What's The Difference?

• Why the way in which leaders engage with emotions at work matters, and why a lack of emotional support can be damaging
• Why emotional support in the workplace is key to allowing team members to feel engaged and valued
• Why too few business leaders see feeling involved in emotions at work as part of their leadership role
• How research by Alisa Yu and Justin Berg at Stanford and Julian Zlatev at Harvard Business School shows that people need emotional support and acknowledgment
• How the research shows that emotional acknowledgment is vital, and what important results the researchers discovered that business leaders can learn from
• Why incurring the "risk" of acknowledging employees' emotions out loud builds a strong sense of trust and can help leaders strengthen their leadership
• Why asking "how are you feeling?", especially in the case of negative emotions, is crucial for building that trust

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Read Emotional Acknowledgment: How Verbalizing Others' Emotions Fosters Interpersonal Trust by Alisa Yu, Justin M. Berg, and Julian Zlatev

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• How Frank Slootman, CEO of Snowflake, recently told Bloomberg that the company's focus should be on "merit" rather than achieving diversity goals
• How the scientific data shows us that an organization that has a diverse workforce paired with greater cultural competence performs better than their peers
• Why the statement that the focus should be on "merit" over "diversity goals" is implicitly saying that white men are more capable than women and ethnic minorities
• Sara defines the term "meritocracy" and explains why the meritocracy fallacy doesn't stand up to logical scrutiny
• How only 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs are Black/African American, demonstrating that white CEOs are overrepresented in the Fortune 500
• Why the meritocracy fallacy is based on false assumptions and ignores systemic and individual biases employees face
• Sara highlights key studies that demonstrate the very real problem of unconscious racial and gender biases in the hiring process
• How a study proved that white men with criminal records were more likely to be hired than Black men without criminal records
• Why the belief that you have to sacrifice merit to pursue diversity in the workplace is itself based on biases

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Read Frank Slootman's Interview with Bloomberg: https://bloom.bg/3gMtoHk

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Why managers can't effectively set their employees up for success if they can't recognize inequity in the workplace
• Sara shares a story of a rockstar physical therapist who had to do lots of extra, unnecessary work because his manager wasn't setting him up for success
• Why one theme that always comes up in workplace focus groups with employees from non-dominant groups is that they have to work much harder for less recognition
• Why managers or supervisors who can't see the presence or impact of inequity in the workplace can't set their employees up to succeed
• Why self-awareness of your own cultural competence development is the first step in making positive change
• Why you should acknowledge employees' additional burden and then ask how you can help ease that burden, and why you must be prepared to listen to the hard truths

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Why it is important to reflect on how DEI work has evolved in the workplace, from when intentional DEI work began to the present
• Why the intentionality to seek greater Diversity within the workforce is a more recent phenomenon, beginning with Affirmative Action
• How DEI work began with a focus on Diversity and equality primarily in recruitment, and how inclusion was added around 25 years ago
• How Equity is the most recent aspect of DEI work, and how it focuses on going beyond the concept of "equality" to achieve true parity
• Why it is important to identify the systems of bias and our individual biases within our organizations to progress toward parity
• Why developing our cultural competence is the starting point for DEI work, so that we can begin to recognize biases and inequities in our organizations for what they are

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Why many, many times over the years of her work, Sara has been asked for a "list": an instruction list of what to do and what to say in given situations
• How this desire for a "list" can be likened to a "fast food drive-thru" approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues, attempting to shortcut the real equity work
• Why there is no magic list that offers a shortcut, and why ongoing development, recognizing issues and addressing them with new policies and processes is unavoidable
• Why this desire for a list does come from the positive intent of wanting to not offend or cause issues, but why it also trivializes real equity work and its complexities
• Why doing the hard, intentional development work and understanding the unconscious lenses through which we see difference is vital for lasting change
• Why a lack of time and fear or uncertainty about the unknown are the two driving forces behind the desire for a magic list

