The Fix with Michelle King

Welcome to our new podcast! Each week, we share real stories from people around the world who have felt at one time or another that their workplace is killing them! As coaches we will share our insights as well as practical advice, and expertise to help you navigate workplace challenges. Plus, we bring in the experts like psychologists, thought leaders, lawyers, and business experts to explore the big questions—like how we can advance our careers and find meaning in our work, fix broken workplace systems, tackle inequality and create environments where everyone can succeed.   myworkplaceiskillingme.com

Aside from sleep, work is where we spend most of our waking hours over our lifetime. How we experience work is how we experience a considerable amount of our lives, which is why managing the meaning we derive from work is essential to our overall life satisfaction. Knowing how your workplace works is how we can begin to make it work for everyone. Most of us want more meaning at work and badly. A 2018 study by BetterUp surveyed 2285 American professionals and found that 9 out of 10 employees, regardless of their job level, tasks or salary, are willing to trade a percentage of their lifetime earnings for greater meaning at work. Moreover, participants were willing to forego 23% of their total future earnings (almost as much as people spend on housing) to have a job that gave them meaning!  On this weeks episode I am interviewing my friend and New York Times bestselling author Eve Rodsky on how we can find greater meaning in life and work.      Eve Rodsky Find Your Unicorn Space How Work Works  

The degree to which we feel like we belong at work depends on the nature of our relationship with our workplace. We don't often think about our job as a relationship, but it is, at least in a sense. Your job is a reciprocal relationship. You exchange your time, energy, and expertise for money, advancement, and fulfilment at a basic level. The exchange can happen only if both parties trust each other, which is why I refer to the relationship between workplaces and employees as a trust exchange. The challenge we have today is that so many people don't trust their workplaces, this is why we see the rise of quiet quitting or the lazy girl jobs phenomenon. People want to come into work do the bare minimum and go home, because workplaces are not meeting their needs beyond a paycheck. The problem is next to sleeping, work is where we spend the most number of hours over our lifetime. We cannot afford to not care about work or ignore our need for meaning and belonging. Our experience of work makes up a huge proportion of our experience of life.   Michelle King How Work Works

The publishing industry is notorious for a lack of diversity. In 2016 The Bookseller examined the lists of the UK's most established publishing houses and found that there were fewer than 100 books published by authors of colour.   In 2021, out of a total of 4,017 authors and illustrators featured across 33 catalogues from the UK's top five publishers and selected independent presses, 2.5% were Black British, when compared to the overall output.   These numbers speak for themselves.  In this episode I am interviewing my friend and three times published bestselling author Minda Harts on how to write a book and get it published. We will also be unpacking how to tackle inequality in publishing.   I really think we all can play a role in either perpetuating or tackling the inequality in publishing through the books we purchase the content we consume. All of our choices either disrupt or contribute to the inequality in publishing. If we truly want to consume the best content, then we need to level the playing field so that all the talented voices can be heard.     Minda Harts Michelle King - How Work Works    

It's that time of year again; companies are adding new graduates to their ranks and training them, much like they always have. According to a National Association of Colleges and Employers report, despite a slower job market, hiring projections indicate that companies plan to hire 4% more graduates in 2023 than in 2022. While employers continue hiring graduates, many are unaware of the specific skill gaps graduates face and what managers can do to solve these challenges. Companies often sell the idea that an employee's potential is determined by the skills they can list on a resume, but this isn't true. Just take a look at the way companies promote employees within an organization. Every year, managers will meet to discuss which employees have the potential to move to the next level. Leaders will debate people's different skill sets to try and achieve consensus on the final list of candidates for future leadership positions. What leaders are assessing isn't the technical or soft skills an employee has; instead, it's their ability to learn on the job. In this weeks episode, we share what skills graduates need to thrive in the new world of work but to maximize their potential we need graduates to take ownership of what they learn and how they learn it. How Work Works Tool kit for advancing your career  

Based on my work, I know for sure that at one time or another, most of us have lost our belief in work. We have felt the pain of being excluded from informal networks, the stress of trying to keep up with the pace of change, or burnout after putting in countless hours to get the next promotion, only to be overlooked or disillusioned with cut-throat corporate cultures. We are tired of accepting the myth that individual advancement must come at a cost to ourselves and the people we work with.  Aside from sleep, work is where we spend most of our waking hours over our lifetime. How we experience work is how we experience a considerable amount of our lives, which is why managing the meaning we derive from work is essential to our overall life satisfaction. Knowing how your workplace works is how we can begin to make it work for everyone.   Michelle King How Work Works  

According to the most recent “Women in the Workplace” report from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey, the gap between men and women leaving their jobs is the largest it has been since the report was first published eight years ago.  For every female director who is promoted, two women at the same level of seniority choose to quit. The report states that women are leaving companies that fail to deliver on “the cultural elements of work that are critically important to them.” Culture is our lived experience of work, and for women today, the lived experience of work isn't great. For example, the Women at Work report by Deloitte published this year finds that 10% more women are experiencing; harassment, microaggressions and exclusion at work compared to a year ago. Overall, this is an increase from 51% to 59% of women.  To understand how pervasive toxic cultures are, Charles Sull, cofounder of CultureX and Donald Sull, senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and cofounder of CultureX analyzed the language that 3 million U.S. employees used in Glassdoor reviews to describe their employer between 2016 and 2021. What they found is a gender gap in men and women's experiences of toxic workplace cultures. Overall Women spoke more negatively than men about most elements of culture, including work-life balance and collaboration. The largest gap between the genders however, is for toxic culture, which they define as a workplace culture that is disrespectful, no inclusive, unethical, cutthroat, or abusive. On todays episode Charlie Sull joins us on the show to discuss these issues. Even if employees don't quit, employees in toxic environments are more likely to disengage from their work, exert less effort, and bad-mouth their employer to others. Sustained exposure to a toxic culture increases the odds that employees will suffer from anxiety, depression, burnout, and serious physical health issues. Given the impact toxic workplace cultures can have on our mental and emotional wellbeing, it is important we understand how to solve this issue. Here Charlie shares what we can do. Action One: Be nicer to people - dilute the toxic culture. Action Two: Report toxic behaviour to HR, if you witness it or it is happening to you. Action Three:  Take reliable data to senior leadership and keep talking about it to ensure senior management realize that this is a problem and place the item on the agenda of the CEO.  Don't lose your voice.   CultureX

For most people we want feedback at work, but it is also something we dread. Unless feedback is actionable and helpful, it just feels like unnecessary criticism or a way for organizations to try and get people to fit into toxic workplace cultures. In the HBR article entitled Women Get “Nicer” Feedback — and It Holds Them Back authors  Lily Jampol, Aneeta Rattan and Elizabeth Baily Wolf shared how their research finds even if their male and female employees perform at exactly the same level, managers tend to prioritize kindness more when giving feedback to women than when giving the same feedback to men. Across a series of studies, we asked more than 1,500 MBA students, full-time employees, and managers based in the U.S. and the UK to imagine giving developmental feedback to an employee who needed to improve their performance. The employee was described in exactly the same way to all participants, except that half were told the employee's name was Sarah, while the other half were told the employee's name was Andrew. We then asked the participants about their goals going into this conversation, and while they all said they wanted to give candid feedback, those who were told the employee was named Sarah were significantly more likely than those who were told the employee was named Andrew to prioritize being kind as well. This was true regardless of the gender or political leanings of the person giving the feedback: Whether they self-identified as male or female, liberal or conservative, our participants consistently reported being more motivated to be kind when giving feedback to a woman than when giving it to a man. Joining us on the podcast today is Lily Jampol, Partner and Head of People Science and Services at ReadySet and Aneeta Rattan, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School, where we will unpack all things feedback related.   In their article for HBR, Lily, Aneeta and Elizabeth share that constructive feedback is essential for anyone's growth. Most of what we learn at work – around 70% happens informally and on the job. We learn through the feedback we get, it is literally how we develop our social and technical skills. But as a manager, it can be challenging to get the balance right between being kind but also clear and firm.   Given the important role that feedback had on an employee's development, engagement and performance, we need leaders to understand how to get it right. Here Lily shares four actions we can use to improve the feedback we give:   Action One:   Create a culture of feedback systems and behavioral approaches.   Action Two:   Establish common touch points so early intervention takes place when employees seem to be struggling.   Action Three:   Prepare your feedback sessions, what are the three things you want to get across in your feedback?   Action Four:   Review the feedback which has been given, take an audit to use for future feedback sessions.   Lily Jampol   Aneeta Rattan  

