Leadership is more than guiding teams towards achieving business goals; it's about doing so with compassion and courage, especially in a post-pandemic world that demands a human-centric approach. In our latest podcast episode, we are honored to have global leader and speaker, Daisy Auger-Dominguez, share her insights on creating work environments that thrive on empathy, resilience, and inclusivity.
Throughout our conversation, Daisy, author of Inclusion Revolution, emphasizes the necessity for leaders to embody compassionate courage—a term inspired by Chanel's CEO, Leena Nair's philosophy of putting people at the heart of business operations. This approach is not only humane but also strategic, as it aligns with workers' growing expectations and the need for a supportive culture that fosters trust and confidence within the workforce.
We also delve into Daisy's career journey, examining how being the first, or the only, in various roles shaped her into the leader that she is today. Her experiences underline the powerful influence of supportive managers and inclusive environments in fostering executive growth. Daisy candidly discusses the challenges in creating empowering cultures and how operational hurdles can either invigorate or stifle the human spirit within the workplace.
And of course no conversation with us would be complete with a dive into the importance of self-worth at work. Leadership today is about fostering a culture of self-worth, enhancing team relationships, and making inclusive decisions. Daisy encourages leaders to ask reflective questions that drive strategic planning and action, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and the continuous effort to align our actions with our values.
Anyone keen on the intricacies of embedding DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) into every facet of the employee experience won't want to miss Daisy's valuable perspectives. So join the conversation and discover how balancing courage and compassion leads to exceptional leadership, as well as increased personal resilience and well-being.
Stay in touch with Daisy on her website, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can also watch her TedTalk and learn more about her book, Inclusion Revolution. Daisy will also be joining us live April 5th on Zoom at noon ET for a deep dive into Embodying Your Worth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
the conversation we just had was so incredibly
energizing.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It really was.
So.
We had the privilege of talkingwith Daisy OJ Dominguez, and we
actually first met Daisy thispast January in Costa Rica.
We were able to really get toknow her there and see just how
much wisdom she has, and wecouldn't wait to have her on the
(00:27):
podcast to share more.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
And with her wisdom, is just this light and for our
listeners, we wish you could see, because Daisy's smile could
light up a room, but you'll beable to hear it.
That's how transformative it is.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So a little bit more about Daisy before we jump in.
She truly is a global leader.
She's recognized for drivingorganizational transformations
and she likes to play at theleading edge of people and
culture.
She's held leadership roles atWalt Disney, google, time Warner
, vice Media, viacom we could goon and on and on.
(01:07):
She has worked with some reallyamazing organizations, but in
addition to that, she's a boldadvocate for inclusion,
compassionate and courageousmanagement in the modern
workplace, and she's a soughtafter speaker and thought leader
in management, leadership,diversity, equity and inclusion,
workplace culture and thefuture of work.
(01:29):
She's the author of InclusionRevolution, the Essential Guide
to Dismantling Racial Inequityin the Workplace, and this fall
she has a forthcoming book thatI'm so excited about, burnt Out
to Lit Up how to Rekindle theJoy of Leading People.
Let's dive on into theconversation.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Hi Daisy, we are so thrilled to have you here today,
thank you, thank you for havingme.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I'm thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
We want to start off with Inclusion Revolution, which
is your book, and you emphasizethe importance of compassionate
and courageous work cultures.
How can leaders cultivate thesequalities within their teams,
especially when that requires ashift in the workplace?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I think, before answering that question, I have
to admit what we all know, whichis that work has changed right.
Workers' expectations of work,the relationship between the
worker and the employer hasdramatically changed.
And, you know, at a time wheneveryone looks up to leaders for
guidance, you know creatingthis growing mountain of
expectations that have, you know, grown exponentially since the
(02:40):
pandemic.
You know there's all of thesechanges that leaders have to
manage and take care of.
And sometimes you feel that ifyou can just focus on the
operational, if you can justfocus on the day-to-day, putting
one foot in front of the other,that's the only thing that I
need to do.
And we forget that leading atany moment in time, but
(03:00):
particularly in today's day andage, requires this deep well of
compassion and courage to notjust get the job done, but to
instill confidence in others, toinstill trust in others and to
instill followership.
I recently read an interviewwith Chanel's CEO, lina Nair,
(03:22):
and she said I'm going to quoteher it says put human beings at
the center of everything.
I really, really care aboutpeople.
It's not lip service for me.
You remember people.
You remember their names, theirstories, the trivia, what's
going on with them.
I do believe if you put peopleat the heart of the business,
they will care about thebusiness.
And if you care about them,look after them, give them the
(03:43):
space, give them the freedom,listen to their ideas, give them
respect, care, they will careabout the business.
And she went on to say that I'dmuch rather that we at Chanel
show our people are at the heartof our business and, by being
exemplary, show the world thatit's possible.
I love to hear CEOs say that,and that is one of the reasons
(04:05):
why I wrote Inclusion Revolution, because I wanted to be able to
not just showcase where itworks, because it works, but
also to share examples of howyou can implement these pieces
into your everyday, because it'sreally just part of being human
.
Right, it's bringing your humanto work.
It's bringing and lettingeverybody else be human, your
(04:26):
human to work, it's bringing andletting everybody else be human
.
And that's the compassion pieceand the courage piece is really
in just standing by yourconviction and your values and
what's important to you.
And sometimes we feel that thetwo can't coincide, that I can't
be courageous and compassionate, and frankly I think
compassionate courage is reallywhat is the mark of a modern day
leader.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I love that Compassionate and courage, that
unification Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, you know, I think we tend to think of
courage as these, you know,really bold actions that are,
you know, sort of impossiblefrom what we can do.
Sometimes it takes courage justto simply be the one who says
something doesn't feel right ina meeting.
Right, it takes courage to bethe one who says I actually I
don't think we're done with thismeeting yet, because not all of
(05:16):
us are on the same page.
Perhaps if we just take anextra five to 10 minutes to make
sure that everyone is inalignment with the decision that
we've agreed to, that everyoneis in alignment with the
decision that we've agreed toand their responsibility in
carrying out whatever tasks wehave said everyone's going to do
, because how many times haveyou left meetings?
And you're like, oh my God, Idon't even know what I'm
supposed to do next.
Maybe you haven't, but I knowI've left meetings, or I've had
(05:38):
team members leave meetings andgo like Daisy.
So what are we supposed to donext?
What's going on?
And I think of you know, likeif they had just taken a moment,
if we had just taken a momentto clarify that, you would
reduce the burden on people tohave to spend the next couple of
hours trying to decipher whatwas said.
You would actually lightentheir load so that they can
actually do what they'resupposed to do and you actually
(06:00):
help make people accountable,right?
We talk about accountability atwork so often.
It's like accountability isabout clarity, right.
Accountability is about sayingwhat you're going to do and then
doing it right.
But sometimes you can't do whatyou're going to say if you're
not clear on what you'resupposed to be doing in the
first place or if no one'sreally holding you.
You know up to task to do thatand it takes courage to be able
to say that.
(06:20):
Right, we, we operated thesehushed voices at work.
Right, everyone's like in thesewhisper campaigns I was like oh
yeah, here comes such and such,he never does anything.
Or or here comes the leader andthey're going to tell us what
to do, and blah, blah, blah, andno one's going to care.
