Yolanda King - Diversity Matter's First Guest of Season Two!

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Yolanda King, the first-born daughter of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is Diversity Matters’ first guest of season two. Given our intention to build on the important connections between the world of work and the world at large by celebrating and honoring the voices and efforts of people who truly live inclusiveness in their workplaces, communities and beyond, we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect guest to kick off our second season. Yolanda King’ is a living testament to the convergence of positive social, political and personal change. She is a woman who was born to inspire and lead.

On this episode of Diversity Matters, Ms. King tells her family story and how the legacy of her parents’ work has shaped her path as an actor, speaker and agent of social change. Ms. King also describes her vision of inclusion as it impacts the workplace and the world. She shares her current efforts to achieve The Dream by encouraging personal growth and positive social change through her work as an actor, speaker, producer and a model of possibility.

We believe that inclusiveness is achieved when everyone has a place at the table that matters - in their homes, communities, workplaces, and in their hearts. To us this is what it means to Achieve The Dream. Yolanda King’s work exemplifies efforts to build these connections between self, community and the world. Ms. King’s passion for peace and positive change prompted her to found Higher Ground Productions, an organization committed to celebrating diversity and embracing unity. Ms. King is a member of the Board of Directors of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. (the official national memorial to Dr. King) and was founding Director of the King Center's Cultural Affairs Program.

Her book, Embracing Your Power in 30 Days shares some of her deepest life moments in a way that inspires growth and change for everyone. Yolanda King has been acclaimed for her ability to transform people from all walks of life to reach higher ground; to motivate people to move forward, and to empower people to make a difference.

Join us as we talk with Yolanda King about Achieving the Dream. Please call in with your questions for Yolanda King at 866-472-5790. Click here to listen live.

This is one episode of Diversity Matters you will not want to miss.

Please tune in!

Richard Friend, Ph.D.
Co-host

Collaboration with Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute!

Dear Friends and Colleagues –

As you know Diversity Matters has recently formed a collaboration with the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute (JBC Institute) and will be serving as a conduit for the voices of The JBC Institute beginning with the upcoming Chief Diversity Officers Forum (March 20 -22, 2007; Greensboro, North Carolina). This exciting collaboration expands and forwards our shared vision of a world that works, and broadens exposure to some of the Institutes’ key programs such as The Chief Diversity Officers Forum, The Power Girls Summer Leadership Institute, The Diversity Lecture Series, The Professor of Diversity In-Residence, and The O. Lavelle Bond Diversity Scholars Program.

The CDO Forum’s central theme this year is “Innovation: Breakthrough Thinking for Diversity Management.” In addition to hearing from CEO’s of leading organizations such as Sodexho, AOL, Krispy Crème and United Way, speakers include:

• Gilbert Casellas, Former EEOC Chair;
• Ted Childs, former Chief Diversity Officer, IBM;
• Maria Hinojosa, Journalist & Author;
• Frans Johansson, Best Selling Author & Speaker;
• Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Economist & Diversity Thought Leader;
• Jennifer Lanier, Actress & Writer;
• and Diversity Matters very own Noelle Richardson who was the first woman of color to anchor a national newscast in Canada

The Trailblazers in Diversity Awards Reception will honor Baroness Valerie Amos, Dr. William “Bill” Cosby, Mr. & Mrs. Leonard (Tobee) Kaplan, and Lt. Col. (retired) Consuelo Kickbusch.

According to Bea Perdue, President of the JBC Institute, “Since 2004 when the first Chief Diversity Officers Forum was launched, the primary goal was to provide an engaging environment for executives managing diversity to share their experiences and knowledge for the collective support of advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace.” Given the theme of innovation, speakers and attendees will focus on the “pipeline” and “Chief Diversity Officers will be asked to combine their ideas and knowledge to create a stra­tegic plan that can be considered for implementation across corporations, academic institutions and non-profit organizations to ensure a competent and diverse workforce for the future” says Ms. Perdue.

Diversity Matters will have an active presence at the conference by interviewing keynote speakers, honorees and presenters. These interviews will be aired on our radio show and made available via both the Diversity Matters and JBC Institute websites.

Our mission of engaging, celebrating and honoring the voices and efforts of people who work to build inclusiveness in their workplaces, communities and beyond will be served through a vehicle we call “Let Your Voice Be Heard.” During the conference we will be talking with attendees to get a pulse of a variety of points of view, feedback and questions.

If you have questions you’d like us to ask the CEO’s, CDO’s and other thought leaders during the conference, Let Your Voice Be Heard by sending us your questions in advance. We will do our best to pose your questions and then have responses broadcast on the Diversity Matters website and/or during one of our weekly segments.

We would love to see you in Greensboro North Carolina on March 20 – 22, 2007 as Diversity Matters covers the JBC Institute’s 4th annual Chief Diversity Officers Forum. If you are a leader or aspire to be a leader in your workplace or the world with respect to Diversity and Inclusion – this is one conference that you won’t want to miss. Attend the conference or tune in via Diversity Matters!

