Dr. Stefanie Johnson is an author, a professor, a keynote speaker, and she studies the intersection of leadership and diversity. And you’re going to hear intersections and polarities in today’s conversation. And I think what is really fascinating about Stef is that, in a world where we talk about things in leadership and things in diversity as soundbites, and we try to put them into labels and think in very black and white ways, Stef in her research and her findings and her theories really does speak in nuance. She focuses on how unconscious bias affects the evaluation of leaders, and also on strategies that leaders can use to mitigate bias. Stef has a great book called Inclusify, which is all about harnessing the power of uniqueness and belonging to build innovative teams. She thinks that inclusify, this idea of inclusion, is really about both uniqueness and belonging; so how do you let people have the autonomy to express themselves, while also understanding that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. She is a well-established researcher and scholar. She works with some of the best companies in the world to help them create more inclusive leaders; we’ll talk about her work with NASA and with the NFL. She also brings up her work in healthcare, she has extensive consulting experience, and she’s created and delivered leadership development trainings with an emphasis on evidence-based practices. She’s a fellow in the Society of Industrial Organizational Psychologists and the American Psychological Society. She’s also passionate about disseminating her work more broadly and has taught two LinkedIn learning courses on how to increase diversity and inclusion in corporations. She’s written for the Harvard Business Review and she’s an in-demand keynote speaker; she’s presented her work at over 170 meetings around the world, including at the White House for a 2016 summit on diversity in corporate America on National Equal Pay Day. She’s been feature in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC, NBC, and more. At her core, I think you’re going to find her to be extremely approachable, extremely curious, and someone who’s not necessarily judgmental, and open to finding ways to collaborate with others to make our world a little bit better.

Stef had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“We use stereotypes as quick methods of making sense of the world” (11:00).

“You hear a lot ‘We want someone who’s going to fit our culture.’ I like to take a spin on that and say, ‘Who’s going to add to our culture?” (14:20).

“Having people who are all the same means we’re probably missing out on a huge percentage of our customer base because we’re only going to appeal to a certain type of customer” (15:05).

“In conversation, when everyone sees things the same way, we make much less innovative, and even accurate, decisions. You’re way better off having people who are really different from each other, even if they know less, than having a really similar group of experts” (15:20).

“When you try to make people the same, the reality is people are just hiding their differences” (17:40),

“The way that I describe inclusion… is this idea that you can be your unique self and at the same time you can belong” (23:00).

“If [your employees are] going in [to work], provide opportunities to really benefit from that” (25:40).

“Those little decisions about who’s likely to get what opportunity are likely to be influenced by stereotypes” (32:00).

“If you’re only interviewing a small demographic… I can guarantee you you’re never going to have any diversity. It’s not possible. So, I love the idea of diverse slates because that means you might spot someone who could really be a game changer” (40:10).

“You need white men to create diversity. You need all people” (42:30).

“We need everyone working together, collaborating, to create an inclusive environment where everyone can be successful” (42:55).

“If you really want a diverse background, you’ve got to think broadly about what that means” (48:05).

“There are way more differences within generations than there are across generations” (49:00).

“I seek to understand where people are coming from and how did they get there” (52:45).

“Everyone got to where they are based on their life experiences” (53:15).

“We can always be learning and growing, and we should always maintain that curiosity. And really, the best leaders are those who maintain humility, at least intellectual humility, to think they still have things to learn from others” (1:00:05).

“Before you tell anyone the answer, ask questions” (1:00:35).

“We all have headwinds and tailwinds, we all have privilege and things that slowed us down, and recognizing those in yourself, acknowledging them, I think allows you to be more curious about other peoples’ experiences” (1:06:25).

“We know curiosity is at its least when we feel attacked or threatened” (1:07:15).

Additionally, you can learn more about Stef on her website, learn more about Inclusify on the Inclusify website, and also learn more about the Center for Leadership at Colorado Boulder here. Lastly, you can connect with Stef on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Thank you so much to Stef for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

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