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• How we are genetically programmed to deal with danger situations through the "fight, flight or freeze" response
• How marginalization in the workplace and minimization of differences cause people to often respond through the same survival mechanism
• Sara shares her personal experience of minimization and marginalization in the workplace when she was a young woman on a team of otherwise older men
• How another way people respond is through the "fight" response by pushing back against minimization and loudly calling out the things that make them different
• How there is often an undiscussed fourth response, "fawn", where people seek the approval of those who are minimizing them
• How all four of the responses (fight, flight, freeze and fawn) are natural reactions for someone who is marginalized in an environment of minimization
• Why feeling marginalized, overlooked, excluded and having your differences minimized makes it that much harder to contribute or to do your best work
• Why too often, the response to someone reacting with fight, flight, freeze or fawn is to blame the victim rather than recognizing that their responses are natural
• Why these responses are also the typical responses to trauma, and why a minimization culture dramatically impacts an organization's bottom line

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• What has changed since George Floyd was killed at the hands of Minneapolis police a year ago, and the global protests his killing sparked
• Dawn shares her thoughts on DEI practice today and on our society's evolving views of equity and diversity
• Why it is crucial to remember that Diversity is not new, and how the murder of George Floyd opened people's eyes to the reality that has been with us all along
• How in some regards we've slid backwards in our collective cultural competence, and why some people now feel free to voice racist opinions openly
• How Diversity's slow slide towards being a "political" topic has created an additional challenge for DEI practitioners
• Why more businesses are making public statements after race-based violent events take place, and why they are sometimes getting pushback from employees
• How DEI work has evolved since the 1980s and 1990s and moved beyond just training to more organizational and strategic efforts, and what work still needs to be done
• Why "training" isn't the quick fix for racial equity in the workplace, and what positives Dawn recognizes in our progress
• Why Dawn is happy to see that we're still having conversations around these subjects and providing a framework for new DEI practitioners to build on
• Why Dawn suggests new practitioners focus on understanding where your organization is, where they want to go, and what challenges they face

It has been nearly a year since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. In that time, so much has changed in the collective awareness of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. But as the expression goes, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

In some regards, the national and global conversation about racial equity sparked by George Floyd's murder has opened society's eyes to the pervasive inequities that were here all along. But in other ways, it feels like we're sliding backwards into further divisiveness and race-based hostility, as though people with racist views and opinions feel empowered to air those views openly.

So what has changed since George Floyd was killed, and since the video of his murder forced us to have a global conversation about systemic racism and police violence against unarmed Black people? How has DEI work changed in the last year, and what work do we still need to do?

To answer these questions, I invited Dawn Cooper to join me on this week's episode of the What's The Difference podcast. Dawn is a Diversity and Inclusion practitioner with an extensive and extraordinary depth of experience, consulting for some of the biggest brands in the world, from American Express to Amoco.

During our conversation, we discussed how things have changed in the last year, both in positive ways and in negative ones. Somehow, the concept of Diversity has become a "political" topic, and some organizations who have voiced support for a more diverse, equitable and inclusive society have received resistance for "pushing a political agenda".

This politicization of DEI work has created yet another obstacle for practitioners to have to overcome, and the reality can feel overwhelming and progress can feel nearly impossible. However, new data, new methods and a new understanding of the challenges we face mean that we can make progress. It's important to remember that, as Dawn said in our conversation, Diversity isn't a new concept, and the last year has only illuminated issues that have been a part of our world all along.

One key piece of advice Dawn shared for anyone new to DEI work, especially if you're entering the field in today's complicated environment, is to focus on understanding where your organization is now, what goals your organization has for the future, and what challenges your organization faces in achieving those goals. Doing so will offer you a road map for the work you must do, and that can be invaluable in helping you navigate the complexities.

If you would like to connect with the extraordinary Dawn Cooper, you can reach out to her on LinkedIn.

Dawn Cooper, MA is Principal of DMC Consulting Services and a seasoned Diversity and Inclusion professional who provides strategic and tactical direction, consultative support and training to clients looking to implement change, manage conflict, and improve organizational effectiveness. She also consults to organizations on ways to leverage diversity and build inclusion as an organizational imperative. She specializes in cross-cultural communications, program development including initiating diversity councils/ committees, developing and facilitating training programs, retreat facilitation, program evaluation, leadership development and executive coaching. She has served in diversity leadership positions at The Arc of the United States in Washington, DC; Erickson Living in Baltimore, MD; InterAction in Washington, DC; Freddie Mac in McLean, Virginia; Amoco in Chicago, Illinois; and American Express in New York, New York.

Dawn specializes in developing strategic diversity plans and has worked with organizations to create action items and deliver measurable results. She developed the 5-year diversity strategic action plan for The Arc and implemented a Diversity Annual Report for monitoring progress.