For many people International Women's Day has lost its way. It is too readily used by corporates as a day to provide lip service to gender equality and women's advancement at work. But women don't need one day of celebration, we need companies to take action every day to remove the barriers to women's advancement and fulfillment at work. Without action it is too easy for men, women and all individuals to become fatigued, disengaged and disillusioned with efforts to advance gender equality. To prevent this, we wanted to share our list of dos and don'ts to help people celebrate IWD in a meaningful way. Joining us on the show today is guest host Selina Suresh. Selina works with Michelle at The Culture Practice and she also worked for UN Women in New York and Nepal. We need workplaces to look at the ideal worker behaviors they reward, endorse and support that create cultures of inequality at work. We need workplaces to make significant, meaningful efforts to change their cultures, so that they work for everyone. Often around IWD time, you might hear a few men say, what about men?! Why don't we have a day specifically dedicated to men's advancement? Well that's simple, men already dominate most leadership positions, they don't face the same degree of discrimination and marginalization that women do. Workplaces already work for men. The real reason this question is asked, is all too often IWD initiative's can forget about men, and the important role they play in advancing gender equality at work. Action: Don't get sucked into performative events or platitudes or pink merchandise (no matter how enticing it might appear)! Recognize that this day was created by advocates and for advocates dedicated to advancing women, all women in all areas of life. It's a day of meaningful action and the best way to celebrate it is by challenging yourself to do more. Visit https://onehundredactions.com/ use these actions to make change today.

  Every year companies spend about $8 billion on DEI initiatives in the United States, according to research conducted by the consulting firm McKinsey. With all this money and attention given to DEI efforts we need to ask ourselves an important question: Who benefits? A 2019 report entitled Being Black in Corporate America: An Intersectional Exploration released by the consulting firm Coqual, finds that black professionals are more likely to encounter prejudice and microaggressions than any other racial or ethnic group. They are less likely than their white counterparts to have access to senior leaders and to have support from their managers. Yet few white professionals see what their black colleagues are up against. 65% of black professionals say that black employees have to work harder in order to advance, but only 16% of their white colleagues agree with that statement. The study also finds that black professionals are more likely than white professionals to be ambitious, and they are more likely to have strong professional networks.   In this episode, Lanaya Irvin, CEO at Coqual, explains Coqual's report findings in more detail.    Coqual recently launched a study around black talent in the UK.  We saw a similar perception gap.  There's this material gap in perception that makes overcoming this, these hurdles of retention, development, advancement that much more difficult.  This happens because the gap between what employees are experiencing and what their peers or their managers understand or believe, is really wide. The starting point is recognizing that we must account for all areas of difference and different lived experiences in understanding inequality and addressing the issues it creates.   Here Lanaya shares with us three actions we can all use in bridging this gap: Action One: Lift up the ideas of others in order to foster a sense of belonging. Action Two: Have clear expectations around how you can advance or gain promotions at work. Action Three:  Embrace all differences of those around you whether it be a person's skillset, their unique contributions to work or their challenges.   Lanaya Irvin Coqual

Research is telling us is that hybrid working is something most employees want, it does increase our productivity because we don't have to commute, and most companies are likely to keep it in place, but it comes at a cost. We need to be aware of these costs so we can manage them. Hybrid working does increase stress, loneliness, isolation, and disengagement. In many ways it is culture eroding. That doesn't mean we get rid of hybrid working. I believe it is here to stay. Rather it means we need to be aware of these challenges so we can take action to solve them. The consulting firm Deloitte has for the second year released its Women @ Work 2022: A Global Outlook report, a survey of 5,000 women across 10 countries The survey provides a unique glimpse into the lives of women in the workplace amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The responses from around the globe made it clear that women's “everyday” workplace experiences were having a detrimental impact on their engagement and that the pandemic was having a severe impact on women's lives and careers, including their work/life balance and wellbeing. Emma Codd, Global Inclusion Leader for Deloitte joins me on the podcast today to discuss the report's findings in more detail. We discuss the issues women face with hybrid working, flexible working and overcoming the barriers to their advancement at work. Emma states that women that work in a hybrid manner which was around half of the respondents that can work in a hybrid way, of those respondents, 60% said they'd experienced exclusion in the past year.  Around 50% said they weren't getting the access they needed to leaders which we all know how important sponsorship is for anybody that is in an underrepresented group is so important.  Suddenly that's not there anymore. Emma states there are four questions every organization globally should be asking; often only needing tweaks to resolve the outcome, but still action taking place:   Question One: Does your culture allow employees to feel safe when asking for flexible working? If not, how can it change? Question Two: Do all employees feel connected?  If not, why not? Question Three: Do all employees belong? Why do employees feel isolated? Question Four: Does each employee have equal access to support?  How can this access improve?   Deloitte Women @ Work 2022 Survey   Emma Codd

Making a career change is important because outside of sleep, work is where we spend the greatest number of hours over our lifetime. Work plays a huge role in shaping our identities, relationships and sense of belonging. On today's podcast we are joined by Sarah Wittman, Assistant Professor of Management at George Mason University's School of Business, who has conducted research into how work shapes our identity. In her article for Harvard Business Review she shares how thanks to major shifts in the labor market, workers are switching organizations, functions, and even industries much more frequently than past generations. Consequently, our sense of self at work is constantly changing too. We do tend to be on these career treadmills. What can I get? What's the next position? All of these other things. And even when we're jumping industries, we say, okay, this is a great opportunity for me. I'm going to be increasing maybe my status, my pay etc, maybe my work life balance. But when we really get down to it, I think we need to take into account that identity long angle. Identities, if we want to define them, are these self-definitions; what we use to describe ourselves. This can be personal characteristics, such as, I'm hardworking.  Or it can be role related. I am a professor or relational. I'm also a spouse, I'm a teacher, I'm a mentor. Or when we talk about the gender angle, it can be social identities.  When we think about what comes with us, and this is where lingering identities come in, it's essentially what do we carry with us when we leave one job and enter another?   Managing our work identity is important, especially when you are looking to change jobs or careers. In addition to using the VME (Value, Meanings and Enactment) framework, Sarah says there are three actions you can take to ensure your success in a new role, company or career path: Action One:  Understand your current work identity well enough to use it as a filtering device for available opportunities. Action Two:  Only pursue job opportunities that offer a good enough match for your identity. Action Three:  Understand how your identity will change in your new role. Changing careers or jobs can be difficult. To give yourself the best possible chance of success you have to assess if the job will add and enable your sense of self.   Sarah Wittman George Mason University

