What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?
The biggest risk I’ve taken is the one that is in process now. I am moving to Spain in the next few months to write, study and live my authentic life. The risks will be many. I will be writing on topics I feel are critical to building a better world and will not pull my punches for fear of losing clients. As a result, my business will take a back seat to the mission of advancing the inclusion management mindset and exposing the leadership arrogance and managerial incompetence that fosters bias and exclusion and undermines the social change that is the key to business and human survival in the 21st century. I’m also facing the very real risk that no one in Spain will understand my Spanish.
If you weren’t doing your current job, what would you be doing and why?
My passion is writing and studying the human condition, such as it is. I started out as a journalist and perhaps I should have continued on the path. But I’m not a coulda, woulda, shoulda person, so I will now pursue my writing and commentary full-time.
What advice would you give your younger self?
To paraphrase Thor’s mother in “Avengers: Endgame,” you will always fail at what you’re supposed to. The true measure of success of a person is how well they succeed at who they are. As Black women, there is great pressure to be something other than your authentic self. That pressure comes from those who love you as much as from those who would see you fail. Be your own champion and as long as you feel you are being authentic to who you are, as long as you know who you are, then be that and damn the rest. Oh, and become fluent in at least one other language. It expands your mind and who you are as a person.
What should the industry do to encourage more women and people of color into its ranks?
As an inclusion management consultant, one of the dumbest things I heard from one of the white, male executives was, “That woman stole my job!” This ridiculous statement reflects the workplace myths that marginalize women and people of color and artificially support the careers of those whose sense of entitlement is not supported by their performance. The next generation of industry leaders needs to go beyond DEI and realize that active, strategic, long-term inclusion management is the critical strategy to managing the humans you need to drive growth in the 21st century.
How do you expect emerging tech like Web3 and AI to impact your job in the future?
The reports of creativity’s death have been greatly exaggerated, or at least the role that AI plays in that death. As with predictive and programmatic marketing, AI has generated a lot of fear about its impact on human activity. Ironically, the 21st century economy depends more on our uniquely human capabilities than any in the history of humankind. I use AI-powered programs quite a bit, sometimes with hilarious results. Nothing will replace the strategic thinking or creativity of humans required to get a quality output from AI, but it is critical that we invest in the talent development, education and critical thinking necessary to manage increasingly sophisticated technologies.
