A Conversation on Inclusive Leadership for Nebraska's Future
Ucomm
Author
03/18/2021
Added
115
Plays
Description
The business world is changing daily — which means corporate leaders are learning and growing, too. It’s important to take any and all opportunities to expand your knowledge base and learn from your fellow leaders. Join the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the Lincoln Community Foundation and Lincoln Journal Star as we dive into an engaging and informative moderated conversation highlighting the importance of inclusive leadership in our emerging business community. You’ll leave our panel feeling informed, refreshed, and invigorated with new knowledge. All are welcome!
Moderated by: Sarah Bekele, Channel 4 KSNB Hastings Event News Anchor and Producer
Panelists include:
– Barbara Bartle, Lincoln Community Foundation President
– Ronnie D. Green, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Chancellor
– Ava Thomas, Lincoln Journal Star President and Publisher
https://diversity.unl.edu/ceo-action
Searchable Transcript
Toggle between list and paragraph view.
- [00:00:41.490]Good morning, I'm Marco Barker, Vice Chancellor for
- [00:00:44.820]diversity and inclusion at the University of Nebraska
- [00:00:47.310]Lincoln. I have the privilege of working with Chancellor
- [00:00:50.280]Ronnie Green and our hustle community to make excellence
- [00:00:53.400]inclusive across our campuses, centers, extension offices,
- [00:00:57.990]and among alumni and friends. This is where our best
- [00:01:01.320]teaching, research, creative activity and expression,
- [00:01:04.830]engagement, and service reflect our commitment to diversity,
- [00:01:09.210]inclusion, and equity is where we foster a sense of
- [00:01:13.020]belonging, value and mattering. One way we are fulfilling
- [00:01:18.450]our commitment to inclusive excellence is at a leadership
- [00:01:21.210]level, our Chancellor's commitment and 2018 Chancellor green
- [00:01:26.160]sign on to the CEO action for diversity and inclusion
- [00:01:28.890]pledge. This is the largest CEO driven commitment in the
- [00:01:33.000]United States. It represents a commitment to advancing
- [00:01:36.420]diversity and inclusion efforts in the workplace through
- [00:01:39.390]building trust, cultivating dialogue on diversity and
- [00:01:42.510]inclusion among employees and empowering employees to take
- [00:01:46.080]action towards inclusion and equity. co action organization
- [00:01:50.430]has recently added racial equity to their expectations and
- [00:01:53.880]so have we in our journey towards anti racism and racial
- [00:01:57.840]equity. While CEO action calls for chief executive officers
- [00:02:02.070]to take the pledge as individuals, it also stresses
- [00:02:05.160]collective action among businesses and organizations. As
- [00:02:09.510]part of our action, we offer today's experience a journey
- [00:02:13.080]towards inclusive leadership and a conversation moderated by
- [00:02:16.950]local news for Hastings anchor Sarah Bekele. You will hear
- [00:02:20.880]from three leaders about their own journey towards inclusive
- [00:02:23.820]leadership. You will gain perspectives on how because
- [00:02:27.030]leadership is an ongoing dynamic process. We have our own
- [00:02:31.410]Chancellor green joined by Lincoln Community Foundation,
- [00:02:34.050]President Barbara Bartle and Lincoln journal star president
- [00:02:37.410]and publisher, Ava Thomas. Following the panel, you will
- [00:02:41.190]have the opportunity to interact with Dr. Helen Fagan. As a
- [00:02:44.850]professor and because of leadership expert and author, Dr.
- [00:02:48.750]Fagan will provide tools for making our leadership efforts
- [00:02:51.480]more inclusive, a skill we must all hone and strengthen.
- [00:02:55.830]Lastly, you will hear from us sales assistant vice
- [00:02:58.650]chancellor for inclusive leadership and learning Dr. Karen
- [00:03:01.860]Kassebaum will describe how you can take action. So we
- [00:03:06.870]invite you to lean in the open, take action, and engage
- [00:03:11.250]others in your journey in our journey together on inclusive
- [00:03:14.610]leadership. Please welcome Sarah Bekele and our panel.
- [00:03:20.310]Awesome. That was a wonderful introduction via Dr. Barker
- [00:03:24.420]there. And as he mentioned, my name is Sarah book Ella with
- [00:03:27.630]local four news here in Hastings, Nebraska. I think I'm the
- [00:03:30.750]only one here in Hastings, but I'm gonna represent a central
- [00:03:34.500]Nebraska post I can. And as you know, we have a panel filled
- [00:03:39.120]with distinguished leaders within our community that we're
- [00:03:42.300]going to share ways that they want to include or have
- [00:03:45.780]inclusive leadership within their organizations. And now
- [00:03:48.870]without further ado, let's just get right into this. We have
- [00:03:51.360]45 minutes. So we're going to start here and I'm going to
- [00:03:54.420]start with Miss Bartels Lincoln Community Foundation
- [00:03:57.600]president. So the foundation did have a recent partnership
- [00:04:01.980]with the opportunity the Community Foundation Opportunity
- [00:04:04.770]Network and adding dismantling racism is what is what's been
- [00:04:08.850]added to its goal. So what has that additional focus meant
- [00:04:12.900]for the foundation?
- [00:04:15.390]Well, thank you, Sara. It's great to be here this morning.
- [00:04:19.350]Let me just say that the Lincoln community Foundation's
- [00:04:22.770]mission focuses on development, grant making and leadership.
- [00:04:28.110]If you think about a foundation, you usually associated an
- [00:04:31.320]institution like a university or Hospital Foundation. The
- [00:04:35.940]Community Foundation does not represent an institution. You
- [00:04:40.470]could say, We are the community's foundation LCF expanded
- [00:04:46.650]its focus and has been influenced by a community index
- [00:04:50.910]called Lincoln vital signs developed by the University of
- [00:04:54.660]Nebraska Public Policy Center and commissioned by 13 funders
- [00:04:59.490]in Lincoln. Including the link and Community Foundation. It
- [00:05:03.600]was released the first time in 2014. And what did we learn?
- [00:05:09.390]While poverty had increased by 48%, we doubled the number of
- [00:05:13.500]children in poverty. And we went from zero extreme poverty
- [00:05:17.460]census tracts to six. All of this over a 10 year period.
- [00:05:22.470]This was a real awakening for Lincoln Knights. The
- [00:05:26.670]communities call for action led to the development of a
- [00:05:29.730]community agenda called prosper Lincoln. With the
- [00:05:33.750]inspirational goal for everyone to prosper. The focus is on
- [00:05:39.060]early childhood, workforce development, housing and building
- [00:05:42.840]strong neighborhoods. A key finding in the 2019 Lincoln
- [00:05:48.660]vital signs report stated that persons from racial and
- [00:05:52.980]ethnic minority populations struggle to achieve equity in
- [00:05:57.120]education, attainment, employment and income. Lincoln has
- [00:06:03.510]unprecedented concentrations of extreme poverty and poor
- [00:06:06.540]health. Once again, the data was a call to action. To
- [00:06:12.240]address these new findings, a racial equity lens has been
- [00:06:15.420]added to all of the focus areas of prosper Lincoln. In
- [00:06:19.890]addition, the community foundation will be part of a new
- [00:06:23.700]national cohort. The Community Foundation Opportunity
- [00:06:28.560]Network, or C Fon is a group of 45 Community Foundations
- [00:06:34.440]including the Community Foundation, working to dramatically
- [00:06:38.370]increase mobility. Excuse me mobility from poverty. Soufan
- [00:06:44.820]provided the opportunity for community foundations to apply
- [00:06:48.570]to be part of a new cohort to work together to dismantle
- [00:06:53.160]dismantle structural racism. LCF was selected as one of
- [00:06:58.260]eight community foundations in the country to work together
- [00:07:01.950]with a focus on two systems, income and wealth and power and
- [00:07:06.990]leadership. The cohort will work together to seek national
- [00:07:11.610]funding for our collective work, as well as promote peer to
- [00:07:15.210]peer learning among the community Foundation's this
- [00:07:18.870]opportunity will enhance Lincoln's racial equity lens on the
- [00:07:22.320]prosper Lincoln focus areas, and move us forward in
- [00:07:25.800]addressing those struggling to achieve equity. The
- [00:07:30.150]leadership role as convener has been a 10 year listening and
- [00:07:34.230]learning journey for Lincoln Community Foundation. This
- [00:07:37.170]includes the board and the staff, the entire LCF leadership
- [00:07:42.330]team feels the responsibility and the gravity of leading the
- [00:07:47.250]community in this significant work. These are complex
- [00:07:51.150]issues. But when we work together as a community, we will
- [00:07:55.050]impact Lincoln today and build a better tomorrow.
- [00:08:01.950]Thank you very much. So I'm going to move on now to
- [00:08:06.480]Chancellor Ronnie Green. But I did also want to say that we
- [00:08:10.950]want to get through these questions. But there are live
- [00:08:13.830]questions that we are willing to answer as well. So for the
- [00:08:16.500]participants viewing right now, if you have any questions to
- [00:08:19.050]think about asking him though, so that our panelists can get
- [00:08:22.590]to answering those towards the end as well. So thank you
- [00:08:26.220]very much Miss Bartel for that and Chancellor green UML
- [00:08:30.390]signed a pledge with CEO action back in 2018. So share with
- [00:08:36.720]us today your the initiatives for your employees and for the
- [00:08:41.280]campus around your commitment with CEO action.