As an independent consultant, Dawn has taught courses in Diversity Certification programs at Cornell, Georgetown and most recently at Thomas Jefferson University including: Facilitating Strategic Diversity Planning and Goal Setting, Diversity Strategy and Leadership, Fundamentals of Conducting a Diversity Assessment, Introduction to Diversity as Organizational Change, Strategic Approach to Diversity Councils and Measurement and Evaluation.

Dawn has a M.A. in I/O Psychology from New York University and a B.S.in Psychology from Howard University. She is based in Washington, DC.

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dawncooperhr/
• Twitter: @dmedinacooper

• How our unconscious minds work, and how thoughts begin in the unconscious mind before being passed to conscious awareness
• How the brain processes 11 million separate pieces of information in one second, and how 10,999,960 of those pieces of information are never passed to the conscious mind
• Why the unconscious mind is prone to making the assumption that our own personal experience is actually a universal experience
• How our lives are highly segregated, with people in the US averaging only one person in their circle of friends from a different racial group
• Sara shares a story of an encounter she had while playing tennis with her Black/Latino husband and her young daughter
• Sara shares a different story of how her son was stopped and interrogated by police multiple times a week in their neighborhood
• How the difference in experience shows up in the workplace, and how marginalized groups have a very different work experience from dominant groups
• How asking yourself "can I consider the possibility?" consciously tests your unconscious mind and helps you recognize that others have different experiences
• How Black and Brown people statistically have a very different experience interacting with police, even when they have committed an identical crime to White people
• Why the next step is to ask yourself the question "what would it mean if it were true?", and how that can lead to greater understanding

Did you know that your mind processes eleven million separate pieces of information per second? That number is astonishing and hard to believe, right? That's because 10,999,960 of those pieces of information are processed within your subconscious mind and never rise to the level of conscious thought.

Why does this statistic matter? It's because our minds naturally gravitate towards believing that our own personal experiences are actually universal experiences; that our path through life is shared by everyone else. The reality is very different, however, and we must learn to consciously be aware that universal experience isn't an accurate way to view the world.

At one year out from the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, Black and Brown people are still being murdered by police. Why isn't there greater outrage, specifically from White people? It's exactly because of the tendency to believe that our experiences are universal. "I've never had a problem interacting with police" can quickly become "therefore other people don't either or the situation is overblown."

How do we press back against our tendency to believe in the universal experience?

When I am working with people to help them understand that our experiences aren't necessarily universal, I challenge them to ask themselves a very important five-word question: "Can I consider the possibility?" Can they consider the possibility that Black and Brown people have a very different experience in life in this country than White people? Can they consider the possibility that the statistics are true and that their own personal experiences don't reflect the experience others have?

When you ask this question, you are challenging your subconscious thoughts by bringing them forward into your conscious mind. You are considering the possibility that injustices and disparities do exist, even if you have never personally experienced them.

The next question to ask is: "What would it mean if it were true?" By asking this follow-up question, you are telling your mind to extrapolate from the basic premise that our experiences aren't actually universal. "What would it mean if it were true that a person from a different racial group was having a very different experience in my workplace than I am?" How would that impact their ability to feel safe at work? How would that impact their feeling that their work is valued, respected, and recognized for what it is?

The universal experience is a fiction our subconscious minds prefer, because it fits with our past experiences and reassures us that the world is as we see it and believe it to be. By questioning our subconscious beliefs and challenging them with conscious thought, we can open our minds to the "differences that make a difference", and that's the first step to real change and progress.

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara
• YouTube video from the show "What Would You Do? with John Quinones" that shows an example of very different experiences

• How Polarization is the us/them stage of development, and why it often leads to defending the indefensible and hurtful actions of others
• Why Minimization sweeps differences under the rug, and why the language of minimization is a key component in defending the indefensible
• How the tragedy at the Unite the Right rally and counterprotest in Charlottesville is an example of defending the indefensible
• How the then-President of the United States used Minimization language by saying that there were "very fine people on both sides"
• How the Catholic church's sexual abuse scandal led to Minimization statements defending the abusing priests
• How Minimization language continues to be used to defend the police murders of Black and Brown people
• Why we must recognize where the defense of indefensible actions comes from and address the root cause if we hope to move beyond Minimization

When terrible events like the murder of peaceful protester Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017 happen, we often hear people defending the indefensible actions that created those events. In this case, then-President Donald Trump famously claimed that there were "very fine people on both sides" between the protesters and counter-protesters.