Successful women often disregard gender roles, which makes people uncomfortable. For female leaders, managing this is critical. Having people support you determines how well you can build relationships and influence people, in other words, how well you can lead. Leading through backlash can be an incredibly difficult thing to do, as it takes a toll on women's self-esteem and relationships. Backlash results in people disliking successful women and preferring male leaders. As society doesn't associate women with power, employees don't either, which is why it's acceptable to push back on women leaders and question their legitimacy. On today's podcast we are joined again by Dr Michelle Harrison Global CEO of Kantar Public, who is going to be discussing the recently published findings of the fifth and extended edition of The Reykjavík Index for Leadership, which highlights entrenched prejudice towards women leaders.  Launched in 2018, The Reykjavík Index for Leadership measures and tracks progress in society's perceptions of women and men's suitability to lead across 23 economic sectors. Together with Women Political Leaders, Michelle and her company conducted this groundbreaking research, and together we will unpack why societal attitudes have stalled when it comes to women in leadership positions. If we take the five year view, there's been no improvement, but there was a period when things looked like they were, and then there's been a quite a sharp reversal.  Let's think about those two particular measures. We ask people, and it's a percentage, do they feel very comfortable with the idea of a female CEO of a large corporation. And we also asked the same question about a Head of State. The data on female CEOs for the G7 group go back five years and it was 46% of the population who felt very comfortable. So the majority of people, in the G7 group of countries are not feeling entirely comfortable with the idea of a woman being in charge of a country or a large organization. To create workplaces that work for everyone we need to understand how they are broken. Here Michele shares specific actions we can take to tackle gender inequality:   Action One: Keep striving for change: we do need to just keep going. We have to create workplaces where people are rewarded fairly and with as much inclusivity as possible, this will benefit us all.   Action Two: Stop trying to fix women, we don't need to fix women. The issues are about the way organizations, companies, and societies work. All of our work about inclusivity and diversity is for everyone and moving sharply away from the idea that we're trying to help women deal with these issues. Action Three: Keep calling people out.  We all need to take a stronger view about all of the actions, behaviors and microaggressions that women and other groups experience every day in the workplace. We need to put the onus on correcting the people who do these things and not on the people who previously we might have been training to better manage being on the receiving end of that.   Dr Michelle Harrison   Kantar Public  

Our expectations of leadership are masculine, when we evaluate men's potential, we are much more likely to see them as a good fit. Women do not meet our masculine expectations, therefore the projection is never triggered. This male bias in our cognitive processing of leadership potential is powerful. “Think manager, think male” means we can fail to see women's leadership potential. In fact, research suggests that men and women behave very similarly in senior roles, but men routinely receive higher leadership ratings. On today's podcast, Lisa S. Kaplowitz, Executive Director at Rutgers Center for Women in Business will be joining us to discuss the harmful ways women have to change themselves to fit the ideal worker image, and organizations that devalue anyone who differs from it. In an article for Harvard Business Review entitled, 5 Harmful Ways Women Feel They Must Adapt in Corporate America Lisa and two co-authors share findings from their research, Lisa outlines what these adaptations are and why they are ultimately harmful. She also leaves us with some actions to implement into our workplaces in order to bridge the gap in the devaluing of difference:   Action One: Be aware – Know what an ideal worker looks like when they show up in your workplace.   Action Two: Ask – Do not assume.  Ask an employee how you can support them, what additional resources they might need and what help they may need to advance in their career or to get a project to completion.   Action Three: Ensure interactions are authentic, genuine and informal conversations.   Action Four: Give feedback.  Honest feedback, without sugar coating.  Allow feedback to be a conversation where all can have their say.   Rutgers Center for Women in Business   Lisa S Kaplowitz

Today is a special episode, we are going to unpack how to make a career change. Whether that is starting a new job or building your own business, at some point most of us will want to make a change, the problem is it can often feel overwhelming when you do. However, you might be surprised to learn just how many of us experience career changes on a regular basis. According to the latest findings from the Pew Research Center approximately 53% of employed U.S. adults quit their jobs in 2021 and changed their occupation or field of work at some point last year. Additionally, Research by the online career platform, Zippia finds that in the United States, 37% of the labor force changed or lost their job in 2020.  The average American worker has 12 jobs throughout a lifetime and an average tenure of about 4.1 years. Learning to manage your career is a critical skill. On today's podcast, Dorie Clark, author, consultant and keynote speaker will be joining us to discuss how you can make a career change and find meaning at work. While most of us can identify a meaningful goal we want to pursue, there isn't always an equal opportunity to realize these ambitions. Men and women do not have the same access to purse their passions, hobbies and interests outside of work. In the United Kingdom the office for National Statistics data has found that men spend an average of four hours and 39 minutes every week on hobbies, computing and games. In comparison, women spend just two hours and 38 minutes on the same activities. Men were found to spend more of their hours on leisure time than women in almost every category, including watching TV, hobbies and eating out. When not in leisure, women were more likely to be performing unpaid work. This may include dependent care and housework.   In order to reach a point of fulfilment Dorie leaves us with some actions from the podcast. Action 1:  Avoid burnout – Get to know yourself, understand how your body feels, don't get to the point of burnout as the recovery is long. Action 2: Don't fight reality – Push yourself when necessary but know when to stop, this is not sustainable. Action 3: Take the survey – If you answered no to at least half of these questions, you may not feel as engaged or fulfilled in your current role.  Something may need to change.   Dorie Clark   Dorie Clark - LinkedIn  

Joining us on today's episode is Lily Zheng author of DEI Deconstructed and a sought-after diversity, equity, and inclusion speaker, strategist, and organizational consultant who specializes in hands-on systemic change to turn positive DEI intentions into positive DEI outcomes for workplaces and everyone in them. Why do DEI efforts fail, is a question asked by many leaders. Why is it that companies claim to be invested in advancing DEI, launching one initiative after another, yet research finds at any one point in time roughly 50% of us feel isolated, excluded, devalued and disengaged at work? There are three reasons why DEI efforts fail, these include fatigue, backlash and denial. When DEI efforts, don't address the root cause of inequality people become tired with all the lip service. This fatigue leads to backlash as people resist effort and initiatives that aim to address discrimination and inequality at work. And when resistance isn't enough, people may resort to denying that inequality exists at all, examples of this include managers simply not believing inequality is a problem in their workplace. Lily explains that it's not that people are tired of doing DEI work, it's that they're tired of doing DEI work that doesn't achieve anything. To address that kind of fatigue we need to be rethinking all of our in initiatives, potentially even doing less, but making sure that we can directly tie every single thing we're doing into the outcomes we're trying to create. Fatigue backlash and denial create the DEI death spiral because it leaves people feeling powerless to affect change. There is nothing I can do to change my workplace, but this simply isn't true Lily gives us these actions to take away. Action One: Get to know the difference between the types of power; formal, reward, coercive and expert power.  Know that everyone within an organization has power, you just have to know how to use it. Action Two: Be strategic in how you use your power and think of your connections within an organization to use your unique power as a tool to make change.  Back this up with expert ideas to aid change to take place. Action Three: Organizing is really powerful. You can organize as part of an employee resource group. You can organize as part of a DEI council or committee, you can organize to encourage and highlight the workforces strengths. All of these are really powerful.   Manifestations of collective power, collective organizing, collective advocacy. They're all tools that all employees have at their disposal to make change within workplaces   Lily Zheng Dei Deconstructed: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Doing the Work and Doing It Right

In today's episode of The Fix, we are going to unpack the specific challenges that women face at the midpoint in their careers, with Coleen Ammerman, the director of the 'Gender Initiative' at Harvard Business School and coauthor, with Boris Groysberg, of 'Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work'. Colleen shares why the barriers to women's advancement at work are greatest around the midpoint in their careers. Inequality is particularly challenging for women managers because of the continued acceptance and denial of negative gender norms at work. For example, according to one study outlined in Michelle's book, 'The FIX: How to Overcome the Invisible Barriers That Are Holding Women Back at Work', about 82% of the 350 male CEOs surveyed agree that the key barrier women face at work is a lack of general or supervisory experience. However, only 47% of the 461 female leaders surveyed agree that this is a key barrier. This difference comes down to the widely held belief, established through the patriarchy and that women are simply less capable than men. This shows up when men say things like “She needs more time to round out her experience” or even “She needs more time to prove herself”, about women who are just as experienced as their male colleagues. Experience is not the issue here. Women must overcome the widespread belief that they are just not as competent as men. Colleen explains the scrutiny women encounter at the midpoint in their careers when it comes to performance. During our discussion, Colleen shares with us some key actions she believes we need to take to remove the barriers women face at work.   Action One: Acknowledge that inequality is a workplace issue. We need to fix the processes and systems that create inequality by removing the biases in how companies hire, develop, reward and promote women.   Action Two: We need managers to be committed to being objective and making decisions which both recognize and remove their own biases. This starts with leaders becoming aware of how their beliefs about competence and leadership could negatively impact the judgments they make about women at work.   Action Three: You have the power to advocate for yourself and your colleagues. When decisions are made in your workplace about women or minorities that limits them or their advancement, always ask why. Why is this requirement used for promotion decisions? Why are we not asking the same of men? Why do women need to do more to be considered for a promotion? Why can't mothers lead? Why are there so few women leaders in our organization? If you are ever unsure about whether to ask why or whether the situation is an example of an invisible barrier, consider if the situation is something a man is likely to experience. Would men's promotability be limited if they got married? Is a man's leadership capability questioned when he becomes a father? If the answer is no, then push back. Keep asking why until the real problem surfaces.   Colleen Ammerman Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work. 

