Move Fast. Break Shit. Burn Out.

Pan Macdonald (Chief People and Culture Officer at SES Satellites) comes from a line of Catalysts, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother in positively challenging and improving systems. She believes the most important skills to harness have been intuition, energy and passion and courage to act. Having been told more than once she is a force of nature, Pan steps us through how she learned to take time to hear her intuition, as well as how to positively channel her natural passion. In addition, as an HR executive, Pan explores with us the benefits of Catalysts within an organization. Original music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lynz Floren⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Stephanie Murphy (Founder & Principal Consultant, MCS Consulting) listens to other people for a living, so it is not at all surprising that her call to action for Catalysts is to find and use our voices! Stephanie begins our conversation by sharing her journey to find her own voice - from being a quiet child to the realization her ideas were ground-breaking. Then we go on to discuss finding your narrative, getting clear about your intended outcomes and telling your story in a way others can understand. Stephanie helps us all connect more deeply to the power of speaking truth - and how to do it to ignite action. Original music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lynz Floren⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Bringing others along is a common challenge Catalysts face that we often discuss in our podcasts. Dr. Tasha Eurich - an organizational psychologist, researcher, and New York Times best-selling author - brings an important nuance to our discussion: the need to educate people about the value of what we are proposing. It is not enough to paint the picture of a vision. We need to do the work to help people understand what we can bring to the table. What's in it for them? Find out more about Insight. Original music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Lynz Floren⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Katherine von Jan (affectionately known as KVJ), former Chief Strategy Officer of Innovation at Salesforce, shares with us the power of relationship building to drive change. She tells the story about how her skills in cultivating relationships across an ecosystem led to the co-creation, in just 8 months, of Project 8 (a digital commons created to help the world anticipate the needs of 8 billion people and beyond). Original music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lynz Floren⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

In this episode, LaTranda Irons helps us understand the role that scrappiness plays in our catalytic success. LaTranda shares stories from her youth and organizational experience in which scrappiness allowed her to adapt to new contexts, build friends and allies and become successful within each – again and again. For her, scrappiness is not just a skill that one is born with, rather it is a commitment each day. Check out more about LaTranda's business Unamamagetic and LaTranda's family's foundation Southern Scholars Initiative. Original music by Lynz Floren.

In this episode, Zaineb Haider, Senior Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisor at Cigna, shares how important it is to be clear on the value you provide and the necessity of leaning into opportunities where you can provide value. As a child, Zaineb experienced the harsh realities of being a young immigrant, constantly being made to feel "otherness." Later on in her life, particularly as she earned her Masters in Human Resources Management - Diversity & Inclusion, she realized that her unique "otherness" was her strength. She realized that the times she showed up strong, were the times she showed up with those differences. She now leverages those skills to create inclusive cultures that allow for a sense of belonging. Original music by ⁠Lynz Floren⁠.

Calvin Hosey, Head of Ops and Payment Partnerships at Regpack, shares his hard-won lessons about building out diverse teams. Data tells us that diverse teams drive better outcomes. But at one point his career, Calvin was too focused on demographics, but not enough on other attributes. "I got a diverse team but not a high performing team." So Calvin pivoted to establish a process that can be a gateway to diversity rather than chasing it explicitly. He stopped looking at people's names, and colleges, and rather looks at the idea of the person - using the resume to present who they are. Calvin shares that you need to remove the person as a first step and instead focus on core competency fit. Once you've identified the candidates that have all the necessary core competencies, then you move to the next step of trying to identify if they're going to work with your team. He uses culture and fit to be a final determinant, ensuring that every candidate speaks with multiple team members as well as at least one other executive outside his organization, to ensure a good cultural fit. Original music by ⁠Lynz Floren⁠.

In this episode, Wil Lewis, Experian’s Global Chief Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Talent Acquisition Officer talks to us about situational leadership. Openness and willingness to take the time to bring others along can help move the needle in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work. We discuss strategies for keeping stakeholders focused on DEI, even in the midst of the ebb and flow of collective interest in DEI, as well as ways to help other leaders recognize the value that DEI work will bring to them. Wil’s passion for DEI work and the ways it positively impacts people shines through so powerfully during our talk we found ourselves moved by the joyful and empathetic approaches he takes. Original music by ⁠⁠⁠Lynz Floren⁠⁠⁠.

In this episode, Taisha Nurse, Senior Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at McDermott, explains the power of understanding your catalytic nature and then developing the skills and persistence to drive change in some of the most challenging change initiatives that intersect with people's identity. Having persistence allows us to navigate the impatience we can feel about the change not happening as fast as we want. Persistence requires us troubleshooting the cultural implications of change all the way down to the individual buy-in. Original music by ⁠Lynz Floren⁠.

How do you create systems of change in an organization of 75,000 employees? In this episode, Jesse Cortez, VP, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at McKesson, talks about the importance of being able to see the big picture before creating a clear vision that helps bring others along. "You have to be able to diagnose before you can prescribe." Then, Jesse says, you have to leverage storytelling to bring others along on the journey. Everyone is looking to belong and telling stories help bring people into the work to understand the 'why'. "This is where the magic comes to life." Original music by ⁠Lynz Floren⁠.