Bold stories. Future focused.

In the world of golf, Mel Reid is a decorated player, with six Ladies’ European Tour wins and a recent Shoprite LPGA Classic win under her belt. But, she’s in the game for more than just trophies and accolades. In this candid conversation, listen as Reid talks about her journey and struggles as a player, the importance of being yourself, and the role technology is having in shaping emerging talent, her efforts to make athletics a more welcoming place for all, and more.

Key Takeaways:

[1:37] Women have been breaking barriers in sports before they were even allowed to participate in them. We still have a long way to go, since less than 1% of media coverage is dedicated to women. One of those barrier breaking athletes is golfer Mel Reid, who believes passionately that the more the media covers the amazing things that women and non binary people are doing, the more it will inspire future generations of fans and athletes.

[4:13] The NCAA is shifting to cover more of women’s sports, but Mel speaks about the need for the media to dig in and commit themselves to more equality and inclusivity. Golf was reinstated as an Olympic sport for the 2016 games, more than 100 years since it was last included. This is great news for the game and for women’s sports, but there are still those that aren’t thrilled.

[6:40] Athletes are real people with real hardships too. Mel talks about the challenging time when she returned to golf but was still grieving the death of her mother. We judge athletes on their performance, but we don’t always see the hard work or emotion behind the scenes.

[8:05] Mel made her partner publicly known because she was proud to showcase who she was, and who she loves.

[9:25] Golf has been historically very exclusionary, where even pros like Mel can be made to feel unwelcome at golf clubs. We need big changes to open up golf clubs for everyone, but also smaller changes like educating staff to make sure they know everyone should be welcomed from the moment they step through the door.

[11:15] Are the golf clubs really doing the work they need to become more inclusive? At one famous club, Muirfield Golf, they voted to keep the club men only in 2016, but then opened it back up to women in 2017.

[12:56] Existing and emerging technology lets players track their swing and ball speed with more precision than ever before. Mel notes the upside of being able to use this technology, but also expresses concern that the younger generation will hopefully be more well rounded and not have golf as the only facet of their life.

[15:12] Ultimately, Pride just means inclusion. Mel is a true believer that we are all human beings at the end of the day, and Pride month is a fantastic month to celebrate inclusion.

[16:12] Members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially athletes, have so many situations where they have to come out again and again. It is a constant sharing of their authentic self, a constant telling of a story. The most important tool they need is the ability to be comfortable with themselves, and to hope the world accepts them for who they really are.

[17:18] Allies of the LGBTQ+ community can give the biggest gift by just being comfortable with those around them, and support them by treating them with dignity, kindness, and respect.

[19:34] Mel hopes that young athletes and fans see how she is comfortable with how she shows up in the world as both an athlete and a human, and think to themselves, “if Mel can do it, I can do it.”

[20:13] Those in the LGBTQ+ community deserve to have it all, and that includes Mel and her community of athletes. If they want to have a work and family life, that is their right as well.

Quotes:

• “Women have been breaking barriers across sports histories since before they were allowed into the game.” - Jo [1:37]
• “Just because you are an athlete and a woman, doesn’t mean you can’t do the things that women do as well.” - Mel [3:25]
• “We have to get that respect from the media in order to grow.” - Mel [4:19]
• “I think it’s our responsibility as athletes to grow the game and invite new people, no matter what your background is, to pick up a club and play golf.” - Mel [6:08]
• “The younger generation are certainly going to push the older generation, that’s for sure.” - Mel [14:52]
• “I’m a true believer that we are all human beings at the end of the day, and Pride month is a fantastic month to celebrate inclusion.” - Mel  [15:12]
• “I’m extremely happy and we are going to have all the nice things we are supposed to have in life. If we want a family, we can do that. If we want to get married, we can do that.” - Mel [19:50]
• “Pride is about so much more than pride. It’s generosity. It’s inclusivity. It's a true community, and it makes us better.” - Jo [20:23]

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Mentioned:

Mel Reid - Instagram | Twitter | LPGA

Athlete Ally

The future of work will be defined by employee empowerment. The shift in expectations brought on by the pandemic renewed the focus on what it takes for employees to do their best work. And, according to MIT research scientist and future of work specialist Kristine Dery, how we learn to capitalize on this will be a continuous process. Hear her insights on the power of empowerment, the role of analytics in employee performance, and the real benefits of nosiness in the workplace.