This week's podcast features a former guest Laura Bates, who is the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-increasing collection of over 200,000 testimonies of gender inequality, with branches in 25 countries worldwide.  Laura writes regularly for the Guardian, Telegraph and the New York Times amongst others and won a British Press Award for her journalism in 2015. She has written numerous books, and her latest Fix The System Not The Women is near and dear to our hearts with its message.     When it comes to gender inequality, most people can agree that we need to tackle obvious forms of discrimination, like sexual harassment and sexual assault. But this agreement doesn't always extend to covert forms of discrimination, like consistently devaluing women's contributions in a team meeting, or only asking women on a team to take notes. But we have to appreciate the interrelationship between different forms of sexism and discriminatory systems. As Laura put it in a piece for the Guardian “It is vital to resist those who mock and criticize us for tackling “minor” manifestations of prejudice, because these are the things that normalize and ingrain the treatment of women as second-class citizens, opening the door for everything else, from workplace discrimination to sexual violence.” If we are going to solve inequality, we have to address the various ways that it shows up, at work and the workplace is a really important part of this equation.   Discussions like today's can feel overwhelming but there is always something we can do to effect positive change. Yes gender inequality is a systemic issue, but it's created through the beliefs, behaviors and interactions we each engage in, which means we have the power, collectively, to dismantle it.  Laura shared some important actions we can all do more of.   Action One:  Raise our voices and demand the system needs to change. Too often inequality is taken for granted as the way things are, but when we question this and call it out we raise awareness of what needs to change.   Action Two: Lend your voices to support active change, place your signature on that campaign.  For example, Laura shared that the Center for Women's Justice is running a campaign where they are pushing for a statutory inquiry into misogyny within policing. So that's something that all of us can support and lend our voices to, our signatures to that petition.   Action Three: Stop blaming others within the workplace and focusing on individuals when things happen, to dismantle inequality we all need to take small consistent acts each and every day.   The Everyday Sexism Project Fix The System Not The Women  

On this weeks episode, we're excited to feature our guest, Dolly Chugh. Dolly is an award-winning psychologist and the Jacob B. Melnick Term Professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University. She studies how and why most of us, however well-intended we are, are still prone to race and gender bias. In Dolly's brand new book “A More Just future”, she shares the psychological tools we need to confront the white washing of our history so we can build forward better.  In our wonderful conversation with Dolly she shared specific actions people can take to engage with the paradoxes that exist so we can avoid getting stuck and instead keep moving forward to a more equitable future.  Action 1: It is important to think about whatever media you consume whether it's social media, books, podcasts, movies, music, video games. We can each review the content we have consumed, over the last week, and evaluate how much similarity there was in the voices that were centered and in the creators' voices as well. We can then reflect on how similar those voices were to our own? Very much like an echo chamber audit.  Action 2: Building on the above audit. Think about how you might broaden and diversify that content. Simply by adding more diversity to the information we consume, Dolly points out that we will hear perspectives about the past and the present that are new. This alone she believes will set us on the path of being able to be more attuned to situations where we may be consuming racial fables or even perpetuating them ourselves.   Action 3: Try to notice the paradoxes where information exists and hold space for conflicting ideas, realities and perspectives to be true at the same time. We are often confronting together the reality that DEI is full of paradoxes – one being that one person can experience work as a meritocracy while another quite the opposite. Both experiences can exist in parallel without cancelling each other out. The gamechanger is being able to understand what creates those different realities and how the gap can be closed in the future. The more we can accept paradoxes with an open mind then the more we understand how inequalities are created and perpetuated and the better equipped we will be to tackle them.    Dolly Chugh Book - A More Just Future  

Though the reality of women's rights varies hugely across the world, by country, by geography, by ethnicity, by socio economic circumstance - in recent decades, more and more women have won rights and spaces like never before: like the right to choose for themselves and to autonomy over their bodies, to have a career, not to have children, to have abortions, to love other women. On today's episode we are joined by Susanne Kaiser - author of “Political Masculinity”. She warns that some men feel their masculinity is threatened by these shifts and grieve the loss of male privilege. They share a sense of being entitled to women's bodies and sex, attention, affection, and recognition. According to Susanne they want to force women back to a subordinate position in the social hierarchy, and make the needs and privileges of men dominant once again by turning masculinity into a political program. Susanne's work highlights the mysoginistic and sexist views she says are shared by many right-wing extremists, religious fundamentalists and male supremacists coming together in a global backlash against Western democracy. Feminism is the belief that men and masculinity are just as valuable as women and femininity, and that every individual deserves the freedom to be themselves and to be valued for that. The fight for control over women's bodies is a fight against feminism.   Political Masculinity  

One thing is clear to me. The progress of DEI efforts in organizations has stalled. New research findings released by the Charted Management Institute or CMI, in the United Kingdom last month reveals a growing sentiment towards DEI efforts. People are growing weary of DEI. In the Managers Pulse Point Survey, CMI found that despite ongoing efforts and activity towards gender equality, workplace gender equity remains elusive. The research has also revealed that employees, particularly men are either passive and or actively resisting DEI efforts. These findings highlight for me the current state of DEI, which is fatigue. While there has been huge amount of inequality, awareness raising with things like the 'me too' movement and the 'anti-racism' movement, when this is not met with tangible action it can lead to feelings of exhaustion, isolation, frustration and sometimes skepticism about DEI efforts.  People from typically underrepresented groups experience this as all DEI talk and no action, which leads to disengagement. But the reverse is true for people in dominant positions in workplaces, typically white men. They perceive all the DEI talk as action and believe activity is underway to address the issues, even though very little changes actually take place. So consequently, they feel left out, disengaged and disillusioned with DEI efforts, believing too much focus is being given to these topics. Joining us on today's episode is Ann Francke, Chief Executive of CMI, to discuss these findings and share why we need to fight DEI fatigue if we want to meaningfully advance diversity, equity and inclusion at work.   Ann Francke Chartered Management Institute (CMI)  

Time and time again, studies have shown that math and science are perceived to be male arenas and that scientists are perceived to be predominantly men. To advance more women into STEM fields, not only do women need to know about the career options available to them but they need to believe its possible for them to have a fulfilling career in these fields. A 2019 study published in Frontier Education found that gender-science stereotypes of math and science influence young women's and men's aspirations to enrol in a STEM major at university. For example, by showing adverts for STEM careers that feature men and women, and promoting a less masculine image of science in university recruitment efforts has the potential to increase the likelihood of STEM career aspirations for young women and young men. It stands to reason that the more exposure young people have to STEM the more likely they are to view STEM as a potential career path, whether they are male, female or any other gender. On this podcast we are excited to have with us the CEO of Girls Who Code, Dr. Tarika Barrett and UScellular's Vice President of Enterprise Portfolio Management and Technology Shared Services, Denise Lintz. They will share how they are tackling increasing children's access to STEM education and why awareness of STEM career paths is critical to advancing diversity in STEM.   Girls Who Code USCellular Dr.Tarika Barrett  