Right, and I was like it takescourage to actually be the one
that says okay, I think everyonehere is and I, I I've learned
(06:42):
to do this and I've built thatcourage muscle over the years,
but it's being able to sort oflook around the room and say I
was like okay, this room is notaligned, it is not connected and
someone's gonna have to saysomething.
And if you're the one that'sleading that team, it's your
role as a leader to serve upthat courage.
But, by the way, that'scompassion, right?
(07:02):
So it's not just courage forthe sake of being ah, you know,
I'm just I'm the big wig in theroom.
It's also showing compassionand empathy for others, right,
it's demonstrating not just thatyou can do the right thing, but
that you're doing it for theright reasons, right, that it's
about.
It's not just about getting thejob done.
It's about making sure thatthose who are entrusted and
responsible for getting the jobdone have the information that
(07:25):
they need, have the support thatthey need, have the you know we
use the big fancy wordpsychological safety right,
being able to feel safe in aroom.
But that they feel safe to beable to raise their hand and say
you know what?
I may not be able to deliverthat by Friday.
You know it's like can I getsome help to do that?
Can we push back by a day?
Is there something else that wecan talk about?
(07:47):
We live in so much fear inworkplaces and it's mostly
because we many of us, butparticularly our leaders, lack
the courage and the compassionto be able to sort of pause and
say, okay, what needs to be saidhere, what needs to be done
here, and how do we do it withhumans right, with the people
that we lead and serve front andcenter.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful.
And why I wanted you to expandon it more is we say something
really similar in Buddhism.
We say that in Buddhism, youneed the compassion with the
wisdom, and it's again likethose two things combined allow
you to make action that's likefrom the heart and impactful and
shifts things.
So thank you, thank you forthat.
(08:28):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I love that we need we need more wisdom at work but
like.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
But your definition of courage is wisdom and like.
That's that's how I I see thatkind of combined.
Oh, thank you for that.
So you have a lot of wisdomthough you have worked at.
So I mean, of course, the bookshares that wisdom, but just
looking at some of theorganizations that you've worked
at I mean, you've been atGoogle, you've been at Disney,
you've been at Vice there's alot of diversity just even among
(08:57):
those three organizations.
So, as you've kind of beenworking in all of those places,
how has that influenced yourapproach to leadership and
advocating for more inclusivityin work?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yeah, yeah, every one of my work experiences has, of
course, influenced you know howI think about work and how I
think about leadership, and youknow for many of us it's often
about you know the things thatwe're not going to do right, you
learn to.
You know if you have a badmanager you're like well, I'll
never be a bad manager.
(09:32):
You know if you have a bad.
You know if you have a badinteraction with a colleague,
well, I'll never treat somebodythat way.
But the fact of the matter isthat we're all human and support
.
We do it because we come from awell of experiences when we
(10:03):
weren't treated that way.
Right, and you learn how tocare for others.
And my commitment to creatingworkplaces that work for
everyone comes from a verypersonal place, because I know
firsthand how companies andorganizations are strengthened
when they make their culturesmore inclusive and equitable.
You know, but I also know whythat shift is hard operationally
(10:26):
for organizations.
So a lot of what shapes myexperiences in the workplace is
it's having been that only, it'shaving been that first.
You know, recognizing thateveryone has a relationship to
work.
Right, I talk about work.
I'm obsessed with work.
Right, this is all I ever talkabout, when people, you know,
when people talk about likewhat's your brand and you know,
(10:47):
and what's your, you know.
What do you focus on?
I was like it's work, right,because everyone has a
relationship to work.
It's how we get paid, it's howwe're able to put food in our
children's bellies.
You know, work is what we spendthe majority of our days,
outside of the time that wespend with our family and our
loved ones.
You know, I was always an onlyat the beginning, right, I rose
from junior to executive ranksand you said it is some of the
(11:08):
world's most admired companiesand I often felt vulnerable,
right, I felt frayed, I feltoverlooked, even as I was
fighting to break down barriersfor women and people of color.
And you know, as I was movingup in my career, as I was
fighting to bring more seats tothe table, you know I had to
desperately, desperately fightto earn and keep my own seat.
(11:31):
I felt like I had to hold ontomy seat everywhere I went,
because any day it could betaken away.
And that's because all aroundme, I witnessed women, people of
color, talented, talentedindividuals being repeatedly
sidelined and marginalized.
I saw some of the smartestpeople that I knew, be brought
down to their knees in meetingsand then leave organizations and
(11:54):
do really well somewhere else.
So clearly it wasn't about them, right, it was about the
situation that they were in and,like many people, there were
times where I also gave up smallparts of myself right, where I
let my courage shrink and myvoice diminish.
I've experienced all of that andI've also had the experience of
(12:14):
working with managers whoemboldened me, who shared with
me a sense of what was possible,what I didn't even know existed
.
It was managers who went beyondsaying I want you to be
successful, daisy, to actuallysaying I'm going to ensure that
you are successful, daisy.
There's a difference betweenthe two, and once you know the
difference, you can't go back.
They said to me that I see you,I value you, you matter, you
(12:40):
make a difference.
Once you know that experience,you know what's possible, and so
I always tell my teams youcannot hear I believe in you too
many times, right, like that'swhat we all want to hear.
So it's having had theexperiences of not being
(13:00):
supported, of being sidelinedand you know I call it being
bitten into submission moretimes than I could you know that
I care to count.
But also having had theexperience of leaders who really
believed in me, who saw me, whohelped debunk myths right.
You know, I remember the firstsenior leader who put my name in
(13:21):
the hat for actually my firstdiversity role, and I didn't
even know there was a hat for myname to be put in.
I've had mentors and leadersput my name up for roles that I
didn't even know existed, that Ididn't even know were possible,
that I didn't think I wascapable of doing, but because
they thought I was capable ofdoing, that emboldened me to
(13:43):
believe I could do it, and thenI did them, and then I did them
incredibly well and then I kepton moving.
And so all of that hasinfluenced my belief that when
you are supported, when you arebelieved in, when you are given
the space and the room to be youand to test and iterate right
and to fail right I mean I'vefailed also more times than I
(14:04):
could count but to fail and getyourself back up that you're
able to create more, you're ableto build more, you're able to
bring people with you and alongyou and in front of you and
behind you in a much moremeaningful way, and that creates
a lightness in organizations.
That's really powerful.
That creates a vibrancy.
(14:26):
That is really powerful.
But when you don't have that,that's what creates darkness,
right, that's what createsdisillusionment.
That's what createsdisengagement.
Every employee survey out thereis about, you know, measuring
engagement in the workplace.
Well, you don't have to, youknow, ask people that many
questions to realize what'sbeating them down.
When you look, when you look atorganizational cultures where
(14:48):
leaders don't care or don't showup for their teams.
So this is a long way of sayingI've seen when it works.
I've seen when it doesn't.
I've experienced that, and allof that has influenced my
ability to not only think aboutit right, to ideate what it
could look like, but to alsooperationalize it, saying I want
(15:12):
that done, but you have to getit done.
And so I've learned how to getit done right.
I've learned how to do itthrough the motive pieces of
this work, and then I've learnedhow to do it through the
operational pieces, because it'svery different to say, okay,
I'm going to take care of youwhen a crisis happens and if
something happens, I'm around.
It's very different to say thatthan to actually create
(15:34):
processes and structures thatallow you to be able to have
access to the benefits and theresources that you need when
something happens to you.
