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How this Book WorksThis digital book is not like anybook you have experienced up tothis point, which is why it comeswith instructions.I encourage you to be a part ofthe conversation and share yourideas by commenting when theopportunity arises and giving yourfeedback about your experiences.This is more than a book - it is adiscussion.You will encounter video, audio,and visual features to expandon ideas and go deeper into thetopics you are interested in. Youwill be able to download PDFworksheets to help you gure outhow to use the ideas you discoverfor your life, career, and business.
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When I was asked to organize an APeeling event and book on the topic of Equity in the Workplace I thought of stocks bonds and tangible assets Not that kind of equity From the presenters in this book I discovered equity can mean something different from financial assets It s about providing employees with an equitable opportunity Democratic governments legislated that everyone has certain rights we deem important for our citizens For example every child has the right to education so governments created public schools where every child can go to school without paying to attend What this right doesn t guarantee is that every child will receive an education The doors are open they must attend but that is where equality stops and equity begins Isn t equality good enough The problem with equality Equality is the idea that we all are equal under the law and should have Equality assumes everyone starts at the opportunity to achieve what we the same place with the same adwant in life based on our efforts and vantages tools and opportunities not our birthright Equality happens when society agrees that people have the same rights and protections This is not true under the law The starting line is not a straight one We achieved equality in the West where everyone gets an equal position When we zoom in closer to the populaWe took a bird s eye view of the pop tion we start to see that the individuals ulation and saw every head as having are different from each other with each the same worth and right to the things one having distinct strengths talents provided by society for its citizens and shortcomings We can also see

that not everyone is afforded the same opportunities due to socio economic status and other variables Our start in life depends on society s values access to resources the decisions our parents and ancestors made line they don t stand in a straight Taking a closer look at the children within our schools we see some have a learning disability which makes it harder for them to understand what they are being taught line Each lane s starting line is staggered depending on the extra distance each must run by being farther from the shorter inside lane Perception is everything If the camera focuses only on the starting If equality is opening the doors to all chil line it will look unfair to the viewer bedren equity is giving students their own cause those on the outside lanes are getindividualized education plans to ensure ting a headstart compared to those on they can learn based on their individual the inner lane As the camera pans out strengths weaknesses and talents however the viewer begins to see the whole race track and the extra distance What is equity the runner in the outside lane has to run before joining the pack in the inside lane Equity is giving people what they need to get to the starting line to All the runners are given the opporrun a fair race tunity to train to have a coach to eat well to be at the starting line Think about the Olympic oval When and run the same distance the runners line up at the starting

Still there will only be one winner who has something that gives that person an edge over the other runners to come out on top even with the staggered starting line ensuring they all have an equal distance to run Equity is giving people an equal chance What they do with it is completely up to them I m NOT a DEI expert I m a wordsmith trying to define what equity means in this context Which is why I have 6 DEI Experts in this book to explain equity and how you can embrace equity in your workplace Be part of the conversation to help create equitable workplaces What does work and how it can be made to work better so Generation A doesn t have to worry about the colour of the spoon the competition was born with

Equity isn t a nice to have it is necessary for the long term growth and profitability of a company To create an equitable workplace organizations need to hire a diverse groups of people but some groups don t have access to resources to develop the skills and education for upper management positions Without in house training and educational support some people are unable to move up through the company s hierarchy of leadership The problem is training is seen as an expense not revenue generator But that is far from reality because training employees results in profits ness case remain robust but also that the relationship between diversity on executive teams and the likelihood of financial outperformance has strengthened over time The data proved companies who made it into the top quartile for diversity leadership in 2019 were 36 more profitable than those in the bottom quartile If you want a more diverse leadership team you have to be willing to give opportunities to people you wouldn t normally open the door to due to education race gender age and a number of other variables that affect your decision making process The First Step Recent studies found diversity in lead The first step is to commit to changership results in higher profitability ing your DEI policies and to invest in your employees to train them up McKinsey released a report in 2020 through your organization finding that not only did the busi

Once you have a good understanding of what you want for in regards to DEI strive to understand your current employees needs when it comes to diversity equity and inclusion Ideas Increase Diversity in Your Hiring Analyze your teams to determine your overall diversity or lack thereof Consider equity in your job descriptions by removing unnecessary criteIf you find a team that is diverse ria from job ads reward them and ask them to take a leadership role in the organization s equity initiative Take a look at the criteria you put into your job ads Once you know who makes up your labour force you can start to train Ask yourself is the item really people inside your organization to necessary to do the job move up and reach out to hire people from demographic cohorts difWhich of the requirements is ferent from your company s current barring disadvantaged people labour force who may need training Can you remove those barriers The choice is yours You either want to invite different people in your organization to embrace equity and grow into a diverse leadership team or you don t Invest in training and education of your employees Either way be honest with yourself and your employees about what the Consider which skills can be learned values of the leadership team are and on the job verses hiring people who how they can support them especially already posses the experience

Instead of looking for people who have been trained by other companies or institutions train unskilled people in your organization to do things the way you want them done Loyalty is a two way street show your employees you want them to work with you over the long term by giving them the opportunity to advance If you think training is too expensive consider this Feeling Wanted According to Information gathered by Statista the average cost to train an employee is 1 300 US per year What does it cost to hire someone already skilled and ready to go Compared to a current employee will they have the same loyalty to the company and understand the culture It is the small things that make the biggest difference to feeling wanted included and needed Think about what makes you feel loyal to the company ask your leadership team and initiate a survey of all your employees to discover what small initiatives you can impliment to make them feel like their contribution matters to everyone By providing education and training you are raising your employees up Equal Pay and providing them with additional reasons to stay with you When you analyze your labour force take into account what you pay peoIn a marketplace where loyalty is a ple Has your organization adopted thing of the past training can help an equal pay for equal work policy both sides to feel supported appre or are people paid differently based ciated and wanted all of which inon certain variables crease feelings of loyalty