As an employer, it is important to understand gender and non-binary inclusion and what it means for your company – for the way you manage your people and for the way your people interact with each other. There are lots of brilliant resources out there to help with this including the 'Genderbread Person' which is described as a teaching tool for breaking the big concept of gender down into bite-sized, digestible pieces. Language really matters when it comes to supporting non-binary employees. The use of gender binary language is common in everyday life and conversation. Individuals regularly utilize gendered language like ladies and gentlemen, or mankind when referring to others, but greetings friends, folks, y'all, you, all, and everyone ensure we are including all employees when saying hello or opening a meeting. While many use these terms without the intention to exclude others, gendered language does not acknowledge or validate the existence of those who identify outside of the gender binary.  Saying an individual's correct name and pronouns is an important way to demonstrate respect and courtesy towards non-binary employees in the workplace. To help us understand how to navigate and prepare for a non-binary future, we are joined by Christy Pruitt-Haynes, a consultant from the NeuroLeadership Institute, a global neuroscience consultancy.    NeuroLeadership Institute Christy Pruitt-Haynes

We all know that demonstrating empathy is critical to developing relationships, but it is also critical for business. A study by the consulting firm Catalyst examining 889 employees found that when leaders were empathetic, 61% of employees are able to innovate compared to only 13% of employees with less empathetic leaders. They also found that 76% of people who experienced empathy from their leaders reported they were engaged compared with only 32% who experienced less empathy. When people felt their leaders were more empathetic, 86% reported they are able to navigate the demands of their work and life, successfully juggling their personal, family and work obligations. This is compared with 60% of those who perceived less empathy. Clearly there is a link between empathy and better workplace cultures. The challenge is how do we make empathy a regular business practice? In the book Tell Me More About That, brand strategist and thought leader Rob Volpe draws on his years of research conducting thousands of in-home interviews with everyday people to illustrate the 5 Steps to Empathy. These are the actions you and I can take to build a strong and reflexive empathy muscle.  Rob is joining us on today's episode to share these insights, explaining what empathy is and what it is not and the different kinds of empathy we may experience.   Linked In Purchase his book About Rob  

Leaders have a difficult job when it comes to leading on DEI, are you equipped for challenging conversations to arise, do you have enough knowledge yourself and do you have the answers?  A leader's job is to build and maintain cultures that value difference because this is what it means to lead. Valuing difference is a practice. Anti-racisim, anti-ableisms, classims, sexisim and homophobia are all practices. Educational programs, workplace training, books, podcasts and courses are all resources that we can use to build our muscle when it comes to valuing difference. There is no end to this work, because this is how workplaces need to work. When we don't treat DEI as a practice, we don't engage in the action necessary to truly create workplace cultures that value difference. In the book How to be an Antiracist, Dr Ibram X. Kendi says that ““racist” and “antiracist” are like peelable name tags that are placed and replaced based on what someone is doing or not doing, supporting or expressing in each moment. These are not permanent tattoos. No one becomes a racist or antiracist. We can only strive to be one or the other.”  What can we do within our organizations to strive towards antiracism? To help us with that question Trudi Lebron, author of The Antiracist Business Book: An Equity Centered Approach to Work, Wealth, and Leadership, will be joining us on the show today to discuss how organizations can make anti-racism a fundamental way of working.    www.trudilebron.com The Antiracist Business Book @trudilebron  

Is AI inherently sexist? Or are we building AI with the biases we are still struggling to root out of our human interactions? And is a lack of diversity in the innovation process translating into the technology? AI is built and maintained by data, and if the data collected only represents the view of one type of individual or overly weights the importance of this information then the decisions AI makes will reinforce this inequality.   In a 2019 article for Sandford Social Innovation Review, entitled 'When Good Algorithms Go Sexist: Why and How to Advance AI Gender Equity', the co-author Genevieve Smith shared how she and her husband applied for the same credit card. Despite having a slightly better credit score and the same income, expenses and debt as her husband, the credit card company set her credit limit at almost half the amount. Customer service employees were unable to explain why the algorithm deemed the wife significantly less creditworthy.  What is most likely to have happened in this case is that AI was to blame as Genevieve shares in her article many institutions make decisions based on artificial intelligence (AI) systems using machine learning (ML), whereby a series of algorithms takes and learns from massive amounts of data to find patterns and make predictions.  Yet gender bias in these systems is pervasive and has profound impacts on women's short and long-term psychological, economic and health security.  On today's episode we welcome Alexandra Ebert who will share what AI is and how it will impact our jobs but also why you don't need to be scared of it. Most importantly, Alexandra tells us why we need to manage AI carefully to ensure equitable outcomes and so as not to exacerbate or perpetuate existing gender inequities.   Alexandra's Story LinkedIn - Alexandra Ebert

Diversity is simply good for business. Companies with greater gender diversity in their leadership outperform their less diverse competitors, having higher returns on capital and credited with better employee engagement and retention. These companies have loyal customers, are more relevant to a broader customer base, are more innovative and are better at problem-solving. The same goes for companies that are more ethnically and racially diverse.  Almost no companies are reflective of the diverse makeup of their country despite a spend of $7 billion a year on DEI efforts.  Part of the problem is that the fixation on diversity numbers dominates the dialogue around diversity and inclusion. While the numbers are incredibly important they provide a needed snapshot of how an organization's employee base is made up and can measure things like attraction, retention and promotion. A focus on diversity numbers alone can create dangerous tunnel vision. By only targeting diversity numbers, businesses can end up failing to deal with the underlying causes of how an organization's diversity makeup came to be and what the culture of the organization is like. In order to ensure you have the whole picture, we are going to discuss the pro's and con's of having diversity targets.  Specifically Kelly is going to share the argument for having diversity targets and Michelle will share why she doesn't believe that they work and then we will look at how you can try and use them in the right way if you have to have them within your organization.  

The Great Resignation, has seen employees  leaving their jobs at unprecedented rates. According to the US Labor Bureau in November 2021 alone, 4.5 million employees quit Reports by the online media publication The Plug states that workers across the U.S. are finding more reasons to leave their jobs than having reasons to stay, citing burnout, being overworked amid shortages in some industries and pay that hasn't kept track with inflation. But for Black workers, unaddressed racial issues in the workplace are among the long list of causes, directly fueling the Great Resignation.  Black employees simply don't feel like they belong and consequently they are turning to entrepreneurship. The number of African American business owners in operation surged to almost 1.5 million in August 2021, up 38% from February 2020. LinkedIn surveyed over 1,000 Black entrepreneurs to uncover why professionals are starting their own businesses, the factors prompting professionals to leave the corporate workforce and the challenges Black professionals often face when launching a business. Some of the highlights of their research findings include: Over 1 in 3 (37%) Black Entrepreneurs with full time jobs have not told their company that they have their own business. 35% of Black Entrepreneurs with full time jobs feel that they've been overlooked for career advancement opportunities because they have an additional business. 55% of Black Entrepreneurs left the workforce to pursue entrepreneurship to have more flexibility & control over their schedule. 37% of Black entrepreneurs feel like they have to have someone White on their leadership team/ executive board in order to get funding. 43% of Black entrepreneurs believe having access to funding/capital is key to growing your business, yet only 1 in 4 Black business owners have received funding. On today's episode we discuss these findings and more with Rosanna Durruthy, Chief Diversity Officer for LinkedIn. Rosanna shares with us why Black employees are leaving their workplaces to start their own businesses.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmdurruthy/   https://twitter.com/talentalchemist   https://dileaders.com/blog/speakers/rosanna-durruthy/

