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Diversity at Work: How Managing Diversity Elevates Brands | Americus Reed — Ripple Effect Podcast

June 13, 2023 / 23:07

This episode of The Ripple Effect features Kenneth Shropshire discussing branding in relation to diversity, equity, and inclusion with marketing expert Americas. Topics include the importance of authentic branding, the impact of George Floyd's death on corporate commitments, and how companies can effectively manage diversity initiatives.

Shropshire highlights how branding is more than just logos and taglines; it represents a company's values and mission. He emphasizes the need for organizations to ensure that their internal practices align with their external branding efforts.

The conversation also addresses the financial commitments companies have made towards equity and opportunity, noting that while monetary investments are crucial, they must be accompanied by genuine efforts to foster inclusion within the workplace.

Americas shares insights on how companies should respond to crises related to diversity and inclusion, stressing the importance of quick action and validation of concerns from affected individuals. He outlines a three-step approach for companies to follow during such crises.

Finally, the episode discusses the proactive measures companies should take in anticipation of future social justice moments, advocating for authentic community engagement alongside internal branding efforts.

TL;DR

Kenneth Shropshire and Americas discuss branding's role in diversity and inclusion, emphasizing authenticity and proactive crisis management.

Episode

23:07
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a brand is really a meaning system it
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really is a way to communicate to a
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group of people or Marketplace these are
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my values and this is what I stand for
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this is my mission and so branding has a
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much deeper kind of impact and hopefully
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the smart organization services
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companies Etc understand that
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distinction and they're working very
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hard to make sure that what they believe
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they stand for is what the marketplace
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actually perceives
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welcome to a special edition of the
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ripple effect I'm Dan Loney in honor of
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Juneteenth this month senior advisor to
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the dean for the Coalition of equity and
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opportunity Kenneth Shropshire will be
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your special guestos in each episode
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this month can and Wharton faculty are
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focusing on the critical themes of
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diversity equity and inclusion we'll be
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covering a diverse range of topics
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bringing you the latest insights and
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knowledge that you could apply to your
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life and work so get ready to dive into
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this special edition of the ripple
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effect with guest host Ken Shropshire
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so the topic we're talking about today
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with America's kind of links this back
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in to what companies are doing around
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diversity Equity inclusion you're seeing
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a little bit firsthand as well give us
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your thoughts on how companies are
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reacting to this issue
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well you know part of what we're looking
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at is is how they reacted initially post
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George Floyd kind of that moment
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compared to where we are now and I think
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that's where we all need to step back
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and think about our companies still
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doing what they need to do or what they
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said they were going to do and evaluate
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the circumstances as they stand
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well I will let you two get at it a
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pleasure to have on the show America's
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read marketing Professor here at the
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Wharton School Of America it's always
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great to talk to you my friend
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great to see you as well Dan appreciate
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the opportunity thank you gentlemen
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enjoy your time
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thanks Dan Americas I'm happy to be
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doing this one of my longtime friends at
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uh at Wharton thanks for being here I
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appreciate you yeah thanks a lot Ken uh
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you know as one of my key mentors always
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a pleasure to sit down and have a
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conversation with you because I walk
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away a little bit smarter so I'm excited
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to have that experience as well today
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that's a marketing thing you know how to
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go
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I don't leave it in a private
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conversation
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but America's you know you and I talk
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about these issues
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and two of the senior African-American
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leaders uh in the school and and on
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campus as well
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and you know one of the things that that
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I want to highlight to folks is that you
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are a branding expert and and you are
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you are not a race branding expert and
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so this is a conversation that talks
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about what you what you know best
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branding and as applied to the to this
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topic what's what's
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it what's the importance of branding for
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a company overall just before we get
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into this
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well I love that question thanks for
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that uh Ken I think it's important
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because if you step back you think about
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what is what is branding and how does it
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fit into the overall context of the
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organization it's huge because in some
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senses you know we think about branding
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and we're sometimes fooled because we
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think it's well it's a picture it's a
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tagline it's a logo and certainly brands