I like to compare it to kind oflike you know, when you water
plants, when they're wiltingafter a big heat wave, you give
them some water and they kind ofcome alive.
I was like that's nice, butit's so much more different if
you build an irrigation systemthat actually waters them all
(15:55):
throughout so they never have towilt, they never have to
collapse, they never have toburn out because they are being
protected all along.
Those are the processes and thestructures that I've learned
along the way to put in placethat I share in Inclusion
Revolution.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
We love that work is your thing, because work does
impact our self-worth so much,they're so interlinked in our
culture.
When you're constantly elbowingand trying to prove your worth,
it brings back this reflectionof question of like well, is it
me Like?
Is it my worth, you know?
And so the two can really playinto each other when a leader is
(16:34):
really trying to achieveinclusion and equity in the
workplace and boost their peopleup without reading the whole
book.
But how can they do that?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, listen, it's work right.
I love the framework ofself-worth and I've always
framed it from a place ofself-awareness.
Right, it's that you know, it'sthe key to understanding
yourself and the role that youplay right In supporting and
(17:05):
enabling others to work and tothrive and to live their best
lives.
Right, that's in many waysthat's the role of leadership to
me, and inclusion revolutionfocuses very heavily on that
sense of self-awareness.
But, as you say, there's such astrong link to self-worth
because when you're self-awareright, you know your strengths,
you know your areas ofimprovement right, instead of
(17:27):
your weaknesses.
That's another way of saying it.
Right, you know what motivatesyou.
You know what your derailersare.
All of those are intrinsicskills that enable you to lead
and navigate organizations andplaces and communities
Apparently within.
That is understanding yourworth right, your place in the
ecosystem, if you will, what youbring to the table.
(17:49):
But many organizations aredesigned in awful ways to take
that away from you.
I've often said I was like youknow, my job when I was leading
recruitment teams, and leadingparticularly executive
recruitment efforts, was to, youknow, bring people with their
magic.
Right.
I wanted to bring you, sarah,into the organization because
you're magical and you're goingto, you know, bring so much
(18:10):
value to this organization.
But what I would see time andtime again, especially for women
and people of color, is thatthe organization would hire you
for your magic and then theywould suck the magic out of you.
It's just like, ok, you're herenow and now we need you to be
somebody else, and now we needyou to be like everybody else.
Look at them and you know, justjust follow suit.
(18:31):
I had a manager my boss, when Iworked at Disney, used to say
it's like you hire like the sameseven people and you knock one
out and then another one justgets in front of you and does
the exact same thing.
You knock them out and the sameperson does that.
And we all know that we want tobe valued for our own intrinsic
value right, like for what webring to the table, and we all
(18:51):
have our unique gifts and ouryou know and our rhythms and you
know and our talent.
Being able to recognize thatand see that as core to what you
bring to an organization andknowing that other people value
and appreciate you for that,that builds confidence right,
that builds connection right.
(19:12):
And you know there's aloneliness epidemic right now in
, you know, in our country, inthe world, I think, in
workplaces.
Well, you know, we feel lonelywhen we don't feel connected
with each other and we don'tfeel trust with each other, when
we don't feel valued by others,when we don't feel connected,
we don't feel that our sense ofself-worth is, you know, is
being valued equally to how wesee ourselves.
(19:34):
And so that's the complexity ofwhat happens in organizations.
Preparing for our talk on Friday, I've been thinking a lot about
the lens of self-worth andself-awareness and thinking very
much about the framework that Icreate and I share in Inclusion
Revolution, which is afour-step framework.
Right, it begins with aninternal lens of reflecting
right, helping you get clear onyour truth and the truths of
(19:58):
your coworkers.
Right, the variations in yourpoints of view, your feelings,
your identities, yourmotivations, how all of that
impacts the organizationalclimate.
Right, it's like that, you know, in HR terms it's called
situational.
That's not HR, but you know,it's like it's situational
awareness.
Right, it's understanding yourrole and the role of you know of
(20:19):
others, and the bulk of thebook walks you through the steps
that go after you spend thatheavy time reflecting, which is
visualizing and acting.
Right.
So the vision piece is incorporate terms is strategic
planning, right?
That's where you visualizewhere you want to go and then
you kind of you know backwardsplan what are the things that
(20:40):
you have to do.
And then the action piece iswhere you actually test it out
and you and you do it, and thisis where leadership comes in,
right.
This is where you spend timeasking yourself okay, what is
one thing I could be doingbetter to prioritize self worth
in my, in my organization?
What is one thing that I couldbe doing better to enhance the
interpersonal relationships onmy team?
(21:00):
What is one thing I could bedoing better to enhance my own
decision-making, right?
Am I prioritizing equity andinclusion in my decision-making
or am I just, you know, makingthe same decisions that everyone
else has made before me andtherefore, you know, just having
the same outcomes over and overagain right me, and therefore,
you know, just having the sameoutcomes over and over again,
right it's, you know, it's thosekinds of questions.
The other questions that I posein Inclusion and Evolution,
(21:24):
which are specific to leadingdiversity and inclusion, is like
why is diversity, equity andinclusion important to me, right
?
What scares me about it?
What excites me.
What's possible about this?
We don't spend enough timeasking those questions and we
don't spend enough timeunderstanding our role, our role
(21:44):
in doing good or bad.
For that it's hard.
It's really hard to be facedwith the reality of I failed my
team because I did my team,because I, you know, because I
did not center, you know, theseidentities, or I did not center
this way of thinking I have, youknow, I have ignored people on
my team who are the quietervoices, right, and I have I have
(22:07):
let the loud voices, you know,rule continuously and I was like
and I haven't done it becauseI'm a bad person, I haven't done
it because I don't care aboutthem, I've just done it because
that's a bias that I have and Ihave ignored it.
Right, but in ignoring it, I'vebeen complicit in maintaining a
culture that does not value,that does not value
self-awareness and does notvalue self-worth Right, it does
(22:28):
not value the worth of everyoneon my team.
And so that kind of reflectiveaction is what I think allows us
to not just and you said at thebeginning, when you said this
question, you said I'm reallyself-aware.
It's like I've had to workreally hard at that right, and
even with the level ofself-awareness that I strive
towards, there are times where Iwill leave a meeting or a
(22:49):
conversation and go, oh my gosh,like did I say that?
Or like, why didn't I speak upin that moment, why didn't I
challenge that Right?
Like they're they're?
You know, we're human right,we're fallible, but but that,
that, what that means, is thatit's a continual, continual
effort to to interrogate how weengage, how we connect and how
(23:11):
we show up in the ways that bestserve us.
That, to me, is what self-worthis.
Right, Is knowing that I'mshowing up in every interaction
in a way that is consistent withmy values, are and who I am,
because that's what I bring tothe table.
That's my value, that's myworth.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
So you've already kind of dove down into it.
But on Friday you're joining usfor our Embodied Worth speaker
series, where you're going to betalking about embodying your
wholeness.
How do you recommend thatpeople cultivate that courage to
show up authentically?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You know, cultivating that sense of self-worth, like
I said, it's practice, right.
Like many Latinas in theworkplace, I have felt pressured
to walk a daily tightrope,right, like choosing which parts
of me to reveal or which partsof me to conceal, all the time.
Right, and it's downplayingvery much in many times the very
(24:08):
talents and skill sets that arerequired for me to advance in
my career.