Take a look at what you pay everyone If you find pay disparity fix it by bringing everyone up to the same pay scale If you find teams who already have fair pay practices reward those leaders with a bonus or other benefit for doing a good job The Research It may feel like this is all too expensive and time consuming Consider the findings published in this Harvard Business Review article By correlating diversity in leadership with market outcomes as reported by respondents we learned that companies with 2 D diversity out innovate and out perform others Employees at these companies are 45 likelier to report that their firm s market share grew over the previous year and 70 likelier to report that the firm captured a new market Want to know if it will work for you Test the waters by asking one team leader to increase the diversity equity and inclusion of their team and measure it against the control group Don t hire for the sake of Diversity Hiring to fill a quota is not the right way of increasing diversity You must take initiatives to provide equitable opportunities for them to learn the skills you need for the position This means understanding what people need to step into a role successfully and providing them with the tools to succeed Before you offer up an opportunity for growth to someone ensure they have the ambition to grow into the role All you can do as a leader is open the door of opportunity and invite people from different groups to step Or this Research and Markets study through From there it is up to them that found Diverse companies earn to take advantage of the tools you 2 5 times higher cash flow per emprovide them and to go out to find ployee and inclusive teams are more resources to help them grow into productive by over 35 their role

Katie is an expert executive coach and business consultant. 15 years incorporate environments from small companies (50 employees) to large companies (thousands). Throughout her career she’s built expertise in organizational change, building curriculum for transformative learning programs, and unpacking adult behavior and motivation. Katie founded McLaughlin Method to ll the gap(s) of the traditional approach to training leaders, building teams, and creating company / organizational culture. She uses trauma-informed, advocacy-based theatre exercises within all pro-gramming. Katie’s clients improve skills vastly lacking in organizations today: empathy and emotional intelligence. She knows we only build a better world one interaction at a time.

Getting Started with Equity at WorkWe’re talking about equal oppor-tunity within the workplace to en-gage, participate, be recognized, and more. Many leaders and human resources organizations are focused on pay equity as a measurement of their equity strategies. But equity is bigger than that (and smaller – keep reading to get my meaning).Equity or inequity can happen every day. In all our interactions at work. Have you ever noticed that someone on your team or a leader gets all the special projects? What about promo-tions and raises? Are there specic limitations like someone’s education or ability to work longer hours that impact these decisions? We also can’t forget the inuence we all have by our society and cul-ture in how we view equity. Our expectations of others are highly impacted by systemic oppressions and portrayals that depict people of different identities, genders, races, as different and inferior.To make a big impact on equity, fo-cus on the day to day experiences of your team and how you engage with others in the workplace. Change requires intentional energy. And all it takes are small actions re-peated over time to create a ripple effect across your organization.Equity is everyone’s responsibility. Your new mantra: Equity. Every. Day.Start with Yourself. Self-awareness and empathy are keys to taking ac-tion in equity work.Let’s start with a quick visualization.Imagine a time when you’ve been excluded from an opportunity at work. Maybe you weren’t invited to a meeting, your ideas weren’t listened by Katie McLaughlin

to, or your contributions weren’t rec-ognized. How did that feel?Perhaps you felt small, unimport-ant. It felt unfair, and you wanted to take action but didn’t know where to start. You felt helpless. It seemed like it would always be this way.If you keep feeling this way, over and over, you’re not going to be able to stand it. It won’t feel worth it.And that’s when you start looking for ways to get yourself out of this situa-tion. You look for jobs and hope that things are better somewhere else.Do you want your team to feel like their only option is to leave and nd a new job?Dene and Share Your IntentionsNow that you know how it feels to experience inequity and exclusion, you can start to dene your inten-tions as a leader in the workplace. How do you want your team to feel each day? How do you want your team to see you? Take a moment to write down state-ments that describe your ideal team atmosphere, your leadership style, and your relationships at work. You might write:My team feels comfortable sharing openly with me their ideas, needs, concerns, and how I can help.My team sees me as a fair, honest leader who supports each of them equally.When you are clear on your inten-tions, then you can choose what actions you’ll take to bring your in-tentions to life.Next, you’ve got to share those in-tentions with your team. Tell them how you want them to feel at work, what kind of leader you’re striving to be, and what team atmosphere you’re aiming for.

Don’t tell them just once. Keep re-peating it. Repetition helps you stay focused on your goal. But more im-portantly, repetition helps your team begin to slowly trust and change their expectations of you.Representation. Access. Opportunity.You know your intentions. You’ve shared them with your team. Now what?It’s time for action. Equity. Every. Day.If you don’t know where to start, fo-cus on these themes: representation, access, and opportunity. Here’s a few examples of how to ac-cess equity through representation, access, and opportunity.Representation. Who is at the table when decisions are made? Looking for ways to include more perspec-tives is a start to more equitable meetings, decisions, and teams.Access. Does your team have what resources or information they need to complete their work? Identify any places where information is siloed, and take steps to share access with everyone on your team. Opportunity. How does work get assigned? What about special proj-ects? We tend to lean on our top performers for all crucial tasks and assume they’re the only ones who can get it done. This isn’t equity. Everyone on your team deserves the chance to explore their skills through special projects and opportunities that help them learn and grow.

