R.O.G. Return on Generosity

89. Amber Hikes - Weaponize Your Privilege

89. Amber Hikes - Weaponize Your Privilege
“If allyship is about solidarity, accompliceship is about leveraging your privilege, like kind of weaponizing your own power… I'm not just here to cheer you on. I'm here to fight with you like it's my own fight and accomplices believe in their bones that their comfort is less important than someone else's liberation.”
Guest Info:
Amber Hikes (they/she) is a social justice advocate, community organizer, TED Talk Speaker, and unapologetically queer and Black. As the ACLU’s first Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer, they provide vision, leadership, and direction for the ACLU’s nationwide strategy to support equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) across all aspects of the organization’s work and efforts. Amber serves as both the internal and external ambassador on the importance of EDI as a crucial cornerstone of the ACLU’s culture of belonging.  
In 2017, Amber introduced the world to the More Color, More Pride flag, launching a global conversation around anti-racisim in the LGBTQ community. On the heels of this monumental work, Amber released a TED Talk helping all of us be better mentors, sponsors, and believers in collective liberation. With 2 million views, Amber’s TED Talk has built a network of intersectional accomplices changing the landscape of equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace.
Prior to joining the ACLU, Amber served as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs where they developed policy and served as the principal advisor to the Mayor on issues that affect the LGBTQ community. At the Mayor’s Office, Hikes set their sights on fighting and advocating for the most impacted populations within the LGBTQ community – specifically youth, elders, immigrants, transgender people, and people of color. In their time leading the office, Amber advocated for anti-discrimination legislation at the municipal level, passed one of the nation’s most trans-inclusive police policies and added black and brown stripes to the rainbow flag, prompting an international conversation about race and discrimination within the LGBTQ community.
A community organizer from an early age, Amber’s full-time career began in education access advocacy—as the youngest Upward Bound director in the country, at the University of Pennsylvania. The moral compass of Amber’s work, intersectional inclusion, can be traced throughout her organizing and her work supporting and facilitating the pursuit of postsecondary education for youth of color experiencing poverty and homelessness. 
Hikes has been recognized nationally by OUT Magazine as “Community Organizer of the Year” in the 2018 OUT 100 and by Business Equality Pride as one of the 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40. Hikes earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and Psychology and English degrees from the University of Delaware.
Amber believes in employing an intersectional lens in all aspects of community work and leans daily on the words of sister Audre Lorde: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.”
Favorite Quote:
“There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” — Audre Lorde
R.O.G. Takeaway Tips:
Clean your house.
Remediate your mistakes.
Resources:
Amber Hikes
Amber Hikes on LinkedIn (in/amber-hikes-69129913)
Amber Hikes on Instagram (@Amber__Hikes)
Amber Hikes on Twitter (@AmberHikes)
Amber Hikes - Wikipedia
ACLU.org/Action
ACLU Additional Training and Resources
Network Diversity Index Survey
Coming Next:
Episode 90: We will be joined by Jan Siegmund, CFO of Cognizant.
Credits:
Amber Hikes, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.