Right, that's the kicker thatyou're spending this time
protecting yourself.
It doesn't mean that you don'tknow what your self-worth is,
but when you feel that yourself-worth is at risk right, you
have to protect it.
And so you have to figure outam I going to say this much
about myself?
Am I going to reveal this partof it or am I going to conceal
(24:29):
it?
But the kicker to all of thatis that when we spend all this
time and energy concealing that,we're actually limiting
ourselves from being able togrow in our careers.
I know that I have been invitedinto organizations and into
teams who claimed that theywanted me but really just seemed
satisfied with putting me onthis play.
Being able to acknowledge thatand to say no, like you don't
(24:54):
get to do that is an act ofself-worth, right, it's a
courageous act, and it can alsobe a you know, it can be a dumb
act, right?
If it's not, if it's you know,if it's something that you
really need, right, but it'ssomething that you have to, you
have to decide for yourselfwhen's the right time, right.
So when it's okay for you to belike, okay, I get it, I'm on
(25:16):
display, I get the story and Iwas like, but I'm going to use
this for my advantage.
Or when you're going to say no,you don't get to put me on
display, I get to decide mystory, I get to decide my
narrative.
And that's this continuous actof figuring out.
We use the word authenticity atwork, right?
Oh my gosh.
Everyone's been told to bringtheir authentic selves to work,
(25:36):
but the fact of the matter isthat most organizations, they're
just not ready to contend withwhat your authentic self is.
We don't have thoseconversations.
So you have all theseparticularly young people who
often ask me it's like, how doyou show up as your authentic
self?
Which I think, again, it's anextension of this self-worth,
because for me to be myauthentic self means that I
value myself enough to know thatthis, this is how I'm going to
(25:56):
show up all the time and and Ialways tell people the same
thing I'm telling you I was likeit's just years and years of
trying, years and years offiguring it out, years of
building credibility and andcomfort and support in others
and support in others.
(26:16):
One of my favorite quotes, adamGrant, says that authenticity is
not about expressing everyopinion you hold, but it's about
ensuring that what you voicereflects what you value.
If you value respect andkindness, your comments
shouldn't be filled withcontempt and cruelty.
That's also a way ofdemonstrating our self-worth.
It's saying the things thatmatter to you, that are
(26:36):
value-added, right, it's notjust kind of like getting on a
soapbox in every meeting, butit's saying the things that you
know are value-add but that alsoare of value to you.
I did my TED Talk several yearsago and in it I shared how, in
my first job at Moody's, I wasafraid to talk right, I was
(27:00):
literally paid for my opinion.
I was a credit risk analyst andmy job was to sit in these
meetings and to say what Ithought the rating was and that
was valued equally.
This was a rather meritocraticsituation that I found myself in
in the early part of my career,but I was so embarrassed for
being the youngest person andfor not having enough experience
and wasn't quite sure what Ineeded to say.
And it wasn't until one of mycolleagues pulled me aside one
(27:20):
day and literally said you getpaid for your opinion.
I want to hear you speak.
And when I explained to him whyI was nervous, what I feared,
what I was afraid of it washaving someone actually see me
and not chastise me right, whichwas my fear I thought if I
speak my truth, I am going to bechastised.
(27:41):
And it was him looking at meand saying okay, I get that
you're afraid, I get that you'reworried, but I also know that
the only way to move up in yourcareer is for you to actually
have an opinion and share it inthese meetings.
So why don't we do this?
The next time you're in ameeting, you're going to say one
thing, just one thing, and thenyou're going to start.
You know you're going to seehow you feel more comfortable
going forward.
(28:02):
And what happened was that Istarted talking and building my
courage muscle right.
I started feeling like, oh, Ican do this.
And like, oh, wow, the grounddid not fall under me.
I was like oh, you know what Isaid they agreed with, right?
I'm like, I'm not crazy, I'mnot an idiot, right?
I actually?
I have data to support my youknow my opinion, and then you
couldn't shut me up after that.
(28:23):
But my point is is that thatlevel of authenticity, that
level of self-awareness, thatlevel of self-worth that comes
from testing and from, you know,iterating?
But it also comes from thisdeep sense, this deep effort of
self-reflection.
I spent a lot of time thinkingabout the impact of my words,
(28:43):
not just what I say, right, Ispent a lot of time thinking
about how people experience me,not just you know what they see
within.
But I was like how do youexperience me?
Because if I can come into ameeting and have a lot of people
laugh and feel like I delivereda great presentation, but if it
was just lighthearted laughteror they were just laughing at me
, that doesn't mean anything.
(29:04):
That level of self-awareness andthat level of self-reflection
requires us to really come toterms with how we want to be
experienced.
Right, I know I want to beexperienced in a way that makes
others feel better.
I'm very clear that everyconversation I have, I want
people to feel better, to feelwhether it's informed, whether
(29:25):
it's inspired, whether it'sconnected.
That's always been where I'vederived joy from.
If there's a disconnect betweenthat desire of mine and how
people are experiencing me, thenthe onus is on me to think
about how do I want to show up?
What is, what does that mean?
Because I know that I can bebetter, I know that I can do
better, but I also know like I'mpretty, I'm, I'm, you know I'm,
(29:49):
I'm a pretty good person, youknow I'm pretty smart, I, I'm a
pretty good person, I'm prettysmart.
I have a lot of experience.
I come at it from a place ofhumility.
I'm Latina.
I can't help but be humble.
I come at it from a place ofhumility, but also, and always
sort of like putting my headdown and letting others, you
(30:21):
know, be the ones and getting toa place of I can still be
humble and I can still createspace for others, while I also
shine my light so that otherscan shine their light brighter.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Thank you.
That is such a beautifulmessage because I think that is
one of the you know in thisdelicate dance of how do we into
the cultural norm in corporateAmerica and then also be
ourselves authentically.
And all of this is described sobeautifully.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
It's hard because we have all this toxic positivity
and you know, everyone's got tobe rah, rah, rah.
And then we've got, in order toprogress at work, you have to,
you know, speak and be loud andbe known and be out there, right
.
But then, like, you can't be ajerk, yeah, you can't be too
loud, especially for women.
I mean, we, we face a doublebind.
(31:05):
We can't be not liked and wecan't be liked too much, right.
And when you add dimensions ofrace and ethnicity, you know it
gets even more pronounced.
I talk about hyper visibilityfor women of color.
You know you can't be, you know, marginalized and you know, and
sidelined so deeply that nobodyknows you.
But then if you become toovisible, hyper visible, then all
(31:28):
of a sudden all eyes are on youand any mistake you make is,
you know, is your failure, right.
So it's this incrediblepressure of like am I too little
, am I too much?
You know what's the rightbalance.
That's where self-awareness andself-worth comes in.
And in not playing the partthat others want you to play,
but in playing your part right,I was like this is me, this is
(31:52):
how I show up, whether I'm in acorporate board meeting or
whether I am having lunch withmy girlfriends or whether I am
leading a team meeting, right,this is how I show up.
I may adjust situationallybased on the audience, but
fundamentally, they're alwaysgoing to get the same daisy, and
that's self-worth, that'sconsistency, because that daisy
(32:14):
is, I think, someone that'sreally important and special
enough to be shared.
Right?
But you have to feel that aboutyou, right, because we all have
that.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
You have inclusion revolution and it's amazing, and
we've talked about theself-worth in the workplace and
really showing up with communityand all of that.