Key Takeaways:

[1:35] COVID-19 came with some big changes that prompted us to think differently about how we conduct business. This shift has brought our focus from the customers to also showing us the ways we have been neglecting the employee experience. This has been a huge game-changer for a lot of organizations that have been slow to come to the party.

[2:30] There are often “blockers” or areas within an organization that prevent employees from doing their best work. For the companies that were already fairly advanced, it’s been a great opportunity for them to push through their blockers and really accelerate their efforts to create an employee experience that will enable them to move into the future.

[3:03] Kristine likens this push to the future of work like a wormhole that takes us from one space and dimension to the next. It may feel like chaos as we go through it, but it will propel us into a new way of work.

[3:42] The pandemic offered us an opportunity to rethink our work design. Clay Richardson of Digital FastForward, talked with us about who is at the center of the design.

[4:33] Companies that are more advanced in the digitization of work are creating work in these small identifiable blocks that can be put together in new ways, much like a series of Lego blocks.

[5:33] We need a deeper understanding of the ways employees engage with digital. What does it really look like when the employee experience is at the heart of business strategy?

[6:38] Maximized comfort for the customer really begins with maximized comfort for the employee.

[7:30] Scaling digital fitness across an entire organization can mean a massive culture shift. One of those, Kristen says, is going from talking less about the space of where the working will take place and more about continual and accelerated learning. Rapid learning is one of the biggest changes that we will see, and Kristen estimates that the time devoted to learning in organizations will go from 10-15% to 40%.

[10:05] With all the new learning on the horizon, how will organizations create time for it? Kristen said that leaders will have to account for this and it’s important to be on the lookout for the speed bumps. The more we can encourage our team to be empowered problem solvers instead of passive participants, the more beneficial for the organization as a whole.

[14:05] Speed bumps can even be the technology itself. Ginny Clark, Google’s Former Head of Diversity Leadership Hiring program, talks about this. The speedbumps weren’t about finding diverse talent, it was about digging into the infrastructure and the process itself.

[14:46] As we digitize work, we create a huge amount of data about how our employees work. This calls for analytic minds to combine this data with other work sets to think big and see how we might efficiently reorganize work for everyone.

[16:48] Innovation is becoming the DNA of the entire organization, and everyone is responsible for how technology can be best applied. Gary Scholten from Principal echoed that tech is no longer the domain of a separate group, but everyone’s responsibility.

[19:07] Opening up channels for innovation is more than a strategy. It’s also about equity and offering opportunities to more diverse voices and perspectives. The future of work will be dependent on people being empowered to solve problems. If we keep that at the forefront, we are trying to create a workforce in which humans are doing what they are good at, using technology to help customers.

Quotes:

• “Whatever you are focused on, it has to have the customer and employee at the center. That is where forward design thinking is the superpower. - Clay [3:56]
• “For those companies that have been accelerating their work in the last 12 months, they are moving way along that digitization of the work spectrum.” Kristine [5:03]
• “What does it really look like when the employee experience is at the heart of business strategy?” - Jo [5:33]
• “Maximized comfort for the customer really begins with maximized comfort for the employee.” - Jo [6:38]
• “If the focus of your conversation right now is only about where work is going to be done, you aren’t seeing the bigger picture here.”  - Kristine [7:41]
• “I would encourage you to shift the conversation away from space and start talking about what it will take to create a workforce that is able to deliver on your strategy.” - Kristine [8:25]
• “Learning is a constant thread in the conversation about the future of work.”  - Jo [11:26]
• “New technologies always mean new skills.” - Jo [11:35]
• “I think this rapid learning idea is one of the biggest changes we will see.” Kristine [11:43]
• “A lot of it isn’t just about identifying underrepresented talent. It’s as much about understanding the process and really digging into the infrastructure and what the mechanics are and how people are behaving.” - Ginny [14:09]
• “As we digitize work, we create a huge amount of data about how our employees work.” Kristine [14:46]
• “In our newest framework, we actually say we are hostages to heroics.” [15:53] Kristine
• “Innovation is becoming the entire DNA of the organization. Everyone is responsible for innovation.” [16:52] Kristine
• “We are the way forward. And that is what the future of work is all about.” - Jo [21:00]

Continue on your journey:

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Mentioned:

Kristine Dery

Evolving a business in the financial services industry can be a steep hill to climb. But Principal Financial reached the summit of digital transformation to become a more customer-centric, knowledge-based, and technology-driven brand. Hear from former CIO Gary Scholten as he breaks down the strategy behind Principal’s digital evolution, what benefits it’s had for their customers, and how it fundamentally changed their employee knowledge base.