Equity and Diversity Awareness Quiz

Leaders hire Dr. Catherine Wiberg to in-crease employee retention AND company prots because most are losing HUN-DREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on resignations, recruitment, and training, so I help them challenge today’s status quo to create the future they want by maximizing the power of group dynamics, consciously creating and continuing an engaged com-pany culture, and customizing the use of my Reframe, Rewrite, Redesign™ apprecia-tive intelligence model for organizational success.Bottom line: Prots rely on the power of human capital and proper alignment.

I am a Caucasian woman. My grand-father immigrated to the UnitedStates from Denmark around 1912.I have never experienced rst-handthe level of racism, hate, prejudice,or anger that many have felt andthat has come to the forefront of ourawareness again recently. I disagreewith the hate. The anger and fearare justied. The sadness is justied.I LOVE this girl’s sign because many have said “All Lives Matter” in re-sponse to the “Black Lives Matter”statement. I have been one of them.I have not said it out of anger. I havesaid it out of sadness.This girl’s statement that those whosay, “Black Lives Matter” recognizethat all lives matter struck a cordwith me. The people who are stating“Black Lives Matter” want everyoneto recognize that ALL LIVES MAT-TER and prejudice is uncalled for. I LOVE her sign!I recently gave an interview aboutturning fear and anger into positiveresponses. The wonderful womanwho interviewed me happens to be“black” and I happen to be “white.”She and I discussed how people likeRosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr.,Mahatma Gandhi, and others usedfear and anger to create CHANGE instead of destruction.
By Dr. Catherine Wiberg

Fear and anger are feelings that can prompt us to recognize that some-thing needs to change. Fear and an-ger signal a lack of information and a lack of security. If we feel angry orafraid, we have the opportunity to recognize those feelings and search ourselves to understand their caus-es. We then can create the change, promote the knowledge, demon-strate positive responses to the fear and anger.People are people.People are different from each other.Every person has something to offer to the world.Even people with roughly the same skin color have backgrounds differ-ent from each other.Learning about people for WHO THEY ARE opens us to opportuni-ties, knowledge, and enjoyment we would not have otherwise.Learning and choosing who WE ARE allows us to understand others.We MUST treat and respect ALL people with love, equality, and val-ue. Right now, and for many years leading to now, black lives matter because ALL LIVES matter.What does this have to do with re-framing, rewriting, and redesign-ing? What does it have to do with knowing, owning, and building on strengths? EVERYTHING!We can reframe the negative ex-periences we’ve had and nd the lessons we can learn, the things we want to do differently in similar sit-uations, and start enacting change. We can reframe the truly difcult things we’ve experienced and see the strength we’ve gained and the strengths we’ve developed as a re-sult.We can rewrite our present as we learn from our past. We redesign our futures by rewriting and changing our present!My husband just shared a song from 1998 with me that I haven’t heard for

a long time: “Thank You” by Alanis Morissette – co-written with Glen Ballard. Here’s a segment:How ’bout me not blaming you for everything?How ’bout me enjoying the moment for once?How ’bout how good it feels to nally forgive you?How ’bout grieving it all one at a time?…How ’bout no longer being masochistic?How ’bout remembering your divinity?How ’bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out?How ’bout not equating death with stopping?…Thank you providenceThank you disillusionmentThank you nothingnessThank you clarityThank you, thank you silenceLet’s consider the silence, clarity, nothingness, providence, and dis-illusionment of the past, and the present, and make a difference! We mustn’t blame others—especially not as whole groups.There are people who cause de-struction in all groups.There are wonderful people in all groups.Recognize people as individuals, not as groups, and we can grow together.We gain power as we take respon-sibility for our own responses and choose to make a difference by be-ing OUR BEST SELVES.We create power as we give others the same opportunity and encour-age them along the way to THEIR BEST SELVES.YOU can make a difference. YOU can change the world. YOU can show that lives matter – starting with you and reaching to all people who need protection.

Simone Sloan, Positive Disruptor Rph, MBAAs Founder and CEO of Your Choice Coach, Sim-one is an accomplished business strategist, ex-ecutive coach, and DEI consultant. She has held senior roles at Fortune 500 companies across marketing, communications, medical affairs, sales, and global business strategy. Her tenure includes successfully launching and leading prod-ucts and services, implementing programs for key stakeholders across the globe, and developing and training sales, medical, and technical teams.Simone’s mantra is “Voice, Power, Condence.” As an emotional intelligence executivecoach, she changes the way leaders and their businesses engage their employees andclients. Simone emphasizes the human element with a focus on diversity and inclusion.

Simone is an accomplished businessstrategist and coach with a careerin senior roles at Fortune 500 com-panies across marketing, communi-cations, medical affairs, sales, andglobal business strategy. Her tenureincludes successfully launching andleading products and services, im-plementing programs for key stake-holders across the globe, and devel-oping and training sales, medical,and technical teams.Simone’s mantra is “Voice, Power,Condence.” As an emotional intelli-gence executive coach, she changesthe way leaders and their businessesengage their employees and clients.Simone emphasizes the human el-ement with a focus on diversity andinclusion.Simone is a keynote speaker and hasbeen featured as a thought leader inarticles for Hufngton Post, Forbes,and Pharmacy Times. She is an ac-tive member of the Tri-State Diversi-ty Council and advocate for women,LGBTQI, BIPOC, people with disabil-ities, and cross-generations.Simone holds a BS in Pharmacy andan MBA from Howard University. Sheis co-author of the book: AchievingResults and 30 Days to Courage, andis certied in DISC, Emotional Intelli-gence (EQI) 2.0, IDI Cultural Compe-tence, Block Chain, Behavior Design,and is also accredited through theInternationalCoaching Federation.What advice do you have forimproving DEI in the workplace?It becomes important for leaders inthe workplace work with their em-ployees by listening to their employ-ees. Understand what is important tothem and areas to address and pri-oritize. Take a pulse of what is hap-pening within the organization’s cul-ture. Your Choice Coach takes a datadriven and people centric approach