- [00:08:44.970]Well, Sarah, first of all, it's a pleasure to be here this
- [00:08:47.280]morning. And I'm so pleased with the response to the
- [00:08:52.470]conversation this morning and the great audience that I know
- [00:08:55.650]we have watching and listening in kudos to Vice Chancellor
- [00:09:00.990]Barker or his work and his team and in putting this together
- [00:09:05.190]and thank you for agreeing to help us moderate the
- [00:09:08.310]conversation this morning. It's great to be with Barb and
- [00:09:11.070]with Ava, who have a lot to offer in this area. As you just
- [00:09:15.330]began hearing about from BB with the Community Foundation
- [00:09:18.960]quite quite an ad shouldn't use the word honor, but I'm not
- [00:09:22.770]sure honor is the right word here to be selected as one of
- [00:09:26.160]those a community Foundation's around the country. In this
- [00:09:30.270]work, we did sign on center up to the CEO action pledge in
- [00:09:35.760]2018. The CEO action pledge is a group of CEOs across the
- [00:09:42.060]United States. This started a few years before I signed on
- [00:09:46.110]actually for for you and l there are now over 2000
- [00:09:50.490]signatories in the CEO Action Group we signed on initially
- [00:09:56.070]in 2018 because of our dedicated focus on Enhancing
- [00:10:00.900]inclusive excellence or u and L and the path that we were
- [00:10:05.280]plotting forward to do that, which incidentally included
- [00:10:09.270]bringing Marco here is our first vice chancellor of
- [00:10:12.630]diversity and inclusion a little bit after we signed on. I
- [00:10:16.710]was kidding with our panelists last week when we were
- [00:10:19.110]talking about today. And I said, if I answered this question
- [00:10:22.890]perfectly, honestly, which I want to, I will say Karen
- [00:10:26.970]Kassebaum, who you're going to hear from lighter. Dr. Kay,
- [00:10:31.530]came to me in 2017 2018, and said, I don't know if you're
- [00:10:36.750]aware of this effort nationally, I think this would be
- [00:10:41.460]something very valuable for our institution to be involved
- [00:10:45.420]in to heighten the awareness of inclusive excellence and its
- [00:10:49.620]importance. And she really encouraged me first to look at
- [00:10:53.010]it. So thanks to Karen, first of all, for for that
- [00:10:56.250]encouragement. I know you'll hear from her at the end of our
- [00:10:58.620]program today. When I signed on for you and l in 2018. There
- [00:11:04.890]were only two of us in Nebraska, that were signatories and
- [00:11:08.880]co action Union Pacific. in Omaha land spritz, our colleague
- [00:11:13.470]there as the CEO had signed on for up now there are nine
- [00:11:18.780]organizations in Nebraska, who are signatories? I know a
- [00:11:22.650]number of them are on with us this morning. And I just want
- [00:11:25.320]to acknowledge them as well. They include Emeritus and
- [00:11:28.620]assurity, both based here and LinkedIn. Maxwell, Mutual of
- [00:11:32.700]Omaha physicians mutual quantum workplace truth, those are
- [00:11:37.830]Union Pacific who I mentioned a moment ago, and you and I
- [00:11:41.010]are so very pleased to be part of this group today actually,
- [00:11:45.660]as a national rallying around the CEO action effort. Where
- [00:11:51.810]entities who are signatories are hosting events like this
- [00:11:55.590]one, this is the first time in our three years we've done
- [00:11:58.140]something like this, to extend that reach out beyond u and
- [00:12:02.340]L. And I'm very pleased to be a part.
- [00:12:07.650]Thank you very much. a follow up question for you.
- [00:12:10.770]Chancellor green. So you mentioned community leaders within
- [00:12:14.490]URLs campus that encouraged you to sign on with CEO action.
- [00:12:18.810]So how would you compare your initial, you know, reasons for
- [00:12:23.640]signing on with taking that pledge? versus now? Does the
- [00:12:28.080]meaning change for you
- [00:12:29.160]now?
- [00:12:30.450]Yeah, so I think it I think it does to be to be, again,
- [00:12:35.340]perfectly honest here in 2018. As I mentioned, we were we
- [00:12:40.140]were plotting our strategy forward for the universe, or UML.
- [00:12:44.970]In diversity and inclusion and inclusive excellence, we had
- [00:12:48.060]spent a lot of energy and effort around thinking about this,
- [00:12:53.130]and thinking about what kind of leadership the institution
- [00:12:56.340]needed to bring internally and externally to this to this
- [00:12:59.970]area. And we were launching into that strategy. If you if
- [00:13:05.430]your follow my my line of thinking here. Today, I would say
- [00:13:10.800]that this is even more important enhanced in importance. And
- [00:13:15.510]I'm very pleased that we did so earlier because of the need
- [00:13:19.980]for an emphasis on on anti racism and racial equity than I
- [00:13:24.870]know we're going to be talking about probably here for so.
- [00:13:29.370]So yes, enough, is the answer your question. We certainly
- [00:13:34.200]were planning strategy, but it's even more important today,
- [00:13:38.370]in what we're doing.
- [00:13:40.230]So thank you very much. And now I want to hear from Ava
- [00:13:44.070]Thomas, President and publisher of Lincoln journal star. So
- [00:13:48.420]as being a media outlet, I'm wondering if there were any
- [00:13:51.810]challenges associated with that in within responding to the
- [00:13:54.990]calls for racial justice and equity? Could you talk about
- [00:13:58.380]how you responded to those calls? And if there were any
- [00:14:01.410]challenges associated with that?
- [00:14:03.570]Sure.
- [00:14:04.110]Well, first and foremost, I want to say thank you to Marco
- [00:14:07.860]for having me. And it's great to be with you, Sarah. And my
- [00:14:11.280]good friends, Ronnie and Barbara. Um, great question. I
- [00:14:15.600]think the answer in this word is overused. But for lack of a
- [00:14:19.800]better one. It's really about intentionality. So most often
- [00:14:23.880]people think about my role, publisher as editor, which is a
- [00:14:29.910]completely different job, the editors responsible for
- [00:14:33.270]overseeing the content in our newsroom, but I'll speak to it
- [00:14:36.360]because we work very closely together. It's never really
- [00:14:40.500]worked for us to say, if we just naturally go about our
- [00:14:43.950]jobs, we're going to run into sources in the proportion that
- [00:14:47.040]they make up the community and Sarah, being in the media
- [00:14:49.710]business. I'm sure you recognize this as well. Being in
- [00:14:52.950]western Nebraska. We have to ask ourselves, who hasn't been
- [00:14:57.810]represented and then Beyond that, how do we include them? So
- [00:15:03.510]an example is our columnist, Cindy Lange Kubik, wildly
- [00:15:07.170]popular in the community. She made the conscious decision
- [00:15:11.550]several years ago to devote every column in February Black
- [00:15:15.240]History Month, to people and stories from Lincoln's black
- [00:15:18.780]community. And I've been with a company 26 years, we've
- [00:15:22.830]never done that before. So what we do best is tell stories
- [00:15:27.300]about our community. And this was an important thing to do.
- [00:15:31.170]That made everyone more aware of representation of
- [00:15:34.020]communities of color in our news coverage. So I say I've
- [00:15:39.390]been here 26 years, I became president and publishers seven
- [00:15:42.990]years ago. And when that happened, I joined our editorial
- [00:15:46.740]board. So candidly, I went into that first meeting, and I
- [00:15:51.870]was intimidated by these meetings, I don't have a journalism
- [00:15:54.870]degree, I came up the advertising side of the business. And
- [00:15:58.590]I walked into a room of nearly all white men. I'm Mexican,
- [00:16:03.780]American, obviously, female. At the time, we had white woman
- [00:16:08.430]who was on the wildly intelligent, great, great woman, very
- [00:16:12.960]opinionated, super sharp. But sadly, she loves a company. So
- [00:16:16.470]now I'm on the editorial board, with the guys. And all of
- [00:16:21.120]the members of the board, what I noticed is we all thought
- [00:16:24.660]very similarly. And so I suggested we bring in community
- [00:16:28.980]members for to join our editorial board and provide us with
- [00:16:33.150]more diverse perspective. And as a result, we got two great
- [00:16:35.910]members, they also happen to both be female. So I'm not the
- [00:16:39.690]one woman in the bunch anymore, but they've really helped us
- [00:16:42.570]see issues from other viewpoints and issues we have missed
- [00:16:48.780]entirely. When Lincoln's Black Lives Matter movement came
- [00:16:53.670]together over the summer, we profiled tons of emerging
- [00:16:57.270]leaders. Those stories helped us reflect not only diversity
- [00:17:00.900]in our community, but they also introduced us to dozens and
- [00:17:04.710]dozens of contacts that we had no contacts with before we
- [00:17:10.110]can turn to them for sources now. They help us specifically
- [00:17:15.570]with other topics, people know people so we can turn to our
- [00:17:20.610]contacts. So we're looking for a great chess player, a slam
- [00:17:24.180]poet, whatever the case may be. So I think it's big and
- [00:17:28.260]small things.
- [00:17:30.510]This might not seem big to folks, Ronnie and Barb know this
- [00:17:33.930]story. But in a mug shots was something on our website,
- [00:17:39.210]tremendously popular, highly trafficked, there were people
- [00:17:42.840]that were very upset when we removed them this summer. But
- [00:17:46.680]we're running a business. And that was my decision. When
- [00:17:51.060]your website gets a ton of traffic, clicks, impressions,
- [00:17:55.170]that's revenue, right. But as our community's a leading
- [00:17:59.340]provider of news and information, I felt so strongly that we
- [00:18:02.520]have a responsibility and an obligation to do the right
- [00:18:05.970]thing. So we know that they're disproportionately affecting
- [00:18:09.510]community, communities of color, and we removed them from
- [00:18:12.930]our site. So for folks who got it, taking them down was
- [00:18:17.640]setting a really important message that we understood why it
- [00:18:21.210]was causing harm to communities of color. And look, I I
- [00:18:25.980]think I'm not doing something that hurts isn't quite the
- [00:18:30.510]same as doing something that helps. But we recognize there
- [00:18:34.200]is a lot of work to be done in this space. And we're very
- [00:18:37.740]conscious about it. I guess the last thing that I would say,
- [00:18:40.440]in this area, and it's really, really uncomfortable to talk
- [00:18:44.790]about diversity sometimes, but if folks are too scared to
- [00:18:47.820]ask questions, or to answer those questions, honestly, I
- [00:18:51.840]really appreciate what Ronnie says is, we have a long way to
- [00:18:55.140]go. And you know, my answer two years ago was different than
- [00:18:59.760]what it is today. So if you take that approach, no one
- [00:19:03.630]grows, when you take the approach that, you know, we can
- [00:19:07.050]always be rethinking and growing and contradicting ourselves
- [00:19:10.620]even. Um, you know, news reporting is all about navigating
- [00:19:14.700]the unknown and explaining it to everyone. Our journalists
- [00:19:17.370]are very rarely experts in the things they cover. Steve
- [00:19:22.380]sippel might be the exception. He's an expert in all things,
- [00:19:25.200]Husker football and other sports, I might add, but at the
- [00:19:29.370]end of the day, journalists really do depend on sources, how
- [00:19:34.140]to repair a pothole. You know, what is tax increment
- [00:19:38.070]financing, why the Huskers keep losing their backup
- [00:19:40.620]quarterbacks. We are truly truly grateful for and we depend
- [00:19:44.490]on the people who help us work to reflect the community's
- [00:19:48.630]diversity.