Key Takeaways:

[1:37] In 2020, Gary retired from an 18-year stint as CIO at Principal Financial. This is rather extraordinary because the CIO role has famously been known as shorthand for “Career Is Over.”

[2:15] If you think back to the early 2000s, you will notice a lot of our technology has changed. One of the challenges of embarking on a digital transformation in 2002 was that most of the technology that exists now in our digital world such as mobile apps, clouds, and blockchain weren’t even around yet. As the technology evolved, Gary worked with business leaders to make sure that business strategy evolved as well. At Principal, this meant developing a strategy dedicated to putting the customer experience at the center of their work.

[3:35] Gary explains how once you start to develop your technology strategy from the view of the customer, you actually make it more simple.

[5:35] Gary’s role as CIO not only entailed pushing Principal to adopt a digital strategy but helping customers and employees access their benefits more easily. These “nudges” were a new kind of customer engagement that helped them take greater advantage of the benefits available to them. In the enrollment process, based on the questions, they could guide users who both wanted to DIY the process and those that desired as much assistance as possible.

[7:15] Was it hard for Principal’s employees to adapt to customer-centred digital strategy? Yes, Gary says. When he first started, about 75% of employees were transaction workers and 25% knowledge workers. When he retired in 2020, more than 80% were knowledge-based roles, due to both automation of transactional work and the economy.

[9:18] Knowledge-based roles are fundamentally different from transactional, and you need fundamentally different skills to fulfill them well. Gary speaks about redefining job descriptions and hiring practices to prepare for this digital development change.

[10:10] Principal rebranded IT to now be more of a technology community where critical thinking and a comfortability around analytics were two important skills.

[13:21] We’ve seen attempts at big cultural shifts from many transformers across many industries, but it’s no easy task. Any culture change takes time, but why are financial services so slow to move the needle?  Financial service companies tend to be great at innovation in finance, but digital presents a different kind of innovation. The more they see how this makes the customer's life better, the more they will tend to put resources into efforts that really move the dial.

[15:06] Gary shares his advice for CIO’s: get an ally in Senior Management, have a consistent message, and talk in business terms. The CIO should embrace their role and encourage others to get tech-savvy in a welcoming way. Gary also recommends digital immersion trips with management and getting regular feedback.

[18:00] Principal was ahead of the curve when virtually the whole world had to shift to remote work overnight, a lot of it thanks to Gary.

[20:34] Gary talks about the importance of diversity and inclusion from a workforce perspective at Principal. The war for talent has always been a problem for leadership, and another remedy was to aggressively recruit talent. However, he knew that diversity must be far more than a recruitment strategy. It would take wanting to actively look at unconscious bias, and really knowing that the more diverse a company is, the wider perspective you get.

[23:08] So after Gary’s 40 years in technology, does he believe it can make the world a better place? Yes. For example, Principal helps people get ready for retirement, when not many people are soundly prepared for the future. If you make things simple enough and help guide the choices in the right way, it can change the world.

Quotes:

• “Technology and business strategy should be completely immersed.” - Gary
• “Technology is not just the responsibility of IT.” - Gary
• “You need to experiment with what works. You need to let strategy evolve.” - Jeanne
• “Diversity must be far more than a recruitment strategy.” - Gary

Continue on your journey:

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Mentioned:

Gary Scholten

Principal

Necessity is the mother of invention — and after a global health crisis, better ways to curb the spread of germs are definitely necessary. This is what led Dr. Leyla Soleymani and Dr. Tohid Didar to invent RepelWrap, a surface that repels certain viruses and bacteria. Through their research and innovation, learn how business can benefit from the latest advancements of science.

Plus, see how new ways of thinking about the future can make it a more productive space for all.

Key Takeaways:

[0:31] During the pandemic, one of our daily objectives has become minimizing our exposure to viruses and bacteria. The COVID crisis catalyzed the efforts of Dr. Leyla Soleymani and Dr. Tohid Didar. They knew they had something great with their RepelWrap, and now were presented with a real opportunity to make a societal impact with it.

[5:12] The focus on nanotechnology in Leyla and Tohid’s research include SLIPS, slippery liquid-infused porous substances, which are smooth and self-healing. Their inspiration was the pitcher plant, which can lure and trap their prey using their modified leaves and wax that makes the surface very smooth and slippery. This is a perfect example of biomimicry, the production of systems or structures that copy features we find in nature, and using what we learn from the natural world to bring it into innovation and modern technology.