Being unaware of people's experiences of inequality like racism or sexism, often inadvertently and unwillingly leads to behaviors that are racist and sexist. We are simply blind to inequality. Being able to learn about inequality without ever having to experience it, is really the ultimate privilege. But just like inequality, when we deny our privilege we are blinded by it. Privilege makes it easy to deny other people's experiences of inequality and keeps us from seeing the workplace in the way others see it. Denial is what keeps inequality alive in workplaces today. When leaders and employees see how being a part of the dominant group gives them access to power and privilege, they will also become aware of the unique position they are in to dismantle the very inequality they benefit from. In 2018, anti-racism guide and mental health activist Myisha T. Hill launched the Check Your Privilege movement on Instagram. This is a global movement that supports individuals on their journey to becoming actively anti-racist. In just over three short years, it amassed 750,000 followers and became a sought-after hub for interracial activism during 2020's ongoing wave of civil unrest. In her upcoming book, Heal Your Way Forward: The Co-Conspirator's Guide to an Antiracist Future, Myisha shares her perspective and asks this critical question of antiracism work: what do we want the world to look like in 7 generations? On today's episode, Myisha shares how we can all take action to check our privilege and tackle systemic racism and prejudices.   Instagram: @myishathill Website: checkyourprivilege      

Today on the show my dear friend Eve Rodsky is joining us! Eve has been featured on the show before, with her New York Times best selling book, Fair Play and now Eve is here again with her new book, 'Unicorn Space', which is all about making time for your creative pursuits. As a researcher, I was intrigued with this idea that men and women have different opportunities to pursue creative interests, which makes sense. Women disproportionally undertake domestic chores and child care requirements, therefore leaving less time to pursue interests outside of work and home life. For example a study by LifeSearch found that among working women, half (50%) still say they do the majority of household chores, in comparison to men where just one in four (25%) of all working men, spend an average of 7.6 hours on housework per week – almost equivalent to a typical working day – on top of their paid job. This isn't just that women have less time to be creative and innovative, workplaces in particular de-value women's creativity.  A 2015 academic study published in the journal Psychological Science, finds that creativity itself is gendered.  The paper states that organisations increasingly reward those who are seen as true “innovators.” Surveys of top business executives have identified “creative thinking” as the ability most valued in employees and one of the most important skills for the future. However, stereotypical expectations of men and women's creativity shape how creativity is judged and acknowledged. This paper finds that creativity itself is more strongly associated with stereotypically masculine characteristics and that a man's work is more likely to be deemed creative. The research also finds that men's ideas are more often deemed “ingenious” than women's even when it's on the same topic. In particular, supervisors assess their female employees as less creative, even when they are exhibiting more of the stereotypically masculine behaviours associated with creativity. Creativity is gendered. We value men's creative time, ideas and outputs more than a woman's. Therefore it is no surprise that we make more time for men to be creative because we believe it's more valuable. This is inequality, the belief that men and masculinity are somehow more valuable than women and femininity. And this plays out in all aspects of life, even how we spend our creative time as Eve explains in today's episode.     Website: everodsky.com Book: Unicorn Space Instagram: @everodsky

This podcast is dedicated to the topic of hiring diverse talent whilst also looking at what businesses can do to really try and value difference.  Research states that 46% of people's experiences of inclusion at work are down to their manager's behavior. So, 46% of your experiences of whether you feel included or not are attributed to your manager's behavior. So when I hear “not my workplace, I've done everything I can. My workplace is a meritocracy. These hostile work environments might be true for some people. It's not true for my workplace”. I need you to take a breath and accept the fact that because your workplace works for you, you are probably not aware of the ways in which it doesn't work for other people. We need to believe people when they tell of their lived experience in your workplace and actually their lived experience of you and understand that actually women might not feel safe to speak up.   Listen in to find out more about how you can hire smart and also listen better to those already hired.

As adults, if we have never experienced homelessness, it can be really tempting to turn away and not engage with the humanity of the situation. Sometimes it's just too upsetting and we feel guilty or even embarrassed about our own comparative security. We need reminding of the importance of engaging with homelessness empathetically and that it is not as far away as we might like to think.  Often it isn't just one thing, most people become homeless because a lot of challenges in their life play out at the same time creating an impossible situation. But most people don't want to hear all the reasons they might become homeless because we don't want to believe it could be true for us. Out of sight out of mind.  This is why states like Texas in recent months have a new law that criminalizes public camping and bans cities from adopting policies that prohibit or discourage the enforcement of any public camping ban. People who don't comply with the law can be ticketed, arrested, and fined up to $500.  Arresting, fining and punishing people for being homeless does nothing to address homelessness.   On today's podcast we are joined by community activist Regina Jackson, to share  insights from her work as President & CEO of the East Oakland Youth Development Center. For the past 27 years, Regina has provided services and support for homeless youth in the city of Oakland through housing, job training and life skill development opportunities. On this episode she will share why homelessness is an issue for all of us.  

I often get asked by people, surely gender equality will just be achieved in time? Aren't we becoming more progressive? Won't younger generations ensure we have greater equality because they hold more liberal views.  The answer to all these questions is No.   The belief that we will just achieve equality through the passing of time is one of the reasons we will never achieve equality no matter how much time we have.   Equality is a practice it is something that we do. Taking action every day to value difference is something we all need to do to build a more equitable working world.  The starting point for tackling this is being honest about where we are at and the beliefs we hold that inform how we think and the lack of action each of us take to tackle inequality.   On today's podcast we are joined by Dr Michelle Harrison, Global CEO of Kantar Public, who is going to be discussing the recently published findings of the fourth and extended edition of The Reykjavík Index for Leadership, which highlights entrenched prejudice towards women leaders. Together we will unpack why societal attitudes have stalled when it comes to advancing gender equality in leadership. 

Over the last four years we have spoken with so many incredible people from all walks of life about how to make a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world.   During that time I have found there are some consistent lessons that people shared around what it really takes to build a workplace that works for everyone.   So to help kick off this year in the right way, we will be discussing my top 10 lessons learnt in DEI. This is based off the podcast episodes as well as our four decades of experience and my nearly two decades of researching workplaces. I have not shared these insights anywhere else so this is a first and hopefully you will find it helpful, practical and an inspiring way to begin your year. So let's get started with our top ten DEI lessons for 2022.  

As the entire world works to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the role of effective leadership has been brought into razor sharp focus. What people need now are leaders with empathy, compassion and an ability to show support, skills that women leaders tend to exhibit more than men. While it may take a global pandemic to finally acknowledge the unique talents and capabilities women leaders offer, companies shouldn't wait until there is a crisis to afford women an opportunity to lead. It's a trend we've seen before. The 2008 financial crisis was a result of irresponsible risk taking that ultimately came down to leadership and organizational priorities. Research examining risk-taking behavior finds that men are more prone to taking higher risks. Increased collective risk-taking behavior contributed to the crisis, which was an outcome of male-dominated workplaces that valued individual achievement and competition rather than collective well-being. Subsequent research found that women tend to adopt a more relational approach to leadership, which is more effective in a crisis compared to the more traditional command-and-control style of leadership typically adopted by men. Overall, women leaders adopt a relational style when leading through a crisis, which is highly effective as they focus on building trust, alleviating fears and managing the crisis at hand.  Joining us on today's podcast is Professor Jennifer Jordan,  a social psychologist and Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour at IMD. Jennifer explains the evolution of good leadership and what each of us can do to prepare for the new world of work. 

If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that to collaborate either virtually or in person we need to learn how we can bridge our individual and cultural differences and work as one team regardless of our location. We need to create culturally inclusive environments. Culture includes the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Culture also includes the shared patterns of behaviors, norms, interactions, and understanding that are learned through socialization. One way that culture plays out for all of us is through language. How we communicate, the words, tone and body language we use all represent our culture and can make it hard for people, who differ from our culture to understand what we are trying to say. We have always lived in an ethnically diverse society, we are all operating in an increasingly culturally diverse environment where we need to be able to interact, communicate, build relationships, and work effectively with people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Technology has made workplaces diverse and global. To succeed you need to be able to understand and appreciate diversity in its many forms, and to effectively engage and communicate with people from different cultures. But how may of us know how to adapt the way we communicate to ensure we are understood? Joining us on todays podcast is Felicity Wingrove. Felicity is a leading expert on the applied psychology of language. Felicity will share specific strategies you can use to communicate with anyone, anywhere.

Have you heard of the 'Great Resignation' or the 'Big Quit'? It is an informal name for the widespread trend of a significant number of workers leaving their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most news articles are covering the 'Great Resignation' in relation to the United States, the problem is happening on a global level and it is thought to be the result of many different factors, notably employees dissatisfaction with current working conditions and post Covid reassessment of the lack of career and home life integration.   This month in the United States, according to Guardian 2.9% of the workforce quit their jobs. Nearly 1.2 million jobs were open in the UK in the most recent quarter, with 15 of 18 sectors reporting record numbers. People cite all kinds of reasons for quitting. They want a better work-life balance, they want more challenges, better conditions, more meaning. For employees who are left behind and those who want to make the move but are worried they are trading one job they hate for another it is critical to understand how we can love the jobs we are in. Joining us on today's episode is Dr Kathryn Owler, a happiness at workplace coach, who will share her research findings and advice for how to enjoy your job and have a meaningful career.

Recently a male colleague asked me what he could do to support women at work, and I told him to start by being an ally. Simply speaking up when someone makes a derogatory comment about women, even if it seems innocent enough, is how men can practice this. When one of his colleagues made a comment to him about the size of their female coworker's breasts, he spoke up. He said, “Don't do that. Don't speak about her like that. It's not cool.” While this might seem like a small action, it is really an incredibly powerful way to create equality at work. By speaking up, my male colleague instantly reset the standards for how men speak, think, and interact with each other and the women in that office.  The challenge with allyship is it generally involves spending your privilege. It is uncomfortable. It requires speaking up. Taking action. Calling out inequality, even if you benefit from it. The intervention of bystanders often acts as the crucial brake on acts of bullying and discrimination. We can help bystanders become upstanders or allies by making them aware of the problem of inaction.  Joining us on today's episode is Rohit Bhargava and Jennifer Brown, authors of the book 'Beyond Diversity', who will share the difference between bystanders and upstanders, and how you can take action to tackle inequality when it plays out at work.

Men's ability to financially support their family is equated with their identity and self-worth. Living up to this requires that men have a job, conform to the 1950's ideal worker image, and advance at work. This is the expectation we all hold for men, and it limits men's freedom to explore their identities outside of work. We need to let go of the idea that women's careers are somehow expendable, but men's careers are not. This is not just good for women, it's good for men. For example, a 2016 study found that men are better able to accommodate their dual identities when their wives work because they get to define success outside of just the breadwinner role. Sharing the burden to provide for the family frees men up to rethink their identity. The greatest challenge men face in straying from the breadwinner role is the risk of losing their self-worth and social status. When men don't work, they forgo their place in society. Men can no longer build their confidence through their work, so they need to find this somewhere else. Research investigating how men deal with job loss finds that not only do men carry a heavy financial and emotional strain when they are let go, but they also struggle with the sense that they are no longer real men. We look down on men who are not breadwinners because they are not fulfilling what society deems men's role should be. Research also finds this can be painful for men, especially if they are stay-at-home dads and their wives take on the breadwinner role. Men may try to rebalance this perceived loss of masculinity by being less supportive when it comes to childcare and domestic chores. To unpack this issue we are joined by the Report's author Gary Barker, who will start us off by sharing how the role of fathers has changed over time.

Over the last two years health and wellbeing has become front and center in organisational life, thanks to the pandemic. We have all heard of the business case for DEI but what about the wellness case for DEI?  It is becoming increasingly apparent that without compassionate, inclusive, people-centred workplaces, health and wellbeing suffers and, in turn, so does productivity. If we want more innovative, collaborative and productive workplaces, we need to put wellbeing front and center, not just for some employees but for everyone.   Employee wellbeing on the one hand and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on the other have a symbiotic relationship. Taking a diverse and inclusive approach to wellbeing within a business will enhance employees' feelings of inclusion and belonging, which in turn improves their mental and emotional wellbeing, which further enhances their sense of belonging. And so the cycle goes on. To understand how we can put wellbeing at the center of our DEI efforts we are joined on the show today by Dr. Marlette Jackson the Global Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Vigin Pulse. Dr Jackson discusses how diversity and inclusion are intertwined with employee health and wellbeing,  because when employees feel like they can be their true selves, they use fewer sick days, stay longer at their company and are happier and more engaged in their work.  She will also share how Virgin Pulse is putting wellbeing at the center of its own DEI efforts.  

Both men and women are feeling even more burned out in 2021 than they were in 2020. The annual  'Women in the Workplace' report from McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.Org found that the gap between women and men who say they are burned out has nearly doubled in the last year. Women in particular have taken on more responsibilities at home from supervising remote learning for their children to basic household chores. Women have also been forced out of their jobs at a disproportionate rate. As the U.S. Census Data reports there are nearly 1.5 million fewer mothers with children 18 or younger in the workforce in March 2021 compared to February 2020.  The oppressive systems we live and work under have created a burnout epidemic, and this is all the worse for Black women and femmes who have a long legacy of exhaustion at the hands of white supremacist heteropatriarchy. Imagine the impact when, on top of the daily strife of enduring systems of misogynoir, you are also forced to weather an unprecedented and entirely mishandled health pandemic that is statistically more likely to murder you.   Black women persist, despite a system set up to ensure they don't. Black women don't need to learn to lean in, they are already doing this simply by showing up every day and overcoming one barrier after another. Black women must persist against the odds just to do their job, be treated fairly, get paid equally, and access leadership opportunities. We need to create a work environment where Black women don't have to lean in, perform to a higher standard or deal with excessive burnout because the organization already works for them.  On this episode I am joined by career coach, Ashley Morgan, to discuss why Black women's experience of burnout is different and importantly how all of us can navigate burnout and manage our wellbeing in difficult times.   

When we talk about pressure we usually conjure up negative images  – being pressured into something, feeling the weight of pressure. Even the dictionary definition of “pressure” focuses on coercion and intimidation. And who could forget Queen and David Bowie singing about pressure being the force that burns a building down, splits a family in two, puts people on streets. But is this the whole story? In this episode we are joined by Dane Jensen, CEO of Third Factor and an expert on pressure. He unpacks what pressure is, how it differs from stress and how we can harness pressure to our benefit - individually and in our organisations. Dane has worked with thousands of high performers including top business leaders and executives, world-class athletes, Navy SEALs, politicians, and even busy parents. If you want to understand how pressure is experienced differently for everyone and what you can do to excel during difficult moments or challenges in your life then this extended episode is just for you.  

When men align with other men who hold positions of power, they are better able to access the privilege associated with that power. This includes things like having direct access to high-profile people, job opportunities, high-profile assignments, and rewards at work. Homosocial behaviors provide men with ways to develop relationships with other men in positions of power, to their benefit. There are many ways these behaviors show up in workplaces, but they tend to result in employees tolerating and even accepting bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, and exclusionary behaviors. Organizational banter is a great example of this and generally includes verbally attacking colleagues under the guise of “joking” to maintain dominance over others. It also involves making sexist jokes or derogatory comments based on people's identities that diminish a person's self-esteem and perceived value. When leaders remain silent, they sanction these behaviors, which also validates the people who engage in them. This can create an entire workplace culture that is hostile toward women.    A good example of this is the craft brewing industry. In May of this year, NPR reported that Brienne Allan, a brewery worker, went to Instagram to complain about sexual harassment in her workplace and thousands of other women – and a few men – chimed in with their stories including offhanded, rude comments, sexual violence and sexual harassment, as well as racism from owners and superiors. The Craft Brewing industry is being forced to reckon with the sexism, racism and sexual assault allegations.   On today's episode we are joined by Founder and Executive Director of Infinite Ingredient, Katie Muggli, who has been in the hospitality industry for over 20 years, with five years specific to the craft beer industry. Kate founded Infinite Ingredient to actively support the mental and physical well-being of individuals working in the craft beverage industry through outreach, education, and access to resources.  She shares her story and reflects on the 'me too' movement and its ripples through the craft beer industry.  

