Good Vibes Leadership with Bernadette Smith

There was a recurring theme this week in my conversations with clients: how to recover after you’ve been called out or accidentally offended someone. Here’s the short answer: don't get dramatic. Apologize sincerely once without diminishing their experience. If you’re corrected, say thanks. Educate yourself, rather than asking them, so you can do better next time.

During an in-person keynote for a corporate client, I was asked a question that took the topic a step further. I was asked, “How much responsibility do I need to continue to take after I’ve offended someone when, after my sincere apology, they remain angry and/or aggressive?”

Here are a couple of guidelines: Remember you don’t know what it’s like to walk in their shoes and it’s a good idea to acknowledge that when speaking with the person. And, after an appropriate period of time, it’s OK to ask, “Is there anything I can do to repair this relationship?”

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

1. Disabled Models and Designers Take Center Stage at New York Fashion Week
2. Hearst Joins Employers Expanding Benefits to Include Divorce Support
3. Twilio Promises ‘Anti-racist’ Layoffs as Ceo Says 11% Job Cuts Won’t Hit Workers From ‘Marginalized Communities’ More Than Others
4. Hot Chicken Takeover’s Mission Is to Hire People Who Might Be Passed Over Elsewhere, Whether Because of Prior Incarceration, Drug Addiction, or Homelessness
5. Interior Department Completes Removal of “Sq___” from Federal Use
    

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-recovery

To learn more about Rex, visit: https://www.rexwilde.com/
 

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

If you’re a long-time reader of 5 Things, you may have noticed that it doesn’t matter to me why an organization decides to “do the right thing” – to embed equity and inclusion into its systems as a way to accelerate the promises of diversity. 

I don’t care whether an organization is working on DEI initiatives because everyone else is because they see the promises of higher revenue because they want to reduce turnover, because they don’t want to be left in the dust, or because it’s just the right thing to do. I don’t care why Hard Rock is paying $100 million in wage hikes (as you’ll read below). I care about the long-term benefits.

Don’t get me wrong: having an inspirational and aligned purpose will only help organizations get there faster (if they effectively rally employees around that purpose) – but if it’s just about making more money, that’s fine, too. Real change, the systems and policy change that I write about every week here, that I wrote about in my awesome book Inclusive 360, is replicable, scalable, and sustainable. 

In my conversations with clients, I will keep making the business case because – whatever works.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

1. Patagonia’s Founder Transfers Ownership Into Two Entities to Help Fight the Climate Crisis
2. Runners for the First Time Had the Option to Select Nonbinary, Male, or Female in Response to the Gender Question for their Boston Marathon Registration
3. Doordash Invests in Employee Resource Groups by Compensating Leaders
4. Casino Company Hard Rock to Spend $100 Million to Raise Employees’ Wages
5. This Year Marks the First Ever South Asian New York Fashion Week (SANYFW)

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-no-matter-why

To learn more about Gearah Goldstein and The GenderCool Project, visit: https://gendercool.org/

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

This week I met with a client to prepare for an upcoming keynote. We were discussing some of the company’s DEI challenges, and I heard the familiar comment, “We struggle to get the sales team to care. They don’t get why it’s important.”

It’s a common struggle: in many cases, DEI events are voluntary, and many folks on the sales team are in the field. How do you reach them? How do you get them to care?

It starts with embedding DEI into the sales meetings and getting the senior leaders at those meetings to care. But there are a few other tricks, best summarized in this lovely feedback I received from a client: They were VERY appreciative of the practical tips for relating to their clients and candidates. I personally felt that her focus on those folks, over their own colleagues, also may have made this feel more like a professional development session than "another DEI lecture" for those that are less receptive to our DEI council's efforts.