[8:42] The implementation of biological features that we can borrow from the natural world could be endless. For example, Velcro was inspired by the spiny hooks on the Burdock plant, and swimsuits after microscopic scales on shark skin.

[9:48] In the lab, Leyla and Tohid had the help of a talented grad student who concluded that the RepelWrap needed another layer of structure in order to achieve oil repellency. Then, once they had these three layers, they needed to see how it would perform in the lab when tested, but the challenge was finding the lab space and resources in the middle of a deadly pandemic.

[11:56] After adapting their research to real-life applications against MRSA and E. coli, the team got more and more proof that it worked, and that became more appealing to others. To prove that their product would be effective against COVID-19. Unfortunately, the results were inconclusive, but, they will run the test again and again, as this is crucial to how we accumulate data and fact-based knowledge.

[16:48] Tohid and Leyla explain why communication in science is critical. There is a captive audience in almost every taxi ride or public interaction, where someone can learn more about the innovation that universities are doing, instead of just thinking the focus is solely on putting out academic papers.

[18:35] The process of scientific discovery, like the process of bringing a product to market, requires testing and iteration. Business has a lot to gain from science, not just in terms of innovation and invention, but learning new ways of thinking and how we see the world and the dispassionate gathering of evidence to provide a product's efficacy.

[19:39] There is a very interesting possibility in materials science — a bacterium working like a construction team. It may sound like science fiction, but this is what makes the future very exciting.

[20:11] Leyla and Tohid hope to get RepelWrap in high touch areas in hospitals such as elevator buttons and the railings of patient beds to protect patients and health care workers. Just remember, the next surface you may touch may be revolutionary.

Quotes:

• “We need to do more work on saying that all universities are trying to innovate, but so it’s not just about publishing papers.” - Tohid
• “When we consider the efficiency and complexity of nature, the implementation of biologic features into manufactured and architecture of materials could be endless.” - Jo
• “I’ve never worked on something like this where there is so much not only scientific interest, but public interest.” - Leyla
• “It’s the time to make an impact and show that years of investment and science is now paying off.” - Leyla
• “All of a sudden, this was no longer a nice fancy coating, but a must have thing that people wanted to put on their packages and elevator button and hospital surfaces.” - Leyla

Continue on your journey:

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Mentioned:

Scientific Reports

Dr. Leyla Soleymani

Dr. Tohid Didar

The power of AI lies in its ability to find patterns in data. In the era of COVID-19, the copious amounts of data around symptoms, diagnostics, fatality rates, and more offered more data around an illness than ever before, ultimately allowing a vaccine to be generated in record time. Listen as IT expert Stuart McGuigan talks about how far AI has come and the true impact it had in helping make a world beyond the pandemic seem possible.

Key Takeaways:

[2:28] Stuart discusses how AI is impacting work and changing industries right now, and how it has been more of a continuous evolution than people may think. He uses an example of a cat identification project to show that in order to have a model, we must have data.

[5:00] Stuart has applied AI in research and development at companies like Johnson & Johnson and discusses what considerations are relevant when pharmaceutical companies adopt this type of technology. A pharmaceutical business or medical device might consider AI to shorten the time that it takes to get their breakthrough product to market. They would continue with their clinical trials and efficacy protocols, but getting the product to market safely in a quicker way adds value to customers, shareholders, and society.

[7:10] It’s important not just to show that a product is efficacious, but that it has a health economic benefit wherever it is launched. This is where clinical data becomes important, and AI can help to bring life-saving innovations to the market quicker.

[10:00] Many people are worried about bringing AI into health care, the pandemic is a very unfortunate yet perfect case study for how we can use machine learning to learn and process information quickly.

[13:37] Even smaller companies are able to take advantage of AI, but we usually find that AI is supporting them in decisions behind the scenes rather than making brand new flashy decisions.

[14:20] No one should ever feel they are moving fast enough, says Stuart, but are you doing things in the right order? If you “peanut butter” your resources, you are spreading things too thin and not using your resources appropriately.

[17:23] Yes, you need accurate and representative data, but there are also important organizational characteristics if you want to make the best of the technology at your disposal. For example, companies have to experiment, but they must have a culture of evidence-based decision-making where they have the courage to pivot and change course if they need to. Second, they must know why customers buy their products, and maybe even more importantly, why they don’t.

[19:35] You still need human intelligence to determine a gap in the market, as AI doesn’t know human pain points or what they may feel like. We’re counting on humans to use their intelligence and take advantage of it, and the way AI can help us process data and implement that judgement is a nice marriage.