88. Rhodes Perry - Belonging at Work

88. Rhodes Perry - Belonging at Work
“The workplace can be a place where we are able to break through this feeling of loneliness.”
Guest Info:
Rhodes Perry, MPA (he/him) is a bestselling author, sought-after keynoter, and an award-winning social entrepreneur. Nationally recognized as a diversity, equity, and inclusion thought leader, he has 20 years of leadership experience having worked at the White House, the Department of Justice, and PFLAG National. Media outlets like Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press have featured his powerful work. He serves as the Founding CEO of Rhodes Perry Consulting, a global leadership and management consulting firm helping visionaries and change makers build psychological safety, trust, and belonging at work. Rhodes’ team partners with leading brands including Genentech, PNC Bank, and Kellogg’s along with government agencies like the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the U.S. Department of Interior and larger nonprofits including the American Red Cross, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Center for the Study of Social Policy. Together, the firm co-creates transformative change management solutions building equitable cultures centering those least likely to feel a strong sense of psychological safety and trust on the job. The firm specializes in executive coaching, leadership development, DEI capacity building, and strategic planning solutions. Rhodes created and hosts the annual Belonging at Work Summit, a virtual DEI conference empowering inclusive leaders to build community, gain new skills, and recommit to building healthier workplace cultures. He is also the creator and host of the popular podcasts, Imagine Belonging at Work and The Out Entrepreneur. Together, these shows have empowered over 150,000 inclusive leaders - and those on their way to joining them - in building workplace cultures of belonging.
Rhodes earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Gender Studies from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Public Administration from New York University. He currently serves on the National LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce’s Transgender Inclusion Task Force, on the University of Notre Dame’s Alumni Rainbow Community Board, and on the Cascade AIDS Project’s Board of Directors
Rhodes spends his free time bicycling world-wide from the French Alps to his hometown peaks in the Cascades and welcomes suggestions for his next great cycling adventure. More about Rhodes may be found at www.rhodesperry.com.
Favorite Quote:
“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” — Angela Y. Davis
R.O.G. Takeaway Tips:
How well do we model the four ingredients of belonging?
How are we recognizing, rewarding and honoring all that our talent brings to the workplace? \
How well do we enable others to feel connected authentically? 
How are we invested in psychological safety so we can ask for help, admit mistakes and offer constructive feedback without fear of negative consequences.
Pide and purpose. How do we enable a feeling of alignment  with the bigger mission and purpose of the organization?
Three other things we can do:
Intentionally practice using gender inclusive language.  
Do your work. Self-educate. 
Keep your heart and mind open. 
Thank you for being loyal listeners of ROG. Beginning in July, after the Pride series, ROG is taking a summer break. and will return on August 30th with a recap of the first half of 2022 and an update on what’s ahead for the duration of this year. 
Resources:
RhodesPerry.com
Rhodes Perry on LinkedIn (in/RhodesPerry)
Rhodes Perry - ConsciousLeaders.Com
LinkedIn Learning - Understanding and Supporting LGBTQ+ Employees
Build a Gender Inclusive Workplace: Ways You Can Show Up for Your Transgender and Nonbinary Colleagues 
Have Our Backs: Show Up for Your Transgender & Nonbinary Colleagues
We've Got Your Backs: Show Up for Your Transgender & Nonbinary Colleagues
Network Diversity Index (NDI)
How the LGBTQ+ community fares in the workplace
Coming Next:
Episode 88: we will be joined by Amber Hikes, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer · ACLU
Credits:
Rhodes Perry, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.

87. Cathleen Quigley - Understanding Transgender Identity and Transition

87. Cathleen Quigley - Understanding Transgender Identity and Transition
“Listen to how they perceive themselves and try to give them the benefit of the doubt that they know better about themselves than you do.”
Guest Info:
Cathleen Thomas Quigley is a transwoman engineer, performer, philanthropist and activist. She attended high school in Athens, Georgia before graduating with degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1984. She started the Residential Broadband Business Unit at Broadcom Corporation in 1996 and drove the development of the first DOCSIS Cable Modem, Cable Modem Termination System and integrated digital video integrated circuits and systems. She is a named inventor on over one hundred fifty US and European patents covering many of the building blocks of DOCSIS cable systems, as well as numerous digital video, mesh computing, mobile and wireless communication concepts. After retiring from Broadcom’s Office of the CTO in 2008, she has consulted in and served as an expert witness in broadband technology. Prior to Broadcom, she developed data communications chips and some of the first 100mb Ethernet chips for National Semiconductor and participated in the IEEE 802.3u and 802.14 standards activities. She is a Broadcom Fellow and has been honored by her alma mater, the Georgia Institute of Technology, as a member of the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni and Council of Outstanding Young Engineers. She runs the Quigley Family Foundation and serves on various non-profit boards including the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. After too many years among engineers and scientists, she became a singer/songwriter and has released a CD called “Aversion to Reason” which, thankfully, is out of circulation. An avid guitarist, she sings and performs in a variety of venues mainly in Georgia where she lives with her standard poodle, Ruby.
Favorite Quote:
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" —  Arthur C. Clarke
R.O.G. Takeaway Tips:
Learn and practice the language of inclusion. 
Acroynms and Terms: 
LGBT,  LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA+ means: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/ Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Ally.  The + intends to include those not specific to one of those identities.  
Sexual orientation is who you are attracted to intimately. 
Sexual or gender identity is gender you identify as your own. Male, female, binary, fluid, etc. 
Cisgender is the term used to describe someone who identifies with the gender assigned at birth. Cathleen was assigned male at birth and identifies as a female.
The trans community is the most discriminated against and marginalized. Especially those who are BIPOC Transgender community.
Learn about people from other communities; to be your best and most authentic self and create workplaces where everyone belongs.
Resources:
Transgender FAQ
Glaad.org — Transgender Reference
A Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth
Understanding Gender Identities
Understanding Transgender People: The Basics
The Truth About Trans
Coming Next:
Episode 88: We will be joined by Rhodes Perry.
Credits:
Cathleen Quigley, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.

