I Know I Belong When...
Bold voices. Curious stories. Authentic Impact. What does it really mean to belong? Not just to be invited... To be seen. Heard. Needed. "I Know I Belong When…" is more than a podcast; it’s a movement. A mirror. A megaphone. It’s where raw truth meets radical hope. Each episode brings you unfiltered conversations with people who’ve wrestled with the question of belonging in the spaces that shape our lives: workplaces, schools, communities, and digital worlds. From the boardroom to the breakroom, from the sidewalks to our living rooms, our guests share the exact moment they knew they were in, and the moments they knew they weren’t. ______ This is not about feel-good soundbites. It’s about radical accountability. We explore: ~ Where equity is the foundation, not a divider. ~ The steps it takes to build diverse cultures, not only to survive, though to prosper. ~ Ensure inclusion is not just a checkbox; it is a commitment. ~ Where accessibility is not an afterthought, but the amplification to thrive. ______ At the heart of our conversation is the Belonging Formula: "Belonging = (Inclusion × (Diversity + Equity)) ^ Accessibility." It’s not just math; it’s a mindset. A blueprint. A challenge to every leader, builder, and changemaker: Are you creating spaces where every identity is not only welcomed, however, is valued and respected? ______ Here’s how we do it: [ We Say Names ] Names are not nicknames. They carry legacy, identity, and power. Inspired by #AlwaysChristopher #NeverChris, we explore how honoring someone’s name is the first act of belonging. [ The Moment of Belonging ] A defining story. A turning point. The moment our guest knew: I belong here. We unpack how that moment shaped their confidence, creativity, and connection. [ Navigating Non-Belonging ] We don’t shy away from the hard stuff. Guests share what it felt like to be excluded, erased, or underestimated, and how they reclaimed their space and voice. [ Sustaining Belonging ] What does it take to keep that feeling alive? We explore the systems, rituals, and leadership practices that make belonging a daily reality, not a one-time event. ______ Why it matters: This podcast is for anyone who’s ever asked: Do I really belong here? And for every leader who’s ready to answer: Yes, and here’s how we’ll prove it. Whether you’re building inclusive teams, designing accessible tech, or rethinking your own role in equity work, these stories will challenge you to show up differently. To lead with intention. To listen with humility. To act with courage. Because belonging isn’t a destination, it’s a practice. And it starts with listening.
Episodes
There is a story we tell ourselves about high-performance work: that winning costs you the people, that greatness and humanity cannot share the same room. In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, HR executive, coach, and founder Kate McKinnon shows that the choice itself was never real. Across more than 15 years in human resources, most recently as head of people inside the pressure-cooked world of sports, Kate built cultur...
Most of us were taught to earn joy. Land the results, hit the numbers, and then maybe you get to feel good. Greg De Koker spent a career proving that this is backward.
On this episode of I Know I Belong When…, Christopher Bylone sits down with Greg De Koker, a brand and culture transformation expert, a bestselling co-author, and the mind behind the forthcoming book Joy Squared: The Hidden Power of Joy in Leadership.&n...
Belonging is bigger than any office. It begins in the quiet knowledge that who you are is already enough, and it follows you into every room you walk into for the rest of your life. In this episode of I Know I Belong When, host Christopher Bylone sits down with Öykü Api, a thought leader in inclusion, change, and leadership whose story stretches across self, home, community, and work.
Öykü spent twenty years inside corporat...
What does it mean to lead so that everyone in the room knows they belong? Our guest has spent more than 25 years answering that question, and his answer reshapes how we think about people, work, and life.
Meet Dean Carter. He has served as chief human resources officer four separate times, at Fossil, Patagonia, Sears and Kmart, and Guild, earning national recognition for reinventing the future of work. His book, "Employee Ex...
Belonging is not built at the office. It is built wherever a person is, at the dinner table, inside a circle of friends, in the places we worship and organize, and at work too. Season 3 of I Know I Belong When… proved that twelve times over.
In this special season 3 recap, host Christopher Bylone, Principal Strategist at Innovation Unbiased, brings every guest from the season back together to examine what it takes to ...
What happens when you combine a lifelong storyteller, a lifelong protester, and a leader who runs toward the work when everyone else is running away from it?
You get Chris Jones.
In this episode of I Know I Belong When, host Christopher Bylone sits down with Chris, co-founder of Spectra Diversity and a social justice warrior since 1970, to discuss authentic leadership in turbulent times. Chris has spent more than four decades writing...
What happens when you take fifteen years of startup chaos, a front row seat to the exact moment culture either takes root or falls apart, and a leader who gets excited about the hard conversations most people run from? You get this conversation with Brooke Sullivan, Director of People and Talent at Banyan Software, and a leader building belonging inside fast-moving companies.
Brooke has spent her career inside software startups, bui...
Most leadership advice about artificial intelligence promises the machine will solve your people problems. Sarah A. Scala is in the other room telling executives the opposite. Artificial intelligence will expose them, and she is staying long enough to help fix what surfaces. That is the conversation that Christopher Bylone, host of I Know I Belong When, has on this episode.
Sarah is an award-winning diverse supplier, a global speake...
What if everything you have been told about accessibility, inclusion, and the so-called trade-off between doing good and doing well is wrong?
In this episode of I Know I Belong When, host Christopher Bylone sits down with Daniel Hodges — lawyer by training, nonprofit founder by calling, and living proof that when someone tells you no road exists, that is simply the opening line of your comeback story. As a kid, Daniel was func...
"What does authentic leadership look like when the person in the corner office decides that the boldest move available is telling the truth about who she is? In this episode of I Know I Belong When, host Christopher Bylone sits down with Katherine Dudtschak, former president and CEO of Home Equity Bank and former executive vice president at RBC, to explore what happens when more than thirty years of elite corporate performance meet...
Last week, you met the father. This week, meet the son who did not just inherit a mission. He built his own lane inside of it.
In this episode of I Know I Belong When, Christopher sits down with Jake Ross, founder and CEO of Belong Together, banjo player, former COO of an AI startup, and co-author of the second edition of Everyday Bias with his father, Howard J. Ross. Jake holds a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in interd...
What if belonging is not a program or slogan, but the daily discipline of honoring humanity even when the cultural winds shift against it?
In this episode of I Know I Belong When, Christopher sits down with Howard J. Ross, writer, facilitator, meditation teacher, musician, and one of the most influential voices on unconscious bias and belonging alive today. Howard is the author of Everyday Bias and Our Search for Belonging, and he i...
What does it really take to create belonging in the workplace when pressure rises, resistance shows up, and silence feels safer than speaking up?
In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, host Christopher Bylone sits down with Mike Davis, a global diversity and inclusion executive with nearly three decades of experience navigating the hardest conversations organizations avoid. This is not a surface-level conversation about in...
What happens when a leader walks onto a stage to accept an award and walks off holding a tie because no one imagined a woman could be leading the company? In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, host Christopher Bylone sits down with Simona Scarpaleggia, former CEO of IKEA Switzerland, United Nations co-chair, author, and a leader whose career has redefined authentic leadership when the room was not built with you in mind.
...
What if the clearest blueprint for belonging in the workplace did not come from corporate playbooks, leadership models, or culture decks, but from a global movement rooted in creativity, community, and care?
In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, host Christopher Bylone sits down with Manny Faces—award-winning journalist, cultural strategist, TEDx speaker, and founder of the Hip Hop Can Save America! ecosystem—...
What if the reason your culture initiatives are stalling has nothing to do with motivation, engagement, or vibes, and everything to do with systems, accountability, and how leaders show up every single day?
In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, Christopher Bylone is joined by Joe Machicote, retired CHRO, organizational culture engineer, executive coach, and author of Own Thy Stuff. Joe brings more than three decad...
What does it actually mean to feel valued at work, not in theory, not in policy language, but in lived experience? In this deeply human episode of I Know I Belong When…, host Christopher Bylone sits down with Dr. Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander, a pioneering legal scholar, educator, and culture shaper whose life’s work helped define how organizations understand fairness, dignity, and people’s experiences.
From c...
The belonging movement starts here: Bold voices, curious stories, and the future of inclusive culture
Tune into "I Know I Belong When..." Season 3, and be a part of the movement.
An Innovation Unbiased Production
What does inclusive leadership look like when performance drops, language gets honest, and ordinary moments become the measure of everything?
That is the question Season 2 of I Know I Belong When… answered across twelve extraordinary voices who shared something rare: their receipts, their scars, and their strategies. Together, they offer a masterclass in what it actually looks like to live and lead in ways that make belonging...
Psychological safety is often treated as a feeling. This episode turns it into a leadership practice you can name, measure, and repeat.
In this episode, host Christopher Bylone welcomes Mike Lynch, founder of MJL Consulting Group and author of From Ally to All In, for a human, leadership-credible conversation on belonging in the workplace and what it takes to move from supportive intentions to creating belonging at work through visi...
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