As workplaces are now taking the steps to shift back to versions of ‘business as usual', it is also a critical time and a golden opportunity for them to focus on the wellbeing and psychological safety of employees across their organisation. We see psychological safety in teams when members engage in learning behaviours, such as asking for help, seeking feedback, admitting errors, being open about lack of knowledge, trying something new or voicing work-related dissenting views, with the belief there will not be reprisal or retribution. On this special episode we wanted to share two fireside chats recorded at our Reimagine 2021 event last Friday. Our first chat is with Minda Harts, author of The Memo interviewed by Sue Eilfield, Vice President, People & Culture and Inclusion & Diversity at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. Sue interviews Minda on her work advancing racial and ethnic minority women at work and healing from racial trauma at work. Our second chat is with Jon Hicks ,Senior Counsel, Employment Law at Netflix Inc  and Mark McKenna Coles, EMEA Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Lead from Spotify who will share how to build psychological safety at work.  

When I started out in my career, there were so many articles and news reports, events, training and speakers sharing how to engage and manage millennial workers. And over the years I have seen this same focus extend to Generation Z. Companies want to and need to engage the next generation, many of whom want businesses to change their approach to sustainability, equity and corporate social responsibility for the better. The challenge is there isn't a quick fix to tackling the problem. All too often companies claim to have engaged young people about a product or service, yet these very young people are absent from decision making processes. All to often companies have a preconceived notion of what it means to sell to young people that ends up being condescending and patronising. Hashtags and snapchat alone won't be enough to engage the next generation. What companies need are leaders who know how to listen, engage and value the age diversity of their entire organisation.  Joining us on todays episode is Melissa Kilby, Executive Director of Girl Up the global leadership development organization transforming a generation of girls to be a force for gender equality and social change. Since 2010, Girl Up has developed 75,000 girl leaders in 120 countries and all 50 U.S. states and has raised more than $27 million for girls' leadership programs and impact partners at the United Nations. As a next gen leadership expert, Melissa will unpack the common mistakes companies make when trying to engage the next generation of change makers and what each of us can do bridge the age gap at work. 

In the process of selling my first book, I spoke to several editors at major publishing houses. One editor revealed that she was thankful her workplace was “not gendered in any way.” In that moment, I realized how much we all take inequality for granted at work. This made me determined to find a way to explain how systemic this issue is and how most workplaces don't work for men and women in the same way—even industries that aren't seemingly male dominated. In fact, the publishing industry is a great example of this. While women make up a large proportion of employees in the industry, men maintain a hold on positions of power. In 2018, the Government Equalities Office (GEO) in the United Kingdom reported that while women make up almost two-thirds of the workforce in publishing, men are paid more on average. Reasons cited for this included the higher number of men in senior roles; the higher proportion of women in lower pay brackets; and the higher number of women with flexible work arrangements. These issues could describe just about any industry because nearly all workplaces are gendered—they were built by men, for men. But it's not always obvious how this negatively impacts women at work from day to day. Nor how this plays out differently when we consider the intersecting identities women have.  Joining us on today's episode is Rebekah Borucki, Founder and President, Row House Publishing, Inc. Row House Publishing is on an incredible mission to support diverse communities within the book publishing industry. On this episode Rebekah will unpack inequality within the publishing industry and what we can do to tackle it. 

Last week the supreme court in the United States decided by five to four to allow Texas to effectively ban abortions in the state despite the blatant disregard of the court's own 1973 ruling legalizing abortion in US, Roe v Wade. United Nations human rights experts have called the new Texas abortion law “structural sex and gender-based discrimination at its worst”.  Women of color, those with low incomes and from other vulnerable groups would be hardest hit from this ban. Given the significance of this legal change in the United States we wanted to dedicate todays episode to understanding the issue in more detail and how we can support women globally with this issue.  In today's episode I am hosting a conversation with our very own Kelly Thomson, a partner in the employment, engagement and equality practice at the international law firm RPC, based in London and Anna Cronin-Scott an international lawyer who has been practicing law since 2010. Anna also served as special assistant to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from 2005-2008, accompanying the Secretary on delegations to Nigeria, Europe and domestically.

From a young age, we are taught what the appropriate behavior is for boys and girls. Through repeated exposure over the years we come to know how men and women are meant to behave. These beliefs are then used to make judgments about women at work. When women succeed in traditionally male-dominated roles, they defy the expectations society has for women and they are punished for it. One study found that when women lead teams with only male employees or teams with a mix of male and female employees, their status as a woman leader activates gender stereotyping, which negatively impacts how they are perceived as leaders. On today's episode we are going to unpack how inequality at work also creates backlash when it comes to authority. Joining us on the show is Mary Ann Sieghart who will talk about her new book The Authority Gap and how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all.

When it comes to innovation, current approaches tend to adopt a male lens, by only considering the needs of men, or only engaging men in the design process. Consequently, many products we have today were never designed with women in mind. While there is increased attention on the gender gap in innovation, it isn't enough.  What we need is a GENDER-RESPONSIVE APPROACH to innovation, which means going beyond acknowledging and raising awareness of gender gaps, to make sure women's and men's concerns and experiences are equally integrated in the design of innovative products or services and that due consideration is given to how gender norms, roles and relations and limit the innovation process and associated benefits. Joining us on today's episode is Danielle Kayembe, a female futurist and serial entrepreneur with a focus on projects at the intersection of women, innovation, and impact. Danielle will unpack how to close the gender gap in innovation, and ensure that future innovations don't leave anyone behind.

Between 2015 and 2020 there was a 107% increase in the number of people employed with the head of diversity job title, according to LinkedIn data. This global hiring trend is set to continue, as more businesses appreciate the fundamental importance, including to the bottom line of having more diverse representation and inclusive cultures.  The top three fastest growing roles in this space, according to a LinkedIn report, are Director of Diversity, Diversity Officer, and Head of Diversity. 77% of all new D&I roles are either senior or director positions with 22.8% of these roles in leadership positions. And only one in five are entry level.  If the makeup of leadership teams begins to look different, doesn't that mean the organization values difference? It's incredibly common to see business leaders make external corporate commitments like this, which are often not hard quotas but rather “aspirational targets.” The aim is to achieve a trickle-down effect by hiring other female leaders; the hope is they will work to increase the representation of women, thereby magically transforming the culture. What could possibly go wrong?  On todays episode we are joined by Dr Ted Sun, author, speaker and expert in leadership, with two doctorate degrees, one in psychology and another in business. Dr Ted will unpack why diversity quotas are not the answer.

There is a loneliness epidemic, and it is affecting people from all ages. A recent study, conducted by the American Enterprise Institute, suggests that the proportion of people who can name six close friends has dropped from 55% to 27% since the 1990's and one in five single men say they do not have any close friends. According to the Guardian, while the pandemic has increased experiences of loneliness, people were struggling long before as a YouGov study carried out in 2019 suggested that 9 in 10 people between the age of 18-24 suffered from loneliness to some degree, and nearly half had difficulty making friends. The challenges with making friends differ for men and women. The  study entitled 'Gender Differences in Friendship Patterns' finds that women are more intimate and emotional in their same-sex friendships than men, women also tend to place a higher value on these friendships than men do. Women emphasized talking, emotional sharing, and discussing personal problems with their same-sex friends, and men showed an emphasis on sharing activities and doing things with their men friends. This is largely because men are socialized to not share their feelings. Being a man means going it alone. Results from this study suggest that men need to be socialized to express their emotions to form intimate and more beneficial same-sex friendships.  The friendship gender gap can have significant consequences as men face higher rates of isolation, loneliness, depression and even suicide. We all need connection in some way or another. On today's episode Adam Smiley Poswolsky author of Friendship in the Age of Loneliness, will join us to share how we can form meaningful friendships and create belonging at work and in life.