86. H Walker - ”Add To” vs. ”Fitting In”

86. H Walker - "Add To" vs. "Fitting In" 
“If we work eight hours a day, that's a third of our life. I've always squashed the idea that a third of my life did not identify me.”
Guest Info:
H Walker serves as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He is responsible for leading the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion strategy.
Walker joins Boys & Girls Clubs of America from an extended career with global brands like The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, McDonald’s Corporation, and the United States Postal Service, where he served in numerous organizational culture and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) leadership roles in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Walker’s work helped transform DEI educational experiences, corporate strategies and structures and inspired senior leaders, staff, membership organizations, franchisees, and suppliers to challenge their own knowledge and truly embrace DEI as a mindset and a way of managing change.
Favorite Quote:
“Love is the gift of the servant leader.” — Lee Bolman & Terrence Deal
R.O.G. Takeaway Tips:
Seven (7) ways to “Be” from H’s wisdom:
Be a sentient leader, one who feels, is perceptive and responsive.
Be additive to your current culture instead of figuring out how to “fit in.”
Be selfish. Embrace the “Sanity of selfishness.”
Be the Questioner, approach situations with humble inquiry, instead of judging.
Be mutually adaptive. How can you flex and flow with others?
Be business savvy. Approach Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work as a business initiative. 
Be human. You’re a human being, worthy of respect, dignity and love. So is everyone else.
Resources:
H Walker on LinkedIn (in/ElementsOfH)
Boys & Girls Club of America - H Walker: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer
PRSA: H Walker
Humble Inquiry, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling
Coming Next:
Episode 87: We will be joined by Cathleen Quigley, transwoman engineer, performer, philanthropist, and activist. 
Credits:
H Walker, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.

85. Michele Meyer-Shipp - Who Am I Missing?

85. Michele Meyer-Shipp - Who Am I Missing? 
“We offer job prep skills, interview training, resume support, mock interviews, mentorship, alumni networks for women who come through our program…(our) sole job are the women we serve.”
Guest Info:
Michele C. Meyer-Shipp was announced as CEO of Dress for Success Worldwide, the leading global nonprofit employment resource for women, on January 12, 2022. Michele will lead the organization's 145 affiliates in 23 countries as it continues its mission to help women achieve economic independence through a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to thrive in work and life. She will begin her new role on February 16th.
Michele joins Dress for Success from Major League Baseball, where she served as Chief People & Culture Officer. While at MLB, Michele led the human resources, diversity and inclusion, and office operations functions for the League Office with an emphasis on launching new programs and policies to recruit and develop talent, advancing diversity and inclusion efforts, and enhancing workplace culture. She also served as a senior advisor to the Commissioner as well as leaders across 30 major league baseball teams and multiple Minor League teams.
Prior to MLB, Michele served as Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at KPMG LLP, where she led initiatives relating to talent recruitment, development and retention, supported the efforts of leaders across KPMG's 85+ national offices, and managed a portfolio of external strategic partnerships. Previously, she served as Global Chief Diversity Officer for both Prudential Financial and the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Michele spent the first decade of her career practicing employment law in both the private and public sectors, where she advised clients on optimizing talent and implementing equitable workplace initiatives. Meyer-Shipp is a graduate of Rutgers University and Seton Hall University School of Law.
Michele is a sought-after speaker and has served as a Yahoo! Finance News Contributor and been featured in top media outlets including the New York Times, USA Today, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, Business Insider, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Savoy Magazine, Black Enterprise, CORE Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, Diversity Woman Magazine, Quartz, Inc., and more. She is also the recipient of numerous awards, including The Network Journal's "25 Influential Black Women in Business" (2021), Core Magazine's “100 Most Influential Blacks Today” (2021), Black Enterprise's "Portraits of Power" (2020) and Business Insider's "38 Power Players of Consulting" (2020). She is a member of the Boards of the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) and the Fritz Pollard Alliance Foundation.
Favorite Quote:
Live Life to the Fullest!
R.O.G. Takeaway Tips:
Start off team meetings with a check in. How are you doing? Really.
Consistently ask yourself: Who am I missing? In this gathering, who else should be here? In this discussion, whose voice am I missing? 
Resources:
Michele Meyer-Ship Bio
Michele Meyer-Ship on LinkedIn (in/MMeyerShipp)
Michele Meyer-Ship on Twitter (@MMeyey_Shipp)
DressForSuccess.org
Dress For Success on LinkedIn
Dress For Success on Twitter (@DressForSuccess)
PR Newswire: "Meyer-Shipp to focus on helping women thrive in work and life"
Coming Next:
Episode 86, we will be joined by H Walker, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Credits:
Michele Meyer-Shipp, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.

