Power Up for DEI: Take The Lead Does It Differently
The 2021 Take The Lead conference, Power Up: Igniting The Intentional Leader for DEI is 4/15 12-4 p.m. ET.
It’s far past time to walk the talk.
While many business conversations feature diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at companies in the U.S. and globally, putting these ideals into practice has been elusive, if not mismanaged and ignored.
“While many business conversations feature #DEI initiatives at companies in the U.S. and globally, putting these ideals into practice has been elusive, if not mismanaged and ignored. #PowerUpConference”
The impact of COVID-19 on women and under-represented communities financially, physically, socially and professionally has been catastrophic over the past year. Compounded by the ongoing and historic racial injustices and inequities upheld by systems, companies and organizations means that an invigorated push toward DEI shifts is critical now.
Take The Lead is working to transform the systems of leadership with its latest conference and summit, Power Up: Igniting the Intentional Leader for DEI, April 15, 12-4 p.m. The goal is not just to talk about the need for DEI training and implementations, the mission is to change from talk to action with new research, insights and hands-on solutions and strategies from scores of experts and leaders.
“The 2021 @Takeleadwomen conference, #PowerUp: Igniting The Intentional Leader for #DEI is April 15, 12-4 p.m. ET. The mission is to change from talk to action with new research, insights and hands-on solutions and strategies from scores of experts and leaders. ”
Register here for the DEI conference
“The promise of the summit is that we can provide solutions for companies to create a culture of inclusion that is even more important in a pandemic, when 5 million women lost their jobs,” says Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead.
“ “The promise of the summit is that we can provide solutions for companies to create a culture of inclusion that is even more important in a pandemic, when 5 million women lost their jobs,” says @GloriaFeldt, co-founder and president of @Takeleadwomen. #PowerUpConference #DEI”
“We can do this all through presenting original research; offering opportunities for hands-on training for rethinking DEI and offering immediately usable skills and techniques to implement DEI strategies. We offer your organization’s staff ways to lead when BIPOC groups are under historic, ongoing and current attacks,” says Feldt. “We have the capacity to deliver impactful training and coaching for companies to achieve their DEI goals.”
DEI is at the top of the agenda for companies of all kinds and organizations looking to be just and equitable in hiring, training, leadership opportunities and establishing and maintaining a culture where everyone is treated fairly.
“#DEI is at the top of the agenda for companies of all kinds and organizations looking to be just and equitable in #hiring, training, #leadership opportunities and establishing and maintaining a culture where everyone is treated fairly. ”
Read more in Take The Lead on DEI efforts
According to People Matters, “Investing in cultural, legal, and operational infrastructure is the way forward for companies who want to implement DEI in the right manner. And it’s essential to get the implementation right, otherwise, as a study recently pointed out - $9 billion is lost annually due to poor implementation of DEI policies.”
Research shows failing is costly not only literally in monies lost, but in personnel lost and reputations and branding damaged. The opposite is also true, that implementing DEI solutions solves not only personnel problems, but creates profits for a number of different reasons.
“Companies with a specific focus on DEI have 35% higher returns than companies that do not and have as much as 19% higher innovation revenues.” People Matters reports. “In addition to this, there are some retention and engagement specific returns as well; over half of all employees want their current organization to increase their diversity, while nearly a third of all job seekers consider DEI to be an important factor in the organization they hope to work in.”
Read more in Take The Lead on DEI efforts
What is required is not to just offer lip service to the urgency of DEI, but to change the systems to not only innovate but to track progress and make changes where needed. Announcing the hiring of a person responsible for DEI is not enough. The understanding that fairness must be at the root of all a company’s dealings internally and externally is essential.
And this is not happening.
GreenBiz reports, “The Wall Street Journal reviewed more than 160 annual reports filed by S&P companies for 2020. Only a third provided diversity disclosures. More specifically, GE reported that approximately 76 percent of its U.S. workforce was white as was 81 percent of its leadership. PwC declared that 60 percent of its employees were white. Sectors that are particular DEI laggards include academia, environmental organizations, fashion, journalism, museums, professional football and technology companies.”
According to Green Biz, “Why has so little progress been achieved despite decades of implementing civil rights legislation, philanthropic activities, and more than $20 billion spent each year on DEI programs, conferences, consultants, surveys and training sessions? For many organizations, a direct DEI connection to their mission has not been made by leadership whose inattentiveness or non-receptivity cascades downwards into the culture.”
Read more in Take The Lead on diversity failures
Additionally, “Workforce composition may be insufficiently diverse to respond to DEI dynamics, thus limiting bottom-up pressures upon management (in contrast to much stronger employee engagement in environmental sustainability). Across many institutions, the motivation for maintaining even modest DEI activities stems from a desire to avoid legal risk from potential discrimination cases, or to communicate that ‘we care’ about the issue,” according to GreenBiz.
An innovative element of Take The Lead’s Power Up summit is new research. Brielle Valle, owner of Brielle Valle Consulting, a leadership consulting firm focused on educating and empowering middle management and implementing women's equity programming, unveils her extensive “Default to Responsibility,” research at the summit.