to ensure we understand various functions across the organization and identify the gaps to address. We acknowledge areas of strength with-in the company and leverage those strengths to build momentum to create sustainable change.What are some of the biggest DEI challenges in the workplace, and what is HR’s role in that?One DEI of the many challenges I have seen is when organizations do not take the time to create/develop a documented strategy, one that can be scaled across the organization. Lack of a strategy impacts communi-cation, expectations, and creates an overall sense of feeling stuck or feel-ing of frustration for those who are really motivated about DEI. Without a strategy, leaders cannot effectively communicate the why or importance of DEI. Failure to communicate the strategy frequently, can cause con-fusion across the organization. Set the expectations so that people un-derstand their level of contribution, can create consistency, and model behaviours. Without expectations, people are doing things without any alignment to move the DEI and busi-ness forward, or a frozen layer de-velops across the organization that has not bought into this mindset and behavioural changes needed to sup-port DEI. HR has data that can be actioned. Support their leaders by identifying the gaps. If an employee survey is conducted, share the re-sults with the broader organization and commit to next steps. Ensure that the employees’ voices heard and communicate the approach that is planned to execute.How do you think HR can make a meaningful impact on DEI in 2023 and beyond?DEI requires a formal structure that is aligned to a business strategy. It requires DEI professionals, talent/HR, and the CEO. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is a shared responsibil-ity that should not be left for one department to solve. A dedicated resource is needed to foster, nurture, and cultivate it across the organiza-

tion. However, when DEI is left only in the hands of HR, competing pri-orities can undermine its true intent, causing it to be stied.It becomes imperative to operation-alize DEI through the organization’s people, culture, and business. HR plays a key role in ensuring equita-ble and inclusive practices, policies, and procedures are intentionally part of the hiring of new team members, overseeing the talent management lifecycle, administering benets, compensation forecasting, disci-plinary action and labor law compli-ance to name a few areas.What made you decide to get into leadership coaching?Earlier in my career I was exposed to a manager who was toxic and insecure. He did not know how to communicate, trust, delegate, coach, nor lead. I learned a lot from that experience and knew that was not the leader that I wanted to become. People get promoted based upon their skills, but are not necessarily groomed to manage a team let alone lead themselves. My work includes helping managers with performance effectiveness, emotional intelligence, awareness, and inclusive leadership. I would never want anyone to experi-ence a toxic manager.

From Statistica.2 graphs sized to compare on a 2% increment basis for a closer representation of the difference between men and women employment rate in the US. See Statistica for original graphs (women at 1% increments and men at 2%)

4 Tips for Inclusive LanguageIn the digital age, everything is me-morialized, especially in a profes-sional setting. There is a permanent digital trail of every email, message, Slack GIF you’ve sent. Last year alone, over 70% of ofce workers in the US adopted remote working, and many companies announced an option for employees to work from home forever.This seismic shift in the way we work is why digital communication is an indispensable skill. You want to make sure that the content and the context of your message is effective and appropriate. Most important-ly, because language is one of the most important and easiest ways to change the dynamics of a workplace, communication needs to be inclu-sive, concise, and clear.“A study from Gallup found that US companies lose $500 billion annually simply from bias in a workplace. A lot of the biases can be attributed to language and how people interpret it. That’s why we have to be very in-tentional with our word choice,” said Shirin Nikaein, CEO & Co-Found-er of Upful.ai, a behavioral-science backed coaching tool for writing effective and inclusive performance reviews and feedback. Words help us understand ourselves and the people around us. Now more than ever, communication needs to be effective and equitable.“One thing that people don’t recog-nize is how much language shapes their mental models and how much language shapes the categories that they use to make snap judgments and to analyze the world,” said Dr. Suzanne Wertheim, an anti-bias re-searcher, consultant, and linguist. “For example, the word ‘mankind’ supposedly represents ‘humankind’; ‘man’ supposedly represents ‘hu-man’.” By Shirin Nikaein

Using male-oriented language to re-fer to universal categories erases the presence of other gender identities on the gender continuum (e.g. fe-male, nonbinary, genderqueer, etc.)One of the simplest steps to ensure gender equity in the language is by using gender-inclusive pronouns. For example:Replace “Hi guys” with “Hi folks,” “Hi everyone,” “Hi y’all”Instead of using “he” or “she,” use “they,” “their,” “this person,” “themselves,” etc.Another easy way to be inclusive in your language is to use gender-neu-tral terms to eliminate gender ste-reotypes. For example:Instead of asking, “How did you and your wife meet?”, ask, “How did you and your partner meet?”Instead of asking “How did your mother and father meet?”, ask, “How did your parents meet?”Most importantly, if you haven’t already, start introducing yourself with pronouns. And if you don’t know what pronouns someone uses, please ask because it’s better to ask than it is to guess. All you have to do is say, “what pronouns do you use?” For example:Instead of saying, “Hi! My name is Joan,” you may say, “Hi! I’m Joan, and I use she/her/hers pronouns.”Add pronouns to your email signa-ture, social media proles, bios, etc.DO: Ditch words embedded with mental health stigmaDespite the availability of mental health interventions and treatment methods, nearly half of the popu-lation living with a disorder did not seek treatment, one of the major barriers being the stigma around mental health.“A stigma is an unchecked and neg-ative label on someone’s identity. There are many stigmas, including