What has inspired you to writeyour second book, burnt Out, to
Lit Up how to Reignite?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
the Fire.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
We are so excited for this book.
I am excited too.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I wrote Inclusion Revolutionout of a fervent belief that
organizational health, growth,dynamism all of that thrive when
diversity, equity and inclusionbloom in organizations right?
So I believe that, and I wrotea book that draws on my
(33:04):
professional climb as a Latinaexecutive working in diversity,
equity and inclusion, and Iwanted it to be a practical call
to action, right?
So?
It's a management book thatwalks you across the employee
life cycle, from hiring toonboarding to professional
development, coaching, all ofthose and it's meant to be a
step-by-step blueprint forembedding diversity, equity and
(33:27):
inclusion on the entire employeelife cycle.
But as a practitioner of thiswork, I also know that reshaping
systems is relentless, it'scomplex and it is fraught with
setbacks, with skepticism, withresistance, with moments of just
saying I want to give up.
And so in those moments, wehave to carve out spaces for
(33:49):
ourselves to pause, to reflect,to recharge and to reset,
because otherwise we burn out.
And so I wrote the book ofBurnt Out, because I wanted to
sustain the revolutionary workof anchoring DEI right, so that
you can stay strong and inspiredyourself to continue to do this
work, because this work needsall of you.
(34:11):
This work doesn't need justmoments of you, it needs all of
you, and so that burnt out tolit up is a response to the
pressures of navigating thiswork with skill and with
humanity.
It's meant to help you be theleader you want to be.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
So right now, everybody should come to the
event on Friday.
We'll get to hear even more ofDaisy's wisdom about embodying
your wholeness.
But how else can people stay intouch with you?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Oh well, linkedin is my community.
You can find me on LinkedIn,daisy OJ Dominguez, and
Instagram.
Daisy AD is my what is it mytag at Instagram and then on my
website, but most of my ongoingconversation with the broader
community is on LinkedIn andInstagram.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Thank you so so much again for joining us, daisy, and
do not worry, folks that arelistening.
We'll have all the links tostaying in touch with Daisy in
the description below.
the conversation we just had was so incredibly
energizing.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It really was.
So.
We had the privilege of talkingwith Daisy OJ Dominguez, and we
actually first met Daisy thispast January in Costa Rica.
We were able to really get toknow her there and see just how
much wisdom she has, and wecouldn't wait to have her on the
(00:27):
podcast to share more.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
And with her wisdom, is just this light and for our
listeners, we wish you could see, because Daisy's smile could
light up a room, but you'll beable to hear it.
That's how transformative it is.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So a little bit more about Daisy before we jump in.
She truly is a global leader.
She's recognized for drivingorganizational transformations
and she likes to play at theleading edge of people and
culture.
She's held leadership roles atWalt Disney, google, time Warner
, vice Media, viacom we could goon and on and on.
(01:07):
She has worked with some reallyamazing organizations, but in
addition to that, she's a boldadvocate for inclusion,
compassionate and courageousmanagement in the modern
workplace, and she's a soughtafter speaker and thought leader
in management, leadership,diversity, equity and inclusion,
workplace culture and thefuture of work.
(01:29):
She's the author of InclusionRevolution, the Essential Guide
to Dismantling Racial Inequityin the Workplace, and this fall
she has a forthcoming book thatI'm so excited about, burnt Out
to Lit Up how to Rekindle theJoy of Leading People.
Let's dive on into theconversation.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Hi Daisy, we are so thrilled to have you here today,
thank you, thank you for havingme.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I'm thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
We want to start off with Inclusion Revolution, which
is your book, and you emphasizethe importance of compassionate
and courageous work cultures.
How can leaders cultivate thesequalities within their teams,
especially when that requires ashift in the workplace?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I think, before answering that question, I have
to admit what we all know, whichis that work has changed right.
Workers' expectations of work,the relationship between the
worker and the employer hasdramatically changed.
And, you know, at a time wheneveryone looks up to leaders for
guidance, you know creatingthis growing mountain of
expectations that have, you know, grown exponentially since the
(02:40):
pandemic.
You know there's all of thesechanges that leaders have to
manage and take care of.
And sometimes you feel that ifyou can just focus on the
operational, if you can justfocus on the day-to-day, putting
one foot in front of the other,that's the only thing that I
need to do.
And we forget that leading atany moment in time, but
(03:00):
particularly in today's day andage, requires this deep well of
compassion and courage to notjust get the job done, but to
instill confidence in others, toinstill trust in others and to
instill followership.
I recently read an interviewwith Chanel's CEO, lina Nair,
(03:22):
and she said I'm going to quoteher it says put human beings at
the center of everything.
I really, really care aboutpeople.
It's not lip service for me.
You remember people.
You remember their names, theirstories, the trivia, what's
going on with them.
I do believe if you put peopleat the heart of the business,
they will care about thebusiness.
And if you care about them,look after them, give them the
(03:43):
space, give them the freedom,listen to their ideas, give them
respect, care, they will careabout the business.
And she went on to say that I'dmuch rather that we at Chanel
show our people are at the heartof our business and, by being
exemplary, show the world thatit's possible.
I love to hear CEOs say that,and that is one of the reasons
(04:05):
why I wrote Inclusion Revolution, because I wanted to be able to
not just showcase where itworks, because it works, but
also to share examples of howyou can implement these pieces
into your everyday, because it'sreally just part of being human
.
Right, it's bringing your humanto work.
It's bringing and lettingeverybody else be human, your
(04:26):
human to work, it's bringing andletting everybody else be human
.
And that's the compassion pieceand the courage piece is really
in just standing by yourconviction and your values and
what's important to you.
And sometimes we feel that thetwo can't coincide, that I can't
be courageous and compassionate, and frankly I think
compassionate courage is reallywhat is the mark of a modern day
leader.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I love that Compassionate and courage, that
unification Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, you know, I think we tend to think of
courage as these, you know,really bold actions that are,
you know, sort of impossiblefrom what we can do.
Sometimes it takes courage justto simply be the one who says
something doesn't feel right ina meeting.
Right, it takes courage to bethe one who says I actually I
don't think we're done with thismeeting yet, because not all of
(05:16):
us are on the same page.
Perhaps if we just take anextra five to 10 minutes to make
sure that everyone is inalignment with the decision that
we've agreed to, that everyoneis in alignment with the
decision that we've agreed toand their responsibility in
carrying out whatever tasks wehave said everyone's going to do
, because how many times haveyou left meetings?
And you're like, oh my God, Idon't even know what I'm
supposed to do next.
Maybe you haven't, but I knowI've left meetings, or I've had
(05:38):
team members leave meetings andgo like Daisy.
So what are we supposed to donext?
What's going on?
And I think of you know, likeif they had just taken a moment,
if we had just taken a momentto clarify that, you would
reduce the burden on people tohave to spend the next couple of
hours trying to decipher whatwas said.
You would actually lightentheir load so that they can
actually do what they'resupposed to do and you actually
(06:00):
help make people accountable,right?
We talk about accountability atwork so often.
It's like accountability isabout clarity, right.
Accountability is about sayingwhat you're going to do and then
doing it right.
But sometimes you can't do whatyou're going to say if you're
not clear on what you'resupposed to be doing in the
first place or if no one'sreally holding you.