The sales team is financially motivated. To reach them, share any myriad bits of data about the financial benefits of diversity. Then talk about DEI and cultural competency more broadly in terms of how it relates to their clients and candidates – how do they establish trust with, and NOT accidentally offend their increasingly diverse client and candidate base? No one, especially no one in sales, likes to embarrass themselves in front of a client.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

1. ‘Peppa Pig’ Gets Its First Same-Sex Couple – Two Polar Bear Mommies
2. A Swimming Cap Made for Black Hair Gets Official Approval After Previous Olympic Ban
3. The Hubspot Culture Code: “Better to Try and Sometimes Fail Than to Sit Tight...and Fail for Sure.”
4. U.S. Soccer Players Formally Sign Equal Pay Agreements
5. If Your Family Makes Less Than $100,000 per Year, Princeton Will Cover All Your Tuition

Learn more about John Avila here: https://www.avilacreativeinc.com/

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-the-sales-team

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

This week I facilitated a conversation with a client about my book Inclusive 360. In the conversation, I was struck by how often my conversations around DEI quickly focus on hiring for diversity. Yes, that’s important, but data tells us that at the entry-level of organizations, the percentage of men vs women, and White people vs BIPOC are fairly balanced. The gaps widen as employees are promoted. Classic unconscious bias.

It’s clear to me that organizations should instead prioritize embedding equity into the employee lifecycle to give everyone a fair shot at success and growth. This includes everything from updating and standardizing the performance review process, to inclusive leader training for managers, and coaching for high potentials. There’s a reason that many organizations are paying out big bonuses right now…it can be far more cost-effective to invest in current employees than hire new ones. 

Yes, we can help you with those things…but here’s how to start making the case for this: share the data that shows it can cost 3x an employee's salary to fill a role (including time spent by other employees as part of the hiring process). Then ask some of your high potentials, “what can we do to keep awesome people like you around?” Listen to the ideas and work through what’s reasonable, bit by bit.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

1. Period Poverty: Scotland First in World to Make Period Products Free
2. Global Consumer Brands Are Wading Into an Uproar Over the Firing of a Popular Female Television Anchor
3. Ben & Jerry's and Tony's Chocolonely Team Up To Tackle Cocoa Slave Labor
4. All-Black, All-Female American Airlines Crew Flies From Dallas to Honor Bessie Coleman
5. Races Are Finally Making Room for Nonbinary Runners, Whose Stories Are Driving the Change

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-high-potentials

To learn more about Geneviéve Jones-Wright and Motivation.In.Action (MIA), visit: https://yourmia.org/

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

This week the U.S. Congress passed a significant and transformative climate bill that President Biden is expected to sign. Among many other things, the law will provide many incentives for shifts to clean energy, including rebates for car buyers. 

I found this timely when I read how GM connects the dots between diversity, equity, and inclusion and its goal to be an electric vehicle leader. Telva McGruder, chief diversity, inclusion, and equity officer at GM, shared:

“Our tagline, ‘Everybody in,’ means that we are designing vehicles that will be able to accommodate people regardless of their level of income. So vehicles from low- to high-income price points. It also means people who purchase electric vehicles are going to have the ability to charge them wherever they are, regardless of location…We're also thinking about the impact on the electrical grid, making sure that communities that are typically underrepresented or under-considered when major infrastructure plans are made are indeed represented.” 

A holistic approach to DEI is deep and robust and hard work. But wow, when it’s thoughtful, what a difference it can make in the lives of others – literally in the lives of Black and brown communities. That’s what matters. Read that whole article above about GM – they’re doing some fantastic stuff with DEI.

