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

9 Success - Working From the Inside Out: Q&A

Featured Voice - A.C. Fowlkes

Chief Executive Officer of Fowlkes Consulting

Different perspectives about what success means, and how conceptions of it have been shaped by society.
How success and fulfillment are not the same thing, and how assessing one’s professional fulfillment is a personal journey.
How interpretations of success and professionalism are often tied to privilege.
How essential it is to make space for an intersectional understanding of success and “achievement.”
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.
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.

9 Success: Working From the Inside Out

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

Different perspectives about what success means, and how conceptions of it have been shaped by society.
How success and fulfillment are not the same thing, and how assessing one’s professional fulfillment is a personal journey.
How interpretations of success and professionalism are often tied to privilege.
How essential it is to make space for an intersectional understanding of success and “achievement.”
The importance of and impacts of inward-focused and outward-focused metrics when assessing workplace satisfaction and professional goals.

8 Moving Beyond Biases (Technology): Q&A

Featured Voice - Liz Brown

Author & Assistant Professor of Business Law at Bentley

How tech itself may or may not be biased, but the uses of tech can be, whether consciously or otherwise.
How tech is developed by people who have their own sets of biases, and how these biases can translate to the technology itself.
How data and information may not be protected, based on the state you live in.
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.
How intersectionality comes into play in determining someone’s access to and adoption of technology over time.

8 Moving Beyond Biases:
A Technological Approach

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

How it is impossible to fully eradicate bias within technology, and how, in some cases, understanding bias can enable better technological and social outcomes.
How technology is inherently biased, because it is developed and used by people who themselves have biases.
How technology, when used properly, can democratize society.
How technology accelerates the ways in which people are perceived, based on identifying physical characteristics.
How human decision making can still override technological bias.

Moving Beyond Biases (People): Q&A

Featured Voice - James Barnes

Corporate Trainer, Coach, and Public Speaker

The importance of emotional safety within the workplace, and its ability to bring out the best in a team.
How everyone has bias.
How the total eradication of bias should not be the intended goal (and would be impossible).
How understanding our biases creates greater space for inclusivity.
The role that empathy plays in overriding one’s internal biases to create first understanding, then change.
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.
An employee’s role in creating accountability, both among their peers and within their organization, when it comes to eliminating workplace bias.
How somebody can gracefully point out biases in a way that both honors the impacted person and educates the perpetrator.
How race, gender, and other identifiers influence conceptions of what level of emotional expression is appropriate.

7 Moving Beyond Biases:
A Humanistic Approach

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

How everyone has bias.
How the total eradication of bias should not be the intended goal (and would be impossible).
How understanding our biases creates greater space for inclusivity.
The role that empathy plays in overriding one’s internal biases to create first understanding, then change.
The non-obvious ways in which bias presents itself in our society - from healthcare, to education, to politics, and beyond.
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.
How different societal stakeholders force compliance with biased systems.

6 Employee by Day, Parent by
Day and Night: Q&A

Featured Voice - Laurie Wu

Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism and

Hospitality Management at Temple University

The importance of emotional safety within the workplace, and its ability to bring out the best in a team.
The difference between anger and aggression, and why anger can be healthy in the workplace, if expressed properly.
The concept of expressive tolerance, and how this feeds into emotional privilege within workplace dynamics.
What “expression thresholds” are, and how emotional privilege plays a role in whether or not a person feels free to express their emotions.
How race, gender, and other identifiers influence conceptions of what level of emotional expression is appropriate.

6 Employee By Day, Parent By Day And Night: The Consummate Balancing Act

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

The disparity in expectations between men and women, as it relates to child-rearing responsibilities and parental leave.
The impact of personal priorities upon the ways in which parents raise their children.
The very real choice that all parents, but primarily women, make between parenthood and an engaging, fulfilling career.
How different children within the same family receive different upbringings based on the ever-changing circumstances and experiences of their parents’ careers.
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.

5 Communicating and Emoting: Q&A

Featured Voice - Deanna Geddes

Professor at the Fox School of

Business and Management

The importance of emotional safety within the workplace, and its ability to bring out the best in a team.
The difference between anger and aggression, and why anger can be healthy in the workplace, if expressed properly.
The concept of expressive tolerance, and how this feeds into emotional privilege within workplace dynamics.
What “expression thresholds” are, and how emotional privilege plays a role in whether or not a person feels free to express their emotions.
How race, gender, and other identifiers influence conceptions of what level of emotional expression is appropriate.

5 Communicating and Emoting:
Speaking and Listening in the Workplace

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

How psychological safety is paramount to creating inclusion and belonging, and also in getting the best out of employees.
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.
How listening is the most important skill in creating a safe workplace culture for all employees.
The value of feedback, and the importance of taking it seriously as part of creating healthy workplace cultures.
The damaging impact of retaliation on employee morale, and on retention and innovation.
How acknowledging a colleague’s humanity can bridge gaps in understanding, and/or ideals.

