How To Drive Inclusive Change In Your Workplace
Brittany Cole, speaker, coach and CEO of Career Thrivers, joined Her Agenda last week to share her thoughts on resilience, diversity, and inclusion during our Power Hour chat.
As a former sales and marketing leader at Pfizer and a leadership management consultant, Brittany has experienced how intentional leadership development increases colleague engagement, accelerates career achievements and drives business results. Brittany shared these experiences with the INSIDER community. She also gave examples and step-by-step tips on how to drive change in organizations as well as empower candidates to advocate for themselves.
Here are a few excerpts from the conversation.
On the real meaning of resilience:
There are so many people that suffer in silence under the false pretense of being strong or resilient. I believe resilience is less about getting over or bouncing back from adversity or loss and more about thriving through it. I was one of these people – strong on the outside and crumbling within with no place to share what I was feeling beyond a therapist or journal. I want to inspire people to think of resilience in a new way and equip them with the language, confidence and perspective to journey through loss with real resilience. Real resilience recognizes where you are and uses those raw moments to reimagine what you can be as you journey forward because well there is no bouncing back.
Brittany on commonly shared advice to Black women:
So as a Black woman that has grown up in corporate America, I was taught things like “you have to be twice as good to half as much” and “don’t mix personal and professional. Keep your personal life private.” While I understand these sentiments I believe they are exhausting and can be counterproductive.
Brittany on how to advocate for diversity and inclusion initiatives:
I believe the first priority is to know who you’re working with. By that I mean is this someone/an organization looking for a performative initiative or is this a stakeholder committed to a strategic, long-term solution. Companies don’t have sales initiatives. They have a sales strategy that they measure, track and optimize. The same should also be true for inclusion and equity.
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Brittany on the difference between diversity and inclusion:
Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is an act. Diversity just means difference – that you can see and difference you can’t initially see. In essence, diversity is a given. I think of it as a speed bump on the journey to equity. You only get to equity #goals (outcomes that aren’t determined by difference) when you have inclusion (intentional action to incorporate difference – at every level).
To access the full chat and more exclusive Her Agenda content, become a HER AGENDA INSIDER. If you’re interested in contacting Brittany, you can schedule a consultation with her at https://calendly.com/careerthrivers/30minconsult. You can also find her on social media on Instagram and LinkedIn.
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