Here are other good vibes I found this week:

1. Private equity giant Carlyle thinks it’s found the formula for incentivizing diversity work
2. Taco Bell has a unique strategy to improve its frontline ... a six-week program aimed at helping store workers move up the ranks
3. LinkedIn has added nudges to its hiring platform to prompt recruiters to consider diversity
4. Gender neutral ‘Mx.’ prefix option added to the Disney experience

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-everybody-in

To learn more about Sarah and Bettman Consulting Group, visit: https://www.bettmanleadership.com/

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

This week I was reminded that every story is nuanced – sometimes, I miss the [whole/complete] picture when researching the stories. In the last 5 Things, I shared how Shopify’s CEO was humble and kind in handling layoffs. A reader so smartly responded:

While they lost their jobs due to his mistake he still made over $20 million and cashed out more than $623 million in equity last year. To me, this raises huge questions about internal equity, executive compensation, and holding decision-makers accountable for their decisions. Instead, once again, we will likely see huge numbers of lower-wage, junior, and shared service (where most diversity exists in US companies) employees paying the price.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Perfectly put.

And yet, in addition to some layoffs, I’m also seeing salary bumps and bonuses announced across industries as a potential antidote to still-high resignation numbers. Does that count as a good vibe?

Ultimately, there are so many gray areas, and there are always trade-offs. I’m hopeful we will mostly see leaders choose the path that causes the least harm. I’m reminded of what my friend Jess Pettitt says, “Do the best you can with what you have some of the time."

Another reader had a question about Disney’s Fairy Godmothers from last week… we inadvertently left off an apostrophe, causing the story about going gender-free to make no sense. Sorry for the confusion! To summarize Fairy Godmothers in Training --> Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

1. How the World’s Biggest Four-Day Workweek Trial Run Changed People’s Lives in the UK
2. Spotify Allowed Its Employees to Work From Anywhere in the World and Its Turnover Rate Dropped
3. Gen Z Knows What It Wants From Employers And Employers Want Them
4. U.S. Companies Support Harvard, UNC in Supreme Court Affirmative Action Cases
5. Microsoft Has Taken a Proactive Approach to Accessible Technology and Disability Hiring

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-trade-offs

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

This week I had some important conversations with my team about the future of our little company, where we’re going, and what we have to do to get there. As a CEO and leader, I’m making big decisions and taking massive risks. It’s scary but it’s less scary when I admit how scary it is, and when my team shares their fears, too – and we all move forward anyway with humility and our shared sense of purpose.

I was reminded this week that sometimes big risks don’t pay off. Layoffs and hiring slowdowns have hit tech. What we’re now seeing crystal clear is that there’s a right way and a wrong way to reduce the workforce. Shopify laid off 1000 employees - and did so with humanity and compassion.

In the letter to the team, CEO Tobi Lütke was transparent about the mistakes that were made that led to the staff reduction: Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong. Now, we have to adjust. As a consequence, we have to say goodbye to some of you today and I’m deeply sorry for that.

Lütke also gave departing employees some generous perks beyond severance pay, including still paying for internet, money for new hardware, and organizing and distributing a list of employees looking for work.

To those remaining employees, Lütke reiterated the company’s purpose: Our customers are merchants, entrepreneurs, and small business owners - the bedrock of our economy and precisely those that are typically hit hardest during recessions. Most are already feeling it. We again have a clear objective in these challenging macro-economic times, and we will use everything we’ve got to help them succeed and come out stronger. That’s our core mission.

This matters because it shows humility. The CEO, in admitting his failures, also models a way to create psychological safety.

Here are other good vibes I found this week:

2.  VP Aims for Inclusivity: “I Am Kamala Harris. My Pronouns Are She and Her, and I Am a Woman Sitting at the Table Wearing a Blue Suit.”

3. Disney Replaces ‘Fairy Godmothers’ Title at Parks With Gender-Neutral ‘Apprentices’

4. Pottery Barn Debuts 150+ Pieces of Furniture for People With Disabilities

5. HSBC Offers Gender-Neutral Banking in Inclusivity Bid

To learn more about Genesis Fisher, Esq. and her firm, visit: http://www.fisherlawpractice.nyc/

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

This week my partner said something incredibly wise to me when we were talking about the kids’ rules. She said, “what I’ve come to realize is that it should be about equity, not equality."

