Your Working Life Caroline Dowd-Higgins

DEI has evolved over the years, and I wanted to reach out about a new term being discussed and practiced — justice (aka DEIJ). Mary-Frances Winters, founder and CEO of The Winters Group Inc., a global DEI consultancy, focuses on this topic in her new book: Racial Justice at Work: Practical Solutions for Systemic Change. Justice is a newer concept in the corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion space, and there is a lack of understanding about what it means and how to actualize it.
 
Mary-Frances Winters (she/her/hers) is the best-selling author of Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit and We Can’t Talk About That at Work! How to Talk About Race, Religion, Politics, and Other Polarizing Topics. She is the Founder and CEO of The Winters Group, Inc., a global diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice consulting firm. She came of age during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and is a passionate advocate for justice and equity. Named a top ten diversity and inclusion trailblazer by Forbes, Mary-Frances believes in opening doors and amplifying marginalized voices and their allies. She has received many awards and honors, including the ATHENA Award, Diversity Pioneer from Profiles in Diversity Journal, and The Winds of Change recognition from The Forum on Workplace Inclusion. As CEO of The Winters Group for the past thirty-nine years, Mary-Frances harnesses her extensive experience in strategic planning, change management, diversity, organization development, training and facilitation, systems thinking, and qualitative and quantitative research methods to work with senior leadership teams to drive meaningful organizational change. This is her seventh book.
Mareisha N. Winters Reese (she/her/hers)  is president and chief operating officer of The Winters Group, Inc. As president and chief operating officer, Mareisha’s primary responsibility includes leading the firm’s finance, human resources, information systems, marketing and branding, and client management operations. Prior to her role as president and chief operating officer, Mareisha served as vice president of The Winters Group where her contributions to supporting The Winters Group’s growth included significant enhancements to the firm’s technology infrastructure, web presence, social media platforms, and client service offerings. Before joining The Winters Group in 2012, Mareisha worked as Program Manager of a National Science Foundation grant focusing on diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) in Charlotte, NC. Mareisha worked for 6 years at Northrop Grumman where she gained a variety of experience working in their business management, supply chain management and engineering business units. Mareisha’s experience also includes time working at a small DC based software company and the US Patent and Trademark Office.
She was named to Diversity MBA’s Top 100 Under 50 Executive and Emerging Leaders and Diversity Woman Media’s The Power 100 List. In 2023, Mareisha was named a Who’s Who in Black Charlotte and was recognized in the Charlotte Business Journal’s Power 100 and Profiles in Diversity Journal’s Women Worth Watching. A graduate of both Spelman College and Georgia Institute of Technology, Mareisha holds undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. In 2009, she received her MBA and MS in Information Systems from University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.
Book: We Can’t Talk about That at Work! How to Talk about Race, Religion, Politics, and Other Polarizing Topics (second edition)
Social media:
·       Mary-Frances’ LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryfwinters/
·       Mareisha’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mareishawintersreese/
The Winters Group, Inc. Website: https://www.wintersgroup.com/

Regina Lawless helps high-achieving Black women find purpose beyond their paycheck in order to experience more bliss in their lives and sustainable success at work and at home. Before starting Bossy & Blissful, a community for Black women executives and business owners, Regina served as the head of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Instagram (parent company Meta).
Prior to Instagram, she served as the global director of diversity, equality, and inclusion at Micron Technology, where she led the creation of their diversity curriculum and spearheaded talent initiatives to mitigate bias in interviews and performance discussions. Lawless has more than 18 years of HR experience working for Fortune 500 companies across various industries, including Target, Safeway (Albertsons) and Intel.
Lawless spent the early part of her career as an HR business partner, working closely with business leaders to translate their goals into effective people strategies. Her DEI focus is the culmination of her varied HR experience and personal passion for social justice that was fostered at an early age. Lawless grew up in an underserved community that bordered some of the most affluent zip codes in the country. Growing up experiencing inequality firsthand fuels her determination to work toward creating equal opportunity in the workplace and the world. 
In 2021, Lawless was appointed to the Board of the World Women Foundation and serves as an Advisory Council Member for the University of San Francisco’s Engineering Program. She is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento, in Communication Studies and holds a Master of Science degree in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco. Lawless is a Bay Area native and currently resides there with her partner, her teenage son and their dog, Rocket. She is an avid reader and loves yoga and listening to music and podcasts.
Do You: A Journey of Success, Loss and Learning to Live a More MeaningFULL Life  is Lawless’ first book published by Greenleaf Book Group in partnership with Fast Company
 
