Robert Beaven, Chief Operating Officer at Jennifer Brown Consulting, a global diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) firm, joined Nabeel Ahmad's Organizational Strategy & Learning class to discuss practical ways to teach inclusive leadership practices through positive examples.
Mr Beaven's remarks touched on the state of DEI efforts, where they are often weaponized in the workplace, media and by politicians. He advised students to focus on inclusion through a series of simple yet effective exercises that anyone can do.
Cognitive diversity - be around people who think differently than you, so that you may learn alternate and complementary perspectives to solve a challenge and evaluate your own thinking.
Psychological safety - create an environment where people feel it is acceptable to speak up without fear of any negative consequences to them.
Call someone in vs out - when you see something problematic from a coworker, privately call them in the act of the behavior and explain their misstep with compassion and patience.
Make people aware - from the anxiety-ridden receiving of late-night and weekend emails to recreating uncomfortable scenes with actors where others can observe behavioral exclusions.
Be curious, not judgmental - the Walt Whitman quote recently popularized by the critically acclaimed TV series Ted Lasso, focuses on asking questions as a way of understanding instead of rushing to judgment without context.