- [00:19:52.050]And Miss Thomas you mentioned you know having those
- [00:19:54.390]uncomfortable conversations, what other personal investments
- [00:19:58.710]have you made in learning about, you know, ways to build a
- [00:20:02.370]more inclusive Nebraska or just to be a more inclusive
- [00:20:05.580]citizen, personally, and then how is that manifested within
- [00:20:09.480]your business? And I want to ask the same question to all of
- [00:20:11.580]our panelists. Sure,
- [00:20:13.110]I talked about adding the community members to our editorial
- [00:20:18.360]board, that was an important step. Going beyond that, one of
- [00:20:22.800]the things that I thought was important is that we brought
- [00:20:25.200]in communities of color and diverse folks to meet with
- [00:20:29.940]members of our newsroom, just to talk about our coverage,
- [00:20:33.300]both in print and online. This is one of the areas that you
- [00:20:36.990]know, mug shots came up in the language that we use, you
- [00:20:42.000]know, I said, inmates, when I was talking about mug shots, I
- [00:20:46.170]think everybody gets a view of that. At the end of the day,
- [00:20:49.980]they're human beings. And so even thinking about in our, in
- [00:20:54.480]our meetings, using humanizing language. This is an
- [00:20:59.580]important subject to me, not just as the president
- [00:21:02.250]publisher, the Lincoln journal star, you know, not as just
- [00:21:06.120]as a Mexican American female, my son is part African
- [00:21:09.690]American. This is an issue that when you are of mixed race,
- [00:21:15.270]you sort of fall in the middle of, I'm not white, but I'm
- [00:21:19.830]not black. And so I don't identify and I feel left out, but
- [00:21:24.570]I feel the pressure of what's happening in our world. Um, so
- [00:21:30.120]I really think about it a lot. I think about it with
- [00:21:35.070]personal life. I think about it with business life, I think
- [00:21:37.440]about it. I've been working with Barbara Barbara on the
- [00:21:41.310]Soufan network. So one of the other steps we took was
- [00:21:47.070]bringing in people of color and just saying, what can we do
- [00:21:50.250]better? You know, we're open to learning, we have to ask the
- [00:21:53.370]question.
- [00:21:57.270]Thank you very much. And so I'm gonna ask Miss Bartel. Now,
- [00:22:01.290]we haven't heard from you in a while, though. So how would
- [00:22:04.350]you answer that question as well, what personal investment
- [00:22:07.080]you've made, you know, to understanding the racial and
- [00:22:11.520]justices in going on in our country, and how can that
- [00:22:14.190]manifests itself in your organization? You're, you're muted,
- [00:22:22.080]I think you're still muted.
- [00:22:25.200]I'm going to pick up on Ava's last comments about the
- [00:22:29.250]narrative change. And I think that's been a real awareness.
- [00:22:34.410]For me personally, as a leader. As I mentioned, the new
- [00:22:39.330]cohort that we're a part of, with sifan. At our first design
- [00:22:45.180]team meeting, one of my colleagues is from the Minneapolis
- [00:22:50.880]Community Foundation, and it was the week after the George
- [00:22:54.240]Floyd death. And so while our focus on designing this work
- [00:22:59.820]was to be on achieving social mobility and economic
- [00:23:07.980]achievements, she said that we really have to add a racial
- [00:23:13.590]lens to this work, we cannot go forward leading this new
- [00:23:18.600]cohort and not have a racial equity lens. And so we had a
- [00:23:24.270]really great discussion about that, we talked about
- [00:23:27.000]different phrases to use in our goal. And we ended up with a
- [00:23:30.720]phrase with the goal for the work ahead to be to dismantle
- [00:23:36.060]structural and systemic racism and achieve equity, and
- [00:23:39.870]social and economic mobility. So when we, we The meeting was
- [00:23:44.220]over. And when I started talking about it with staff and in
- [00:23:47.460]the community, I have to say I really struggled, using the
- [00:23:51.000]term dismantle systemic racism until I had a flashback. And
- [00:23:58.590]I was at the foundation for Lincoln public schools for 18
- [00:24:01.740]years. And we were developing a new campaign and working
- [00:24:06.810]with a marketing firm and a lot of us were in the room
- [00:24:09.450]trying to set the goals. And it was just like, it's all of a
- [00:24:14.700]sudden, it became very clear that the goal has to be we're,
- [00:24:18.120]we're working to achieve 100% graduation rate. And we all
- [00:24:22.890]said, Absolutely, that has to be our goal 100% graduation
- [00:24:26.640]rate. And I think that's what we have to do now. It's the
- [00:24:32.550]same thing for racism. Who would we leave behind? What
- [00:24:37.290]system would we not include? Our aspirational growth goal
- [00:24:41.700]has to be to dismantle racism. So it just it all seems very
- [00:24:48.270]clear to me now and I've moved past my hesitations and I, I,
- [00:24:53.730]I work really hard to talk about it with those terms.
- [00:24:58.770]As amazing to hear And Chancellor green, how would you
- [00:25:01.860]answer that question? I can repeat it as well if you need
- [00:25:04.530]but
- [00:25:05.190]no, that's that's fine, sir, I think I've got it. This is
- [00:25:09.810]gonna sound like a three peat in a lot of ways to deal with
- [00:25:14.430]aimless sorting, talking about changing the narrative, or
- [00:25:17.010]what you just said was very powerful. So I'm gonna tell a
- [00:25:22.140]little bit of a story, I guess, to help answer the question.
- [00:25:26.550]I've written about this on our campus community has seen
- [00:25:30.300]this writing over the last few months, as I've reflected on,
- [00:25:34.950]on the issue of anti racism, racial equity, and the need for
- [00:25:39.900]us to really double down to seriously double down in this
- [00:25:43.920]area, not not as a side issue, but as a political issue of
- [00:25:48.930]really, as Barb said, being being comfortable with with this
- [00:25:53.250]as a real issue. But I grew up in the south, I grew up in
- [00:25:59.310]Virginia, my elementary school in Virginia, desegregated my
- [00:26:06.120]first grade year, as a student there, I grew up in an
- [00:26:11.520]environment where once I reflected back in the last year,
- [00:26:17.070]and really seriously thought about this, and I reflected
- [00:26:21.300]back, I recognized a lot of things and understood a lot of
- [00:26:25.290]things that are very different level than then I guess I've
- [00:26:29.670]ever been willing to acknowledge, to be really honest, that
- [00:26:34.680]it's easy to set aside as someone a privilege, someone that
- [00:26:39.300]is head, not dead and cannot deal with those issues. It just
- [00:26:45.600]it might my eyes were open and why but that they never, they
- [00:26:50.130]never had to worry, we're really, really candidly honest. So
- [00:26:55.800]you're the issue around being anti racist. You're
- [00:27:01.260]understanding these issues, understanding what they really
- [00:27:05.100]are, understanding where they come from, what the history of
- [00:27:09.720]them is, right? That's, that's a starting point in of
- [00:27:13.620]itself. So one of the one of the things I will just tell you
- [00:27:17.370]personally, that I've done, this isn't to saying that our
- [00:27:20.670]community has to do this or every person in our community
- [00:27:23.670]has to do this. But I have sought to last questions and to
- [00:27:27.270]learn and to really try to understand these issues at a at a
- [00:27:32.580]level that describes what they really are. Right. I'm in the
- [00:27:37.650]middle of currently of reading Isabel Wilkerson's caste book
- [00:27:42.240]got finished about every other book in the in the the junk
- [00:27:45.990]in the genre, if you want to think of it that way. You can.
- [00:27:49.710]But one of the things I just finished doing, Margo hasn't
- [00:27:53.370]even heard me say this. I just finished this weekend reading
- [00:27:56.310]a colleague of mine book that he just released. Jonathan
- [00:28:00.540]Holloway, who is the president of Rutgers University, one of
- [00:28:03.330]our big 10 colleagues, who just published a really good
- [00:28:07.620]short history on African American history. Back to 1609, you
- [00:28:13.890]would end up in Virginia with with lady I would highly
- [00:28:18.060]encourage people to read this, it is excellent. The cause of
- [00:28:22.650]freedom is the title of Jonathan's book. So So yeah, I hope
- [00:28:26.580]that gives you some sense of you know, that the narrative is
- [00:28:29.820]changed, it has changed, and it's changed in a real life.
- [00:28:33.090]For me, I think it's changed the real way, in real life or
- [00:28:36.390]the universe.
- [00:28:38.610]Absolutely, that's
- [00:28:39.810]amazing. I would say, you know, this summer, or last summer
- [00:28:43.860]with the death of George Floyd. I think for a lot of people,
- [00:28:46.380]it was a harsh reminder of the reality of the racial and
- [00:28:49.500]justices in this country and for many others, a rude
- [00:28:53.550]awakening and time for awareness. So the fact that you know,
- [00:28:57.270]you're going out of your way to read those books and things
- [00:28:59.340]like that is very important, and certainly will, you know,
- [00:29:03.210]translate itself within you and ELS campus and, and things
- [00:29:06.840]of that nature. So we do actually have questions now, from
- [00:29:10.710]attendees or so I am going to go ahead and read some of
- [00:29:14.550]those questions, because we have about 10 minutes left now.
- [00:29:18.270]So our first question is, actually while you're here, Rania,
- [00:29:23.040]the question from Darrell bow hack, I'm hoping I said your
- [00:29:26.460]name correctly. Says I believe Ronnie green and his UML
- [00:29:30.180]leadership team engaged in a discussion about the book by
- [00:29:33.180]Dr. Ken de how to be an anti racist. So would you be willing
- [00:29:36.780]to comment on the impact of that book?
- [00:29:39.479]Yeah, so Darrell, hello. And I'll try to be culturally
- [00:29:44.069]relevant here Darryl bow hatch to get his the Czech
- [00:29:47.639]pronunciation on his name up. Great to have you with us.