You know up to task to do thatand it takes courage to be able
to say that.
(06:20):
Right, we, we operated thesehushed voices at work.
Right, everyone's like in thesewhisper campaigns I was like oh
yeah, here comes such and such,he never does anything.
Or or here comes the leader andthey're going to tell us what
to do, and blah, blah, blah, andno one's going to care.
Right, and I was like it takescourage to actually be the one
that says okay, I think everyonehere is and I, I I've learned
(06:42):
to do this and I've built thatcourage muscle over the years,
but it's being able to sort oflook around the room and say I
was like okay, this room is notaligned, it is not connected and
someone's gonna have to saysomething.
And if you're the one that'sleading that team, it's your
role as a leader to serve upthat courage.
But, by the way, that'scompassion, right?
(07:02):
So it's not just courage forthe sake of being ah, you know,
I'm just I'm the big wig in theroom.
It's also showing compassionand empathy for others, right,
it's demonstrating not just thatyou can do the right thing, but
that you're doing it for theright reasons, right, that it's
about.
It's not just about getting thejob done.
It's about making sure thatthose who are entrusted and
responsible for getting the jobdone have the information that
(07:25):
they need, have the support thatthey need, have the you know we
use the big fancy wordpsychological safety right,
being able to feel safe in aroom.
But that they feel safe to beable to raise their hand and say
you know what?
I may not be able to deliverthat by Friday.
You know it's like can I getsome help to do that?
Can we push back by a day?
Is there something else that wecan talk about?
(07:47):
We live in so much fear inworkplaces and it's mostly
because we many of us, butparticularly our leaders, lack
the courage and the compassionto be able to sort of pause and
say, okay, what needs to be saidhere, what needs to be done
here, and how do we do it withhumans right, with the people
that we lead and serve front andcenter.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful.
And why I wanted you to expandon it more is we say something
really similar in Buddhism.
We say that in Buddhism, youneed the compassion with the
wisdom, and it's again likethose two things combined allow
you to make action that's likefrom the heart and impactful and
shifts things.
So thank you, thank you forthat.
(08:28):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I love that we need we need more wisdom at work but
like.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
But your definition of courage is wisdom and like.
That's that's how I I see thatkind of combined.
Oh, thank you for that.
So you have a lot of wisdomthough you have worked at.
So I mean, of course, the bookshares that wisdom, but just
looking at some of theorganizations that you've worked
at I mean, you've been atGoogle, you've been at Disney,
you've been at Vice there's alot of diversity just even among
(08:57):
those three organizations.
So, as you've kind of beenworking in all of those places,
how has that influenced yourapproach to leadership and
advocating for more inclusivityin work?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yeah, yeah, every one of my work experiences has, of
course, influenced you know howI think about work and how I
think about leadership, and youknow for many of us it's often
about you know the things thatwe're not going to do right, you
learn to.
You know if you have a badmanager you're like well, I'll
never be a bad manager.
(09:32):
You know if you have a bad.
You know if you have a badinteraction with a colleague,
well, I'll never treat somebodythat way.
But the fact of the matter isthat we're all human and support
.
We do it because we come from awell of experiences when we
(10:03):
weren't treated that way.
Right, and you learn how tocare for others.
And my commitment to creatingworkplaces that work for
everyone comes from a verypersonal place, because I know
firsthand how companies andorganizations are strengthened
when they make their culturesmore inclusive and equitable.
You know, but I also know whythat shift is hard operationally
(10:26):
for organizations.
So a lot of what shapes myexperiences in the workplace is
it's having been that only, it'shaving been that first.
You know, recognizing thateveryone has a relationship to
work.
Right, I talk about work.
I'm obsessed with work.
Right, this is all I ever talkabout, when people, you know,
when people talk about likewhat's your brand and you know,
(10:47):
and what's your, you know.
What do you focus on?
I was like it's work, right,because everyone has a
relationship to work.
It's how we get paid, it's howwe're able to put food in our
children's bellies.
You know, work is what we spendthe majority of our days,
outside of the time that wespend with our family and our
loved ones.
You know, I was always an onlyat the beginning, right, I rose
from junior to executive ranksand you said it is some of the
(11:08):
world's most admired companiesand I often felt vulnerable,
right, I felt frayed, I feltoverlooked, even as I was
fighting to break down barriersfor women and people of color.
And you know, as I was movingup in my career, as I was
fighting to bring more seats tothe table, you know I had to
desperately, desperately fightto earn and keep my own seat.
(11:31):
I felt like I had to hold ontomy seat everywhere I went,
because any day it could betaken away.
And that's because all aroundme, I witnessed women, people of
color, talented, talentedindividuals being repeatedly
sidelined and marginalized.
I saw some of the smartestpeople that I knew, be brought
down to their knees in meetingsand then leave organizations and
(11:54):
do really well somewhere else.
So clearly it wasn't about them, right, it was about the
situation that they were in and,like many people, there were
times where I also gave up smallparts of myself right, where I
let my courage shrink and myvoice diminish.
I've experienced all of that andI've also had the experience of
(12:14):
working with managers whoemboldened me, who shared with
me a sense of what was possible,what I didn't even know existed
.
It was managers who went beyondsaying I want you to be
successful, daisy, to actuallysaying I'm going to ensure that
you are successful, daisy.
There's a difference betweenthe two, and once you know the
difference, you can't go back.
They said to me that I see you,I value you, you matter, you
(12:40):
make a difference.
Once you know that experience,you know what's possible, and so
I always tell my teams youcannot hear I believe in you too
many times, right, like that'swhat we all want to hear.
So it's having had theexperiences of not being
(13:00):
supported, of being sidelinedand you know I call it being
bitten into submission moretimes than I could you know that
I care to count.
But also having had theexperience of leaders who really
believed in me, who saw me, whohelped debunk myths right.
You know, I remember the firstsenior leader who put my name in
(13:21):
the hat for actually my firstdiversity role, and I didn't
even know there was a hat for myname to be put in.
I've had mentors and leadersput my name up for roles that I
didn't even know existed, that Ididn't even know were possible,
that I didn't think I wascapable of doing, but because
they thought I was capable ofdoing, that emboldened me to
(13:43):
believe I could do it, and thenI did them, and then I did them
incredibly well and then I kepton moving.
And so all of that hasinfluenced my belief that when
you are supported, when you arebelieved in, when you are given
the space and the room to be youand to test and iterate right
and to fail right I mean I'vefailed also more times than I
(14:04):
could count but to fail and getyourself back up that you're
able to create more, you're ableto build more, you're able to
bring people with you and alongyou and in front of you and
behind you in a much moremeaningful way, and that creates
a lightness in organizations.
That's really powerful.
That creates a vibrancy.
(14:26):
That is really powerful.
But when you don't have that,that's what creates darkness,
right, that's what createsdisillusionment.
That's what createsdisengagement.
Every employee survey out thereis about, you know, measuring
engagement in the workplace.
Well, you don't have to, youknow, ask people that many
questions to realize what'sbeating them down.
When you look, when you look atorganizational cultures where
(14:48):
leaders don't care or don't showup for their teams.
So this is a long way of sayingI've seen when it works.
I've seen when it doesn't.
I've experienced that, and allof that has influenced my
ability to not only think aboutit right, to ideate what it
could look like, but to alsooperationalize it, saying I want
(15:12):
that done, but you have to getit done.
