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Through personal narratives, racial literacy, and cultural competency, the Demystifying Diversity Podcast illuminates the shared humanity of all people. In Season Three, the podcast focuses on how diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging intersect with the modern workplace. By illuminating barriers and offering sustainable strategies for building and harnessing diverse workforces, this season of the podcast hopes to expand workplace empathy.
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Brought to you as a collaborative effort between the Demystifying Diversity Podcast team and the Fox School of Business’ Center for Ethics, Diversity and Workplace Culture (CEDWC), Season Three of the Demystifying Diversity Podcast combines a variety of voices and will support listeners at every stage of their career to become agents of positive change at work, and in the world.
SEASON 3
Featured Voice - Timothy Welbeck
Director of the Center for Anti-Racism Research and an Assistant Professor of Instruction at Temple University
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How workplace inclusivity can include non-obvious identifiers, such as education-level, and how layers of intersectionality create challenges when trying to promote more inclusive practices.
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The difficulties posed when attempting to make companies more inclusive.
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How DEIAB trainings must be geared towards their audiences, and how practitioners ought to develop their trainings based on the needs and proficiency levels of those in attendance.
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How conducting DEIAB trainings during a specified month (Black History, Pride, etc.) is not enough and can even send the wrong message to employees identifying within these groups.
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Why it is incumbent upon an organization’s leadership to set the tone and example for what diversity and inclusion looks like in the workplace, including representation amongst senior executives.
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Why smaller companies, without a defined DEIAB budget, can and should still strive to create healthy and inclusive workplace cultures.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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How workplace inclusivity can include non-obvious identifiers such as education level, and how these layers of intersectionality create challenges in creating inclusion.
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The challenges posed when attempting to make companies more inclusive.
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The role that employee resource groups (ERGs) play in promoting inclusive work environments.
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The difference between actual and performative allyship in the workplace.
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How DEIAB training during a specified month (Black History, Pride, etc.) is not enough and sends the wrong message to employees identifying within these groups.
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Why it is incumbent upon an organization’s leadership to set the tone and example for what diversity and inclusion looks like in the workplace, including representation amongst senior executives.
Featured Voice - Tomar Pierson-Brown
Director, Health Law Clinic
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What ‘legal precedent’ is, and why it is pivotal in creating policies and laws that shape people’s experiences.
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Why judges’ decisions are subjective, and how that can and does lead to biased rulings.
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The difference between equality and equity, and why differentiating between them matters in the interpretation and implementation of laws.
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The Guardian mentality vs. The Warrior mentality, and how both views shape the ways in which the criminal justice system is used, and explain the disparity in how the law functions in different States.
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The importance of learning your legal rights in order to help prevent future injustices.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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What ‘legal precedent’ is, and why it is pivotal in creating policies and laws that shape people’s experiences.
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How the United States prison system is, in many ways, a modern-day perpetuation os slavery.
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How the United States education system promotes compliance with policing and ‘status-quo’ forms of government.
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How zero-sum interpretations of litigation work create division and limit creative collaboration.
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The disparity between various paradigms of justice, and the importance of standing up for what is right, despite opposition.
Featured Voice - A.C. Fowlkes
Chief Executive Officer of Fowlkes Consulting
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Different perspectives about what success means, and how conceptions of it have been shaped by society.
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How success and fulfillment are not the same thing, and how assessing one’s professional fulfillment is a personal journey.
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How interpretations of success and professionalism are often tied to privilege.
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How essential it is to make space for an intersectional understanding of success and “achievement.”
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How an individual’s interpretations of what “success” means is their right, and how every person also has the right to decide how much or how little of their interpretations to share with others.
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The concept that people and cultures are a value-add, and the reminder that comparisons can distort our perceptions of how successful a person or a group is.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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Different perspectives about what success means, and how conceptions of it have been shaped by society.
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How success and fulfillment are not the same thing, and how assessing one’s professional fulfillment is a personal journey.
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How interpretations of success and professionalism are often tied to privilege.
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How essential it is to make space for an intersectional understanding of success and “achievement.”
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The importance of and impacts of inward-focused and outward-focused metrics when assessing workplace satisfaction and professional goals.
Featured Voice - Liz Brown
Author & Assistant Professor of Business Law at Bentley
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How tech itself may or may not be biased, but the uses of tech can be, whether consciously or otherwise.
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How tech is developed by people who have their own sets of biases, and how these biases can translate to the technology itself.
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How data and information may not be protected, based on the state you live in.
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The importance of employees asking the right questions of their company’s General Council and Human Resource teams in understanding how customer data is used.
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How intersectionality comes into play in determining someone’s access to and adoption of technology over time.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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How it is impossible to fully eradicate bias within technology, and how, in some cases, understanding bias can enable better technological and social outcomes.
