5 things / DEI
This week I published my 100th #1ThingILearnedThisWeek video on LinkedIn.
I can hardly believe it.
I believe in leading with vision and courage, not with fear, and my goal is that these best practices in DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and corporate social responsibility will inspire you in your work and life.
It's been suggested that these best practices be delivered via a 1-minute daily podcast. What do you think of this idea? We can make this happen if there's enough interest. Please reply and let me know if you'd like to start listening to these pieces of daily good news in podcast format. If I hear from at least 20 people, we'll look into it further.
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Here's the summary of what I learned this week:
#5ThingsILearnedThisWeek:
If you didn't catch Michelle Williams' Emmy acceptance speech, here's the link for a masterclass in allyship. Among other things, she speaks out about pay inequity, in particular, the racial pay gap. It's an inspiring 60 seconds of your time.
Heat, a Deloitte agency, studied the ads from 50 brands in 8 industries over 2 years, and discovered that traditionally under-represented people are increasingly visible in ads. Beyond that, those brands that feature the most people of color and women in ads averaged a 44% stock increase over those 2 years.
This week Mattel introduced Creatable World, a new doll with no obvious gender. It includes interchangeable hairstyles and clothing that is neither masculine nor feminine. This doll can be a boy, a girl, neither, or both a boy and a girl. With more kids who see gender beyond the binary, this doll is a game changer.
JLL, a commercial real estate firm, pulled its sponsorship and speakers from the Multi-Family Housing Summit in NYC. The summit promised to discuss investing in areas with high black and Latinx populations, yet the speaker lineup included no black speakers. This type of allyship matters because it forces conference organizers to be more inclusive, and the increased diversity of perspectives can then change the discussion in meaningful ways.
Finally, yesterday I saw a headline on the front page of my village newspaper that the local school district will have an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum next year. I knew the Illinois law passed, but it was still inspiring to see the headline in my little small town paper. This curriculum will save lives, and would have been transformative to me as a kid.