A recent email message said, “It seems like every time I read the news, there is some story about racism, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry, agism, gender discrimination. What’s going on? In the “old days “ you didn’t hear about all of this discrimination. It’s because people are overly sensitive. You can’t say anything without being accused of wrong doing.” The sender…
Iggy Azalea claimed that Beyoncé used a racial slur against White people in her new album Lemonade. Iggy was upset, and went on a twitter rant about the use of the name “Becky” when in her song Sorry, about infidelity, Beyoncé says “He only want me when I’m not there. He better call Becky with the good hair.” According to…
A reporter asked me for three business benefits of diversity. Here is my response 1- Breakthrough innovation in products and services Research in the US and Europe shows that breakthrough innovation is increased and accelerated by diversity and inclusion when certain factors are in place- • Senior leadership has a diversity and inclusion mindset • People know each other on…
I applaud the decision to put Harriet Tubman, fugitive slave who helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom on the face of the 20.00 bill. She was my childhood hero. Not everyone agrees. According to Donald Trump, she was a great person, but putting her on the 20 bill, is just about political correctness, whatever that means. Political correctness seems…
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner! Is It Diversity? In 1967 there was a comedy-drama about interracial marriage with Sydney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn, Beah Richards, and Spender Tracy. Interracial marriage was still illegal in some states when the film was made. At the time, the film and its subject were a “big deal.” While there are still people who “shudder” at…
A reporter asked me for three reasons that mergersa and acquisitions fail. Here are the reasons I gave, along with solutions. 1– Not seeing mergers and acquisitions as a diversity and inclusion issue between organizations. When people feel left out and/or that they have no control of a situation, they create “facts’ and information to fit the gaps. This…
Ten Ways To Foster Amazing Innovation Through Diversity Leadership In this business era of speed, competition and globalization, innovation rules all. You never know where the next great product, process or profit builder will originate. Good Diversity Management and Culturally Intelligent Leadership can make the difference between repeatedly hearing mediocre ideas from the same people, or mining the hidden…
Why “Employee Engagement” Sometimes Makes Me Want to Plug My Ears There are times when I hear the term employee engagement and just want to add the words, “blah, blah, blah!” Here is reason number one of five. The other four will follow in additional posts. 1-Employee engagement has become a buzzword with no meaning in some workplaces. What some…
The best way to lose great employees is to promote the wrong people based on narrow criteria. The President of one of my client companies asked for my help. Women and people of color in his division were leaving and being hired by his competitor. When I spoke to the vice-president of that division, he complained that people of color and women…
Every organization has brilliant people who are “under the radar.” They are the geniuses who may not look like everyone else, think like everyone else, or who have been ignored because they don’t fit your image of success. Despite the focus on diversity and numbers, and adding the word inclusion, there are those people who are potential game changers, innovators…
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