84. Ron Tite - What Generous Leaders Think Do and Say

84. Ron Tite - What Generous Leaders Think Do and Say
“If monopoly, the most pure capitalist board game, the definition of capitalism, believes we need to be more generous as leaders toward people beyond our offices than certainly we can.” 
Guest Info:
An entrepreneur, speaker, and best-selling author, Ron Tite has always blurred the lines between art and commerce. He has been an award-winning advertising writer and Creative Director for some of the world’s most respected brands including Air France, DoorDash, Evian, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Microsoft, Volvo, and many others.
 He is founder and chief creative officer of Church+State, host and executive producer of the hit podcast, “The Coup”, and executive producer of the documentary film, Fresh Water (Crave, 2021). He has written for television. Wrote and performed a hit play. Created a branded art gallery. And published an award winning comedy book with the cast from CBC Radio’s hit show, “This is That”.
In demand as a speaker all over the world, Ron speaks to leading organizations about creativity, disruption, branding, and leadership.
 Ron’s first book was, (Co-written by Scott Kavanagh and Christopher Novais), was published by HarperCollins in 2016. His most recent book, Think • Do • Say: How to Seize Attention and Build Trust in a Busy Busy World, hit store shelves in October of 2019.
Ron sits on the advisory boards for the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and the Institute for Health & Human Potential.
Favorite Quote:
"Truth and trust in an organization means there's no meeting before the meeting." —  `Suzie Welch
R.O.G. Takeaway Tips:
What do you think? Meaning what is your bigger purpose, your “why”, your values and beliefs.
What do you do? What are the actions you take, things you prioritize that honor what you think.
What do you say? Take a scroll and audit your posts, tweets and articles. Hear the words you use when communicating with others. Do they echo your purpose and express it in meaningful ways? 
This week, invest some quality time considering what you believe. With respect to that belief – what actions are congruent and activated? Lastly, think about the messages you share, the stories you tell and the impact you make with your words. It matters. Trust matters. You matter.
Resources:
RonTite.com
Ron Tite on Twitter (@RonTite)
Ron Tite on LinkedIn (in/RonTite)
ChurchState.co
Everyone's an Artist (or at Least They Should Be): How Creativity Gives You the Edge in Everything You Do
Think. Do. Say.: How to Seize Attention and Build Trust in a Busy, Busy World
Think. Do. Say. Audiobook
Ron Tite - Named "Top 10 Creative Canadians", Innovation Expert and Bestselling Author
Coming Next:
Episode 85: we will be joined by Michele Meyer-Shipp, CEO Dress for Success Worldwide
Credits:
Ron Tite, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.

