How do we get right within, in our workplaces? This week’s guest on the Talent Magnet Leadership Podcast, Minda Harts, shares the answer with guest host Wendy Dailey this week. Minda is an author, speaker and thought-leader. She has given various talks and seminars on leadership, diversity and entrepreneurship, and advancing women of color. In 2018, she was named one of 25 Emerging Innovators by American Express. In this must listen conversation, she dives into her new book Right Within, and shares how employers and managers can make the workplace safer for marginalized employees.


Minda gives a recap on her previous book, The Memo, and why she wrote it. “I just didn't see myself represented in a lot of the career books that were being put out there. I really wanted to be able to put something out there where we can talk about our stories and not only affirm ourselves, but then share ways that our colleagues and counterparts and allies could also be part of making the workplace better than we found it.” [2:49]

Minda’s new book, Right Within, came from talking to different women and thinking back on her own past experiences of racialized trauma in the workplace. [4:55]

Right Within is written with women of color in mind. She wants to shed light on the racial discrimination that happens in the workplace, and the traumas that come with it. The book is also an opportunity for managers to create psychological safety inside their organizations and commit to equitable practices. [7:40]

Minda’s goal is that after people read Right Within, they’ll be more willing to take steps toward equity. People of color reading it will have the tools they need to assert themselves and their boundaries, and have conversations about what is acceptable for them in their work environment. [9:50]

The true problem with bias is unchecked bias, as opposed to unconscious and conscious bias. Too many people are walking around with biases and no one is doing anything about them, or holding them accountable for them. [10:29]

Writing about the racial trauma she experienced in the workplace allowed Minda to tell her truth so that others could understand the harm that can be caused. It was also healing because it allowed her to give voice to the issues that she had downplayed. [12:36]

That leaders are more courageous, and are more willing to do the work in order to have equity in their organizations, excites Minda greatly. Reaching that equity goal however, means that leaders have to engage in bystander intervention, and commit stand against inappropriate behaviour in their work environments. [17:06]

Managers and leaders have to be committed to equity and equitable practices so that everyone on their teams is invested in and supported. It has to be mandatory and not something managers can opt into. Equity has to be normalized, part of the overall process, and part of the entire organization. [20:57]


Resources
Wendy Dailey | LinkedIn | Twitter

Minda Harts | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Right Within
The Memo