4 Coming Out At Work: Q&A

Featured Voice - Kelli Clark

VP of Culture, Employee Experience and

Employee Communications at Emerson

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.
The need for people to do “the work” of standing up and being leaders in supporting their LGBTQ+ colleagues and community members.
How, like many other identifiers, LGBTQ+ identities can be fluid, based on experience and self-discovery over time.
How simple acts of affirming another's identity can go a long way in creating safety.
The importance of allies in creating the needed safety for LGBTQ+-identifying colleagues to show up fully as themselves.
The importance of creating and allowing mental health space in the workplace, not just for LGBTQ+-identifying folx, but for all employees.
The value of connecting with people of different identities, and how their shared experiences can foster self-discovery and belonging.

4 Coming Out At Work: Stepping Out of the Corporate Closet

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

The struggles of having to hide a major part of one’s identity in the workplace, and how that impacts overall performance.
The need for people to do “the work,” of standing up and being leaders in supporting the LGBTQ+ community to enact real change.
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.
How simple acts of affirming another’s identity can go a long way in creating safety.
The value of connecting with people of different identities, and how their shared experiences can foster self-discovery and belonging.

3 #MeToo: Q&A

Featured Voice - Leora Eisenstadt

Associate Professor in the Department of Risk, Actuarial Science and Legal Studies and Founding Director of CEDWC

What you should know about the legal process involved in coming out against an abuser in the workplace.
“The Five D's,” and how they are essential to providing direct support to anyone suffering workplace abuse.
The importance of recognizing intent as it relates to unwanted interactions in the workplace.
How workplace abuse, sexual and otherwise, plays a role in suppressing under-privileged groups.
Tangible techniques for how to be an effective ally when witnessing workplace abuse.

3 #MeToo: How Pervasive and Permissive Power Dynamics Create Cultures of Harassment and Abuse

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

How the #MeToo Movement has shifted the landscape of abuse in the workplace.
That abuse is systemic, and that ending it is a much larger and more daunting task than removing “bad apples.”
The importance of survivors sharing their stories (if they choose) as a means of empowering themselves and supporting others.
How workplace abuse, while more likely to be perpetrated by men against women, persists in many forms and impacts individuals of all genders.
How sexual abuse is, at its core, an issue of inequitable and unhealthy power dynamics.
What to look for when abuse is suspected, and ways in which to provide support, or seek help, in the face of workplace harassment.
How to intervene to prevent harassment from escalating and to empower victims of workplace abuse.

2 Brain and Body Diversity: Q&A

Featured Voice - Tanner Gers

President and Founder of AccessAbility Officer

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.
How intersectionality plays a major role in how remote work has impacted, and continues to impact, people in these types of jobs.
The disparity in work-from-home experiences between caregivers and those who are not in caregiving roles.
How to advocate for a style of employment that supports individual and organizational needs.
How to effectively set boundaries for oneself while working from home.

2 Brain and Body Diversity

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

Neurodiversity and other often invisible disabilities.
The ways in which non-typical ways of thinking can, and often does, lead to innovation.
The prevalence of disabilities within society, and within the workplace.
The discrimination and rejection that people with invisible and visible disabilities face at work, and elsewhere.
How representation is key to supporting those whose bodies and brains function in ways that are not considered “typical.”
The not-so-obvious advantages and disadvantages that people can experience when their disabilities are not readily visible to others.
How working with people with disabilities creates opportunities for understanding and allyship.

1 Remote Work: Q&A

Featured Voice - Liz Taylor

Assistant Professor at Temple University's School

of Sport Tourism and Hospitality Management

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.
How intersectionality plays a major role in how remote work has impacted, and continues to impact, people in these types of jobs.
The disparity in work-from-home experiences between caregivers and those who are not in caregiving roles.
How to advocate for a style of employment that supports individual and organizational needs.
How to effectively set boundaries for oneself while working from home.

1 Remote Work: Finding Balance and Boundaries Between Work and Home

A FEW THINGS YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

How the rise of remote work has created a more equitable playing field for persons with disabilities.
How remote work has blurred the boundaries between work and home, and how some people have thrived in this environment, while others have not.
The disparity in the work-from-home experience for caregivers and those who are not in caregiving roles.
How remote work has cultivated efficiency in communication in the workplace, and has helped curb opportunities for workplace harassment, unwanted comments, etc.
The ways in which working from home can accelerate mental health concerns for some, particularly around issues of loneliness and lack of social outlets.

DDP Season 3 - Introduction