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have external markers that communicate
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to the world this is where we are and
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how how you can find us right uh but if
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you step back and you think about it a
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little bit more generally uh Ken a brand
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is really a meaning system it really is
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a way to communicate to a group of
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people a Marketplace these are my values
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and this is what I stand for this is my
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mission and so branding has a much
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deeper kind of impact and hopefully the
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smart organization services companies
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Etc understand that distinction and
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they're working very hard to make sure
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that what they believe they stand for is
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what the marketplace actually perceives
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right so so that gets us into this
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context into the the race of the
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workplace context that that we're
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talking about in this series and
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you know at post George Floyd just a new
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study for McKenzie that says the
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companies have committed to now it's up
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to 340 billion dollars which is an
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unbelievable number to these issues
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related to equity and opportunity
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broadly and 141 billion of that has been
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committed just in in the past year
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so you know that there there's
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apparently still a lot of work to be
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done
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but how are companies
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in terms of branding how are they
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utilizing this this moment and the
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announcement of these funds what what
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needs to go hand in hand with that
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yeah it's a great question Ken I think
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what's really really important and is an
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aspect that is sometimes missed is the
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idea that as we try to communicate a
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connection to a Marketplace and an
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understanding of how internally we are
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as an organization changing to become
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better or to be better citizens
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um what what needs to be done and I
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think the money piece is super important
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to your point uh but what's equally
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important is the understanding of once
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we create diversity once we create
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inclusion once we create a kind of
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composition within the organization that
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we're actively trying to manage that in
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a way that allows that inclusion that
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change in the organization to actually
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be successful so it's it's a really
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serious mistake if you just create
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diversity and you try to walk away and
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think it's going to happen uh and
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facilitate if all the efficiencies all
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of the positive things on its own
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because you know the organization that
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end of visuals in the in the employees
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the people they have to understand how
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to reconnect and reintegrate with New
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Perspectives and sometimes that requires
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difficult conversations it requires
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uncomfortable situations because you
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have a new context that people are
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expected to thrive as an employee in and
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you just can't pretend that that's going
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to happen all on its own there also has
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to be some oversight and some purposeful
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consideration with respect to how to
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manage that that diversity as well so I
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think companies are awake to that now
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and that they understand that it's it's
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not just only being self-aware but it's
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also understanding that we have to work
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very hard to manage this this new world
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that we want to try to see in the vision
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of our future so externally you can get
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a a branding bump I guess you'll call it
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by announcing the money by announcing
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programs but but you're saying there's
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there's much to be impactful to truly
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make this work
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the work continues once you make that
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announcement in a way that maybe some
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companies haven't haven't contemplate
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yeah I think that's correct I think I
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think that the understanding that the
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work is just starting it's a great point
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you just make once you once you start
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making those important initial efforts
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to create now we have to also understand
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that's the easy part right the hard part
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is how do we now manage this
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appropriately how do we make this part
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of the DNA how do we bring people
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together in this new world that they
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haven't been in perhaps before and how
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do we make them Thrive and be successful
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in that new setting right so I guess the
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question then how do you I mean any
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examples you can give or or maybe it is
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just
