S2E20: Working With People Not Like You with Kelly McDonald

Text Jason @ Leadership Voyage

Kelly McDonald is an acclaimed speaker who specializes in consumer trends and changing demographics. She is the president of McDonald Marketing and has authored four bestselling books on the customer experience, leadership, and marketing -- all from the standpoint of working with people "not like you".  Her book, How to Work With and Lead People Not Like You has been on two bestseller lists.  You can learn more about the book and McDonald's work by visiting www.kellycmcdonald.com.
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Diversity Fatigue

• often from a bad training experience
• media driven
• sometimes people aren’t clear on value of diversity
• afraid of the topic and don’t want to say the wrong thing
• social injustice training sometimes left people feeling overwhelmed

Fraternities/Sororities Murder Mystery

• when groups of 3 had an “outsider” added to their group they were more than twice as effective
• but their feelings about the experience were that it was more difficult with an outsider
• working with people not like you is difficult but produces better outcomes
  • if you’re “bickering,” that’s also part of the process!
• companies that tend to hire people of the same background don’t grow as much as organizations with diverse team members, especially if the company is already pretty successful

The Biggest Challenges

• it’s hard when we don’t understand someone else’s perspectives
• when we’re focused on the differences, the mountain feels too high
• there’s a lot of sameness, though, we want similar things

How do we start making progress?

• find ways to naturally interact more with those who are different from us
• usually we default to withdrawal and avoidance
• “tell me about yourself”
  • they focus on what they think is important
  • find common ground
  • seek first to understand

What do leaders do to help a welcoming and inclusive workplace?

• Be sincere about wanting to make progress
• Work to eliminate the fear around this conversation
• Get the right training to help people, such as dos/don’t

Leadership Voyage
email: [e-mail]
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonallenwick/
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadershipVoyage
music: by Napoleon (napbak)
https://www.fiverr.com/napbak
voice: by Ayanna Gallant
www.ayannagallantVO.com
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