- [00:29:51.269]They're all wait. We have engaged kind of in a we have not
- [00:29:56.099]engaged in a book club kind of way yet on Candy's book I
- [00:30:00.359]don't want to be, you know, right up front about that. We
- [00:30:03.089]are planning to do that this fall as a campus community,
- [00:30:07.409]that's one of the things that we're, we're we're looking at,
- [00:30:10.829]but there are a number of us who have read Kennedy's books.
- [00:30:15.569]And, and thought about them and those discussions that we've
- [00:30:19.169]been having in our leadership team at the senior level of
- [00:30:22.319]the university around these issues. So they the impact is
- [00:30:27.479]your your focus gets shifted, there all is the way I would
- [00:30:31.589]would describe it. Now, Abraham focus, he shifts your focus
- [00:30:35.519]from talking about how you're not racist, if it is a
- [00:30:40.019]different thing to say, racism versus anti racism, and the
- [00:30:45.749]shift in focus of that and understanding that at that level,
- [00:30:50.339]is, is the biggest impact. So love to get together with your
- [00:30:54.269]girl have a chat about that.
- [00:30:57.900]Thank you for correcting that Darrel bow hatch. Absolutely.
- [00:31:04.320]Okay. And then this question is for Miss Eva Thomas from Amy
- [00:31:09.510]cloth corn. And I hope I pronounced that correctly as well,
- [00:31:12.690]Eva, how I have these changes, you and your team have made
- [00:31:15.930]benefit the conversations and the culture within the journal
- [00:31:20.190]star. And she says I think there is much we can learn based
- [00:31:23.970]on the decisions you and your team have championed and how
- [00:31:26.550]it can impact the future of our culture, organizations and
- [00:31:30.300]our community.
- [00:31:32.160]Wow, thanks for the question, Amy. Great One. Um, we're
- [00:31:37.470]having these conversations consistently. So I'm not sure if
- [00:31:41.490]it would we say George Floyd, everybody knows, because we
- [00:31:44.580]saw a bad cop, murder him before our eyes. But we also
- [00:31:51.210]recorded about a sports announcer recently in Oklahoma, who
- [00:31:56.310]used the N word laced with profanity multiple times. And
- [00:32:01.890]then said, I'm not a racist. I don't consider myself to be a
- [00:32:06.210]racist. And that's a direct quote, can't really explain why
- [00:32:09.990]I made those comments. I am diabetic. And, you know, as we
- [00:32:15.240]were talking about it within our group here at the journal
- [00:32:18.600]star, I think that the focus shifted from this is one
- [00:32:24.750]individual at a high school girls high school basketball
- [00:32:30.270]game in Norman, Oklahoma. So how do we take that and, and
- [00:32:35.340]realize that's happening here? You know, we've just been
- [00:32:38.790]covering the NSA, who is talking about removing mascot names
- [00:32:46.800]that are, that are, you know, cultural, culturally
- [00:32:50.220]insensitive. That type of coverage I think helps educate our
- [00:32:54.630]community, and provides the community with an opportunity to
- [00:32:58.080]think differently. I think it's really, it's kind of
- [00:33:01.440]interesting. So Ronnie was talking about the difference
- [00:33:03.510]between racism and anti racism, right? So there's a research
- [00:33:08.940]that is probably 10, more than 10 years old. Now that talks
- [00:33:13.200]about when we say white privilege, white people get a little
- [00:33:19.590]antsy about that. When we say anti racist, absolutely, we're
- [00:33:24.780]anti racist. So I think even just in the way that we cover
- [00:33:30.570]stories in general, thinking about the language that we're
- [00:33:34.590]using, and connecting it with folks, no one's everyone's
- [00:33:38.550]gonna say, Oh, I would never say that. Oh, never say that. I
- [00:33:41.130]would never do that. I'm not racist, I'm not prejudiced.
- [00:33:44.280]It's Do you recognize white privilege exists? And if we can
- [00:33:49.320]get folks past that point, and we can do that in the way
- [00:33:52.860]that we speak in in our coverage and and our sources? I
- [00:33:59.940]think true progress can be made. We have such an a massive
- [00:34:04.620]audience. So this is an individual thing. It's not what can
- [00:34:09.090]I mean it it's it's it's what can I do? What can Eva Thomas
- [00:34:12.540]do? But it's so far beyond that. This is a group thing. This
- [00:34:17.310]is a we thing, we all have to take these steps together.
- [00:34:25.440]And we did have a couple questions. I'm not sure if they
- [00:34:28.230]were answered, but a few people wanted to know from
- [00:34:30.900]Chancellor green, the author of the books that you
- [00:34:34.440]mentioned.
- [00:34:36.540]Yes, so the the how to be an anti racist that terrible hash
- [00:34:41.010]was asking about the author is the brim candy, K and di.
- [00:34:46.110]Isabel Wilkerson is the author of cast the book cast cste.
- [00:34:52.380]Jonathan Holloway, the president of wreckers is the author
- [00:34:55.830]of the more recent book that I mentioned the cause of
- [00:34:58.530]freedom, the end ology of African American short anthology
- [00:35:02.550]of African American History. white fragility I didn't
- [00:35:06.120]mention that one. But Robyn D'Angelo, her book, and there's
- [00:35:10.470]a whole host of others. I think there was a post in the chat
- [00:35:15.600]that they were going to point to links, perhaps.
- [00:35:19.410]Okay. And it seems like they will also be placing additional
- [00:35:24.180]books in the chat as well. Thank you for answering that. So
- [00:35:26.910]as we're wrapping up here, one last question from Martha
- [00:35:31.770]Allen Florence, the term allies frequently used by people
- [00:35:35.640]discussing social justice issues, do you see yourself as an
- [00:35:38.760]ally to an inclusive future in Nebraska? And what does ally
- [00:35:41.970]ship look actually look like in practice? And if all three
- [00:35:45.240]of you could quickly answer that, we can start with you
- [00:35:47.670]Chancellor green and then move to miss Bartel?
- [00:35:51.810]Yeah, I, I don't I haven't used that term myself, to be to
- [00:35:56.970]be honest. But I do see myself as an ally in that that work.
- [00:36:03.540]You know, it's, I'm always very conscious of the fact that
- [00:36:07.500]I'm a white man, right? I'm a white man who grew up in a
- [00:36:11.910]white environment. As I mentioned earlier, I can't walk in
- [00:36:17.100]the shoes of people who are not me. I try, I can't, there is
- [00:36:24.030]no way that I can. But I can under try to understand these
- [00:36:28.800]issues. And I can try to be an ally in that work. Or in
- [00:36:34.080]enhancing and improving networks. That makes sense, sir. So
- [00:36:37.740]that's what it would would mean to me. And last thing, while
- [00:36:40.560]we're on our good wrapping up, I just wanted to have the
- [00:36:42.840]opportunity also to say, I know we've got a lot of our
- [00:36:45.270]university listeners on today in the audience, and I am very
- [00:36:51.150]consciously aware and feel just like you do that I'm
- [00:36:54.990]impatient, right? I'm impatient to want to see change, to
- [00:36:59.520]want to see things change and see things happen. We have
- [00:37:03.960]been working over the course of now almost a year, in the
- [00:37:07.890]anti racism and racial equity journey, as we have called it,
- [00:37:11.940]there is great progress being made by the CO leaders and the
- [00:37:15.870]engagement of that across our campus. We're on the precipice
- [00:37:19.440]of beginning to announce steps that will come out of that.
- [00:37:24.030]And I know but I feel the impatience that you feel to have
- [00:37:28.440]wanting to see change and see change happen, it is going to
- [00:37:32.190]happen. So I'll stop there.
- [00:37:36.300]And Miss Bartel, how would you answer? What does ally ship
- [00:37:39.180]actually look like in practice?
- [00:37:41.880]Well, like the chancellor, I can't say that I use that. But
- [00:37:47.010]I guess the words I would say is, you know, we have to work
- [00:37:51.120]together collectively, we talk about collective impact, it's
- [00:37:54.660]going to take all of us. And I think, when we can start our
- [00:38:00.180]work, I love the phrase that Gandhi uses. The Longest
- [00:38:05.400]Journey is from our head, to our heart. And I think when we
- [00:38:09.780]lead with our heart, and good intentions, when we listen to
- [00:38:14.610]each other, we share each other's stories. We all have
- [00:38:18.720]wonderful stories, when we learn as Ronnie's just talking
- [00:38:23.700]about, there's, you know, really great books. Our staff has
- [00:38:28.260]been going through the racial equity Institute. And so, you
- [00:38:35.190]know, we're all learning, we want to be good allies. We want
- [00:38:40.680]to, you know, this is a big issue for people like me, I
- [00:38:44.850]mean, I, I have to change. And so when I think about I will
- [00:38:50.460]just in my comments, and I've been thinking about I've
- [00:38:52.920]always liked, I know we have a new one, but I've always
- [00:38:56.040]liked our Nebraska motto, where we tout the good life. And
- [00:39:02.370]what do we mean by that? You know, we value family, friends,
- [00:39:07.200]community good works, but it can't just be for some of us.
- [00:39:13.170]It has to be for all Nebraskans. And I think when we listen
- [00:39:17.580]and learn, and lead from our hearts, all of us together,
- [00:39:24.030]that we can truly live our motto, Nebraska, the good life.
- [00:39:30.030]And we have a few minutes left, but one final question for
- [00:39:34.170]Miss Thomas. Connie says I've been impressed with Ava's
- [00:39:37.620]leadership and getting to know more about her Eva, would you
- [00:39:40.140]be willing to share how your personal your own personal
- [00:39:42.870]experience with racism impacted you as a person and in your
- [00:39:45.810]career?
- [00:39:48.510]Wow. Good question. Um,
- [00:39:52.620]so I mentioned earlier that you know, I'm Mexican American.
- [00:39:55.920]I actually am from Grand Island Sara. So right 20 minutes.