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top-down thinking how do you sustain
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this so once you announce the money you
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announce the program
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how do you make that a I guess it's you
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know it's certainly certainly from your
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kind of baileywick as we would say how
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do you sustain that brand how do you
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what do you need to do to make it last
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longer than that moment and this is this
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is some of your language too and be
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genuine and authentic at the same time
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yeah that's that's the that's the huge
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part that's the the difficult part and I
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think a couple things have to happen Ken
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uh first you have to you've already
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alluded to this you have to have kind of
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top-down full-on full committed support
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to this this in other words this ethos
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has to live and breathe and be
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incredibly robust in the c-suite and
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then once that that ethos is is there
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there has to be the work that's being
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done to permeate it through the entire
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uh various levels and layers of the
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organization so it's kind of like it's
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two parts is one part is the
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authenticity piece comes from those
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individuals in the c-suite making sure
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that this is a living breathing thing
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that happens and is reinforced every
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single day in every aspect of the daily
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tasks that have to occur in terms of the
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organization running efficiently and a
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second part of that is everyone within
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the organization uh being aware of what
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they need to now do to make that that
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Vision that ethos real and so part of it
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is to make sure that it's it's kind of
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flowing through the organizations from
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the top down but also the bottom up and
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that there's a clear shared Collective
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understanding that this this approach is
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something that we all believe in and
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that we're going to work every day to
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becoming a successful you know Inc
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aspect that we want to build as part of
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our brand if we want to reach that level
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of authenticity that you were describing
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earlier so if I'm hearing you correctly
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as I'm sitting in my marketing marketing
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classroom today
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the external part is is one thing but
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there's really a lot going on internally
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that makes this important that makes
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makes The Branding impactful you're
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you're saying that a lot of the
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conversation that needs to be
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contemplated is not
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the press release that you send out to
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the public it's it's what you do inside
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the company
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that's 100 correct if you think about it
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and I've seen this
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happen in many different situations can
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uh where companies will show up and say
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Here's the new brand
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and then and then they kind of walk away
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and they say okay we expect everyone to
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now be empowered to embrace this and the
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problem with that Ken is there was no
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there were no degrees of freedom for
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people to own it there were there was no
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opportunity for people to say I
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collaborate I'm part of this and so in
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those situations where it just shows up
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it tends to fall flat because there was
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no Groundswell where people felt like
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they were actually a part of this this
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this movement towards this this this
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change that we're trying to see happen
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and so the Smart Companies understand
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before they even do this the press
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release they're working in the
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background to make sure that everyone in
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the organization is understanding that
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we're going to be a co-collaborative
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effort here and we're going to do this
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to together and they're going to be
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moments of pivoting moments of changing
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moments of modification mistakes
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missteps you know that we we understand
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that this is an evolution it's a process
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but we want to make sure that we bring
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the company and all of its constituent
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Parts all of its employees we want to
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bring them along with us so that they
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feel they're a part of this and that
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they have some psychological ownership
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in it
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so we're talking about this companies
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that that got on board I think in some
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way post George Floyd what about
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companies that
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missed missed the moment I guess that
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that are looking around and realizing we
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didn't do this
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we need to get on board is it is it too
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late what missteps could be made if you
