Anti-Asian Bias and Edge Book Discussion: Season 2 Episode 1

Diversity Matters with Oscar Holmes IV Season 2 Episode 1 Episode Title: Anti-Asian Bias & Edge Book Discussion Guest: Dr. Laura Huang   Diversity Matters with Oscar Holmes IV is a podcast that explores all things diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) related. In each episode, Oscar and his guests have lively discussions around DEI topics, explore the latest research on the topic, and discuss the implications so that listeners will be more knowledgeable about the topics and be able to apply the insights to their lives.   Show Summary: The racism virus sadly continues. During the offseason of The Diversity Matters Podcast, a lot has happened, like the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. Anti-Asian bias and violence are rising while the deadly pandemic is still ongoing (also known as COVID19). Stereotyping has also been one of several painful struggles of many because others see them as incompetent due to their accent and color.   In this episode, Dr. Laura Huang, the author of EDGE: Turning Adversity into Advantage, an award-winning professor at Harvard business school and the creator and co-founder of Project Emplify, shares her knowledge and experiences about disadvantage, bias, and disparities. She says that there are deeper issues behind racism and discrimination that not all people understand. But despite all the draining problems people of color experience, she sees something that's inherently powerful, and that is deep solidarity.   Listen as Dr. Laura Huang tells her story about how she met Elon Musk and what she did when he wanted her out of his office. She shares and breaks down the four ways to have an "EDGE" and get an appointment with a very important person you want to meet, like Elon Musk.     3 Exceptional Highlights: When we understand the unique ways in which we can delight our customers, that is the equivalent of being able to have them pause for a second and consider us in a slightly different way so that we can have the opportunity to show them how we enrich and provide value. I appreciate that there's something very inherently powerful, especially around the increasing concerns that we have about race in America, that there is so much deep solidarity. They didn't talk about their accent, but because they were addressing these underlying perceptions and stereotypes, they were able to flip it in their favor and redirect people to their advantages, and positively impact these outcomes.   Show Highlights:    Why did Dr. Huang decide to write the book EDGE?   3:26 Dr. Huang   I had been doing all this research on disadvantages and disparities and people who are underestimated in the workplace and entrepreneurship for the last decade and finding out that these disparities and disadvantages were based on things like subtle signals, cues, and perceptions.   If you are a person whose identity group has negative stereotypes, how can you use that stereotype to your advantage?   6:40 Dr. Huang    One of the first studies that I ran when I became a researcher was looking at the role of accent or how people communicate. Growing up as a child, I saw both my parents getting turned down for promotion after promotion after promotion.   How does one get a meeting with Elon Musk?   22:02 Dr. Huang   This meeting was very serendipitous, where a friend of mine was talking about the emergence of the private space industry and thought that I had some things that I could add. And so we showed up at his office to kind of talk about this.    What are the four ways to gain the “EDGE”?   27:11 Dr. Huang   The title of the book is EDGE but EDGE actually stands for the components of this framework that I developed through my research. The E stands for enrich, the D stands for delight, the G stands for guide and the final E stands for effort.   How to eradicate White Supremacy and address Asian American and Pacific Islander violence and bias?   32:20 Dr. Huang   It's so easy for the intent to get misconstrued, which is inherently part of the problem. Racism and bias happen because of the intentions of those who are being racist or discriminatory, those trying to be allies but don't necessarily understand the deeper issues; there's so much nuance, and I will never be able to capture all of those nuances in 160 characters.   Call to Action: Subscribe to Diversity Matters and get exclusive access to all episodes of Beyond the Mill, which is my live diversity dialogues talk show that I host on campus at Rutgers University-Camden.    Episode Sponsor Links:      Producer Links:   Host Social Media Links:   Subscribe to Diversity Matters  Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher