We’re excited to bring you Jill Vitiello’s article Allyship is the New Leadership, as featured in the fall issue of Enterprising Women. Read it here on page 74 and 75. 

Employee experience agency Forty1, a division of The Creative Engagement Group, has appointed experienced DEI consultant and activist Rani Khalon to further enhance its response to the growing demand for authentic DEI strategy throughout the employee experience.

“Another month and already another catch-up meeting? Not much has changed, what should I say this time?”

As someone who has spent her entire career working with business leaders to help them create healthy workplace cultures, I’m fascinated by the trend known as “quiet quitting.” A similar behavior was labeled “employee disengagement” years ago by Gallup, the management consulting company. Today, the difference is that when employees sense they are leading lives of quiet desperation, they post about it on social media. Not so quiet after all.

We change our hairstyle and feel more confident, we change from Doritos to carrots and feel healthier, we change from couch sitters to Peloton devotees and feel stronger, we change from observers to participants and feel empowered.

Do you remember the Robert Zemeckis movie, Mars Needs Moms? Me neither. On the list of all-time box office flops, that one is at the top, with a loss of $144 million. It didn’t matter that it came from the acclaimed movie producer of Forrest Gump and the Back to the Future trilogy. It wasn’t done well, and people didn’t go to see it.

One of the key questions leaders are faced with is, "How do you maintain, or indeed strengthen, company culture in the face of change?" Our CEO, Russ Lidstone believes there are eight key principles to success in this area. Originally published by our CEO Russ Lidstone on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/10/04/8-principles-for-catalysing-culture-through-change

If you care about diversity, equity and inclusion in your workplace, but don’t know what you can do about it, consider becoming an ally. That’s the topic we explored in our workshop, “Allyship is the New Leadership,” at the 2022 IABC World Conference in New York City this week. Allyship involves becoming aware of social injustice, learning more about other people’s lived experiences, and taking action – using your privilege and power to benefit others. Allyship is a personal choice. We believe that the more allies in an organization, the more likely DEI principles and practices will be woven into the fabric of your company’s culture.

One reality TV format above all dominates our small screens. Whether it’s baking, cooking, interior decorating, or sewing, a lot of us like watching ‘normal’ people pursue their passions on TV – myself included. The question is, why do so many of us love this stuff, and what can we learn from it – if anything?

2020 was a turning point for many organisations. Society demanded that more investment in and accountability around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) became a top priority for organisations – on the whole we have seen a positive response, with organisations moving from simply ticking a box and empty gestures to action-focused and authentic DEI practices. Whilst more and more organisations are making commitments and participating in DEI discourse, there is so much more that needs to change.