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do try to jump in and do some work in
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this in the Dei space or in the wealth
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Gap space
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or should you just continue to lay low
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or what what what what advice do you
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give companies that are are saying okay
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that maybe just use the language maybe
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they just woke up
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what should they do yeah
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yeah it's a great question uh it's a
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hard question to answer Ken because you
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know one can make a philosophical
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argument that getting on the ship late
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uh is better than not getting on at all
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one could make that argument for sure
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but I think the marketplace there there
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is a kind of settling point where the
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marketplace will if you wait too long or
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if you're perceived as kind of going
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along because of social pressures or of
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a herd mentality or whatever that
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obviously is going to decrease your
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ability to to do it in a in a way that's
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authentically perceived as something
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genuine and so on and so forth so I
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think but even those companies just have
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a decision to make because even if
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you're going to jump in late you gotta
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here's my rule that I always tell
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companies you can't half do this this is
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not something where you can sort of say
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well you know we think it's important
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but we we don't want to offend some
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people so we're going to try to thread
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this needle and we're going to try to
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use kind of really safe ambiguous
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language so everyone's happy and like
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this this group's over here no one gets
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offended you can't do it that way you
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have to literally say this is something
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that the c-suite the company the ethos
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the brand what we stand for we believe
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in this and we are going to move forward
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with this and create this and we're
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going to stand behind those core values
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and I think this idea of committing
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fully and living with the consequences
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of whatever that might mean because
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there may be groups of consumers there
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may be Target markets that feel that
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they no longer can connect with you
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because of this type of stance that
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you're taking but that's the whole point
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of purpose marketing that's the whole
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point of creating a strong stance on an
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issue whether it be social justice
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wealth gaps other kinds of things that
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you were mentioning to explicitly step
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out there and say this is what we stand
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for this is something you have to do
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explicitly directly clearly and
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articulately
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so so when we think broadly about this
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The Branding issue related to Dei issues
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in the workplace
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and you know one of the things that I
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always come back especially being
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involved in sports so much is is the
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idea of what to do when something goes
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wrong and not
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we'll call it external not like the
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George Floyd kind of moment but with
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your company for example the the senior
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executive uh says the inward or there's
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a sexual harassment uh case that's
00:14:04
brought against uh a high-profile
00:14:06
individual in your organization
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these are
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one-off moments
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where these companies may have something
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like
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the post-george Floyd activities going
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on
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what is it the company should do when
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these these moments and I know each one
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is different I mean and I know we have
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to individualize what happens but in in
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sports the tradition has been you say
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the n-word you're gonna be fired the
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next day
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and I'm and there's a variety of
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follow-up kinds of things have happened
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what what's your kind of thinking about
00:14:40
this when you see these these crisis
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moments happen in this in the space
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where we're concerned about Dei and race
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in the workplace and companies that want
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to
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have the right brand
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after something occurs
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what kinds of steps do you contemplate
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in terms of of regrouping when those
00:15:00
things occur
00:15:02
yeah I think it's a great question Ken I
00:15:04
think that there's a couple of things
00:15:06
that I I believe are really important
00:15:07
and I think the research on this is
00:15:09
quite clear and that's the idea that you
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know first of all it's interesting
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because of crises around Dei situations
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of race situations where we're trying to
00:15:20
create more diverse uh components within
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our organizations they're going to
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happen so the idea is how do we respond
