Workday Playdate 42. Exercising Empathy and Embracing Who You Are with Rich Robles, Senior Director of Diversity & Inclusion at Novant Health
“The biggest lessons came from those moments when I failed.” - Rich Robles
Do you think about how you make other people feel? What if you were to focus on just that – how other people feel in your presence?
Failed it! Fam, grab your notebooks, and give a warm welcome to family man and hope dealer, Rich Robles. Rich is a D&I leader at Novant Health, with an impressive background in diversity and inclusion and learning and development. Listen in as he shares his own failure journey through the lens of his professional and personal life. You leave feeling empowered, inspired and in awe of this mans’ journey!
In today’s episode, Rich tells us all about:
- The importance of connecting with your clients at a human level
- Exercising empathy as a leader
- Giving yourself a break for your own mental health and for your family
- Embracing who you really are
Links from show discussions:
- Improve it! Online Workshops
- Connect and engage with Rich on LinkedIn
About the guest: Rich is a senior director of diversity and inclusion at Novant Health. In his role, Rich leads strategies and work that create a culture where people feel included, engaged and have a sense of belonging while achieving Novant Health’s goals.
Rich’s background includes both consulting and internal roles in the areas of organizational development, culture transformation, merger integration, and change management. He has led work for companies such as Motorola, PepsiAmericas, McDonald’s, Schering-Plough, Chicago Tribune Company, The Spiegel Group, and Exelon. Rich worked at Bank of America where he held roles responsible for organizational design, culture change, and team effectiveness. Prior to Novant Health, he was a senior consultant at The Center for Intentional Leadership where he helped clients create high-performing teams and cultures.
Rich received an M.A. degree With Honors in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from Roosevelt University and a B.A. degree in Psychology from Huntington University.
Rich is committed to the Hispanic community in Charlotte, and he has recently been appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Council for Hispanic/Latino Affairs. Additionally, Rich is a board member of Urban Promise and The Latin American Chamber of Commerce Charlotte.
Rich grew up in Guatemala City where he attended a military school before moving to the U.S. He resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife and four daughters. In his rare moments of spare time, he enjoys anything related to his favorite soccer team, FC Barcelona, traveling to other countries, and summers at the beach with his family.
About the Host: Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the failed it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram here. We can’t wait to connect with you online!