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Tips and strategies from Cook Ross’ thought leaders.
How to Build an Inclusive Learning Strategy
Whether you’re a learning and development practitioner or leading your organization’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, you should be asking the question: How inclusive is my learning strategy? Education and training are foundational to many of the interventions we...
It Will Work: Starbucks Gets it Right
I’ve read several pieces that express an opinion that the training day at Starbucks “won’t work.” I am reminded that one person or organization can significantly contribute to change; it was one woman, Rosa Parks, who galvanized the Civil Rights Movement; it was one...
When Do We Boycott?
Over the past few days the airways have been filled with news about Starbucks. If you haven’t been hiding away somewhere then you know that two African American men were arrested for trespassing in a Philadelphia store, though they had committed no act other than to...
Unconscious Bias: Here Again (P.S. It Never Went Away)
Of course, the decision to call the police on the two Black guys sitting and waiting at a Starbucks for a business meeting was an example of unconscious bias. Seeing them sitting there, wanting to use the restroom, and not buying any food or drink made them seem...
Beyond the Inclusion Rider: 4 Pathways to More Diverse Films in Hollywood
About halfway through the 2018 Oscars ceremony, three women walked on stage and approached the microphone. Annabella Sciorra, Ashley Judd, and Salma Hayek had all come forward in the past year with stories of being sexually harassed or assaulted by studio mogul Harvey...
The Case for Diversity: Getting Our Heads and Hearts in Line
Launching a diversity strategy within an organization often begins with either building or sharing the business case. And yet, Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck & Co, has said that when someone shows him the business case of homogeneity, he’ll build the business case for...
Leader to Leader: Talking About Power and Harassment
EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. When I scan the news on my phone, there are two to three reports almost every day on the latest perpetrators of sexual harassment or assault, the name brand men who are getting their due whether they have been tried by the media or in the...
How 21st Century Leaders Should Respond to Sexual Misconduct
Not since 1991, when Anita Hill testified before Congress to detail a lurid account of sexual harassment from former boss Clarence Thomas (who went on to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice nonetheless) has the nation been so consumed with the sexual misconduct of...
10 Ways to Make Sure Politics Don’t Ruin Your Holidays
As we approach the beginning of the holiday season, many families are struggling to be with relatives who hold different political views than their own. According to the New York Times, in 2016, thousands of families decided not to gather for Thanksgiving, given the...
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