What is the justification and rationale behind defending the indefensible? Where does this mindset come from? To answer this question, we must look to the five stages of cultural competence for answers.

As we've discussed before, these stages in order are:

• Denial
• Polarization
• Minimization
• Acceptance
• Adaptation

Defending the indefensible begins in the Polarization stage, the "us versus them" stage of development in which we focus solely on the differences. However, defending the indefensible uses language from the Minimization stage, in which we ignore or refuse to recognize difference and instead draw similarities that may not exist.

This Minimization language can be found in former President Trump's response to the terror attack in Charlottesville. "There are very fine people on both sides" seeks to minimize the differences between the groups of protesters and counterprotesters and equate one group with the other, despite the many differences in behavior and mindset that existed between the two groups.

So how do we respond when others use Minimization language to defend actions that by all rights are indefensible? Acceptance, the fourth stage of cultural competence, does not mean that we must accept the defensive statements at face value. Rather, we must work to look beyond the words and understand and address the root causes that lead people to defend these actions. We must work to move beyond Minimization into the more effective stage of Acceptance.

Unfortunately, attacks like the police murder of Black and Brown people continue to occur. And when they do, people will continue to use the language of Minimization to defend the indefensible. We must pay attention and recognize this when it happens if we hope to achieve a greater level of cultural competence in our society.

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Why it is as important as ever to continue making the case for DEI in the workplace in today's competitive environment
• How DEI work directly connects to business results, and how to use this information in your case for DEI work
• Why more racially diverse companies and teams tend to outperform companies that are more racially homogenous
• Why gender diversity in a company's leadership team has a direct result in the value of the organization
• Why the increasing diversity of the labor pool highlights a growing need for a work environment that attracts that diverse talent
• Why it is important to tie your case to actual data from your own organization and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (or lack thereof)
• Why DEI work has an impact on talent retention and can help you dramatically lower your turnover and its associated costs
• Why cultural competence has a powerful and positive impact on an organization's bottom line, and why developing your organization's cultural competence offers a competitive advantage
• Why cultural competence is a vital skill that can help you in many common business scenarios and challenges

It can sometimes feel overwhelming when making the case for DEI in the workplace. It can feel a bit like swimming upstream, especially if your organization doesn't truly understand the benefits they could be reaping from a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment…or the price they're paying for not putting in the effort to create one.

However, it has never been more important to keep making the case for DEI than it is today. The labor pool is growing increasingly diverse, and creating a work environment that attracts that diverse talent is a crucial competitive advantage.

It isn't just about the moral benefits of a healthier and more equitable organizational culture, though that is a powerful positive side to DEI work. It's also about the direct productivity and financial benefits of doing the work. A frequently-cited McKinzie & Company study found that the top 25% of racially and ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform the median. On the flip side, the least diverse companies tend to lag behind their competition. Likewise, those in the top 25% of gender diverse companies were 15% more likely to outperform the median on financial returns.

The effect is just as impressive when we're looking at the diversity of leadership teams. Research from the University of Maryland found that gender diversity in business leadership correlated with a staggering $42 million increase in the value of S&P 500 firms. In his book The Diversity Bonus, Princeton University researcher Scott Page found that diversity in organizational leadership teams enhances problem-solving due to a greater variety of perspectives. The Harvard Business Review published a report showing that homogeneity stifles innovation.

With so much published research demonstrating the profound impact of Diversity on an organization's success at all levels, making the case for DEI in the workplace is vital for giving your organization these powerful competitive advantages. The data proves beyond a doubt that the "do-nothing" strategy has a real, tangible cost on your organization's effectiveness, profitability, and overall success.

It can feel like a daunting task, but making the case can be made easier by connecting it to your organization's real data and to the impact DEI work can directly make on the business needs of your company. You need to understand where your organization is now, so that you know what areas need to be worked on and what positive benefits you'll be able to achieve going forward.

It all starts with data as a foundation you can build upon. Getting buy-in from your organization's leadership team can be made much easier if you can show exactly how DEI work stands to strengthen your organization, even beyond the moral case for a Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive workplace. The effort is certain to pay off in the end.

At deepSEE Consulting, we offer a number of resources you may find helpful as you collect and collate your data. Please feel free to visit our website and explore the many tools found in our resource library at www.deepseeconsulting.com/resources.

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara