Radical Empathy: Taking Action - August Newsletter

First - please check out our new promo video for our courses and workshops, created by the amazing artist Sarah Louise Wilson MFA - premiering August 8, 2020 at noon pacific time!

My book, Radical Empathy, has been a game-changer when it comes to the way organizations and individuals think about addressing issues related to diversity, inclusion, belonging and leadership. After a recent workshop for a large company, we discussed the fact the the concept of radical empathy is cross-cutting and impactful for a variety of groups. All types of organizations have been developing employee resource groups (ERGs) that focus on connecting employees with similar backgrounds. These can include race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. The groups are designed to provide resources and create support systems for employees that may experience bias. However, the creation of these groups doesn't always lead to action or change at the leadership level.

Structural discrimination and bias impact all of us, and the radical empathy approach can help individuals, particularly leaders, to develop an understanding of these issues and ultimately create change. Each chapter of my book ends with ways that you can take action to practice empathy and implement the 6 steps to radical empathy:

One of the questions I often get is, what are the ways to dig deeper into the work of radical empathy and how can someone take action. I always say it's start with you as an individual, but inclusive leadership is important, too. Companies are taking notice of the needs of their workers to have a sense of belonging in the workplace, particularly as employees are reconsidering their careers as part of the "great resignation." Many people want to know that their employer is paying attention to the societal issues that are impacting them. As noted in a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal:

Workers continue to look hard at their employers to see whether?their policies address?social inequities.

“It’s not a mystery. Your employees, your investors, your stakeholders, your consumers, they’re all part of society. They’re all part of the community. And so it’s not a mystery that this conversation is happening,” said Roy Weathers,?vice chair of policy and societal engagement at PwC.

This newsletter is dedicated to taking action, but radical empathy takes practice. In order to make this work more accessible we created our mini-course, a relatively short but impactful course that can give you more tools to create change. Check it out on my website or feel free to send me a DM, particularly if you are interested in a group rate.

If Captain Pike is talking about it, it must be good! (yes, I'm a huge Star Trek fan...)