00:15:28
to those crises and I think that's
00:15:29
implicit in your point uh as you ask
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that question Ken and I think there's a
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couple of things that are really
00:15:35
important the first thing is that you
00:15:37
always have to jump out there in these
00:15:38
situations and be quick to validate the
00:15:42
concerns of those who are offended right
00:15:45
so language that has to do with well I'm
00:15:48
sorry I offended you things like that
00:15:50
that's the wrong language the language
00:15:52
is to just come out own it and say hey
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I made a mistake around this particular
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issue uh you know there may be some
00:16:00
racial tension going on with respect to
00:16:02
how my company fits into a context or
00:16:05
leaders in my company or engaging around
00:16:08
issues around Dei but you got to come
00:16:10
out and own it quickly and validate
00:16:12
those concerns of individuals who who
00:16:14
may be in other constituents who might
00:16:16
be offended by that that's Point number
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one point number two is to say listen I
00:16:21
gotta show you an action plan
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so I think that's the the second step of
00:16:26
basically saying here's what we're going
00:16:27
to do in this context of what happened
00:16:30
in this particular crisis we have this
00:16:32
four-point plan and here it is okay and
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then lastly can you you think about
00:16:37
steps one and two that I just mentioned
00:16:39
and being very proactive about
00:16:41
controlling that narrative and getting
00:16:43
out there and talking to people so that
00:16:46
they understand your position and your
00:16:49
plan moving forward uh about that
00:16:51
particular Dei or race related crisis
00:16:54
that might happen in your organization
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so if you follow those three steps you
00:16:58
can mitigate uh the negative potential
00:17:00
reaction that could happen uh the worst
00:17:02
thing you could do is stay silent uh and
00:17:05
allow maybe your Rivals your your arch
00:17:08
enemies to fill that silence so you know
00:17:11
that that's something that I think about
00:17:12
in with respect to to companies I also
00:17:15
just quickly add this can if you've been
00:17:17
doing the work this is what you said
00:17:18
earlier if you've been doing the
00:17:20
diligent purposeful work around these
00:17:22
issues of Dei and race and your
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historical footprint is out there you
00:17:26
have a surplus of Goodwill in the bank
00:17:30
that you can draw upon when these crises
00:17:33
happen such that when you go out there
00:17:36
now it's not like the marketplace is
00:17:39
looking at you like man those evil
00:17:41
bastards no they're saying like you know
00:17:43
what if I if I if I look at what they've
00:17:45
done over the past they have an
00:17:47
authentic you know uh connection with
00:17:50
these Dei racial racial related issues
00:17:52
and so therefore I'm going to take that
00:17:54
into consideration when I evaluate their
00:17:57
response to a particular crisis then
00:17:59
there's some real genuineness too that's
00:18:02
not Who We Are
00:18:03
and again as I mentioned it's so common
00:18:06
in sports and we have to let this person
00:18:07
go because they're not part of our our
00:18:10
ethos uh
00:18:12
you know the the other path that that
00:18:15
we're talking about the in in some of
00:18:17
these conversations is the idea of what
00:18:20
else can you do to rehab someone or to
00:18:22
get someone in the right frame of mind
00:18:24
and there's a lot of research now from
00:18:26
some of our faculty about the idea of
00:18:28
diversity training and that sort of
00:18:30
thing which may have a good PR value but
00:18:33
it's not necessarily as impactful in
00:18:36
terms of having a real impact on people
00:18:37
as as some have contemplated so that's
00:18:40
great I mean I love those three steps I
00:18:42
mean I I think that's that's so much
00:18:43
more and something for companies to be
00:18:46
able to contemplate in advance as you
00:18:48
say in this in this longer kind of
00:18:50
planning if you are really about Dei if
00:18:53
you really are about uh addressing
00:18:55
issues of race in the workplace you
00:18:57
should have these kinds of plans in
00:19:00
place and I think related to that the
00:19:02
the other question that I wanted to ask
00:19:04
you before we begin to close out
00:19:07
is what should companies do
00:19:11
and I hate to frame it like this but I
00:19:13
think it it does capture the question
00:19:15
when the next George Floyd moment occurs
00:19:19
oh that's a great question Ken yeah I
00:19:22
think that yeah I mean it is kind of
00:19:24
going back again should you issue these
00:19:26
statements again should you say we're
00:19:27
going to commit this money again is that
00:19:30
proven to be
00:19:31
a good path I mean have some companies
00:19:33
done done it right or is there some
00:19:35
other path that you see that that they
00:19:37
might begin to contemplate and companies
00:19:39
this would cost you a lot of money in in
00:19:40
real life for to give this advice from
00:19:43
Americas
00:19:45
no idea you you ask a a very challenging
00:19:48
question Ken I think that you know from
00:19:51
my perspective one of the things that
00:19:53
that you had mentioned earlier that I
00:19:55
want to unpack just a little bit is the
00:19:56
context of what gets done with that
00:19:58
money and you know
00:20:00
a big part of the efficacy around this
00:20:04
and the research Bears this out as well
00:20:06
is the idea that you have to take these
00:20:09
efforts and you have to create
00:20:10
interventions that the company and the
00:20:14
community
00:20:15
uh are co-involved with so it can't just
00:20:19
be let's hire the celebrity to come in
00:20:21
and put a a beautiful you know uh
00:20:25
glossed over you know training manual
00:20:28
here's the training manual you know
00:20:29
Starbucks let's shut down for a day and
00:20:31
do a whole day of training on all the
00:20:33
stores and we'll have common come in and
00:20:35
like you know he'll be on the video and
00:20:37
we you yeah that's great but at the end
00:20:40
of the day you also need what's going on
00:20:42
in the community like what are we doing
00:20:44
to what are we doing to be a part of
00:20:46
that conversation to be a trusted
00:20:48
advisor in the community uh doing things
00:20:52
to to help the community understand
00:20:54
where we are with this issue and how
00:20:57
we're helping the actual Community not
00:20:59
just through them buying our stuff but
00:21:02
authentically you know investing in
00:21:04
these communities that would allow the
00:21:08
probabilistic likelihood that maybe we
00:21:10
can be a part of reducing these types of
00:21:12
of incidences from happening in the
00:21:14
first place so it's it's a really a full
00:21:17
like 360 degree approach where yes we
00:21:21
want to do the internal work that gets
00:21:22
the pr bump up and gets covered in the
00:21:25
media and gets us that earned media but
00:21:27
we also want to be working very I think
00:21:29
working very very closely with the
00:21:31
community activists the boots on the
00:21:33
ground if you will the folks that are
00:21:35
that are fighting these issues in the
00:21:38
absence of the light of gratitude from
00:21:40
any audience and be a part of that
00:21:42
effort and that work and putting money
00:21:44
into those kinds of areas as well to
00:21:47
against Build It Up not only from top
00:21:49
down but also uh the employees and the
00:21:52
layers but also the community as well so
00:21:55
I think that you know you're not going
00:21:56
to stop potentially these types of
00:21:58
things from happening but you always
00:22:00
want to be in a proactive mode of
00:22:02
investing in the community and being
00:22:04
being a part of that solution such that
00:22:07
these types of unfortunate uh Act of
00:22:10
incidences don't happen in the first
00:22:12
place I think that's the that's the best
00:22:14
that you can do and that you have to
00:22:15
kind of do that from an authentic uh and
00:22:19
a genuine place as you just mentioned
00:22:20
America's I love these insights the the
00:22:23
idea of
00:22:24
being on top of branding before the
00:22:27
trouble starts how to address issues
00:22:29
when they do come how to be on on a high
00:22:34
alert that any moment might be a
00:22:36
branding moment and especially
00:22:38
insightful with me was was the idea of
00:22:40
it's not just the external message it's
00:22:42
it's what you do internally as well how
00:22:44
is it that you get your your people on
00:22:46
board
00:22:47
number three thank you very much
00:22:50
thank you I really appreciate the
00:22:51
opportunity always great to talk with
00:22:52
you Kim likewise
00:22:54
thank you for listening to the ripple
00:22:56
effect we hope you found this episode
00:22:57
informative and engaging don't forget to
00:23:00
subscribe and leave us a review so that
00:23:02
we can continue to bring you the best
00:23:04
Insight from the Wharton School

