Being treated differently because you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community is a real issue, and it’s alive and well in many, if not most organizations. This is confirmed in the dozens of conversations I’ve had with gay men and women about their professional experiences at work. But it’s also backed up with quantitative and qualitative data. For example, 15 to 45 percent of LGBTQ people suffer some form of discrimination on the job. 10 to 20 percent have been passed over for a job or been fire...

The world around us seems to be increasingly defined by hate. The Russians and the Ukrainians, the Palestinians and the Israelis, the Chinese and the Uyghur Muslims, India’s war on Islam, the US and women’s rights, Florida and the LGBTQ+ community. Each one of these geopolitical crises is a war on diversity where minority populations are in a “fight to exist.” They are fighting against leaders working to eliminate minority voices. These leaders invoke preservation as their key narrative. They...

When we think about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), our mind often goes to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and those that are differently-abled. But do these differences represent the full landscape of DEI? What topics do we still avoid? The one I broach in this episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO is weight stigma. It may surprise you to learn that overweight people regularly suffer discrimination in the form of assumptions that they are lazy, less competent and less quali...

This episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO is the second of a two-part series that answers the following question: How can organizations do a better job of recognizing talented women of color and promoting them into decision making and leadership roles? It is important to realize that talent doesn’t get promoted or retained just because it gets recognized. Part 2 focuses on this reality. We explore stories about the challenges faced by 4 high-performing Women of Color. These stories help...

This episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO is the first of a two-part series that answers the following question: How can organizations do a better job of recognizing talented women of colour and promoting them into decision making and leadership roles? Women of colour represent an intersectional population that is often subject to overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. This poses significant challenges for professional women of colour when being recrui...

Is representation important? Whenever you have this discussion with organizational leaders, the answer is always the same, “It’s very important.” But in my experience, the time leaders take to understand representation, its nuances, and its inherent challenges is quite limited. In this episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO, I attempt to answer three key questions organizational leaders must consider when attempting to increase the level of representation in their organizations: (1) Can y...

Why do organizations struggle with creating inclusive organizational cultures that would allow them to retain strong and diverse talent? The Answer: Organizations struggle with creating an inclusive context because with less than 5% of leaders in organizations being women, black, indigenous, people of colour or members of the LGBTQ+ communities, inclusion is simply not a challenge they have personally faced. The majority of leaders of Canadian and US organizations today have not h...

Phobias are a form of anxiety disorder. When you have a fear of heights or a fear of clowns, you can’t be rational, you can’t be deliberate, and you do everything in your power to put distance between you and your fear. Fear of Muslims or fear of Islam doesn’t work that way because it’s not a phobia. It is hate, it is discrimination, it is biased, it is unfair, and it is irrational, but it is not a phobia. When someone has a phobia, the appropriate reaction is empathy....

Can organizations afford to be silent or even neutral on important geo-political issues that cut at the heart of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Is silence the right strategy in the face of black voting rights, the tragedy that is Israel and Palestine, the 215 indigenous children found in a mass grave site in Canada, or the internment of almost 2 million Uyghur Muslims in Western China? This episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO explains how silence is not an option. The epi...

Are you more aware of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in your organization today than you were a year ago? Your answer is likely YES. Is hiring a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) an important move for your organization? A CDO is someone who helps your organization create not only an inclusive working context but also leverage diversity to make an important contribution to your competitive advantage and your bottom line. This episode of VOICES WORTH LISTENING TO ans...