And so I've learned how to getit done right.
I've learned how to do itthrough the motive pieces of
this work, and then I've learnedhow to do it through the
operational pieces, because it'svery different to say, okay,
I'm going to take care of youwhen a crisis happens and if
something happens, I'm around.
It's very different to say thatthan to actually create
(15:34):
processes and structures thatallow you to be able to have
access to the benefits and theresources that you need when
something happens to you.
I like to compare it to kind oflike you know, when you water
plants, when they're wiltingafter a big heat wave, you give
them some water and they kind ofcome alive.
I was like that's nice, butit's so much more different if
you build an irrigation systemthat actually waters them all
(15:55):
throughout so they never have towilt, they never have to
collapse, they never have toburn out because they are being
protected all along.
Those are the processes and thestructures that I've learned
along the way to put in placethat I share in Inclusion
Revolution.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
We love that work is your thing, because work does
impact our self-worth so much,they're so interlinked in our
culture.
When you're constantly elbowingand trying to prove your worth,
it brings back this reflectionof question of like well, is it
me Like?
Is it my worth, you know?
And so the two can really playinto each other when a leader is
(16:34):
really trying to achieveinclusion and equity in the
workplace and boost their peopleup without reading the whole
book.
But how can they do that?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, listen, it's work right.
I love the framework ofself-worth and I've always
framed it from a place ofself-awareness.
Right, it's that you know, it'sthe key to understanding
yourself and the role that youplay right In supporting and
(17:05):
enabling others to work and tothrive and to live their best
lives.
Right, that's in many waysthat's the role of leadership to
me, and inclusion revolutionfocuses very heavily on that
sense of self-awareness.
But, as you say, there's such astrong link to self-worth
because when you're self-awareright, you know your strengths,
you know your areas ofimprovement right, instead of
(17:27):
your weaknesses.
That's another way of saying it.
Right, you know what motivatesyou.
You know what your derailersare.
All of those are intrinsicskills that enable you to lead
and navigate organizations andplaces and communities
Apparently within.
That is understanding yourworth right, your place in the
ecosystem, if you will, what youbring to the table.
(17:49):
But many organizations aredesigned in awful ways to take
that away from you.
I've often said I was like youknow, my job when I was leading
recruitment teams, and leadingparticularly executive
recruitment efforts, was to, youknow, bring people with their
magic.
Right.
I wanted to bring you, sarah,into the organization because
you're magical and you're goingto, you know, bring so much
(18:10):
value to this organization.
But what I would see time andtime again, especially for women
and people of color, is thatthe organization would hire you
for your magic and then theywould suck the magic out of you.
It's just like, ok, you're herenow and now we need you to be
somebody else, and now we needyou to be like everybody else.
Look at them and you know, justjust follow suit.
(18:31):
I had a manager my boss, when Iworked at Disney, used to say
it's like you hire like the sameseven people and you knock one
out and then another one justgets in front of you and does
the exact same thing.
You knock them out and the sameperson does that.
And we all know that we want tobe valued for our own intrinsic
value right, like for what webring to the table, and we all
(18:51):
have our unique gifts and ouryou know and our rhythms and you
know and our talent.
Being able to recognize thatand see that as core to what you
bring to an organization andknowing that other people value
and appreciate you for that,that builds confidence right,
that builds connection right.
(19:12):
And you know there's aloneliness epidemic right now in
, you know, in our country, inthe world, I think, in
workplaces.
Well, you know, we feel lonelywhen we don't feel connected
with each other and we don'tfeel trust with each other, when
we don't feel valued by others,when we don't feel connected,
we don't feel that our sense ofself-worth is, you know, is
being valued equally to how wesee ourselves.
(19:34):
And so that's the complexity ofwhat happens in organizations.
Preparing for our talk on Friday, I've been thinking a lot about
the lens of self-worth andself-awareness and thinking very
much about the framework that Icreate and I share in Inclusion
Revolution, which is afour-step framework.
Right, it begins with aninternal lens of reflecting
right, helping you get clear onyour truth and the truths of
(19:58):
your coworkers.
Right, the variations in yourpoints of view, your feelings,
your identities, yourmotivations, how all of that
impacts the organizationalclimate.
Right, it's like that, you know, in HR terms it's called
situational.
That's not HR, but you know,it's like it's situational
awareness.
Right, it's understanding yourrole and the role of you know of
(20:19):
others, and the bulk of thebook walks you through the steps
that go after you spend thatheavy time reflecting, which is
visualizing and acting.
Right.
So the vision piece is incorporate terms is strategic
planning, right?
That's where you visualizewhere you want to go and then
you kind of you know backwardsplan what are the things that
(20:40):
you have to do.
And then the action piece iswhere you actually test it out
and you and you do it, and thisis where leadership comes in,
right.
This is where you spend timeasking yourself okay, what is
one thing I could be doingbetter to prioritize self worth
in my, in my organization?
What is one thing that I couldbe doing better to enhance the
interpersonal relationships onmy team?
(21:00):
What is one thing I could bedoing better to enhance my own
decision-making, right?
Am I prioritizing equity andinclusion in my decision-making
or am I just, you know, makingthe same decisions that everyone
else has made before me andtherefore, you know, just having
the same outcomes over and overagain right me, and therefore,
you know, just having the sameoutcomes over and over again,
right it's, you know, it's thosekinds of questions.
The other questions that I posein Inclusion and Evolution,
(21:24):
which are specific to leadingdiversity and inclusion, is like
why is diversity, equity andinclusion important to me, right
?
What scares me about it?
What excites me.
What's possible about this?
We don't spend enough timeasking those questions and we
don't spend enough timeunderstanding our role, our role
(21:44):
in doing good or bad.
For that it's hard.
It's really hard to be facedwith the reality of I failed my
team because I did my team,because I, you know, because I
did not center, you know, theseidentities, or I did not center
this way of thinking I have, youknow, I have ignored people on
my team who are the quietervoices, right, and I have I have
(22:07):
let the loud voices, you know,rule continuously and I was like
and I haven't done it becauseI'm a bad person, I haven't done
it because I don't care aboutthem, I've just done it because
that's a bias that I have and Ihave ignored it.
Right, but in ignoring it, I'vebeen complicit in maintaining a
culture that does not value,that does not value
self-awareness and does notvalue self-worth Right, it does
(22:28):
not value the worth of everyoneon my team.
And so that kind of reflectiveaction is what I think allows us
to not just and you said at thebeginning, when you said this
question, you said I'm reallyself-aware.
It's like I've had to workreally hard at that right, and
even with the level ofself-awareness that I strive
towards, there are times where Iwill leave a meeting or a
(22:49):
conversation and go, oh my gosh,like did I say that?
Or like, why didn't I speak upin that moment, why didn't I
challenge that Right?
Like they're they're?
You know, we're human right,we're fallible, but but that,
that, what that means, is thatit's a continual, continual
effort to to interrogate how weengage, how we connect and how
(23:11):
we show up in the ways that bestserve us.
That, to me, is what self-worthis.
Right, Is knowing that I'mshowing up in every interaction
in a way that is consistent withmy values, are and who I am,
because that's what I bring tothe table.
That's my value, that's myworth.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
So you've already kind of dove down into it.
But on Friday you're joining usfor our Embodied Worth speaker
series, where you're going to betalking about embodying your
wholeness.