Social media links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginalawless/
https://www.instagram.com/regina.lawless/
 
 

Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review. She is the author of the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict and a cohost of HBR's Women at Work podcast. Her articles have been collected in dozens of books on emotional intelligence, giving and receiving feedback, time management, and leadership. As a sought-after speaker and facilitator, Gallo has helped thousands of leaders deal with conflict more effectively and navigate complicated workplace dynamics. She is a graduate of Yale University and holds a master's from Brown University
Book: You Can't Make a Tomelette without Breaking Some Greggs
HBR's Antidote to the Logan Roy School of Toxic Leadership.
For four unforgettable seasons, Succession has riveted viewers inside and outside the business world. Too absurd to be true, too real to truly be fiction, corporate patriarch Logan Roy, his feuding children, and the executives of Waystar Royco have kept us rapt. Every week the show has dominated office chatter and flooded Slack channels with expletive-laden memes, quotes, and insults.
But does the series offer any insights of real-world value to leaders or organizations? Can the psychological power dynamics, nine-figure negotiation tactics, and intricate M&A maneuvers actually teach us something about succeeding in business? Definitely: whatever the Roys do, do the exact opposite.
"You Can't Make a Tomelette without Breaking Some Greggs": Toxic Management Lessons from Succession (and What to Do Instead) pairs advice from HBR experts and researchers with some of the most unforgettable, hilarious, and cringey moments from the show. Featuring an introduction by workplace relationship expert Amy Gallo, author of Getting Along and the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict, you'll learn about:
Topics:
Giving pep talks that inspire (no f-bombs needed) Holding offsites that work (tip: don't play Boar on the Floor) Avoiding jargon and bizspeak (when the boss asks you to just feed him metadata) Leading with trust (what's Kendall's "wobble"?) And even improving succession planning (beyond never relinquishing control)  
Social media:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyegallo
http://instagram.com/amyegallo
 

Maureen Dunne is a cognitive scientist, neurodiversity expert, global keynote speaker, board director, and business leader with over two decades of experience helping organizations build thriving cultures. She has served as a Senior Advisor to some of the world's top corporate brands, Fortune 500 companies, universities, venture capital funds, and government officials, including the LEGO Foundation, Cornell University, and Members of Congress. She also recently co-created the executive education program for business leaders on "Future-Ready Leadership" at the Harvard Kennedy School.
 
A member of the neurodiversity community, she is a frequent media commentator and contributor on neurodiversity and the future of work. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, MIT Sloan Management Review, Chicago Tribune, DiversityQ, Salon, New York Times, People Management magazine, USA Today, Inside Higher Ed, Unleash and Newsweek. A keynote speaker at Stanford University and the National Science Foundation, she was also a featured speaker at The Atlantic Festival where Neurodiversity was included as part of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion theme for the first time in history.
 
A successful entrepreneur and business leader, Maureen is CEO of Nodi.ai and a member of the Young Presidents' Organization, an invite-only organization for the world's top chief executives. At LEGO, Maureen helped launch a Social Impact Accelerator Fund to support innovation and entrepreneurship in neurodiversity. The first community college graduate to be named a Rhodes Scholar, she is also an elected official helping to build the talent pipeline with community colleges, representing over 12 million students at the national level. She received a joint BA/MA from the University of Chicago, MSc from the London School of Economics, and doctorate from the University of Oxford. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three children. 
Website: www.maureendunne.org
 
Book synopsis: 1 in 5 people are estimated to be neurodivergent (have a mind that works differently), but we are often wasting their potential. I’m very excited to be representing Dr. Dunne’s forthcoming book, THE NEURODIVERSITY EDGE: The Essential Guide to Embracing Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Neurological Differences for Any Organization (Wiley, March 12, 2024). Dr. Dunne is absolutely brilliant and can discuss what it means to be neurodivergent, how society often overlooks unique skills neurodivergent individuals can bring to the table (nonlinear thinking, advanced creativity, keen observation skills, and many more) and how we can do better to change the stigma outside the neurotypical script for working and living. 
 
