The Gartner Talent Angle

Women of color are one of the fastest-growing segments in the corporate workforce, yet often underrepresented in their teams, department or company. In "The First, The Few, The Only," author and corporate inclusion leader Deepa Purushothaman offers a call to action for women of color to advocate for a new corporate environment where they feel belonging and acceptance.

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Deepa provides a roadmap for women of color to initiate change in the workplace, and outlines how organizations can ensure all of their employees are heard, respected and valued.

Deepa Purushothaman is the co-founder of nFormation which provides brave, safe, new space for professional women of color and a Women and Public Policy Program Leader in Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to this, Deepa spent more than 20 years at Deloitte and was the first Indian American woman to become a partner in the company's history. Deepa was also Deloitte's national Women's Initiative leader, the firm's renowned program to recruit, retain, and advance women. Deepa has degrees from Wellesley College, Harvard Kennedy School, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Deepa is an Aspen Fellow and speaks extensively on women and leadership. She has been featured at national conferences and in publications including Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Harvard Business Review.

Hear Jeff Kavanaugh, author of The Live Enterprise, discuss how to transform your organization into an ever-evolving, continuously learning industry leader. He provides a clear path to transform large and complex businesses into agile ecosystems that evolve with changing market needs.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2021 interview.

Ram Charan, business advisor and author, introduces a new leadership thinking approach to help executives exploit shifts in their business landscapes. In the book "The Phoenix Encounter Method," he and his co-authors — Ian Woodward, V. "Paddy" Padmanabhan and Sameer Hasija — offer a methodology to use change as a catalyst for transformation. According to Charan, leaders can adopt this new mental frame by: developing a nuanced understanding of their operating environments; pressure-testing options for legacy business and innovation; and leveraging new competencies and emerging technologies for business growth.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2021 interview.

Since the pandemic, organizations have been operating in a new environment, with altered cultural norms and without established practices. In his book, "Competing In the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest," Keith Ferrazzi offers his vision for successful organizations of the future. Keith joins the Gartner Talent Angle to share how some organizations are embracing these new realities and to outline the leadership practices he believes will define success in this new era of work.

Keith Ferrazzi is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and renowned global thought leader in the future of work and leadership. As founder and chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight and its research institute Go Forward to Work, he works with some of the world's most prominent organizations to maximize team performance and achieve extraordinary outcomes. Formerly, he was the chief marketing officer of Deloitte and Starwood Hotels. Keith is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of "Who's Got Your Back," "Never Eat Alone," and "Leading Without Authority." His 20-year history of coaching C-suite executive teams has made him an agent of transformation and among the world's greatest and most sought-after coaches.

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle podcast, trust expert Rachel Botsman defines trust as the currency of interaction. She argues that trust has implications for how organizations can relate to their employees and customers, especially in a virtual world. Botsman joined the podcast to discuss the changing landscape of trust and to share how leaders can put trust into action to drive better outcomes.

Rachel Botsman is a lecturer at Oxford University and an expert on trust. She is the author of "What's Mine is Yours" and "Who Can You Trust?". Botsman's TED talks have been viewed more than five million times, and she hosts the podcast series "Trust Issues."

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2021 interview.

A historic number of women left their jobs in 2021, resulting in their lowest workforce participation since 1988. Author and activist Reshma Saujani confronts the "big lie" of corporate feminism in her book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It's Different Than You Think), and she presents a bold plan to address the systemic biases impacting working women. On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Reshma explains how the cost of inaction ⁠— for families, the economy, and women themselves ⁠— is too great to ignore. To fuel this urgency, she shares strategies to create lasting change.

Reshma Saujani is a leading activist and the founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. She is the author of Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It's Different Than You Think). Reshma has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls' economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently advocating for policies to support moms impacted by the pandemic. Reshma is also the author of the international bestseller Brave, Not Perfect, and her influential TED talk, "Teach girls, bravery not perfection," has more than five million views globally. Reshma began her career as an attorney and Democratic organizer. In 2010, she surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. Reshma lives in New York City with her husband, Nihal, their sons, Shaan and Sai, and their bulldog, Stanley.

Marissa King, professor at the Yale School of Management, makes the case for the power of professional and personal networks. In her book "Social Chemistry: Decoding Patterns of Human Connection," she explores the different dimensions along which human connections are made, introducing three styles of network connection — expansionist, broker and convener. She offers practical tips and guidance for organizations looking to help their employees cultivate stronger professional ties.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

In this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Janet Stovall, senior client strategist at the NeuroLeadership Institute, discusses the strategies organizations can apply to elevate inclusion as a key business priority. She shares how to better define diversity, articulate its value, and hold individual leaders accountable for inclusion outcomes.

Janet Stovall is a senior client strategist at the NeuroLeadership Institute, where she helps companies implement diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Her work addresses systemic racism, focuses on understanding the value of diversity, and offers straightforward, objective solutions to unlock that value. Her TED talk challenging business to get serious about inclusion has nearly 2 million views. Prior to joining NLI, Stovall was Senior Director, Social Impact and The UPS Foundation, and also served as UPS's DE&I communications lead.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

In this episode, Horst Schulze, founder and former COO of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, discusses how a strong vision for the entire stakeholder ecosystem, not just shareholders, leads to excellence. He shares his views on talent management, strategy execution, leadership, customer service and employee engagement.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

Businesses across industries and geographies are facing disruption on multiple fronts — economic turmoil, employee activism, regulatory uncertainty. In this Talent Angle podcast episode, Andrew Barnes, author of "The 4 Day Week," argues that success in this environment calls for businesses to embrace new ways of working which are rooted in flexibility. Barnes shares his company's journey to designing a shorter workweek for employees and urges other organizations to abandon what he views as an entrenched anachronism, the 5-day workweek.

*This interview originally published in 2020.