35 min
28: DEI and the Art of Localisation with Claire Brody Why Care?
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- Business
“There’s no pressure on you to be global - there’s pressure on you to think about who is around your table. To think about who you’re bringing in to start a strategy.”
In Episode 28, I am joined by Claire Brody, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Warner Bros. Discovery, to discuss the art of localisation. Claire shares valuable learning and insight on how to develop a DEI strategy that can be adapted at a local level, addressing proximity bias and the importance of perspective-taking.
Claire’s DEI journey is filled with varied career experiences - she has worked as an assistant producer and on-camera presenter. She is also a certified yoga instructor, a poet, and a published children’s author. Claire’s experiences outside of the US deepened her commitment to empowering her colleagues in local regions. Through leading with radical empathy and a sincere intention to foster an inclusive and conscious culture of well-being and belonging, she has had numerous achievements such as building the first DEI function in EMEA, creating the first mental health infrastructure for the enterprise, and founding the inaugural enterprise Disney Pride employee resource group.
In our conversation, we explore the cultural differences between Western and Eastern cultures and how that should shape a DEI strategy. Based on a Western perspective, DEI is really about celebrating what makes you different, however, she explains that the Eastern culture is rooted in harmony. Thus, it is about organisations understanding these differences and shaping their strategy around this. As we discuss in the interview, it is important that “we empower our region to empower us as experts to create a nimble and global strategy”. As such, it becomes a strategic framework that each region feeds into, thereby making it more applicable to the local country. Claire clarifies that it is only through engaging in the art of localisation that we then truly understand the unique value each region brings to the table when creating a DEI strategy.
Further on in our conversation, Claire offers advice and tips to leaders on how to be proactive in implementing their DEI strategy. With the opportunities available at HQ, it is imperative that organisations have talent mobility schemes, which create visibility and empowers talent across the globe by providing them with an opportunity in the HQ for their own development, and also for leaders, so they have increased visibility of their expertise.
To conclude, Claire admits that addressing our biases can be challenging to do, as it requires recognising the “potency of whiteness and the hysteria that comes from it”, and that can be a very uncomfortable thing to accept. As she rightly mentions, “Having the privilege of being exposed to black culture doesn’t absolve her of her white identity”, rather, constant practice is required in “deconstructing the systems that I operate in and benefit from”. Claire explains that in order to be inclusive, we need to move beyond discomfort, adopt perspective-taking, and be active allies. By constantly doing this, we are one more step closer to building and creating an inclusive space for our employees and for ourselves.
Links:
Claire can be found on LinkedIn as Claire Brody
For more from Warner Bros. Discovery, visit their website at: https://wbd.com/
To hear Why Care? episodes first, sign up to our newsletter here, and you can find more from us at Avenir via our LinkTree here.
“There’s no pressure on you to be global - there’s pressure on you to think about who is around your table. To think about who you’re bringing in to start a strategy.”
In Episode 28, I am joined by Claire Brody, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Warner Bros. Discovery, to discuss the art of localisation. Claire shares valuable learning and insight on how to develop a DEI strategy that can be adapted at a local level, addressing proximity bias and the importance of perspective-taking.
Claire’s DEI journey is filled with varied career experiences - she has worked as an assistant producer and on-camera presenter. She is also a certified yoga instructor, a poet, and a published children’s author. Claire’s experiences outside of the US deepened her commitment to empowering her colleagues in local regions. Through leading with radical empathy and a sincere intention to foster an inclusive and conscious culture of well-being and belonging, she has had numerous achievements such as building the first DEI function in EMEA, creating the first mental health infrastructure for the enterprise, and founding the inaugural enterprise Disney Pride employee resource group.
In our conversation, we explore the cultural differences between Western and Eastern cultures and how that should shape a DEI strategy. Based on a Western perspective, DEI is really about celebrating what makes you different, however, she explains that the Eastern culture is rooted in harmony. Thus, it is about organisations understanding these differences and shaping their strategy around this. As we discuss in the interview, it is important that “we empower our region to empower us as experts to create a nimble and global strategy”. As such, it becomes a strategic framework that each region feeds into, thereby making it more applicable to the local country. Claire clarifies that it is only through engaging in the art of localisation that we then truly understand the unique value each region brings to the table when creating a DEI strategy.
Further on in our conversation, Claire offers advice and tips to leaders on how to be proactive in implementing their DEI strategy. With the opportunities available at HQ, it is imperative that organisations have talent mobility schemes, which create visibility and empowers talent across the globe by providing them with an opportunity in the HQ for their own development, and also for leaders, so they have increased visibility of their expertise.
To conclude, Claire admits that addressing our biases can be challenging to do, as it requires recognising the “potency of whiteness and the hysteria that comes from it”, and that can be a very uncomfortable thing to accept. As she rightly mentions, “Having the privilege of being exposed to black culture doesn’t absolve her of her white identity”, rather, constant practice is required in “deconstructing the systems that I operate in and benefit from”. Claire explains that in order to be inclusive, we need to move beyond discomfort, adopt perspective-taking, and be active allies. By constantly doing this, we are one more step closer to building and creating an inclusive space for our employees and for ourselves.
Links:
Claire can be found on LinkedIn as Claire Brody
For more from Warner Bros. Discovery, visit their website at: https://wbd.com/
To hear Why Care? episodes first, sign up to our newsletter here, and you can find more from us at Avenir via our LinkTree here.
35 min