Building Better Businesses

S1 Episode 070: Connecting, Leading Better, and Thriving


Listen Later

Founder of The Change Coaches and author of Leading Below the Surface: How to Build Real (and Psychologically Safe) Relationships with People Who Are Different from You, LaTonya Wilkins specializes in coaching executives on leading “below the surface” to build psychologically safe relationships with their teams across differences. She is a sought-after keynote speaker and has inspired audiences all over the world. Through highly customized coaching, culture academies, and human-centered design services, LaTonya and her team work with executives, upwardly mobile professionals, and teams to create cultures of belonging, motivating environments, and amplify the “only ones” at work so they feel more valued, heard, and engaged at work. 

 

LaTonya has worked with leaders at many well-known companies including Google, GE, The New York Times, and several nonprofits. She built her career working in HR, talent management, and learning & development at Fortune 500 companies before teaching and taking on progressive leadership roles at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business. LaTonya was rated an “excellent” teacher by her undergraduate business students, and she is also a board member of the LGBTQ+ Alumni Association at Indiana University. She is currently the President of the True Star Youth Foundation board, which is a digital marketing social entrepreneurship company that recently received a Google Impact Award. 

 

LaTonya has been featured in publications such as Fast Company, Well+ Good, and Inc Magazine. She also gained global recognition when she was recognized on the most inclusive HR influencer list in 2019. 



In this episode, we discuss:

  • Discovering your entrepreneurial spirit at a young age collecting golf balls
  • Trusting yourself and proving the naysayers wrong
  • Intrinsic motivation as a better change maker than extrinsic motivation
  • Creating psychologically safe realtionships in the workplace
  • Empathy as an important leadership quality
  • The long game required to create diversity in your workplace

  • I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. LaTonya was so generous to share her better business practices regarding connecting better to lead better and thrive.


    Please let me know your thoughts!


    Connect with LaTonya Wilkins: 

    Website:

    www.leadingbelowthesurface.com


    LinkedIn: 

    @latonyawilkins


    Instagram:

    @latonyacoaching



    Connect with Steve Eschbach

    Websites:

    https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ 

    https://eschbachassoc.com/ 

    YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA 

    LinkedIn:

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

    Instagram:

    https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/ 

    Twitter:

    @ SteveEschbach

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Building Better BusinessesBy Steve Eschbach