ones that are related to gender, cul-ture, and even employment status,” Angel Hu, Organizational Psycholo-gist based in New York City. “Mental health related stigmas perpetuate the toxic cycle of shaming and blam-ing people who are living with real traumas and/or disorders.”To change this, we can start by re-moving phrases of mental illness or mental disability outside of the med-ical context or in a derogatory way. For example:Instead of saying, “I’m OCD” say “I’m super organized.”Instead of saying, “She’s insane,” say, “She seems impulsive.”Instead of saying, “My cat is anti-so-cial,” say, “My cat prefers to be alone.”Instead of saying, “This rain is so bipolar,” say, “This rain is so unpre-dictable.”DO: Shift from identity-first to person-first languageIn 2006, the Council of the District of Columbia enacted The People First Respectful Language Modernization Act of 2006, requiring “the use of re-spectful language when referring to people living with disabilities.” The enactment of this act shows how far we have yet to go on this journey of eliminating bias in our language.“Person-First Language (PFL) puts the person before the disability, and describes what a person has, not who a person is.” For example:Instead of saying “the autistic person,” say “the person who has autism”Instead of saying “the disabled”, say “the people with disabilities”For the most up-to-date guides on substituting outdated or offensive terms with Person-First Language, check out this list from The Ofce of Disability Rights... Keep reading >>

Vanina Pitsch is a career and leadership development coach as well as a mindful-ness facilitator. She is the founder of GloW-ell Coaching - a coaching and mindfulness company aimed at bringing empathy and mindfulness into organizations and support-ing professionals in their career and life so they can evolve to their next-level selves.Certied as a Personal and Professional Coach (PPCC) from Concordia University and Organizational Mindfulness Facilitator with the Institute of Organizational Science and Mindfulness (IOSM), she offers a vari-ety of coaching packages, workshops, and wellbeing events as well as retreats for pro-fessionals and organizations.

3 Steps To Be Create Equity by being Self AwareFirst and foremost, it’s important torecognize that everyone has bias-es whether they are conscious orunconscious and becoming awareof your own biases is the rst steptowards being more inclusive andmindful of others you interact withon a daily basis.Being passionate about leadershipdevelopment and creating inclusivework environments, I strongly be-lieve that the work starts with your-self hence leading yourself and lead-ing by example are fundamentals tomoving the needle in the right direc-tion.Having spent the last few yearsworking on myself to have a posi-tive impact on other people’s lives, Ihave identied three steps that youcan take to become more self-aware.Step 1: Cultivate objectivitySeeing ourselves objectively canbe difcult as we see and experi-ence life through our own lenses.This means that we see the worldthrough our own subjective obser-vations and we make connectionsbased on how past experiences haveshaped us. As such, it is important toconsider doing the following to culti-vate objectivity:Visually imagine how you are mov-ing from your own perspective (1stperson view) to someone else’s view(3rd person view). For example, youcan ask yourself: What is my friendor my colleague seeing?Notice how others react and behavearound you. For example, you canlook out for facial expressionsand observe other people’sbody... Keep Reading>>
By Vanina Pitsch

Megan Fuciarelli is the proud Founder of US Inc and serves as the Chief Empowerment Officer CEO As a retired school superintendent she has dedicated her entire professional career to navigating social justice issues and supporting people teams in being inclusive She holds a BS in Elementary Education a Masters in Reading M Ed in Educational Administration an ESL English as a Second Language endorsement and certificate from Harvard for Urban School Leadership In addition to schooling she is also a certified life coach and a Project Management Professional and Six Sigma graduate

You think your boss is a jerk Then you and your family run into him at the local coffee shop and you are surprised to discover he is funny interesting and thoughtful We ve heard the saying Don t judge a book by it s cover Yet that is what we do everyday because we don t have time to analyze a person s life story to figure out if we will hire them help them or dismiss them Your wife keeps saying she s fat when she isn t and its annoying Assumptions cause us to make judgements about people s character perYour best friend is forever boasting and sonality behaviours decisions belief being confrontational with you saying systems capabilities and hundreds of things you know they don t mean other factors You get passed over for a promotion and the guy who got it doesn t have the experience or skills you do but he is well liked by everyone Life seems to be a popularity contest and you have no clue why you are left out of the running We do this because we have experiences to draw from and knowledge to tap into when we need to make a decision about someone It is an innate survival skill we use to decide if someone we meet is friend or foe Leaders have to make a number of assumptions when hiring deciding who to give a project to and who is the best person to promote

If a leader wants to be fair should they eliminate all biases I don t think that is realistic because if we don t make assumptions to bridge gaps in the data we d never make a decision However being aware of the different potential biases you have can help you asses your interpretation of the data and your impressions of the person You can then recalibrate your assesment to a closer unbias truth Bias Defined A cognitive bias is an error in decision making due to personal beliefs experiences and assumptions Watch out for these biases Confirmation Bias is the tendency to gravitate to facts which confirm your already held beliefs To confirm you are right you seek out news and stats to back up your argu ment You only talk to people who have the same opinions as you and avoid conversations with those who disagree dismissing them as liars fake and outright wrong Overconfidence Bias is a more personalized extension of the confirmation bias Those who are overconfident will believe they can do something they ve never done before and if they succeed it s because of their innate skill and if they fail it was bad luck or the fault of others stopping them from doing what they needed to do to succeed The Actor Observer Bias is where you are able to excuse your short comings mistakes and losses due to situations in your life You were late to the meeting because you had jetlag and couldn t wake up in time not your fault However if someone else was to do the exact same thing for the exact same reason you d blame it on their inability to be responsible

