect back on that moment, I remember feeling...
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. Louis, YouTuber Kim St. Clair asked me, “What were you told about Black folks when you were growing up?” Not much, I told her. Kim looked curious. We...