That was a mic drop moment for me. By that, she meant that each kid should be treated according to their own unique needs. Of course. The kid who gets overstimulated has different needs than the one who is a hardcore extrovert.

Of course. I remember at work. I forget at home. Anyone else? Or vice versa?

Equity, not equality. Since my business is Equality Institute, I’ll quickly define those terms. Equality (“the condition of being equal”) simply isn’t possible without equity (“more for those who need it”) first. I see equality as an aspirational outcome. I’m an aspirational kind of person. Let’s get to it.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

1. Food Lion Has Made Working With Owners From Underrepresented Groups Part of Its Day-To-Day Sourcing Processes
2. The ANA Membership Assembly Took Historic Action by Unanimously Voting ‘Yes’ to Adopt The ANA Racial Reckoning Statement
3. IOC Reinstates Jim Thorpe as Sole Winner of 1912 Olympic Decathlon and Pentathlon
4. Once Neglected, Dei Initiatives Now Present at All Fortune 100 Companies
5. Top Russian Tennis Player Daria Kasatkina Comes Out as Gay

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-mic-drop

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

This week we launched a really cool DEI web app (and the feedback has been 🔥). Creating the Inclusive 360 Assessment and Roadmap has been my obsession for 10 months as I sought to solve a recurring challenge our clients share - a need to cut through the overwhelm and get crystal clear direction about the next steps forward with DEI.

To be perfectly honest, I was also dissatisfied with the custom DEI analysis and strategic plan we were providing to consulting clients. I felt that the analysis was great but the plan was too general. In my own experience, when I don’t have specifics, I often get stuck and don’t take action. I like specifics. The tool is very specific.

Anyway, I promise we’ll chill out with the emails about the web app, but I want to share how proud I am of what we built, and how much I believe it can help organizations accelerate their DEI and accessibility goals.

Watch the 3-minute video.

Try it out with the Inclusive 360 Quiz.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

1. A Black History & Culture Collection Was Created to Provide Access to Historical & Cultural Images of the African/Black Diaspora in the US & UK
2. Nintendo Has Enchanted Video Game Players With Titles Like Super Mario Brothers and the Legend of Zelda, but Now It’s Helping Bring LGBTQ Equality to Its Home Country of Japan
3. Educator and Civil Rights Activist Mary McLeod Bethune Makes History as the First Black Person to Have a State-Commissioned Statue in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall, Replacing a Confederate Statue
4. & 5. ADP Created a Preferred Name Policy to Foster an Inclusive Workplace.  Betterment did something similar - users of this financial app have more than two genders to choose from when registering. Account holders can also add their preferred names.

Read the blog version here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-obsessed
 

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

This week I spent time in California whitewater rafting and hiking with an old friend. There was no cell service while we were on the overnight rafting trip, and it felt great to be completely unplugged. After I returned from the solace of nature, I learned there was a parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois about 30 miles from my home. 

Another shooting. So much for good vibes. I wanted to unplug all over again.

Friends, it sometimes feels like the world is falling apart and I run out of words. I run out of patience. Maybe you do, too. Still, I look for inspiration because of the discipline of writing this every week. 

I found some inspiration this morning when I learned that the winery tasting room in downtown Highland Park, run by my friend Matt Phillips, was a safe haven for 40+ parade-goers escaping the violence. In the spirit of the kindness of strangers, I share this short news story about Matt and Lynfred Winery. Any one of us may have done the same thing, but Matt did. 

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

• GE Appliances Is Working to Hire 1,000 Refugees at Its Louisville Factories by 2023
• Slack’s Bold Bet on Training Formerly Incarcerated People to Be Tech Workers
• PayPal CEO Improved Results By Investing in His Call Center Workers
• Hootsuite’s Office Gets an Inclusive Redesign
• Sandra Douglass Morgan Becomes the First Black Woman to Be Named an NFL Team President

To learn more about Miguel Joey Aviles, visit: https://www.migueljoeyaviles.com/

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/