“An innovative element of @Takeleadwomen ‘s #PowerUpConference is new research. @BrielleValle, owner of Brielle Valle Consulting, unveils her extensive “Default to Responsibility,” research at the summit. #genderequity”
Surveying and interviewing 66 women with the average age of 35, who were white, Black, Latina, South Asian and East Asian, and Pacific Islander, Valle found an unfair distribution of labor at home and at work with little flexibility or support for families, plus additional invisible work compounded by the pandemic .
“In the construct of everything adjusting and changing historically,” Valle says, “nothing has changed for women. As we have progressed forward, for women, it is just added on, not shedding.”
Using what she calls the Thermometer Principle, a corporate climate assessment of understanding pressure points and factors of corporate weakness, Valle says she will address necessary steps for companies diving into their DEI practices.
“First we must re-evaluate benefits and policies, “ Valle says, with equal amounts of paternity and maternity leave. “Second we must implement some form of a gender equity steering committee. Next is the training of managers who need to be willing to support employees and be flexible.” Empathy is key.
All this is part of Crisis Preparation and Crisis Recovery, Valle says.
Other new research unveiled at the summit comes from Hootology, including a “study looking at the impact of the consumer's perception of companies being seen as valuing diversity, so more of a feeling/perception than a tactical element,” says Stefanie Francis, founder and lead innovator of Hootology. “Additionally, we also look at the perceived importance of corporations valuing diversity by most any combination of target demographics.”
Ongoing systemic racism “has been urgent for most of us for a long time and one of our Corporate Diversity Index objectives is for all corporate diversity initiatives to not be reactionary, but authentic and intentional,” says Francis, who will be presenting research at the summit along with Jose Delgado, Vice President of Partner Success, Hootology.
A key element of the summit that is different from other efforts is the availability throughout the conference of live information sessions with three Take The Lead Leadership Ambassadors.
“A key element of the @Takeleadwomen #PowerUp summit that is different from other efforts is the availability throughout the conference of live information sessions with three @Takeleadwomen Leadership Ambassadors. #womenleaders”
Vidhi Data, founder and CEO of Lead With Impact; Tanu Ghosh, an engineer at Intel; and Felicia Davis, CEO, Joyful Transformations, and founder of The Black Women’s Collective.
Data will also lead a session, “The Role of Coaching In Advancing DEI.” Davis co-leads a session, “Racial Healing: A Candid Conversation,” with Nancy O'Reilly PsyD, Founder, WomenConnect4Good and author of In This Together: How Successful Women Support Each Other in Business and Life.
“This specialized, strategically-built virtual experience features unparalleled speaking sessions, thought-leading research, and highly-interactive panel discussions to ignite change and leverage the skills gained at the Summit to create change in life, work and community,” says Dr. Joynicole Martinez, CEO of The Alchemist Agency, and summit panelist.
Martinez will speak on the panel, “What's Next: Building DEI Intentionally Into The Work,” along with Ana Flores, Founder & CEO, #WeAllGrow Latina Network; Cate Luzio, Founder & CEO, Luminary and Surabhi Lal, Chief Impact Officer, Luminary and Take The Lead Leadership Ambassador.
Other Power Up summit sessions include “On Becoming A JEDI: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion That Make Diversity Work Work,” featuring Pardis Mahdavi PhD, Dean of Social Sciences and Director of the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University.
Coming at a crucial time in the country’s economic and cultural recovery from the pandemic, restructuring with DEI tools to address inequities is crucial.
“@Takeleadwomen ‘s #PowerUp summit comes at a crucial time in the country’s economic and cultural #recovery from the pandemic, when it is essential to restructure with #DEI tools to address inequalities. ”
“Getting DEI right in 2021 is achievable…A notable key to a successful DEI program will be crafting a sustainable strategy tailored to the business and being able to proactively adapt to avoid having employees see DEI as a ‘check-the-box’ exercise,” reports Industry Week.
“Dynamic DEI initiatives that include active participation from management will help foster and promote an inclusive workplace and allow (companies) to experience the benefits that come with a more diverse workforce,” Industry Week reports.
Learn more on Take The Lead’s Coaching Programs
This DEI summit is only one part of Take The Lead’s efforts to create a more just and fair culture of work. The latest “Creating a Culture of Inclusion” program offers organization leaders a clear understanding of what implicit bias is and how it affects their decisions, behaviors, and judgments toward others as well as their own self-perceptions.
The inclusion program also offers the concept of culturally multilingual communication skills and the opportunity to create a plan to achieve growth in leadership advancement among underrepresented groups.
“@Takeleadwomen ‘s inclusion program offers the concept of culturally multilingual communication skills and the opportunity to create a plan to achieve growth in #leadership #advancement among underrepresented groups.”
Read more on the new Culture of Inclusion Program across identities
"There has never been a more relevant time for organizations to move forward in their diversity and inclusion journey," says Feldt. "Leaders must step up to design programs and develop internal cultures that ensure their organization contributes to a national environment that compels fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people."
““There has never been a more relevant time for organizations to move forward in their #diversity and #inclusion journey,” says @GloriaFeldt, president and co-founder of @Takeleadwomen. #PowerUpConference”
