Make sure it is DE&I

Nina Boone – Let’s Talk

I'm Nina Boone and I am the North America Diversity and Inclusion Practice Leader here at Korn Ferry and I am based out of New York City.

Get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Inclusive leaders make inclusive organizations and so we have to get comfortable with the language and so as you as a leader get comfortable being curious. Because curious and asking those questions in an empathetic and curious way to understand those barriers and headwinds, that just creates a connection with your employees, your racially and ethnically diverse employees, your women employees, your LGBTQ+ community, your Asian community, all of the communities within your organization’s community.

It has to start at the top.

It has to start at the top. So, if leaders don't role model the behavior, if they don't talk about why it's important to the business, and if your leaders don't start interrupting those times of bias in a courageous but empathetic way, then leaders underneath them will never feel like they need to lean into it or that it's important. And so it starts with your leadership team, it starts with those leaders as they bring that conversation to the rest of the organization.

The clients truly are coming to us for real sustainable change. They wanna learn the language. They wanna get comfortable with the uncomfortable. And they're serious this time.