[22:18] Stuart sees AI automating the least interesting things we do that are repetitive which can make our jobs overall more exciting and free us up to do even bigger picture things. More often, fear is born from not understanding how powerful but actually how narrow machine learning is. It’s more like a laser than a spotlight, but we need our human intelligence to know how to properly focus that light. The net effect of AI is enormous, but most applications of AI are behind the scenes, rather than attention-grabbing.

Quotes:

• “If you don’t have the data, you don’t have the model.” - Stuart
• “It’s important not just to show that a product is efficacious, but that it has a health economic benefit wherever it’s launched.” - Stuart
• “These things bring in many cases, life-saving innovation to the market faster, and that’s where the excitement is.” - Stuart
• “AI isn’t at all like what we see in the movies. Data, machine learning, analytics, that is the stuff of real AI innovation.” - Jo
• “The secret to effective AI is having great data. You need it to be voluminous, accurate and representative.” - Jeanne
• “If machine learning is the laser Stuart tells us it is, imagine what else we can do if we just know how to aim it.” - Jeanne
• “In my mind, AI is one of the most exciting technologies there is. Who hasn’t longed for their own R2D2? It’s hard not to have huge expectations for what AI may do for business and society in the future.” - Jeanne

Continue on your journey:

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Mentioned:

Stuart McGuigan

In this special expert-led episode, author and future of work expert Sophie Wade talks about where we’re headed as an adaptive workforce and the opportunities these changes make possible. She also discusses how a shift toward more diverse and inclusive work cultures will play a major role in how we connect and understand each other as professionals. Plus, listen as Sophie and host Jo Richardson discuss the insights and expertise presented in the first three episodes.

Key Takeaways:

[0:57] Sophie Wade is a Future of Work Expert Extraordinaire. In 2016 when she was writing her first book, she realized she needed to make some changes to her work schedule. She would write in the morning before a barrage of emails came in, and adjusted her gym schedule to the afternoon. It helped her understand how to set herself up for success, and that just a few tweaks can be effective and powerful. So many of us would love to do this in our own work, but think it’s more difficult than it actually is.

[3:48] We need to include empathy and inclusivity in our decision-making around flex work, especially when we are working in such extremes as isolation during the pandemic.

[5:07] As we figure out when we do certain types of work best, we can recognize that in other people.

[6:38] Hybrid working is not simple, so it’s important to make a new flexible structure that we can adapt to more easily.

[7:10] After listening to the conversations with Daniel, Tom, and Ginny, Sophie’s overarching takeaway was about the idea of proactive measures that we need to be taking now that the future of work has arrived. The old rules must be broken down to include more adaptable frameworks, for example, rewarding team members more on merit rather than just accomplishment.

[10:41] In Tom’s episode, Sophie learned that there’s a lot of awareness about the initial bias, but we also need to account for how algorithms need to adapt and change over time.

[12:59] In our rapidly evolving economy, it’s too slow to take certain feedback all the way up to the top, wait for a strategy change, and take it all the way down. Trying to work out which pieces can be taken care of closer to the front line requires trust and faith in your employees, but it can be effective and productive.

[14:10] It is a shift of ego from the leader to spread responsibility across the organization instead of taking it all on themselves, but this can help prevent burnout which inevitably leads to negative feelings and lower productivity on both sides.

[15:36] When Sophie emphasizes the importance of culture, she stresses alignment rather than fit. She points to the episode with Ginny, where she discusses that leaders must be self-aware in order to hire people to know where their blind spots are and hire people that can help.

[16:28] When leaders and managers are showing their vulnerability, that will encourage employees to have open dialogue with their leaders, opening up more space for creativity and connection.

[19:11] Empathy is called for in the biggest way when it comes to speaking up about racial injustice and showing up as an ally. Empathic leadership means knowing your employees and responding to them in a way that works best for their individual needs. It does not mean trauma sharing.

[21:43] Many of us are still learning how to be better allies, and diverse leadership can provide both support and instruction. Sophie feels hopeful for the future, but we continue to need to step back from our assumptions and be more thoughtful about who we are trying to hire and their skills.

[23:40] The way we work bleeds into the fabric of our societies. When we bring more inclusivity and diversity into the workplace, hopefully, that will start to ripple more social justice out into the world.