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How technology is inherently biased, because it is developed and used by people who themselves have biases.
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How technology, when used properly, can democratize society.
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How technology accelerates the ways in which people are perceived, based on identifying physical characteristics.
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How human decision making can still override technological bias.
Featured Voice - James Barnes
Corporate Trainer, Coach, and Public Speaker
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The importance of emotional safety within the workplace, and its ability to bring out the best in a team.
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How everyone has bias.
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How the total eradication of bias should not be the intended goal (and would be impossible).
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How understanding our biases creates greater space for inclusivity.
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The role that empathy plays in overriding one’s internal biases to create first understanding, then change.
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How racism is not only perpetrated through overt acts by hate-filled individuals, but is more often a result of inaction by those who either do not see anything wrong with the status quo, or are unwilling to intervene.
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An employee’s role in creating accountability, both among their peers and within their organization, when it comes to eliminating workplace bias.
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How somebody can gracefully point out biases in a way that both honors the impacted person and educates the perpetrator.
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How race, gender, and other identifiers influence conceptions of what level of emotional expression is appropriate.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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How everyone has bias.
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How the total eradication of bias should not be the intended goal (and would be impossible).
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How understanding our biases creates greater space for inclusivity.
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The role that empathy plays in overriding one’s internal biases to create first understanding, then change.
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The non-obvious ways in which bias presents itself in our society - from healthcare, to education, to politics, and beyond.
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How racism is not only perpetrated through overt acts by hate-filled individuals, but is more often a result of inaction by those who either do not see anything wrong with the status quo, or are unwilling to intervene.
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How different societal stakeholders force compliance with biased systems.
Featured Voice - Laurie Wu
Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism and
Hospitality Management at Temple University
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The importance of emotional safety within the workplace, and its ability to bring out the best in a team.
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The difference between anger and aggression, and why anger can be healthy in the workplace, if expressed properly.
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The concept of expressive tolerance, and how this feeds into emotional privilege within workplace dynamics.
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What “expression thresholds” are, and how emotional privilege plays a role in whether or not a person feels free to express their emotions.
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How race, gender, and other identifiers influence conceptions of what level of emotional expression is appropriate.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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The disparity in expectations between men and women, as it relates to child-rearing responsibilities and parental leave.
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The impact of personal priorities upon the ways in which parents raise their children.
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The very real choice that all parents, but primarily women, make between parenthood and an engaging, fulfilling career.
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How different children within the same family receive different upbringings based on the ever-changing circumstances and experiences of their parents’ careers.
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How, in the United States, not having federally-mandated paid parental leave makes a lot of first-time parents susceptible to unnecessary financial and logistical burdens.
Featured Voice - Deanna Geddes
Professor at the Fox School of
Business and Management
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The importance of emotional safety within the workplace, and its ability to bring out the best in a team.
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The difference between anger and aggression, and why anger can be healthy in the workplace, if expressed properly.
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The concept of expressive tolerance, and how this feeds into emotional privilege within workplace dynamics.
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What “expression thresholds” are, and how emotional privilege plays a role in whether or not a person feels free to express their emotions.
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How race, gender, and other identifiers influence conceptions of what level of emotional expression is appropriate.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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How psychological safety is paramount to creating inclusion and belonging, and also in getting the best out of employees.
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Why it is important for colleagues and supervisors to try to communicate effectively, and to adopt a mindset of learning from mistakes, as opposed to avoiding them.
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How listening is the most important skill in creating a safe workplace culture for all employees.
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The value of feedback, and the importance of taking it seriously as part of creating healthy workplace cultures.
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The damaging impact of retaliation on employee morale, and on retention and innovation.
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How acknowledging a colleague’s humanity can bridge gaps in understanding, and/or ideals.
Featured Voice - Kelli Clark
VP of Culture, Employee Experience and
Employee Communications at Emerson
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The struggles that come from having to hide a major part of one's identity in the workplace, and how that type of forced concealment impacts employees' overall performance.
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The need for people to do “the work” of standing up and being leaders in supporting their LGBTQ+ colleagues and community members.
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How, like many other identifiers, LGBTQ+ identities can be fluid, based on experience and self-discovery over time.
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How simple acts of affirming another's identity can go a long way in creating safety.
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The importance of allies in creating the needed safety for LGBTQ+-identifying colleagues to show up fully as themselves.
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The importance of creating and allowing mental health space in the workplace, not just for LGBTQ+-identifying folx, but for all employees.
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The value of connecting with people of different identities, and how their shared experiences can foster self-discovery and belonging.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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The struggles of having to hide a major part of one’s identity in the workplace, and how that impacts overall performance.