- [00:40:00.000]For me, I spent a lot of time in Hastings went to u n. k. So
- [00:40:04.560]Carney Um, and I remember, you know, sort of the first
- [00:40:08.670]experiences I had. I was telling somebody last week about
- [00:40:13.170]this, she said, Do you really think that racism is still an
- [00:40:15.690]issue in our community? And I said, She's white. And I said,
- [00:40:20.400]Have you ever been asked whether you speak English? Has
- [00:40:25.320]anybody ever looked at you and said, actually didn't look at
- [00:40:28.620]me and looked at my husband at the time and said, Does she
- [00:40:32.070]even speak English, you know, those types of things, that's
- [00:40:34.890]racism. Um, but when I moved to this is something deeply
- [00:40:40.860]personal. But when I moved to Lincoln, I was a single mom of
- [00:40:45.360]two kids, my son was newborn, my daughter was five years
- [00:40:50.340]old, I applied at the journal star. And I was a student at
- [00:40:53.940]the University, the journal stars, a couple of blocks away,
- [00:40:57.150]so I was excited to get free parking. And I filled out the
- [00:41:01.440]application. And I did not mark that I was Hispanic, because
- [00:41:04.470]I thought it would prevent me from getting the job. Nobody
- [00:41:08.940]actually knew that I had two kids, but I was a single mom,
- [00:41:11.430]because I thought it would prevent me from getting the job.
- [00:41:14.940]So, you know, years later, when I changed my ethnicity, on
- [00:41:19.980]my profile, it caught the attention of our lead HR person,
- [00:41:24.570]and she said, I knew you were Hispanic this whole time,
- [00:41:27.270]she's Puerto Rican. Why did you just now change it? And I
- [00:41:30.510]explained, I thought that it would prevent me from getting
- [00:41:33.090]the job in 1985. And I think about that all the time. So
- [00:41:38.670]when I look at our newsroom, and it does not reflect our
- [00:41:42.030]community, you know, I it's not an excuse to say our average
- [00:41:45.900]tenure is 19 years. At the average tenure of the newsroom is
- [00:41:50.190]almost 20 years. We haven't hired anybody in two years.
- [00:41:54.360]We're making it more diverse with internships with our
- [00:41:57.780]interns. But then we have to go that next step to say, Okay,
- [00:42:03.090]if we don't reflect the community, does our coverage still
- [00:42:05.670]reflect the community? So I think that's really critically
- [00:42:08.370]important. Um, it's something that in my personal life, us,
- [00:42:15.540]I just want to add this because that to the last question, I
- [00:42:19.290]think I've been taking this social change leadership course
- [00:42:22.230]this national course for the for the past year, we're just
- [00:42:24.600]getting ready to wrap up, something we've been talking about
- [00:42:27.000]is identifying core values and guiding principles for your
- [00:42:30.060]life. And the reason we were doing that is to say, do they
- [00:42:33.150]show up in your life? When you say I'm anti racist? What
- [00:42:37.410]does that look like? Okay, so we're leaders, we have
- [00:42:39.810]influence, we have this platform, we can, you know, put that
- [00:42:43.020]out there. But what are you doing personally? How does it
- [00:42:46.020]show up on your calendar? When I became a big sister in the
- [00:42:50.610]Big Brothers Big Sisters program, I wanted to be a big
- [00:42:53.250]sister to a young African American female, that was
- [00:42:56.490]important to me. I volunteer at the prisons, I work with
- [00:43:02.640]incarcerated individuals to create a plan for when they're
- [00:43:07.290]released. These are the ways that walking the talk. So when
- [00:43:12.330]you say something, it shows up, it's walking the talk of,
- [00:43:15.990]yes, I'm committed to it. And this is what that looks like
- [00:43:18.570]in my personal life. And this is what it looks like in my
- [00:43:21.120]professional life, because that all has to match to
- [00:43:23.820]Barbara's point, from head to heart.
- [00:43:29.670]Thank you very much. And with that, that is the end of this
- [00:43:33.900]portion of the panel. We have a couple questions left. But I
- [00:43:39.120]think we might have to answer those personally or type in
- [00:43:42.030]those answers. So now upcoming is Dr. Helen Fagan will be
- [00:43:47.190]giving a presentation as well. So for I would encourage
- [00:43:51.390]everyone to stick around for that. But yeah, that's it. I
- [00:43:54.510]don't know if Dr. Barker would like to speak now. But this
- [00:43:59.220]portion of the panel is complete. Thank you all so much.
- [00:44:05.070]This is so exciting. Thank you all. Thank you, Dr. Barker,
- [00:44:08.670]for inviting me to be part of this conversation. And I was
- [00:44:13.200]so impressed with everything that I heard today, from our
- [00:44:16.920]panelists. I'm going to share my screen because I've got in
- [00:44:23.610]typical faculty fashion, I've got a document that I want to
- [00:44:30.480]share with you all. So what I'm going to share with you is
- [00:44:34.230]around becoming inclusive, a worthy pursuit and leadership.
- [00:44:37.950]What I heard this morning from our panelists in regards to
- [00:44:42.300]being intentional, Eva, being vulnerable in sharing her
- [00:44:46.560]personal story. Chancellor green, being vulnerable, ensuring
- [00:44:50.700]his upbringing and then talking about the action that you've
- [00:44:54.390]each all all of you all three of you have taken in terms of
- [00:44:59.220]not just on a panel personal level, whether it's reading a
- [00:45:01.620]book or engaging in learning with a cohort of individuals in
- [00:45:06.600]bb bartles case, or in Ava's case, in terms of looking
- [00:45:10.980]around the room and saying, whose voice? Aren't we hearing?
- [00:45:13.710]What what I heard from all of you really ties into the
- [00:45:17.550]research and the work that I've been doing for the last 30
- [00:45:22.080]years in this in this area of diversity, equity and
- [00:45:25.560]inclusion. So
- [00:45:29.130]the, I want to just share that research came out that looked
- [00:45:34.590]at why is it as teams become more diverse, performance
- [00:45:40.980]either increases or decreases. And what we heard was that it
- [00:45:45.330]has a lot to do with the leader, which we heard from three
- [00:45:48.900]leaders here today, in terms of how they're moving into
- [00:45:52.800]action, what they're choosing to do on a personal and a
- [00:45:56.730]professional level. And this research said, If leaders
- [00:46:00.990]ignore or suppress cultural differences, those those
- [00:46:05.610]differences become an obstacle to performance. So if we say
- [00:46:10.170]that the diversity of our community is growing, it's a
- [00:46:13.710]problem, that it becomes a challenge for the community for
- [00:46:18.000]organizations for institutions. But when leaders acknowledge
- [00:46:21.900]and support differences, and say, we need to create
- [00:46:25.470]equitable environments, we need to work on breaking down
- [00:46:30.090]systemic racism and injustice and look at who are the
- [00:46:34.620]individuals that are being affected? You know, the children.
- [00:46:38.400]I mean, Barb, you talked about the work that Nebraska or
- [00:46:42.690]Lincoln Community Foundation had done, and being able to
- [00:46:46.620]look at our community's statistics and saying, you know, we
- [00:46:50.730]have poor health outcomes, and diverse populations. It's
- [00:46:56.250]when we look at those things. What we're doing is we're
- [00:47:00.360]acknowledging that there's challenges, and we're looking at
- [00:47:04.710]cultural differences as an asset to help us become better at
- [00:47:10.290]we are, that is when we create innovation, and we move
- [00:47:14.700]forward. And like I said, in the 30 years that I've been
- [00:47:17.790]doing this work, I've worked with over 40 organizations,
- [00:47:22.320]multiple CEOs and executives and frontline employees. in
- [00:47:28.710]multiple countries, I've looked at the idea of what does
- [00:47:33.420]inclusion look like. And in what I've heard is, and Marco
- [00:47:38.250]mentioned this this morning, in that we want people to feel
- [00:47:41.460]like they belong, that they matter. When mattering is high,
- [00:47:45.780]and belonging is high for people, people feel like they can
- [00:47:49.440]bring their whole self to work, I don't have to hide a piece
- [00:47:52.140]of my identity. As in Ava's case, say I'm white instead of
- [00:47:57.120]Mexican American, or I'm not say that I'm a single mother, I
- [00:48:01.950]don't have to hide a piece of my identity, I can be real,
- [00:48:06.240]and I can feel included. And I recognize that there's
- [00:48:11.790]differences between us and that and you, as a leader see
- [00:48:15.600]that. And you as a leader are willing to look at our
- [00:48:19.380]differences and say, we are better because we are different.