Quotes:

• “Flex work can help remove structures that exclude people, like old boys networks. Empathy is the foundation of inclusivity.” - Jo
• “Empathy starts with self-awareness, and awareness about other people.” - Sophie
• “A more diverse workplace can better represent the preferences and opinions of consumers, and can reward the best individual ideas and contributions over groupthink.” - Jo
• “Having empathy to try and understand each other is going to be really critical for moving forward.” - Sophie
• “You need to have people with different cultural backgrounds to bring the correct perspectives. The real perspectives, not imagined.” - Sophie

Continue on your journey:

• https://www.pega.com/

Mentioned:

• Transforming Work With Sophie Wade
• Sophie Wade
• www.flexcelnetwork.com

Are robots really taking over? Are our jobs safe from a full technical turnover? The answers are more nuanced than you might think — especially as our relationship to technology and its range of capabilities continue to progress. Tom Davenport, author, professor, and expert on how computing is affecting society breaks down how AI is shaping the work we do. He also shares how our willingness to embrace AI is an important factor in determining its (and our own) potential.

Key Takeaways:

[1:56] Tom discusses what a workforce powered by information technology might look like, and whether our fears that AI is coming for our jobs are justified, or not.

[3:34] Tom is still a professor at Babson, but much of his work now focuses on how businesses are using the kind of data and analytics he fell in love with while at Harvard, and what AI might mean for jobs.

[5:58] Tom discusses what type of changes augmentation instigates. The only people who are likely to lose their jobs are those that refuse to work with AI.

[9:45] Will AI lead to a shortage of entry-level positions? Many companies do want entry-level people with years of experience and find themselves turning to AI for help, which may present challenges in competing with augmentation.

[14:27] While AI algorithms have the potential to make jobs more interesting, we shouldn’t take for granted that it will do those jobs well. It’s especially important for managers to know how the decisions to augment are made, and how it will affect things down the line.

[16:20] There still needs to be that human intervention to make sure we build it into the roles and responsibilities of managers, and we adapt to how things change to not make it even more biased or skewed.

[18:58] Tom believes that there are jobs that won’t be transformed by AI. His advice to entry-level workers is to make a binary decision whether you want to work with smart machines or not. If you don’t, you need to find some things AI can’t do yet, such as creativity or unstructured work.

[22:42] Tom and Jeanne discuss the worrisome aspect of AI dividing us on social media, and causing even more of a rift between people. Where they do see opportunity, is helping provide people with less expensive but still high-quality education, and access to high-level expertise in finance or health care. Having solid leadership and people in our government dedicated to fair and unbiased AI use could be quite beneficial in the future.

[27:01] We each must seize the opportunities and the responsibilities that come with AI providing us with a new and better world. The real opportunity of AI is whatever we make it.

Quotes:

• “AI may not be having the impacts many of us predicted a decade ago, but it is having real effects on the work we are doing.” - Jeanne
• “There’s no faster way to lose money than to have a bad algorithm in an automated decision platform.” - Tom
• “Access to high level expertise is very expensive and AI can make it not free, but a heck of a lot cheaper than it is now.” - Tom
• “The real impact of AI is whatever we all make it.” - Jeanne
• “AI may have a little bit of bias, but it is probably a lot less than humans do.” - Tom
• “I am about as unstructured as you get in my work process, and unstructured work is still one of the great niche areas where AI does not fit very well.” - Tom
• “We’re talking about algorithms that can inform our decision making, and as long as we think about them that way, we’ll get huge benefits from AI.” - Jeanne
• “We can recognize that there may be some pain, but it is the natural evolution of jobs. If we are ready to acknowledge that the world is constantly changing and we may have to change it, we will absorb those changes.” - Jeanne
• “The most important thing about AI is not to let it take charge.” — Jeanne
• “Bias is a huge opportunity in our world, and AI offers a huge opportunity to tackle it.” — Jeanne

Continue on your journey:

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Mentioned:

Tom Davenport | The AI Advantage | Toyota Research Institute

Now more than ever, diversity is critical to the hiring process — especially for businesses aiming to represent the depth of talent and human experience across today’s workforce. But equitable hiring, especially in the homogenous tech industry, takes work — work that Ginny Clarke, the former head of Diversity Hiring Leadership at Google, has committed to streamlining. Hear how she transformed the search giant’s senior leadership hiring process from the inside out and created data-driven systems to ensure inclusivity and performance ability to hand in hand.

Key Takeaways:

[1:16] When Ginny joined Google in 2016, the world was starting to ask questions about big tech’s homogenous makeup. As the former head of Diversity Hiring Leadership at Google, she was ready to debunk the myth of underrepresented talent.

