Imagine Belonging at Work

Welcome to The Imagine Belonging at Work Podcast brought to you by Rhodes Perry Consulting.

Today, we begin a special 3-part learning series featuring Mary-Frances, founder and CEO of the Winters Group, a 40-year-old global diversity, equity and inclusion consulting firm.

During this series, Mary-Frances will put into perspective the origins of the DEI movement, her four decades of DEI thought leadership, what her journey has taught her, and her vision for what the future of work holds.

As you listen, I'm confident you will gain inspiration and motivation to establish your own bold vision for the future of your workplace.

In today's first episode, you'll meet Mary-Frances and discover more about the Winters Group. She tells us what the world of work was like 40 years ago and how it's changed since then.

She also gives us her perspective on how workplace DEI goals have and haven't evolved over the past 4 decades, and what DEI professionals of today can learn from our predecessors.

On this episode of the Imagine Belonging at Work podcast, we conclude our conversation with celebrated DEI thought leader, McKensie Mack, an award-winning entrepreneur and Founder of the McKensie Mack Group, a research and change management firm that helps private and public sector organizations realize transformation in their communities.

Our conversation is the third and final installment of our special learning series with McKensie. We address how to find the courage required to establish personal and professional boundaries to overcome the epidemic of exclusion and loneliness at work. During this conversation, we recognize the truth in that we all play pivotal - though quite different - roles to dismantle white supremacy culture at work.

McKensie offers new frameworks, essential skills, and powerful ideas to help you speak truth to power and maintain the stamina and resolve required to advance your organization's DEI goals.

Welcome back to our powerful conversation with McKensie Mack. This episode is the second installment in our special 3-part learning series that addresses the topic of overcoming the epidemic of exclusion and loneliness at work.

Once again, celebrated DEI thought leader and award-winning entrepreneur, McKensie Mack, will lead the conversation. McKensie is the Founder and Managing Director of the McKensie Mack Group (MMG), a research and change management firm that helps private and public sector organizations bring about transformation in their communities.

A key theme for todays' discussion is finding the courage to engage in difficult conversations that disrupt power differentials at work. We explore the amazing breakthroughs that come as a result of this disruption, and how it can help us show up in a new, powerful way to do our best work.

We also talk about how to identify and overcome white supremacy culture and the interlocking systems of dominance that negatively impacts our organizations if left unchecked and real harm inflict upon the people who are part of them.

This episode begins a special 3-part learning series that addresses the topic of overcoming the epidemic of exclusion and loneliness at work.

McKensie Mack, Founder and Managing Director of the McKensie Mack (they/them) Group, will guide our discussion. They are a trilingual facilitator, educator, activist, and researcher.

McKensie has over 10 years of experience helping organizations, community groups, governing agencies, and healthcare organizations create transformational cultures at the intersection of race, gender, class, disability, and LGBTQ+ identity with clients based in the U.S, the UK, India, France, Germany, Spain, Peru, and other countries.

They will help you discover the courage necessary to set and maintain your boundaries as you help your colleagues overcome exclusion and injustice at work, in its many forms, including racism, patriarchy, ableism, sizeism and classism.

During this first part of our discussion, McKensie shares their approach to establishing and maintaining interpersonal and organizational boundaries. By the end of this episode, you will learn why these boundaries are essential to the success of your workplace's DEI commitments.

Welcome to Part III of the how exceptional Black women lead learning series. This is our final installment of this series, featuring bestselling author, Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever. We are hosting this learning series in celebration of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the US Supreme Court.

During this episode, Dr. Jones-DeWeever and I discuss:

• Ways inclusive leaders like you can radically include Black women leaders into executive pipelines

• How to defy the odds as an outsider working from within to make real change

• We also feature Dr. Jones-DeWeever's final thoughts on how to racially include Black women leaders in the workplace and beyond.

In this episode of the Belonging at Work Podcast, we dive into Part II of my special interview series with Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever.

The occasion? To celebrate the historic confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the US Supreme Court.

This landmark event gives us an amazing opportunity to discuss the key topics of Dr. Jones-DeWeever's award-winning book, How Exceptional Black Women Lead.

In this episode, we explore how Black women leading organizations can overcome harmful racial and gender stereotypes.

We also talk about why it's difficult for Black women to forge strong and meaningful mentor and sponsorship relationships at work.

Importantly, we also focus on what any of us within the workplace can do about it.

Who Belongs? Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson!

Earlier this month marked an historic occasion…

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as the first Black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

To celebrate, I've dedicated a very special 3-part learning series that delves further into the topic of who belongs.

Only 4.7 percent of attorneys are Black, and only 70 Black women have ever served as US federal judges, so Justice Brown Jackson's confirmation to the United States Supreme Court represents a truly remarkable example of perseverance in punching a hole in the glass ceiling, making way for other Black women to follow.

Please join me for this very special episode of the Imagine Belonging at Work podcast, with Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever, bestselling author and social entrepreneur. Her significant expertise and lived experiences helps put into perspective this truly monumental occasion as we discuss how exceptional black women lead.

Transformation…

We say we want it. But do we really? We think we are willing to work for it. But are we?

In today's episode of the Imagine Belonging at Work podcast, I talk about this important and timely topic.

During this episode, I delve into questions such as:

How are transformation and change different?

Why is it important to understand these differences?

Why is it harmful to maintain the workplace status quo?

I'll give you the knowledge, skills and actions required to make transformation a reality in your workplace. As in each episode, I'll help you understand why belonging at work matters.

Here's a sobering statistic…only 33% of employees feel like they belong at work.

The flipside of that number? If you are a manager, 67% of your team members feel like they do not belong. They feel the sting of exclusion.

This is alarming news with potentially devastating consequences for employees and their employers' bottom line.

But there is hope. There is something leaders can do. They can bring a feeling of safety, trust and a sense of belonging to their teams.

The goal of the Imagine Belonging At Work Podcast is to give listeners simple, actionable real-world advice, and to inspire them to take action by committing to first transform themselves, and then transform their workplaces, building more equitable organizations.

Explore what it takes to imagine belonging on a full sensory level.

This includes some framing a few reflection questions and rounding out this episode, Rhodes created a special meditation exercise, you can try out to help activate what you imagine.