- [00:48:24.510]So that's what happens when belonging is high, and when
- [00:48:27.900]mattering is high. But when one of those is low, you can see
- [00:48:33.420]what happens here. And, and this information, I'm not going
- [00:48:36.480]to read off the slide to you this information will be made
- [00:48:39.060]available to you through the CEO action recording that's
- [00:48:43.590]being made available to you today. But I just want to say
- [00:48:46.380]that what we heard today is a lot similar to what I've
- [00:48:51.180]collected and heard over the years. So I have a book coming
- [00:48:54.810]out called becoming inclusive, a worthy pursuit in
- [00:48:58.140]leadership. And I hope people will take the opportunity to
- [00:49:02.880]read this, because this this takes my work in in this space,
- [00:49:08.400]from my personal story, to my research in this area to my
- [00:49:15.240]work that I've done in this area, to the teaching and the
- [00:49:18.390]consulting and talks about how do people become inclusive,
- [00:49:23.610]in that I share about the individual, the individual is at
- [00:49:29.430]the center of systemic changes at the center of impacting
- [00:49:33.810]how teams work together. And we heard that inter whether it
- [00:49:38.190]was the leadership team at UML. That's going to be
- [00:49:41.820]discussing Dr. Kennedy's book, to Eva's adding community
- [00:49:47.160]members to the leadership to to the editorial board to
- [00:49:52.170]barbaros work with the cohort. We as individuals show up in
- [00:49:57.840]all of these spaces and we am pact you can use your
- [00:50:01.350]platform. And that's the premise of this book is we begin at
- [00:50:06.210]the individual level, but we recognize at the individual
- [00:50:09.330]level, we impact others. So in the in the book, I talk about
- [00:50:13.770]being from Iran and what it was like to move to England and
- [00:50:17.400]learn to speak English and how I had to hide my identity as
- [00:50:21.570]a 15 year old at a boarding school in Central Florida, just
- [00:50:25.350]two months after I arrived in the United States when the US
- [00:50:28.050]hostages were taken. And the impact of that on me as an
- [00:50:31.860]individual. I talked about graduating from high school at
- [00:50:34.920]16, getting my first college degree at 18. And then not
- [00:50:39.150]having any money and having to hitchhike back and forth to
- [00:50:42.660]work. And then taking food from McDonald's where I was
- [00:50:46.260]working, by the way, I became an illegal immigrant and I
- [00:50:49.770]used I hate that term. But I use that to say, that's the way
- [00:50:53.340]that people looked at me, and going from that, to needing to
- [00:51:01.080]get married right away, so I wouldn't get deported. And my
- [00:51:05.730]husband of 38 years come this July
- [00:51:10.740]is it we met and got married, we met at McDonald's and got
- [00:51:15.570]married, and I became a Navy wife and my father, who was the
- [00:51:19.830]executive at the National Iranian oil company, his vision
- [00:51:23.970]for our lives, when he brought us to this country, the
- [00:51:26.490]impact of that all of these things, I talk about these
- [00:51:29.640]things in my personal journey, because I want people to go
- [00:51:33.420]down that personal journey. Growth and transformation in
- [00:51:38.190]organizations and systems on a national level doesn't happen
- [00:51:42.600]until we say, what are the things that have shaped our
- [00:51:45.840]lenses that have shaped our experiences? And how does that
- [00:51:48.840]show up and how I lead, I became a Navy wife, I talked about
- [00:51:52.950]the impact of that culture on me. And then the big crucible
- [00:51:57.690]moment that shaped the direction of my career, I worked at a
- [00:52:01.830]company that owns 16 psychiatric hospitals all over the
- [00:52:04.980]country. And my father, who was an executive had a stroke
- [00:52:09.270]and lost the capacity to comprehend English, and the nurse
- [00:52:12.810]at his bedside. Now remember, I worked in health care, I'd
- [00:52:16.050]worked in health care for a number of years at this point,
- [00:52:18.660]my set and my dad's bedside said I wish they would learn to
- [00:52:22.350]speak English, it would make our job so much easier. What I
- [00:52:26.010]did how I reacted to that nurse is not something I'm proud
- [00:52:29.280]of, and I talked about it in the book. But it's something to
- [00:52:31.860]shape the direction of my career. Because when we moved to
- [00:52:34.590]Nebraska, first of all, I've tell you to look LinkedIn up on
- [00:52:37.740]the map, I didn't know where it was, when we moved to
- [00:52:40.140]Nebraska, I made the decision. My boss, who is the Vice
- [00:52:46.110]President, human resources at the company, I work that said,
- [00:52:48.930]Helen, you need to go back in to chase your dreams. Your
- [00:52:51.990]father, your intelligent, and your father had the dream of
- [00:52:54.840]you getting an education when you came to this country. So I
- [00:52:57.330]talked about that, the importance of that, but also how that
- [00:53:00.510]can shape my lens and create a form of bias for me. So I go
- [00:53:06.810]through and explain in this book that what we did at Brian
- [00:53:11.370]health. And Eva, you'll you'll be fascinated by this because
- [00:53:15.480]I was on I think the very first Diversity Council that the
- [00:53:20.310]Lincoln journal star had when I worked at Brian, and we were
- [00:53:27.240]helping the editor of the journal star to say, you know,
- [00:53:31.770]what are the ways that we should be reporting or thinking
- [00:53:34.140]about reporting, this would have been in the early 2000s.
- [00:53:39.270]Then I talked about a situation that happened with a patient
- [00:53:43.260]that led me to want to research this, and led me to want to
- [00:53:46.980]understand this. And this situation ended up with something
- [00:53:51.900]that happened for the very first time in the state of
- [00:53:55.050]Nebraska, which was at that time and Native American
- [00:53:58.620]consenting to donating the organs of a loved one. None of
- [00:54:01.830]that would have happened, had we not been doing the work
- [00:54:05.250]that we had been doing. But the thing about that is, I began
- [00:54:10.230]to understand why individual transformation is a core piece
- [00:54:16.920]of
- [00:54:18.990]understanding others. So when we, when we hear people say
- [00:54:27.660]things about us, that hurt us, that we have no control over,
- [00:54:33.780]we have the opportunity to react in a way that changes
- [00:54:38.760]people that changes the nature of the dialogue, either to be
- [00:54:45.300]hateful, or to be positive. And so what I want to tell you
- [00:54:49.950]is I hid my identity similar to what Eva was saying, as a
- [00:54:56.010]Iranian woman, I wouldn't admit to being Iranian because I I
- [00:55:00.150]didn't want people to judge me based on what happened with
- [00:55:06.390]the Iran hostage crisis and then later with 911. And so, you
- [00:55:11.970]know, I hid that to the point that I didn't teach my son's
- [00:55:16.470]Farsi. I didn't name them Iranian names. I'm a, you know,
- [00:55:20.400]Ronnie, I married a white man from the United States. And I
- [00:55:24.720]joke and I say, I married a white man. And I raised two men
- [00:55:29.220]who could be considered white. And I was so afraid of
- [00:55:34.260]people, equating them to the issues of Iran, that I didn't
- [00:55:39.480]teach them Farsi. But I honestly since I began working in
- [00:55:44.760]helping to understand my own inner cultural mindset, back in
- [00:55:49.680]early 2000, I knew that I could not create the change in the
- [00:55:56.460]institution that I was working using the platform that I was
- [00:55:59.850]given, I couldn't do that unless I was willing to grow
- [00:56:03.840]unless I was willing to challenge myself. So this idea
- [00:56:09.240]became, from a personal level, to very much a professional
- [00:56:13.110]level. And I talked about that in the book. And I asked
- [00:56:16.140]questions at the end of each chapter, and I dig in from the
- [00:56:19.800]research standpoint, I talked about it, and also bring in
- [00:56:23.790]the research and also bring in the consulting, because I
- [00:56:26.280]want people to really see the intersection between their
- [00:56:30.960]personal life and their professional responsibility. So
- [00:56:36.870]I have to share my two grandkids that I have. One is going
- [00:56:43.890]to be perceived by the world as white. One is his Hispanic,
- [00:56:49.260]American, Hispanic, Persian, white American, and the world
- [00:56:54.300]will perceive him as Hispanic. I do the work that I do,
- [00:56:58.020]because I want these two little fellows to grow up to not
- [00:57:02.550]only help others understand the power and the value of the
- [00:57:09.090]differences that they bring, and they add, but to also be
- [00:57:13.200]proud of who they are. Because I did not intentionally teach
- [00:57:18.270]that to my sons. I'll never forget when our youngest son was
- [00:57:23.250]in fourth grade, he came home and he said, Mom, can you
- [00:57:27.450]believe it? It was 100 years, from the time of the
- [00:57:33.270]Emancipation Proclamation to our youngest son, from the time
- [00:57:36.960]of the Emancipation Proclamation, until the Civil Rights
- [00:57:41.070]Act. And that really blew me away because I began to think
- [00:57:46.830]human beings don't change very fast. But human beings change
- [00:57:51.450]when they choose to change. And what is the reason that
- [00:57:55.440]causes them to choose to change? And ever you said something
- [00:57:59.160]that really resonated with me, you said not doing something
- [00:58:02.580]is different, not doing something that hurts is different
- [00:58:06.090]than doing something that helps, right? And so we each have
- [00:58:11.820]to ask ourselves, what are we not doing? What are we
- [00:58:15.060]choosing to not do? That hurts? And what are we choosing to
- [00:58:18.990]do that helps. And so the the idea that my son brought to
- [00:58:25.200]me, and that day at that time, really lands with this quote,
- [00:58:30.000]that you just this comment that you just shared Eva, because
- [00:58:33.090]what it does is it helps me to think about, I may not have
- [00:58:37.950]been doing things that I may have been doing things that
- [00:58:41.190]help them to become who they are. But in some ways I hurt
- [00:58:45.180]them. I didn't teach them the language, which is a piece of
- [00:58:49.290]their heritage that I didn't give to them. But I am making
- [00:58:53.220]that right because I speak Farsi to my grandson's. So I will
- [00:58:56.640]tell you that our oldest son when he was about 12 years old,
- [00:59:00.690]began listening to rap music. And I said, I don't want you
- [00:59:03.870]to listen to rap music. All I hear is a bunch of bad
- [00:59:06.420]language. I don't want you to do that, Jonathan. And he said
- [00:59:09.480]to me, and I said, I doesn't make sense to me. That was my
- [00:59:13.440]exact words. And I said, I said that to him. And he said,
- [00:59:16.080]Mom, things that don't make sense aren't always bad for you.
- [00:59:20.070]And that statement leads to another piece of the research
- [00:59:24.030]another piece that I found out, but I never thought about
- [00:59:27.420]that statement until john as quite as much until Jonathan
- [00:59:32.370]moved to Los Angeles to become a music producer, and work
- [00:59:36.660]alongside a very famous rap artist, who is who was shot and
- [00:59:41.640]killed sadly, in 2019 nipsey hussle. And what I gained from
- [00:59:47.550]john through the lens of my sons from their lived
- [00:59:51.090]experiences, has totally shifted the way that I choose to
- [00:59:55.590]live. And so I think it's important that we look at our
- [01:00:00.000]selves on that individual level, and then say, what are our
- [01:00:04.200]platforms? What areas? And how do we bridge differences? One
- [01:00:09.210]of the tools that we use in our research is called the IDI.
- [01:00:13.260]And this is, this is an assessment that tells us where we
- [01:00:16.500]think we are in our journey to becoming in the intercultural
- [01:00:20.040]mindset and where we actually are. The first time I took
- [01:00:23.760]this assessment, I was in minimization, and I was quite
- [01:00:26.760]shocked by the fact that I was in minimization, I was
- [01:00:30.270]shocked because I thought, I've lived in three countries,
- [01:00:34.830]five states, I've traveled I've, you know, taught and all
- [01:00:38.970]these things, how can I possibly be here, but what I
- [01:00:42.150]realized was that I de emphasize the places that I'm
- [01:00:46.590]different as a way to fit in with the white dominant
- [01:00:50.340]population that I was working with. So I minimized my I
- [01:00:55.710]worked really hard to lose my accent, I wouldn't tell people
- [01:00:59.640]I was from Iran. And I didn't teach Farsi to my sons because
- [01:01:04.080]I wanted to fit in. And what I will tell you is that when we
- [01:01:08.940]as leaders do that, what we're doing is we create a
- [01:01:15.420]environment, that people, for people who are minimization,
- [01:01:19.110]we create an environment where it's a Universalist approach,
- [01:01:22.170]we all have to be the same, we have to be colorblind. That's
- [01:01:25.410]the impact of it on an organization. When leaders tend to
- [01:01:29.520]fall in these two developmental levels, they tend to create
- [01:01:32.910]an assimilationist approach, which is you've got to be like
- [01:01:36.540]us to be long here. So we hire for diversity, but we onboard
- [01:01:41.760]for uniformity. And I see this in different environments,
- [01:01:46.470]when I interact with leaders. And when I interact with
- [01:01:49.380]employees, those who are at this developmental level, these
- [01:01:53.610]two developmental level, they're in the intercultural
- [01:01:55.950]mindset. What that means is that they are giving meaning to
- [01:01:59.220]the differences that they're experiencing.