[1:45] Ginny is the author of Career Mapping and also the host of the Fifth Dimensional Leadership podcast. After leaving Google in 2020, she now has a leadership consultation business in which she instructs and advises leaders on best practices and how to make bold changes.

[3:29] As soon as Ginny joined Google, she knew she had her work cut out for her to streamline the process of searching for leadership. There were over 850 spreadsheets that called for a deeper and more rigorous organizational system, and also she needed to utilize data to better develop Google’s applicant tracking system.

[5:21] Before Ginny took total action, she took a step back to observe. As she watched the younger leaders in their 30’s, she knew they could benefit from coordination and structure to ground them from their swirl behavior. According to Ginny, the young folks appreciated the rigor and the wisdom.

[6:41] Ginny and Jo discuss competency-based assessment rather than hiring based on pedigree and experience. Ginny flushed out Google's four attributes (one including “Googleyness”), and instead implemented a library of 60 competency measures that hiring managers could work with. Instead of basing a hiring decision on who the candidate knows or what school they went to, it started to be more based on their abilities.

[8:53] How can we use data to inform how we approach inclusive hiring? To access our potential hires in a way that actually yields the most competent people for the job. This may not always be someone who graduated from an Ivy League school.

[10:24] Ginny discusses how STEM is one way to pull in more underrepresented candidates, but we need to separate hiring and retention from philanthropy.

[12:15] A great leader is able to take stock of prospective employees and discern who is good, better, and best. They are self-aware and able to hire candidates that also help fill in any of their weak points.

[14:11] Ginny believes there is a spiritual component of how leaders can take stock of themselves. Self-awareness is lacking sorely and that is one of the core elements of seeing the genius of someone that doesn’t look like them.

[17:23] Ginny and Jo discuss the future of companies committing to hiring practices that truly walk the walk when it comes to diversity and inclusion. The new era that COVID has brought in may have made this the perfect time, and it is proven that companies that have diverse teams are more effective and they financially perform better.

[20:21] While leadership can be in the conversation that moves these hiring practices along, more junior people have to build both strong networks and resilience.

[20:45] Ginny feels the metaphor of needing to go inside for COVID represents our need to look inside ourselves and really make the changes necessary to grow.

Quotes:

• “There might not be an abundance of underrepresented talent, but if you know what you are doing you can go find it.” - Ginny
• “A lot of it isn’t just about identifying underrepresented talent. It’s as much about understanding the process and really digging into the infrastructure.” - Ginny
• “We are all human, but when you are a leader, you need to be as self-aware as you can be.” - Ginny
• “Defining what we mean when we say “the best candidate for the job” can start to shed a light on how hiring practices are often needlessly exclusionary.” - Jo
• “Because our systems need an update and we have the technology to do it, we just have to want to do it.” - Jo
• “People don’t leave bad jobs. They leave bad leadership and bad bosses.” - Jo
• “Believe in people’s ability to change and grow, but you have to want to. See a different kind of world.”  - Ginny

Continue on your journey:

https://www.pega.com/

Mentioned:

Fifth Dimensional Leadership | Career Mapping

From criminal records to background checks, there are numerous places where a candidate’s chances for a job can be squandered. But can second chance hiring be as beneficial to businesses as it will undoubtedly be for those given this opportunity? Daniel Okonkwo — attorney, public policy expert, and market manager for community engagement at JPMorgan Chase thinks so, and he’s working hard to reframe how (and who) the hiring process can benefit.

Key Takeaways:

[2:46] The “Ban The Box” movement has been around in the US since the 1990s, advocating for the removal of the “Do You Have a Criminal Record” box. It’s a movement in favor of second chance hiring. While Daniel and JPMC banned the box already, they have also found that they were losing prospective talent due to the background check. Daniel explains how they are working with the FDIC to try and get around these regulations.

[4:50] When people are employed, there are ancillary benefits including community building and public safety advances.

[5:20] Daniel’s work has always been about helping those in need. He worked as a public defender in Miami that then brought him to be part of the team that founded DC Lawyers for Youth. This led him to JPMorgan Chase to which he lends his experience and passion for helping people get back on their feet and showing them that someone does care and believe in them.

[8:07] For every person that walked through the door that got hired, they’ve had many other doors shut in their face. The significant barriers to employment are often built on bias, and Daniel sees firsthand how we miss out on a lot of talent and growth.