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The need for people to do “the work,” of standing up and being leaders in supporting the LGBTQ+ community to enact real change.
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The lasting effects of not fully being able to express one’s self in the workplace.
The reality of hate - how it becomes more difficult to hate someone to their face, and how being open about identity can make a tremendous difference in our workplace experiences. -
How identity is fluid, and how the fluidity of any type of identifier changes based on experience, self-discovery, and time.
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How simple acts of affirming another’s identity can go a long way in creating safety.
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The value of connecting with people of different identities, and how their shared experiences can foster self-discovery and belonging.
Featured Voice - Leora Eisenstadt
Associate Professor in the Department of Risk, Actuarial Science and Legal Studies and Founding Director of CEDWC
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What you should know about the legal process involved in coming out against an abuser in the workplace.
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“The Five D's,” and how they are essential to providing direct support to anyone suffering workplace abuse.
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The importance of recognizing intent as it relates to unwanted interactions in the workplace.
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How workplace abuse, sexual and otherwise, plays a role in suppressing under-privileged groups.
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Tangible techniques for how to be an effective ally when witnessing workplace abuse.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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How the #MeToo Movement has shifted the landscape of abuse in the workplace.
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That abuse is systemic, and that ending it is a much larger and more daunting task than removing “bad apples.”
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The importance of survivors sharing their stories (if they choose) as a means of empowering themselves and supporting others.
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How workplace abuse, while more likely to be perpetrated by men against women, persists in many forms and impacts individuals of all genders.
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How sexual abuse is, at its core, an issue of inequitable and unhealthy power dynamics.
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What to look for when abuse is suspected, and ways in which to provide support, or seek help, in the face of workplace harassment.
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How to intervene to prevent harassment from escalating and to empower victims of workplace abuse.
Featured Voice - Tanner Gers
President and Founder of AccessAbility Officer
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How remote work has created more space for adults to be present with their children and their household obligations, while still fulfilling their roles at work.
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How intersectionality plays a major role in how remote work has impacted, and continues to impact, people in these types of jobs.
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The disparity in work-from-home experiences between caregivers and those who are not in caregiving roles.
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How to advocate for a style of employment that supports individual and organizational needs.
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How to effectively set boundaries for oneself while working from home.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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Neurodiversity and other often invisible disabilities.
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The ways in which non-typical ways of thinking can, and often does, lead to innovation.
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The prevalence of disabilities within society, and within the workplace.
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The discrimination and rejection that people with invisible and visible disabilities face at work, and elsewhere.
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How representation is key to supporting those whose bodies and brains function in ways that are not considered “typical.”
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The not-so-obvious advantages and disadvantages that people can experience when their disabilities are not readily visible to others.
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How working with people with disabilities creates opportunities for understanding and allyship.
Featured Voice - Liz Taylor
Assistant Professor at Temple University's School
of Sport Tourism and Hospitality Management
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How remote work has created more space for adults to be present with their children and their household obligations, while still fulfilling their roles at work.
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How intersectionality plays a major role in how remote work has impacted, and continues to impact, people in these types of jobs.
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The disparity in work-from-home experiences between caregivers and those who are not in caregiving roles.
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How to advocate for a style of employment that supports individual and organizational needs.
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How to effectively set boundaries for oneself while working from home.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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How the rise of remote work has created a more equitable playing field for persons with disabilities.
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How remote work has blurred the boundaries between work and home, and how some people have thrived in this environment, while others have not.
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The disparity in the work-from-home experience for caregivers and those who are not in caregiving roles.
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How remote work has cultivated efficiency in communication in the workplace, and has helped curb opportunities for workplace harassment, unwanted comments, etc.
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The ways in which working from home can accelerate mental health concerns for some, particularly around issues of loneliness and lack of social outlets.
A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, and how need-fulfillment is innately important to the human experience, regardless of identity.
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How the intersectionality of one’s identity and lived experiences help dictate their ability to realize their needs within Maslow’s Hierarchy.
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How our fears get in the way of us realizing our needs, let alone our desires.
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How past experiences are informative, but do not ultimately dictate future outcomes when it comes to getting our needs met.
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The role that individuals can play in supporting others in ascending the levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.
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The difference between wants and needs, and how most people ultimately want to be happy.
Featured Voice - Drew Allmond
Project Director for the Virginia Tribal Education Consortium
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How to begin making a difference in our communities, beyond the workplace.
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How our impact does not need to be large in order to be noticed and effective.
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The importance of challenging ourselves to seek and listen to opinions different from our own, to expose ourselves to a variety or perspectives and viewpoints.
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How social media can be used as a tool to educate and share DEIAB material, and not just be a vehicle for misinformation and hate.
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How to create self-care and not become overwhelmed, even while acknowledging that there is still much work to be done.