In other words excuses for failure only apply to you whereas others are incapable incompetent and irresponsible good We overestimate the likelihood that good things will happen to us while underestimating the probability that negative events will impact our lives The opposite of this The False Consensus Effect is when is Pessimism Bias someone overestimates how many people agree with them They see The Narrative Fallacy occurs bethemselves as part of a majority recause we tell ourselves a story to gardless if the facts show they are in help us understand or interpret what the minority They assume everyone happened to us in the room agrees with them Anchoring Bias is when we use Incentive Caused Bias is acting a pre existing data as a reference certain way because the incentives point for all subsequent data and it are aligned to get you to make a skews our decision making processcertain decision or action You buy es because we can t see the new an item because it gives you extra data independently of what we alair miles or it s on sale ready learned Framing is when you make a decision because of how information is presented to you instead of relying only on the facts It is a regular tool of the sales professional to create a framing bias to help you make the decision they want you to make Hindsight Bias is when someone predicts something which turns out wrong and they change their story to I knew it all along I was just kidding before It is a common cognitive bias that involved the tendency of people to see events even random ones as more predictable than The Optimism Bias is when we tend they are to be too optimistic for our own

The hindsight bias occurs for a combination of reasons including our ability to misremember previous predictions our tendency to view events as inevitable and our tendency to believe we could have foreseen certain events Our memories of events tend to be influenced by what happened after the actual event This is known as the Misinformation Effect A person who witnesses a car accident or crime might believe that their recollection is crystal clear but researchers have found that memory is surprisingly susceptible to even very subtle influences Emotions can cloud our judgment and lead to poor decisions The Pain Avoiding Psychological Denial is the tendency to wish for something to be true to the point we cannot see the actual truth Loss Aversion is the tendency for people to not take risks because they are too scared they will lose what they have or won t succeed so why try Representative Bias happens when people believe there is a correlation between objects people events because they have similar characteristics The Halo Effect Bias or Physical Attractiveness Stereotype is the idea that if something is beautiful it is good or right When making decisions about others think about these cognitive biases and how they are affecting your relationship with your team members Let s talk about biases as they pertain to equity in the workplace

Mitch McConnell, the longest-serv-ing Senate Republican Leader inAmerican history, unanimously elect-ed to lead the conference eighttimes since 2006. He was talkingabout Democrat Elizabeth Warren.The Origins of theShe Persisted Quote“Nevertheless, she persisted,” is amotto adopted by the modern dayfeminist movement in 2017 after anincident in the US Senate.US Senator Elizabeth Warren waspersistent in her determination toread a letter while voicing her opin-ion against Jeff Sessions conrma-tion as US Attorney General. Menin the Senate kept trying to silenceher and she did not let that stop her,she read the letter. When the me-dia asked Mitch McConnell abouthis attempts to silence her , he said,“Nevertheless, She Persisted.”During the conrmation of Jeff Ses-sions as Attorney General, ElizabethWarren protested his appointmentand proceeded to read a letter writ-ten by Coretta Scott King, widowof Martin Luther King, about heropinion of Mr. Sessions’ lack of suit-ability as a federal judge. As SenatorWarren read the letter, she was inter-rupted by Republican Senator ChairSeve Daines and soon after, SenatorMitch McConnel asked for a vote tosilence Senator Warren forcing herto take her seat.At this point Democrat Senator JeffMerkley continued to read the letterwithout disruption or a vote to si-lence him.Afterwards, a reporter asked MitchMcConnel for his thoughts on theSenate silencing Senator Warren, towhich he replied, Senator Warrenwas giving a lengthy speech. She

had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she per-sisted.[10]As women, we have had our voices silenced by men too often and to see it in our government was up-setting for those who have been silenced by the men in their lives too often. So in 2018, women ad-opted the quote as the rally cry for the rights of women on International Women’s month for that year. I still experience this and have in a number of ways. Not getting the job. “They went with the man, though you were the better candi-date.” Came the voice of the recruit-er through the phone, she was less than impressed and vowed to never work with them again. I’ve had men tell me that I didn’t know what I was talking about or they weren’t interested, only to have a man tell them the same thing and they though it was the best idea since sliced bread. What Journalists had to SayAccording to Daniel Victor of The New York Times, “A broad-er theme—that women are too commonly shushed or ignored—emerged on social media.”[5] Victor also noted that “a man silencing a woman struck some as all too com-mon”, and “rang familiar with many women who had their own stories of being silenced.”[5] The Atlantic’s Megan Garber wrote, “American culture tells women to be quiet—many ways they are re-minded that they would really be so much more pleasing if they would just smile a little more, or talk a lit-tle less, or work a little harder to be pliant and agreeable.”[4] Further, she wrote, when Senator Warren was silenced, “many women, regardless of their politics or place ... felt that silencing, viscerally ... Because, re-gardless of their politics or place, those women have heard the same thing, or a version of it, many times before.”[4]

Heidi Stevens of the Chicago Tribune commented, “Three little words that women can draw on for decades to come, when something needs to be said and, darn it, we plan to say it. When we’re being talked over in meetings. When we’re ghting to be heard in male-dominated elds. When we’re standing up for our val-ues. When we’re doing valuable work and people reduce us to our appear-ance.”[27]Valerie Schultz wrote in America: the Jesuit Review of Faith & Culture, “It is a phrase we women embrace because persistence is what we do.”[28] After describing stories of persistent women from the Gospels, she concluded:“We women persist. Isn’t that our job? Throughout history, we have persisted in our quest for respect, for justice, for equal rights, for suffrage, for educa-tion, for enfranchisement, for recog-nition, for making our voices heard. In the face of violence, of opposition, of ridicule, of belittlement, even of jail time, nevertheless, we have persist-ed.”[28]Women have persisted. Read the sto-ries in the Bible about women. Read the history books about women from Ancient Egypt to today and you will nd stories of women who found ways to get what they wanted, even when they didn’t have power within govern-ment, workplaces, or even the home. Women will continue to persist.After reading about women from An-cient Egypt until now, I am surprised that we didn’t revolt, rise up, tell the men to take a hike. Reading these stories through the glasses of the 21st Century, I couldn’t imagine wanting to bring a daughter into the world to suffer the mistreatment of men.Because I am reading incomplete sto-ries cherry picked from the annals of history with the viewpoint of a western woman in the 21st Century, I do won-der why men hated women to treat them so poorly and care so little for their plight in life. Click the button to join the discussion about thestory of women.