- [01:02:03.120]through the lens of deeply understanding that human
- [01:02:06.900]differences exist. Our life experiences are very different.
- [01:02:12.480]jonasson, our oldest son grew up with an immigrant mom, and
- [01:02:18.870]a white Father, in different states, but majority in
- [01:02:23.310]Nebraska. nipsey grew up with an immigrant father, and an
- [01:02:28.140]African American mother, in Inner City, Los Angeles, their
- [01:02:32.940]same age born the same year, but their life experiences were
- [01:02:37.590]so different. And when we comprehend that, and we are
- [01:02:42.840]willing to learn about other people, we are willing to
- [01:02:45.930]create inclusive environments, we're willing to bridge
- [01:02:49.380]across those differences. And we're willing to take those
- [01:02:52.680]actions. So the thing about it is, and I asked my students
- [01:02:56.580]this question, I asked everyone, some of you have probably
- [01:02:59.490]heard this question. At the beginning of the semester, I had
- [01:03:03.570]my students identify, who would they be most afraid to bring
- [01:03:08.610]home as their future spouse? The reason I asked this
- [01:03:12.690]question is not because I want them. I want to say, you're a
- [01:03:16.050]bad person, your parents are bad, or there's anything wrong
- [01:03:19.050]with you. But I want them to recognize that they have
- [01:03:22.830]biases, they've never ever even thought about. Somewhere,
- [01:03:27.930]somehow, we move from, hey, I'm okay with diversity, equity
- [01:03:34.380]inclusion, I want to be a part of this, I want to champion
- [01:03:36.690]it. I want to be an ally, to wait a minute. Nope, you can't
- [01:03:41.220]date that person, whoever that is. And I've had students
- [01:03:44.550]tell me everything from Democrat, Republican, pro life pro
- [01:03:50.310]choice, GLBT, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, non faith, poor,
- [01:04:00.120]previously incarcerated, rehabilitated, alcoholic, whatever
- [01:04:05.970]it is, I've had students say that and the reason again, I
- [01:04:09.120]asked them that is because I recognize that somehow, they
- [01:04:14.940]have come to move an idea into their unconscious brain. An
- [01:04:22.320]idea they've created that there is there's bias that we
- [01:04:26.100]have, that we don't, aren't even aware of. So here's the
- [01:04:31.800]thing that we know and neuroscience has really helped us to
- [01:04:36.270]better understand this. Here's a list of two books and
- [01:04:40.170]articles that I've listed on this slide that I highly
- [01:04:44.880]encourage you to read. Human beings we have basically two
- [01:04:49.860]brains according to Dr. Economy. Our system one brain is our
- [01:04:54.300]built in brain that is really like familiar and comfort.
- [01:04:59.610]Okay. So this part of our brain operates 95% of our
- [01:05:04.500]thoughts, our actions and our behaviors. It is fast, it's
- [01:05:08.760]automatic, it's impulsive, it's associative, I am walking
- [01:05:13.140]down the street, I see someone approaching me, I saw a scene
- [01:05:17.130]from somewhere else that showed that I am not to trust this
- [01:05:20.550]person. So that has become embedded in my brain so deeply
- [01:05:25.620]that I automatically cross the street. 95% of our actions
- [01:05:30.720]come out of that part of our brain. So we have to be
- [01:05:33.570]intentional about using the part of our brain that really
- [01:05:38.910]engages that inclusion, we cannot create inclusive
- [01:05:43.800]environments, until we begin to think outside of away from
- [01:05:50.670]things we are fearful of that create anger in us. So we each
- [01:05:56.310]have to ask the question, how am I managing my unconscious
- [01:06:00.480]bias? Do I even know what those are?
- [01:06:04.740]Am I willing to open up to understand other people's
- [01:06:08.010]experiences? Am I willing to build trust with others? Do I
- [01:06:14.010]have the capacity within myself to balance what I'm feeling
- [01:06:18.000]emotionally, with what I'm thinking logically. So the idea
- [01:06:23.850]of inclusion happens when we bring this part of our brain to
- [01:06:29.250]system to brain on line, and I will tell you, it is the
- [01:06:33.630]first thing to go offline. Because it is the last part of
- [01:06:39.330]our anatomy to fully develop. We know that in males, it
- [01:06:43.410]doesn't develop until their mid to late 20s. In women it
- [01:06:47.430]develops early to mid 20s. And so one of the things that we
- [01:06:51.600]I work at with our students is to help them to intentionally
- [01:06:56.430]work to use this part the system to part of their brain more
- [01:07:00.780]often. The other thing is that when people are excluded, and
- [01:07:05.670]I heard this a lot this summer, this past summer, when Pete
- [01:07:09.630]when we saw riots when we saw people burning things and
- [01:07:13.530]turning things up. This is about the pain of exclusion,
- [01:07:18.600]exclusion registers in the brain, the same way physical pain
- [01:07:23.370]of say, you're recovering from surgery, the physical pain
- [01:07:26.610]that a person has, it registers in the same way. So when I
- [01:07:30.630]feel excluded, when the department, the police department,
- [01:07:34.890]or the division that is set up to support me to care for me
- [01:07:39.030]to protect me, because all human beings are created equal.
- [01:07:43.440]That's what are you know that the founding formation letters
- [01:07:48.990]of this country say, right, all human beings are created
- [01:07:51.960]equal. So what happens when I'm not treated in that way?
- [01:07:57.150]Well, the human body has to let that out somehow. And for
- [01:08:02.940]people who are really deep embedded in here, it tends to
- [01:08:07.470]show up in destructive ways, not only destructive of
- [01:08:11.130]property, but destructive of self, there is a strong link,
- [01:08:16.200]huge toll that racism has on a psychological and health
- [01:08:21.570]level of individuals. So we have to, we have to do this
- [01:08:27.120]work. We through the program that we've been working with,
- [01:08:33.510]through our rural Fellows program, we send out students, we
- [01:08:36.990]match them with a community leader, and they move to the
- [01:08:40.860]community and they work with community leaders doing a
- [01:08:44.640]community identified project. But before they go, and while
- [01:08:48.780]they are there, we are working to help them understand and
- [01:08:52.230]appreciate each other's differences. And in the work that
- [01:08:56.520]we've been doing, that is resulting in us better
- [01:09:00.120]understanding what is the process for growth and development
- [01:09:04.560]of inclusive leaders. And we've had an article that was
- [01:09:08.760]that's coming out in the Journal of leadership education
- [01:09:11.550]that's really focused around this. But these are the
- [01:09:13.920]attributes that we see of inclusive leaders. And this is
- [01:09:17.550]what we're working towards. Not only are we doing this with
- [01:09:21.120]students that are being placed in these rural communities,
- [01:09:24.330]but we're also doing this with community leaders. And what
- [01:09:28.650]we see is that inclusive leaders are humble. They recognize
- [01:09:33.600]they don't know everything there is to know regardless of
- [01:09:36.150]how many degrees we hold, and how many years we've been
- [01:09:39.450]doing this, they're authentic, and they're willing to be
- [01:09:42.660]vulnerable. So thank you to all three of you for being
- [01:09:46.620]vulnerable and for sharing your personal stories because
- [01:09:49.380]that is one of the crucial pieces of being an inclusive
- [01:09:53.010]leader. These individuals are high in psychological capital,
- [01:09:57.060]which is a higher order construct of hope, resilience.
- [01:10:00.000]efficacy and optimism, they're higher in emotional
- [01:10:03.750]intelligence, they have a unique level of empathizing, being
- [01:10:08.430]able to understand others experience and giving space for
- [01:10:11.970]others to have their experience. And they have an avid
- [01:10:15.240]desire to continue to learn. So the reading of the books, to
- [01:10:18.750]interacting with people to listening to understanding, and
- [01:10:22.110]this is the biggie, they are willing, they're comfortable
- [01:10:26.370]with disruption. So when people aren't following policy,
- [01:10:30.150]they're comfortable with saying help me understand what we
- [01:10:34.170]need to change. And they're comfortable with that ambiguity.
- [01:10:38.700]So at this time, we'd like to open it up for answering
- [01:10:42.090]questions. And let's see.
- [01:10:48.750]April, Dr. Fagan, help us understand how you give grace and
- [01:10:52.560]listen, when you hear see offensive comments, actions that
- [01:10:56.160]are offensive, it seems you understand and help overcome
- [01:10:59.970]bias. Yeah, I think what I do is one of the things that we
- [01:11:04.530]each have to do is extend grace to people and recognize,
- [01:11:08.280]we're all on this journey together. And we have to give
- [01:11:15.690]grace when people make a mistake, because we need that from
- [01:11:19.170]others, as well. Because we're all gonna make mistakes in
- [01:11:22.890]the process. You really need if you're a leader, you need to
- [01:11:26.670]have someone who can be brutally honest with you, someone
- [01:11:31.590]you give permission to, to be brutally honest with you, that
- [01:11:36.030]can come to you and say, Hey, this is something we haven't
- [01:11:40.980]thought about. And that person feels safe in doing that with
- [01:11:44.730]you. And I can honestly say, I've done that to our
- [01:11:48.180]chancellor, Ronnie green, and he has been very gracious in
- [01:11:51.270]hearing me. I can honestly say, I did that to Barb, when I
- [01:11:56.130]came to her office, and we sat down and we talked about
- [01:11:59.880]prosper, Nebraska. And my question was the, my question for
- [01:12:07.230]her was, can we please make sure that we're looking at
- [01:12:11.250]equity and diversity, and she was very willing to do that.