83. Pamela Slim - Shape the World Through Your Work

83. Pamela Slim - Shape the World Through Your Work 
“You have to really know how to tell the story about how your experience has really crafted for this work that you want to do. I call Body of Work the love letter to creation. It really centers what it is that you're building and being very deliberate about what you want to bring to life. And then everything else is secondary.”
Guest Info:
Pamela Slim is an author, business coach and the co-founder with her husband Darryl of the Main Street Learning Lab in Mesa, Arizona.
A former corporate director of training and development at Barclays Global Investors, Pam focused her first decade in business as a management consultant, working with large companies such as HP, Charles Schwab, 3Com, Chevron and Cisco Systems.
Since 2005, Pam has advised thousands of entrepreneurs as well as companies serving the small business market such as Keap, Progressive Insurance, Constant Contact and Prezi. Pam partnered with author Susan Cain to build and launch the Quiet Revolution.
Pam has written three books: Escape from Cubicle Nation (named Best Small Business and Entrepreneur book of 2009 from  Porchlight Books), Body of Work (2014 with Penguin Portfolio) and her latest, The Widest Net (2021 with McGraw Hill, named Best Marketing & Sales Book of 2021 by Porchlight Books).
In 2016, Pam launched the Main Street Learning Lab in Mesa, Arizona, a grassroots, community-based think tank for small business economic acceleration. http://pamelaslim.com/ke
In The Widest Net, she explains how to build strong diverse relationships, identify and connect with new partners, expand markets, generate leads, and find new customers in places you may never have considered. With this book as a guide, you’ll learn how to connect with potential clients and customers using the true breadth of the marketplace, which she calls an ecosystem of living connections.
The Widest Net shows how to:
Search outside your own lens/bias/routine/history to target ideal customers.
Attract the interest and attention of new leads by learning more about them authentically.
Develop products and services suited to these customers.
Sell through a trusted reciprocity framework where your customers become part of your ecosystem and you each help the other grow.
Build and sustain loyalty and trust with new customers.
Nurture a diverse and resilient customer base by identifying and adjusting to the ideal customer target over time.
Pam is frequently quoted as a business expert in press such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Information Week, Money Magazine and Psychology Today.
Favorite Quote:
"We all need each other."
R.O.G. Takeaway Tips:
Questions to contemplate:
What are your values? The core beliefs you have about what matters most.
What are your ingredients? Skills, experiences, perspectives, hidden talents? 
How can you leverage them? 
What makes you uniquely positioned in your organization and in the market?
What are you creating? What are you investing in that will last long beyond your tenure. How can you center on what you are creating?
What do you need? To make the creation work. To get exposure for it. To improve it.
What’s the work you want to do?
Where are your customers? What ecosystem (AKA watering holes) do you want to join?
What impact did you want to make?
Looking back – What impact have you already made? 
What matters most are the ways we purposefully bring our full self: values, ingredients, creations, desires, all of it into the work for a mission greater than ourselves.
Resources:
PamelaSlim.com
The Main Street Learning Lab
The Widest Net
Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together
Escape From Cubicle Nation
Pamela Slim Bio
Open letter to CEOs, COOs, CIOs and CFOs across the corporate world
Coming Next:
Episode 84: We will be joined by Ron Tite.
Credits:
Pamela Slim, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.

82. Kimberly Brown - Next Move, Best Move

82. Kimberly Brown - Next Move, Best Move
“I really believe in giving back, like you are where you are for, with whatever attributes that got you there, whether it's sponsors or mentors or your own grit, how can you give back? How can you be generous by short-cutting someone else's success?”
Guest Info:
Kimberly Brown is a career + leadership expert whose mission is to help women and people of color navigate the workplace, make more money and become industry leaders. Her leadership development company, Manifest Yourself, LLC, provides organizations with tailor-made solutions to hire, develop, engage, and retain women and people of color. Through her experience as a career development adviser in some of the nation’s top universities and diversity + inclusion professional in a Fortune 100 company, she has learned that there is so much more to career + leadership development besides having a high paying job; it's about creating actionable strategies that enable professionals to do more, be more, and achieve more.
Next Move, Best Move: Transitioning into a Career You’ll Love is the highly anticipated, career planning and advancement book by Kimberly Brown (Cummings), that was released in June 2021.
Kimberly has had the opportunity to speak to and create workshops for many organizations, including the New Jersey Conference for Women, Ellevate Network, Urban League, Princeton University, Salesforce and National Sales Network, among others. Her work has been featured on Forbes, Blavity, MONEY Magazine, TeenVogue, Glassdoor, Fox 5, and more. She is also on the Board of Directors for The Power of You Teens organization.
Kimberly is a graduate of Long Island University and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Science in Counseling.
Favorite Quote:
“You must believe in yourself and your vision. When you do this, you will manifest the life you desire.”
R.O.G. Takeaway Tips:
1. Mentor and share your wisdom with others.2. Identify your Sponsors. Be sponsorable. 3. Believe in yourself and your vision. Turn your limiting beliefs into liberating truths. 
Resources:
www.KimberlyBOnline.com  
Manifest Yourself
Next Move, Best Move book and description
Kimberly on LinkedIn 
Kimberly’s Bio
Buy Next Move, Best Move 
Coming Next:
Episode 83: We will be joined by Pamela Slim.
Credits:
Kimberly Brown, Sheep Jam Productions, Host Shannon Cassidy, Bridge Between, Inc.