[10:24] Daniel talks about how he measures success and growth. First, how can we expand the options for people with some criminal record, and second, are there policies that can help certain offenses be stricken from your record.

[11:32] Daniel discusses the biggest challenges he faces as a leader including the huge scope of the problem, creating institutional commitment, and continued stigma around those with a criminal record.

[14:28] What is Daniel’s call to action for how we can help? More discussion regarding the issue, automatic expungement, and getting involved at a policy level.

[16:28] Daniel stays grounded and motivated by seeing the impact he makes on people that otherwise may have had a real issue with getting hired.

[21:46] At JP Morgan, Daniel and his team want to provide thought leadership and lead by example. They can help others by sharing the tools and insights they have developed not only for financial well-being but how we think.

Quotes:

• “When people are employed, there are so many ancillary effects from that. From community building, to health, to public safety advances.” - Daniel
• “There are communities out there that have been under-invested in and under-resourced that as a result of institutional and systemic racism have been left behind.” - Daniel
• “We really believe that business has a role in making sure people are employed and can be part of an inclusive economy.” - Daniel
• “Unmaking implicit bias and hiring and training towards an inclusive workforce is an effort that needs a lot of takers. It’s not just holding back potentially great employees from an opportunity; it’s holding back businesses and communities as well.” - Jo
• “Working to reform a system plagued with implicit bias is vast and demanding.” - Jo
• “The future of work is about showing what possibilities are out there.” - Daniel

Continue your journey:

https://www.pega.com/

Mentioned:

Daniel Okonkwo

JPMorgan Chase

FDIC

Just Mercy

In this special expert-led episode, Clay Richardson, CEO and Chief Excelerator of Digital Fast Forward talks about his passion for strategic design thinking and its evolving impact on the future of work. He discusses how taking a more human-centred approach to innovation and technology is driving better business. Plus, listen as Clay and host Jo Richardson discuss the insights and expertise presented in the first three episodes.

Key Takeaways:

[1:11] Clay has listened to our previous episodes and is here to give his expert insight and biggest takeaways from what he heard. Episode 1 was with Banu Kannu, co-founder of Uncommon Conferences. Episode 2 was Kumud Kalia, CIO of Guardant Health, and Episode 3 was David Moricca - founder and CEO of Socialive.

[2:39] Clay explains why he fell in love with design thinking. He came from a business process management background and saw so many projects and initiatives that died on the vine because it took so long to get results. Design thinking helps jumpstart innovation, get to results quickly, and actually have fun in the process.

[3:18] Clay defines design thinking as a set of practices that help leaders and teams move from logical problem solving to creative experimentation. Whatever you are focused on, it has to have the customer and employee at the center.

[4:26] One of the research studies Digital Fastforward did with Pega was on designing the future of work. They talked to leaders at 40 different companies and analyzed how they were adapting and came away with a few takeaways. Low tech and low touch ways to ideate and brainstorm, such as Google sheets, helped with collaboration. While some teams were trying to experiment with new ideas very quickly, the low code approach worked in many areas quite well.

[7:00] Clay discusses the common themes in the interviews with Banu, Kumud, and David in regards to what innovations leaders should be focusing on now, and the resonance he sees between how they faced the challenge of COVID and the work at Digital Fastforward.

[8:07] Clay notes that he appreciated that Banu took it past the “why” and went to the “what for”. David and Banu both made democratizing technology a way to design conversation and participation that really connects its users. As innovation leaders, designing conversations becomes critical.

[12:49] Clay discusses how to get meaningful work done during this time by blocking deep work time and minimizing distractions, such as putting the phone away.

[16:41] One of the things that Clay noted about Kumud’s growth story was his acceptance of technical debt while trying to ideate and innovate.

[19:21] Innovation can be expensive, but design thinking can help us quickly validate that this is something people will actually want to use.

[21:47] Productivity has increased by people working from home, according to Clay, the challenge for innovators over the next 3-5 years is coming up with sustained innovation that is not born from a survival situation.

Quotes:

• “Too often, we don’t approach thinking as a task.” - Jo
• “Imagining is a critical part of innovating.” - Jo
• “Wow, people can jumpstart innovation, get to results quickly, and actually have fun in the process. Who knew?” - Clay
• “What I love about the different stories like Banu’s and David’s is that they took the challenge of COVID and turned it into an opportunity.” - Clay
• “You have to think about and prep for who is in the room, what are their personalities, and who do you need to pull out?” - Clay

Continue On Your Journey:

https://www.pega.com/

Digital Fastforward