- [01:12:15.090]So we have to be willing to hear from other people and to
- [01:12:19.050]extend Grace? Whoa, boy. There's lots of questions coming
- [01:12:25.050]in. Yes, you'll be notified about the book. It's coming out
- [01:12:29.760]in the summer, I'm told sometime between June and July of
- [01:12:33.870]this year. And there will be a pre order link for 20%
- [01:12:38.520]discount. Let's see anonymous attendee How do you think we
- [01:12:42.630]should reach out to people who are actively prejudice and
- [01:12:45.030]not interested in changes, people like that would not be
- [01:12:47.550]taking this seminar like this and realize they need to
- [01:12:50.700]change? You know, the thing is, is that when people are a
- [01:12:56.160]product of their environments, people are a product of what
- [01:13:00.810]they've experienced. When I engage in a conversation with
- [01:13:05.100]someone who is, I know not open to what I have to say, I
- [01:13:11.070]engage in that conversation to better understand them. I am
- [01:13:15.540]not engaging in that conversation to change their mind. When
- [01:13:21.210]our people want to be heard and want to know that they're
- [01:13:24.330]appreciated. We cannot change anyone's mind, all we can do
- [01:13:29.010]is manage our reactions and our interactions with them. So I
- [01:13:33.180]don't ever enter enter into a conversation trying to change
- [01:13:36.360]people's mind. I enter into the conversation trying to
- [01:13:39.750]better understand them. James, welcome, James. I'm so glad
- [01:13:46.800]you're here. James is a student in the leadership diversity
- [01:13:49.650]class this semester. Can I expand on the idea of when we
- [01:13:53.460]hire for diversity, but on board for uniformity? Absolutely.
- [01:13:57.840]What we do is we go out and we hire people who are different
- [01:14:01.650]based on their diversity of thought, diversity of ideas,
- [01:14:04.650]diversity of race, ethnicity, whatever diversity the
- [01:14:07.590]organization sets out to hire for, we do that. But then when
- [01:14:12.510]we invite them into the environment, and they bring up an
- [01:14:15.540]idea or a question, something that gets that is different
- [01:14:19.830]than what we've been doing. We kind of say, Oh, well, that's
- [01:14:23.670]not where we are. That's not what we're doing. Now. That's
- [01:14:26.520]not how things should be. That is what I mean by we onboard
- [01:14:30.540]for uniformity. We slowly over time, create this idea. And
- [01:14:39.810]basically tell this person with our actions and our words,
- [01:14:44.370]that if they want to be a part of this team and be heard,
- [01:14:49.260]they need to behave and act and think and look and sound the
- [01:14:54.420]way that we all do already in the organization. So share
- [01:15:00.000]mangrum Oh, you're an amazing young lady. If you don't know,
- [01:15:04.200]Shannon, you need to get to know Shannon. She is brilliant.
- [01:15:09.810]Thank you when it comes to helping others and changing our
- [01:15:12.360]actions, how do we make sure we're not crossing over into
- [01:15:16.680]savior ism or what people understand it as white saviors?
- [01:15:20.250]I'm such a great question such a thought question.
- [01:15:23.490]Thoughtful question. Yes, I struggle with this myself a lot.
- [01:15:29.610]What I want to do is create opportunity for individuals to
- [01:15:33.240]learn to grow,
- [01:15:36.180]you know, to have the opportunities and to build on, you
- [01:15:40.800]know, what has been happening, I want to open the door for
- [01:15:43.230]those emerging adults, young adults that are coming in, I
- [01:15:45.630]want to help them. But I need to recognize I'm not the
- [01:15:49.680]Savior, none of us are. And what we need to do is to invite
- [01:15:54.840]people into environments and give them the opportunities to
- [01:15:59.910]succeed, but at the same time, recognize how we're holding
- [01:16:04.410]them back, and then not take credit for their successes. So
- [01:16:09.510]that's one of the things that we really need to understand,
- [01:16:12.720]as you know, individuals, and it's called White savior ism,
- [01:16:16.770]when we, you know, go into a community or an environment and
- [01:16:21.210]think our way is the right way. And we want them to become
- [01:16:24.600]like us. So it's we're past the time, I appreciate all of
- [01:16:29.610]your questions. I'm going to hand it over to Dr. kassebaum.
- [01:16:34.740]At this time, we want to respect your time. If there's
- [01:16:38.760]additional questions, please feel free to email me I'll be
- [01:16:42.270]happy to answer them. And thank you again for this
- [01:16:45.570]opportunity. And thank you all for engaging in this
- [01:16:48.600]dialogue.
- [01:16:52.950]Thank you, Dr. Fagan. As a reminder, CEO action for
- [01:16:57.690]diversity and inclusion is the largest initiative of its
- [01:17:01.320]kind. In the United States. The CEO action pledge outlines a
- [01:17:05.940]specific set of actions that the signatory will take. They
- [01:17:10.440]will cultivate a trusting environment where all ideas are
- [01:17:14.250]welcome, and employees feel comfortable and empowered to
- [01:17:18.330]have discussions about diversity and inclusion. Take the
- [01:17:21.930]pledge. co action provides a space for ideation, education,
- [01:17:27.750]conversations and dialogue. At un owl, we have launched my
- [01:17:33.600]Husker action, where we encourage individuals to act and
- [01:17:37.470]celebrate authentic, intentional actions against systemic
- [01:17:42.030]racism, injustice, inequality in all its forms. We invite
- [01:17:47.310]all Huskers on campus and off alums and friends to
- [01:17:51.570]participate. Learn how to take actions against injustice,
- [01:17:56.430]and equity, but also share on the My Husker action portal,
- [01:18:01.230]what you are doing in your department, workplace or
- [01:18:04.860]community to be more inclusive. We also invite everyone to
- [01:18:09.270]continue your journey. By being part of a learning and
- [01:18:12.270]sharing community. you announce include learning community
- [01:18:16.170]is open to all, we invite you to share your voice dialogue
- [01:18:21.060]and build your knowledge with a network of people in a
- [01:18:23.790]community, sign up for include online. Thanks for being part
- [01:18:28.440]of a great discussion today.
- [01:18:30.480]Hi, I'm Wendy Birdsall, president of the Lincoln Chamber of
- [01:18:33.210]Commerce. And as a community builder, the Lincoln chamber is
- [01:18:36.690]dedicated to making intentional, actionable strides to
- [01:18:40.200]ensure our diversity is one of increased equity and
- [01:18:43.170]inclusion. We believe there is no room for discrimination of
- [01:18:46.950]any kind in the workplace. And today, I'm inviting you to
- [01:18:50.940]join us and our pledge of responsibility and accountability.
- [01:18:54.660]Together, we can use our influential voices to foster
- [01:18:58.290]workplace environments that demand fair treatment,
- [01:19:01.410]resources, opportunities and advancement for all. I
- [01:19:05.730]encourage you to visit lcfc.com forward slash pledge to
- [01:19:09.930]pledge your commitment to being part of the solution and to
- [01:19:13.800]identify actionable opportunities to implement change. We
- [01:19:17.700]can and will do better as a business leader individuals and
- [01:19:21.930]as a community. Thank you.
- [01:19:24.830]Hi, I'm David Brown, President and CEO of the Greater Omaha
- [01:19:27.470]Chamber. In June, the greater Omar chamber hosted a
- [01:19:30.680]coalition of nearly 150 CEOs, founders and leaders of the
- [01:19:34.790]Omaha business community with a purpose of identifying
- [01:19:37.760]collective action for diverse, equitable and inclusive
- [01:19:40.460]workplaces and communities. Those CEOs for code emerged with
- [01:19:44.900]a commitment to our community. As part of our commitment to
- [01:19:48.080]opportunity diversity and equity. CEOs for code stands
- [01:19:51.410]united against racism period. Together, we commit to
- [01:19:54.980]investing in substantive change in our organizations and
- [01:19:58.010]communities to address racial inequities and Social Justice.
- [01:20:01.490]We believe everyone in Oman has the right to earn a living
- [01:20:04.580]with equal access, opportunity, and a share of our regional
- [01:20:08.060]economic prosperity. to propel the group forward we have
- [01:20:11.510]identified the following actions is our responsibility and
- [01:20:14.360]leading equitable changes, which will uplift the individuals
- [01:20:17.540]in our community who have been left vulnerable by historic
- [01:20:20.630]and systemic barriers. We will educate ourselves and
- [01:20:24.320]disseminate the history of systemic racism and oma and the
- [01:20:27.650]barriers that continues to present today, we will create
- [01:20:31.070]opportunities to listen to those affected and marginalized
- [01:20:33.800]by these barriers. To learn how we can help, we will support
- [01:20:37.880]lift up collaborate with and fun nonprofit agencies who are
- [01:20:41.690]tirelessly in marginalized communities. We will use our
- [01:20:45.200]influence and position to amplify unheard voices, and
- [01:20:48.710]endorse policies that lead to racial justice, we will
- [01:20:52.130]improve the employment training, advancement, support and
- [01:20:54.710]success of people of color in our workforces. And finally,
- [01:20:58.490]we will continue the conversation by engaging in ongoing
- [01:21:02.450]CEOs for code meetings to collectively address issues of
- [01:21:05.780]racism, oppression and bias in our organizations and
- [01:21:08.750]communities. Look, change is possible, and we are capable,
- [01:21:12.800]but it's going to take all of us working together to make a
- [01:21:15.050]difference.
- [01:21:17.790]On behalf of the University of Nebraska Lincoln and
- [01:21:20.760]Chancellor Ronnie Green, thank you for being part of today's
- [01:21:24.060]experience and blueprint Nebraska. The report pointed to the
- [01:21:28.320]importance of Nebraska being a place where all with see and
- [01:21:31.740]experienced the state as the good life in that quest. We
- [01:21:36.180]hope what you experienced today, inspires, motivates,
- [01:21:40.230]empowers and provides different ways for you to make a
- [01:21:44.130]commitment to course ahead and take action towards making
- [01:21:48.300]your workplace, your community and Nebraska more inclusive
- [01:21:52.710]and welcoming for all
The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!
You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.
Log in to post comments
Embed
Copy the following code into your page
HTML
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%; overflow: hidden; position:relative; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex-grow: 1;"> <iframe style="bottom: 0; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; border: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%;" src="https://mediahub.unl.edu/media/16007?format=iframe&autoplay=0" title="Video Player: A Conversation on Inclusive Leadership for Nebraska's Future" allowfullscreen ></iframe> </div>
Comments
0 Comments