Sympathy is Not Empathy I was talking with my young adult son about the homeless in Vancouver and what the city needs to be doing about it at one point he says to me Let me understand this My empathetic mother who understands what others go through and cries when they share their stories doesn t empathise with the homeless This is what I m hearing right now This felt like a punch in the gut My response was defensive because I do care about their situation Mom you re sympathetic but you have no empathy for them What was the difference and why were my solutions to the homeless situation reflecting a lack of empathy Sympathy is not Empathy As my son pointed out it is important to understand the difference between sympathy and empathy to know how to elicit the right reaction in your brand storytelling Sympathy is feeling of pity or sorrow for other people who are experiencing a negative event in their lives You don t have to understand their pain to feel bad for them and wish they weren t going through it When you sympathise you don t fully understand what they are going through and do not feel their pain or joy deep in your soul Empathy is an Understanding Empathy is more than sympathy because you understand how another person feels and why they feel that way When you empathise with someone else you feel what they feel and understand what they are going through You are able to connect because you have a shared experience even if it was different events with similarities People mistake empathy for sympathy because they don t understand

the definition between the two John is a manager and believes he needs to be seen as a caring individual During a meeting he received a text from someone who experienced a loss and John stopped the meeting he was in because he needed a moment to compose himself He was feeling upset about this text When the participants of the meeting suggested cutting the meeting short he said I can call him after the meeting I just need to process this news I m feeling empathy right now John was sympathetic to the text and concerned about how the news was making him feel in the moment If he d had an empathic response his response would have been about what the other person needed from him at that moment not what he was feeling himself John wanted the people in the meeting to see him as empathetic but he wasn t he was sympathetic telligence and experiences If you are laying someone off and you say something to make them feel better to placating them it s sympathy not empathy We placate other s emotions with statements like When one door closes another on opens or You re better off without him When we use these canned positive thinking statements we are trying to get the other person to feel better so we can stop having an uncomfortable conversation We want to slap a band aid on it and move on That is sympathy you feel bad for them but you really don t want to sit with their pain Empathy sits with them in pain until they have fully processed it Sympathy often involves a lot of judgement Empathy has none Sympathy comes from our logical or rational intelligence and empathy comes from our emotional in Sympathy involves understanding from

Can a Job Search Cause PTSD When my planned project for May and June pulled the plug before I started I suddenly felt the need to find a J O B to pay the bills I was open to doing anything even working as a barista down the street perience I m easy to get along with I have strong soft skills I m knowledgeable I have a superhero work ethic which helps me complete projects within record time My work is always high quality and beyond after all a girl has to eat I opened up the computer started searching the help wanteds and couldn t apply for one posting I was qualified overqualified in most cases have the skills and required experience however I couldn t apply for one job because of a complete epic meltdown and I don t mean the computer most expectations So why does looking for work cause me anxiety I didn t need to borrow Sheldon s fr Big Bang brown paper bag but it was a close call The Interview Process Some job postings took all day to apply for and then the interview process was months long Multiple times I went to interview after interview to get down to one of the last two candidates only to be told I was not the person for them Once I applied as a writer for a cyWhy does the idea of submitting bersecurity company an industry I resumes and going on job interviews knew nothing about and the procreate such a strong negative recess took months because I first had action I am skilled My skills are in to submit my resume portfolio of demand I am educated I have exwork and answer questions in the

application Once the interview process began I was asked to write an article they would be able to use free of charge This meant time and research to prove I could produce the quality they wanted which I did I made it through the application process went through the multi level interview process completed the research writing assignment and then after the last interview the CEO was called in to interview me one on one I bombed big time He walked in wearing a University sweatshirt jeans and a cold intense persona I tried to be personable asking if he liked the University He shot me down asked me a couple questions asked if I had any and I stammered through some dumb question about marketing strategy He looked at me like I was an idiot and said I don t know I leave that up to the marketing department and walked out I was 100 positive it didn t go well and I was right I didn t get the job It was probably for the best Interviewer Bias I thought recruiters would be helpful boy was I wrong One young woman recruiter asked me to elaborate about what I was doing from 2003 2006 Simple answer I owned and ran a dayhome where I managed the needs of 8 families 11 children and 6 school schedules plus I was the Volunteer Coordinator for the Minor Soccer Association where I managed the volunteer requirements for 800 families and planned 3 events within 3 months all on a shoestring budget The outcome of all three was high praise from vendors and an event of epic proportions for the community She said I sounded like a bored housewife and I shouldn t tell the story to the company she was sending me to interview for She wasn t the first to tell me this or some version of it The next day the interviewer asked about this time and I answered

Professionalism and Emotions In today s digital world your personal brand story must reflect your professionalism because whether we receive a promotion or a pink slip can be contingent on how leadership perceives our behaviour image and the quality of our work all of which define our professional image Many of us get tripped up our emotions and behave in a manner that causes a negative consequence we weren t expecting Professionals show up and do the job no matter how they feel and this expectation can give us the impression that professionals are robots instead of feeling and flawed humans trust We want to believe people will give us the doubt and help us when we hurt because they are caring individuals Sure your boss does care about you as a person However he she still has a job to do targets to hit and people holding him her accountable for the teams productivity To succeed in an office environment you need to understand your emotions your behaviours and those of others Unemotional but Not too Unemotional Behaviours based on our feelings The personal branding advice telling will have an impact on our success us we need to be authentic honest because how we interact with othand real can have long reaching con ers is vital to how those who hold sequences in our professional lives the power to hire fire and promote because people are still human and will perceive our value over the humans are judgemental unforgivlongterm ing quick to dismiss and slow to