Episode Highlights

  • Diversity and Inclusion Efforts
    Companies must actively manage diversity and inclusion for it to be effective.
    “The work continues once you make that announcement.”
    @ 06m 28s
    June 13, 2023
  • Responding to Crises
    In times of crisis, companies must validate concerns and present an action plan.
    “Jump out there and be quick to validate the concerns of those who are offended.”
    @ 15m 42s
    June 13, 2023
  • Proactive Community Investment
    Investing in the community is essential to prevent incidents before they occur.
    “You always want to be in a proactive mode of investing in the community.”
    @ 22m 02s
    June 13, 2023
  • Internal vs External Messaging
    Branding requires both external communication and internal alignment for effectiveness.
    “It’s not just the external message, it’s what you do internally as well.”
    @ 22m 40s
    June 13, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • The work is just starting.
    Diversity at Work: How Managing Diversity Elevates Brands | Americus Reed — Ripple Effect Podcast
  • You always want to be in a proactive mode of investing in the community.
    Diversity at Work: How Managing Diversity Elevates Brands | Americus Reed — Ripple Effect Podcast
  • It’s not just the external message, it’s what you do internally as well.
    Diversity at Work: How Managing Diversity Elevates Brands | Americus Reed — Ripple Effect Podcast

Key Moments

  • Diversity Commitment06:28
  • Crisis Management15:42
  • Community Engagement22:02
  • Branding Strategy22:40

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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