Real Threat? How AI, Gender Bias, Skills Focus Changing Workplaces Now

“They have skills.”

That statement has been universally and historically viewed as a compliment to an employee, colleague or leader.

It still is, but now there is an asterisk to the statement. Looking forward with the influx of artificial intelligence and automation in the workplace, it may precede a path to worker replacement. Individuals need to know the value they offer beyond their skills, and that those skills are not automatically generated cheaper and more easily. And they need to surpass the AI gatekeepers and algorithms steeped in gender and racial bias.

Buffalo: Leaders Must Rise to The Challenge

First, say their names: Margus D. Morrison, 52; Andre Mackneil, 53; Aaron Salter, 55; Geraldine Talley, 62; Celestine Chaney, 65; Heyward Patterson, 67; Katherine Massey, 72; Pearl Young, 77; and Ruth Whitfield 86. On behalf of all of us at Take The Lead, we mourn the loss of their lives and stand in solidarity with their loved ones.

The SumGloria FeldtMay 23, 2022Racism, Leadership, ViolenceComment

(Un)equal Pay Day: Is it Good News or Bad News?

Issue 193 — March 14, 2022

It’s progress to be sure that March 15 marks Equal Pay Day 2022. Women now earn 83% of what men earn for matched full time work.

Last year the annual recognition of when U.S. women had to work into 2021 before they earned what men earned what men did in just 12 months of 2020 occurred on March 24. The year before that, the day was March 31.

The SumGloria FeldtMarch 14, 2022Equal Pay Day, gender equality, Racism, WorkplaceComment

How Black History Month Can Help Us All “Uncover Ourselves”

Issue 190 — February 7, 2022

Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the 1619 Project said it like this: “At some point when you have proven yourself and fought your way into institutions that were not built for you, when you’ve proven you can compete and excel at the highest level, you have to decide that you are done forcing yourself in,” she writes in her statement explaining why she left the University of North Carolina after an acrimonious but ultimately successful tenure battle to take the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Reporting at Howard University.

The SumGloria FeldtFebruary 7, 2022Black History Month, Intentioning, Black Lives Matter, RacismComment

How long until justice? Juneteenth symbolizes both question and answer

June 18, 2021

Growing up deep in the heart of Texas, I learned in (segregated) school that Juneteenth was a big celebration day for Black people because it marked the date on which the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, finally reached Texas on June 19th, 1865.

This date, when federal troops arrived in Galveston to take control of the state after the Civil War, at last ended the egregious practice of legal human slavery in the United States.

Say No To Hate: Teach Equality, Justice For All

Issue 163 — March 22, 2021

First and foremost, I stand and Take The Lead, as an organization, stands in solidarity with Asian Americans, and against the rising hate crimes and harassment against them.

Since hearing the terrible news of the murders of eight people, six of them Asian women, in Atlanta massage parlors on March 16, the words of the song from Rogers and Hammerstein’s 1949 musical South Pacific have been repeating in my mind.

The SumGloria FeldtMarch 22, 2021Asian Women, Sexism, RacismComment

How To Fight Hate: CEO, Founder On The Positive Way Forward Now

Dr. Joynicole Martinez does not want to talk about her many advanced degrees. For the record, the founder and CEO of The Alchemist Agency has seven. Two bachelors degrees, three masters degrees and two doctorates.

Martinez wants to talk about cultural change, racial, gender and economic equity and her mission to disrupt white nationalism and supremacy, racism, sexism and social injustice.

Beyond Optics: How To Create Allyship In An Anti-Racist Work Culture

It’s better to do good than to just look good. Non-optical allyship is the goal.

The protests, violence and disruptions of the past weeks after the murder of George Lloyd --whose name is added to the perpetual roster of Black men and women killed in this country as a result of racism-- are symptomatic of the larger systems and infrastructures that must change in business and far beyond.

5 Powerful Lessons for Changemakers from Diahann Carroll’s Life

I distinctly remember when the actress Diahann Carroll began starring in the sitcom “Julia” about a nurse who’s also a widowed single mom to an elementary school-aged son living in suburbia. Sounds pretty ordinary, right? But Julia was Black, it was 1968, and the Civil Rights Movement was in full bloom of progress and simultaneously receiving violent pushback.

The SumGloria FeldtOctober 7, 2019Racism, Diahann Carroll, Values, Identity, Media Comments

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