We are also thrilled to announce that Yolanda King, the first-born daughter of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be our first guest of season two, airing on Friday March 2nd at 10AM (eastern). Yolanda King’ is a living testament to the convergence of positive social, political and personal change - woman who was born to inspire and lead.

Stay tuned,

Richard Friend

Co-host

Diversity Matters on PFLAG-Live

Happy Valentine's Day!

In addition to planning for season two of Diversity Matters, we’ve been busy getting the word out about the show. Last month, I was a guest on the cable access television show PFLAG-Live here in Chicago. If you’re not familiar with Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), it’s a wonderful organization that promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, education and advocacy. PFLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. PFLAG-Live is the organization’s first cable television chapter, and is hosted by Marc Wigler.

In addition to talking about a range of LGBT workplace issues we had a chance to discuss Diversity Matters. You can see a clip from the show here.

During my visit to PFLAG-Live, Marc and I discussed a range of topics including a question posed by Joe, a caller who asked “In a health care setting, when does one person’s rights end and another’s begin? If a person is a patient and they perceive a person may be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, and they don’t want that person to take care of them, what should be done?” This is a great question because it addresses a classic leadership dilemma regarding opposing stakeholder groups – in this case the customer/patient vs. the employee. This is when having a clear and compelling set of values as your north star is important.

As I said to Joe, “If a patient’s request is contrary to the values of an organization with regard to respect, fairness and inclusion, and an employee is providing high quality professional care, and a patient is not comfortable with that care giver based on perceived sexual orientation, race, gender or some other dimension of diversity, it is the obligation of the institution to stand up on that employee’s behalf. Otherwise the espoused values about inclusiveness are simply rhetoric and that will ultimately undermine the effectiveness of the organization.” PFLAG-Live host, Marc Wigler and I then went on to discuss that this issues also speaks to why it’s so important for an organization to have non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression PLUS the leadership and managerial courage to evoke the policies when needed.

Marc also ended the show with a very compelling question. He asked, “If you could change just one thing about the workplace, what would you change?” After pausing briefly to reflect, I said, “I would want to build more courage. A workplace where people are willing to stand up and speak with their passion and their heart and feel that they are supported in exercising that sort of courage. Whether that is managerial courage, or leadership courage, or the courage to challenge a boss. For example, one of the types of courage I see today that is fascinating is among transgender people who are transitioning at work and saying ‘I want to stay in my job ‘. Twenty years ago when I worked with transgender people who transitioned, they moved to another city, got a new job and started fresh. Though, when you do that, you lose your resume, you lose your connections. The kind of courage that it takes to say I want to transition, I’m going to transition and I want to keep my clients, I want to maintain my good relationship with my co-workers and continue to build my career on the foundation of excellence I’ve already demonstrated. That’s courage.”

PFLAG-Live is just one example of the opportunities we’ve had to bring the spirit of Diversity Matters to a broader audience. We will keep you posted about additional happenings with respect to Diversity Matters and we encourage you to contact us and post a comment here on the blog, because diversity DOES matter.

Stay Tuned,
Richard Friend, Ph.D.
Co-host

Welcome Back to the Diversity Matters Blog!

Dear colleagues and friends –

Welcome back to the Diversity Matters blog! We are excited to announce that we will be back on the airwaves with the second season of Diversity Matters beginning on Friday March 2nd (10 AM eastern) on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel.

Season two will build on the important connections between the world of work and the world at large. We will celebrate and honor the voices and efforts of people who work to build inclusiveness by embracing diversity in their workplaces, communities and beyond. Our hope is that those involved in community work learn from the lessons of workplace diversity efforts and likewise workplace champions will be inspired with the tools, insights and lessons of change agents working at the grass roots community level. While season one had it’s primary focus on the workplace, in season two we are committed to building the connections between inclusiveness inside and outside the workplace – in communities, families, social networks and the like.

We set the benchmark high in season one with an incredible line up of guests and provocative topics and we will continue to bring you powerful voices of experience in the field and insightful topics. We are in the process of scheduling guests for season so if you have any suggestions for guests and/or topics that support inclusiveness at work and in the world, please let us know.

When we surveyed our listeners last fall, we heard a message loud and clear that we need to more actively integrate this blog into our vision of engaging people in dialogue about diversity. Given the birth of our podcast, we were somewhat lax last year in keeping up with our blog posting. This season we commit to utilizing the weblog more fully.

This blog provides a way for you to interact directly with us and with each other:

• to comment about the shows that have already aired,- to offer questions and comments to guests if you’re not able to call in,
• to pose questions to other listeners, and
• to provide feedback and suggestions to Judy and I as we evolve in this process.

Judy and I are new to this medium, so along with many of you, we’re on a steep learning curve and exploring different ways technology can extend the conversations we would like to have about diversity at work. So please learn with us – share your thoughts about what we are doing and how we are going about it.

The Diversity Matters radio show can be heard two ways:- live each Friday at 10 am EST (starting March 2, 2007) via business.voiceamerica.com or on-demand from our website. All of season one is archived on our website (http://www.diversitymatters.info/). We typically take callers during the live broadcast, but not everyone can access the show at that time.

Thanks again for your continued enthusiasm and support.

Stay tuned,

Richard Friend, Ph.D.
Co-host