Dr. Dunne will discuss:
 
Why are neurodivergent employees the most untapped talent opportunity for organizations to compete? What exactly does neurodiversity mean and what are the nuances? How should we rethink “culture fit” as it relates to considering neurodivergent employees? What are some of the challenges neurodivergent employees face at work? What benefits do neurodivergent employees bring to the workplace? How have your own experiences as a neurodivergent employer, entrepreneur, board member, and CEO informed your decision to write this book? What is the “double empathy problem” and how do we bridge the gap between neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals? What is the largest misconception about neurodivergent employees? What is the best way organizations can avoid the pitfalls of the “check the box” mindset to neurodiversity and make meaningful change? How do neurodivergent workers compliment the growing AI focused workplace? Which companies are some of the best role models for tapping neurodiverse talent and what have they done to make an impact? What is something recruiters or HR personnel could start working on today to immediately improve workplace conditions for neurod

Scott Anthony is a multidisciplinary expert who is passionate about helping individuals and organizations develop the capacity to thrive in today’s world of never-ending change. He has worked at Innosight, a growth strategy consultancy cofounded by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, since 2003. As a senior partner there, he has advised leadership teams at top global companies on growth and innovation challenges. Anthony has given keynote addresses on six continents and is Harvard Business Corporate Learning’s most in-demand external subject matter expert. Anthony has been based in Singapore since 2010, where he served as a member of the Committee on the Future Economy and a board member of MediaCorp and NTUC LearningHub. Anthony has written eight books, including most recently Eat, Sleep, Innovate (2020) and Dual Transformation (2017), which describe how forward-thinking organizations can navigate disruptive change and own the future. In 2021, Thinkers50 named Anthony the world’s seventh most influential management thinker; Anthony has been nominated for the group’s innovation award three times and won the award in 2017.
 
Topics for discussion:
 
·       What Scott learned from Clayton Christensen: the basics of disruptive innovation, how to shape and develop ideas, and why the innovator’s dilemma has proven to be so persistent
·       The challenges of leading through disruptive change
·       A culture of innovation: what it is, how do you build it, what makes it hard, and how to encourage it?
·       The definition of innovation in the workplace
·       Great innovators take an idea from one place and bring it to another. if you wander, your brain starts to see dots you can connect. 
·       The role of failure in innovation and how successful companies have rituals around accepting failure
·       A tool called BEAN (behavior enabler, artifact and nudge) – what is it and how does it encourage innovation
·       The importance of using stories to change CEO’s minds instead of facts and figures
 
 
Social media:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottdanthony/
 

From the cornfields of Iowa, Jane Boulware defied expectations to lead billion-dollar businesses and rise as a top Microsoft executive. By 52, she'd launched three major ventures, navigated the US's largest merger, and left a trail of influential leaders behind her. Passionate about empowering others to recognize their worth, Jane now dedicates herself to mentoring, board service, and cherishing outdoor moments with her family. All proceeds from her book Worthy are committed to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Youth of the Year scholarships. She lives in Bellevue, WA. www.Janeboulware.com
In her honest and engaging debut memoir, Worthy: From Cornfields to Corner Office of Microsoft (January 23, 2024; paperback), former Microsoft executive, Jane Boulware, shares her story of growing up poor in the corn fields of rural Iowa where life was predictable and expectations were low...except for Jane. She knew that in order to change her circumstances and a life of government cheese and butter, it was going to take hard work and a determined spirit!
But Worthy is more than just a tale of personal triumph and achieving millionaire status by the age of 40.  Blending humor, introspection, and grit, Jane confronts societal norms and the demands of corporate America once arriving at that level. Diving deep, she shares not only her successes but also her personal struggles and a season of life where she battled with bulimia. Jane also challenges the conventional belief of success as an end goal, proposing its true essence lies in how many we empower and uplift along the way.
 
Beyond sharing her unconventional path from poverty to success, Jane has a loftier goal. All proceeds from Worthy will be donated to the Boys & Girls Club of America's Youth of the Year scholarships!
 
Social media:
·       https://www.janeboulware.com/
·       https://www.linkedin.com/company/janeboulware/
·       https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554463565081
·       https://www.instagram.com/janeboulware4/