Professionals walk a fine line between showing their personality and keeping their emotions in check They do this by embracing their positive emotions and dealing with negative emotions appropriately When someone asks a professional How are the kids They will share just enough information to create connection with the person but not too much information They mention the positive things and keep the rest private The easy answer is to leave the phone in the glove compartment of the car The realistic answer is only check personal texts after work when it is safe for you to have an emotional tornado rip through your life Is Professionalism Changing at Work As much as we would like to believe the world is becoming a more caring place where employers care about the personal well being of their em They professionals exhibit a high ployees this is a facade because we degree of emotional intelligence EI are human by considering the emotions and needs of others and they don t let Employers want to know the peoa bad day impact how they interact ple on their payroll are stable prowith colleagues or clients ductive and consistent The more information they have about your This means to behave in a profeswreck of a personal life the less consional manner you must leave your fidence they will have about your problems in the car no matter how longterm ability to focus on your upset you are about your dog being tasks and not disrupt the workplace sick the kids making bad choices and your marriage being on the Leave your bad mood at the door rocks In a world of 24 7 connectivity when you come to work We all have how does one remain professional at days when we aren t feeling work when their personal problems our best Remember not keep showing up on their phones to take it out on your

How to Stop Criticizing Others John felt like he was always flying off the handle with his team at work It seemed like everyone was unhappy and no one was good at their job After his team missed yet another deadline he brought them together to discuss the problem and find a solution the team s targets easily Were they the problem or was he When he mentioned this problem to a friend he invited John to join a Mastermind group to help him find a solution John told his Mastermind group about the meeting and how disappointed he was in everyone and He started the meeting by saying the meeting s lack of solutions The Well you all did it again missed group listened while he expressed the deadline and now we all don t his frustration then they gave him get the bonus He grabbed a report constructive feedback Brian asked and flipped the pages Stacy do him John is everyone on your team you even know what you re doing incompetent John assured them It looks like you slapped it together they were all competent and talentlast minute The rest of the meeting ed individuals They just were percontinued the same way with others forming below their potential taking up the blame game to direct John s attention elsewhere Sarah went on to explain If you criticize their work constantly you He left the meeting drained and are setting the tone of the group to confused He knew the team was be one of criticism and blame They made up of skilled and experienced will not perform for fear of getting individuals who should be hitting yelled at by you

This made sense to John and he wanted to make a change Sarah introduced him to the complaint formula for communication created by Dr John Gottman Talk about a specific situation After stating your feelings describe the situation or behavior that caused that feeling This approach removes the personThe Complaint Formula al blame which results in attaching negative attributes to character abilDr John Gottman refined the skill of ities or talents You are saying the effective complaining down to a sim behaviour is at issue not the person ple three part formula With a little practice and persistence it will help It is along the lines of hate the beteam members to talk to each other haviour not the child Parents who without doing harm focus on the child s shortcoming through blame and shame attack Express how you feel the child s worth When they focus on the behaviour they empower the Effective complaints are best child through learning and developlaunched by stating how you feel ment A feeling may be an emotion like anger or fear or a physical state like State a positive need tiredness or pain Finally ask the person to take posiIt moves away from blame and per tive action to resolve the complaint sonal attacks which accompany criticism and often begins with absolute Using this formula doesn t guarantee phrases like you always or you complaints will be resolved never It does give teams a tool they can use to express

Are we Valuing the Right Things Equality between genders happened because women decided they wanted the right to vote and fought hard for that right They didn t see themselves as the same as men but they believed they deserved the same rights as men Why does measuring how many women are in certain leadership roles determine women s success in today s workforce Corporations were created by men and run by men for centuries so why are women determined to measure our success by competing in their world Is that what equality means That we can compete head to head with the big boys by beating them at their own game which is stacked to the alpha masculine characteristics We are still missing the point We are still putting too much value on the things men consider valuable instead of the things women do and it is over burdening us and making it harder for us to get to the top of our own success ladders Some women excel in a masculine highly competitive environment to make it to the top of the ladder in business and they should be offered all the opportunity and chances to get there But whether women have made it and are finally equal based on how many women run Fortune 500 companies needs to stop Choosing to put your children in front of your career is still seen as a poor choice by many men and women I have first hand experience of this bias from my days trying to crack open that door and get hired by companies with my family first history I chose to free myself by taking control of my own success I struck out on my own to build my own empire on my terms Like many women in the world I am building

something outside of the historic masculine corporate structure focusing on traditional feminine values of collaboration empathy and support We need to stop looking down on traditional female roles We need to start valuing them the same as we do traditional masculine roles When we do that We will truly be equal until then we continue to say being female isn t good enough because we need to be more masculine and to be equal Building feminine values businesses that cater to the way we naturally behave to compete in the marketplace is a good goal in my opinion We don t need to do it the way men do it In fact it s better to not do it the way men do it Let them do it their way and we can do it our way We don t need to feel pressured to be at the big boys table Hell It s time we said forget that noise I m setting my own damn table and am going to create a place of inclusion and growth for like minded women I m not saying women shouldn t want to work for corporations or go after political leadership roles I m just saying we need to stop comparing our success based on the rules men created We can go out and build something amazing and show them how it s done Woman style Agree Disagree Add your opinion to the conversation