How do you recommend thatpeople cultivate that courage to
show up authentically?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You know, cultivating that sense of self-worth, like
I said, it's practice, right.
Like many Latinas in theworkplace, I have felt pressured
to walk a daily tightrope,right, like choosing which parts
of me to reveal or which partsof me to conceal, all the time.
Right, and it's downplayingvery much in many times the very
(24:08):
talents and skill sets that arerequired for me to advance in
my career.
Right, that's the kicker thatyou're spending this time
protecting yourself.
It doesn't mean that you don'tknow what your self-worth is,
but when you feel that yourself-worth is at risk right, you
have to protect it.
And so you have to figure outam I going to say this much
about myself?
Am I going to reveal this partof it or am I going to conceal
(24:29):
it?
But the kicker to all of thatis that when we spend all this
time and energy concealing that,we're actually limiting
ourselves from being able togrow in our careers.
I know that I have been invitedinto organizations and into
teams who claimed that theywanted me but really just seemed
satisfied with putting me onthis play.
Being able to acknowledge thatand to say no, like you don't
(24:54):
get to do that is an act ofself-worth, right, it's a
courageous act, and it can alsobe a you know, it can be a dumb
act, right?
If it's not, if it's you know,if it's something that you
really need, right, but it'ssomething that you have to, you
have to decide for yourselfwhen's the right time, right.
So when it's okay for you to belike, okay, I get it, I'm on
(25:16):
display, I get the story and Iwas like, but I'm going to use
this for my advantage.
Or when you're going to say no,you don't get to put me on
display, I get to decide mystory, I get to decide my
narrative.
And that's this continuous actof figuring out.
We use the word authenticity atwork, right?
Oh my gosh.
Everyone's been told to bringtheir authentic selves to work,
(25:36):
but the fact of the matter isthat most organizations, they're
just not ready to contend withwhat your authentic self is.
We don't have thoseconversations.
So you have all theseparticularly young people who
often ask me it's like, how doyou show up as your authentic
self?
Which I think, again, it's anextension of this self-worth,
because for me to be myauthentic self means that I
value myself enough to know thatthis, this is how I'm going to
(25:56):
show up all the time and and Ialways tell people the same
thing I'm telling you I was likeit's just years and years of
trying, years and years offiguring it out, years of
building credibility and andcomfort and support in others
and support in others.
(26:16):
One of my favorite quotes, adamGrant, says that authenticity is
not about expressing everyopinion you hold, but it's about
ensuring that what you voicereflects what you value.
If you value respect andkindness, your comments
shouldn't be filled withcontempt and cruelty.
That's also a way ofdemonstrating our self-worth.
It's saying the things thatmatter to you, that are
(26:36):
value-added, right, it's notjust kind of like getting on a
soapbox in every meeting, butit's saying the things that you
know are value-add but that alsoare of value to you.
I did my TED Talk several yearsago and in it I shared how, in
my first job at Moody's, I wasafraid to talk right, I was
(27:00):
literally paid for my opinion.
I was a credit risk analyst andmy job was to sit in these
meetings and to say what Ithought the rating was and that
was valued equally.
This was a rather meritocraticsituation that I found myself in
in the early part of my career,but I was so embarrassed for
being the youngest person andfor not having enough experience
and wasn't quite sure what Ineeded to say.
And it wasn't until one of mycolleagues pulled me aside one
(27:20):
day and literally said you getpaid for your opinion.
I want to hear you speak.
And when I explained to him whyI was nervous, what I feared,
what I was afraid of it washaving someone actually see me
and not chastise me right, whichwas my fear I thought if I
speak my truth, I am going to bechastised.
(27:41):
And it was him looking at meand saying okay, I get that
you're afraid, I get that you'reworried, but I also know that
the only way to move up in yourcareer is for you to actually
have an opinion and share it inthese meetings.
So why don't we do this?
The next time you're in ameeting, you're going to say one
thing, just one thing, and thenyou're going to start.
You know you're going to seehow you feel more comfortable
going forward.
(28:02):
And what happened was that Istarted talking and building my
courage muscle right.
I started feeling like, oh, Ican do this.
And like, oh, wow, the grounddid not fall under me.
I was like oh, you know what Isaid they agreed with, right?
I'm like, I'm not crazy, I'mnot an idiot, right?
I actually?
I have data to support my youknow my opinion, and then you
couldn't shut me up after that.
(28:23):
But my point is is that thatlevel of authenticity, that
level of self-awareness, thatlevel of self-worth that comes
from testing and from, you know,iterating?
But it also comes from thisdeep sense, this deep effort of
self-reflection.
I spent a lot of time thinkingabout the impact of my words,
(28:43):
not just what I say, right, Ispent a lot of time thinking
about how people experience me,not just you know what they see
within.
But I was like how do youexperience me?
Because if I can come into ameeting and have a lot of people
laugh and feel like I delivereda great presentation, but if it
was just lighthearted laughteror they were just laughing at me
, that doesn't mean anything.
(29:04):
That level of self-awareness andthat level of self-reflection
requires us to really come toterms with how we want to be
experienced.
Right, I know I want to beexperienced in a way that makes
others feel better.
I'm very clear that everyconversation I have, I want
people to feel better, to feelwhether it's informed, whether
(29:25):
it's inspired, whether it'sconnected.
That's always been where I'vederived joy from.
If there's a disconnect betweenthat desire of mine and how
people are experiencing me, thenthe onus is on me to think
about how do I want to show up?
What is, what does that mean?
Because I know that I can bebetter, I know that I can do
better, but I also know like I'mpretty, I'm, I'm, you know I'm,
(29:49):
I'm a pretty good person, youknow I'm pretty smart, I, I'm a
pretty good person, I'm prettysmart.
I have a lot of experience.
I come at it from a place ofhumility.
I'm Latina.
I can't help but be humble.
I come at it from a place ofhumility, but also, and always
sort of like putting my headdown and letting others, you
(30:21):
know, be the ones and getting toa place of I can still be
humble and I can still createspace for others, while I also
shine my light so that otherscan shine their light brighter.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Thank you.
That is such a beautifulmessage because I think that is
one of the you know in thisdelicate dance of how do we into
the cultural norm in corporateAmerica and then also be
ourselves authentically.
And all of this is described sobeautifully.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
It's hard because we have all this toxic positivity
and you know, everyone's got tobe rah, rah, rah.
And then we've got, in order toprogress at work, you have to,
you know, speak and be loud andbe known and be out there, right
.
But then, like, you can't be ajerk, yeah, you can't be too
loud, especially for women.
I mean, we, we face a doublebind.
(31:05):
We can't be not liked and wecan't be liked too much, right.
And when you add dimensions ofrace and ethnicity, you know it
gets even more pronounced.
I talk about hyper visibilityfor women of color.
You know you can't be, you know, marginalized and you know, and
sidelined so deeply that nobodyknows you.
But then if you become toovisible, hyper visible, then all
(31:28):
of a sudden all eyes are on youand any mistake you make is,
you know, is your failure, right.
So it's this incrediblepressure of like am I too little
, am I too much?
You know what's the rightbalance.
That's where self-awareness andself-worth comes in.
And in not playing the partthat others want you to play,
but in playing your part right,I was like this is me, this is
(31:52):
how I show up, whether I'm in acorporate board meeting or
whether I am having lunch withmy girlfriends or whether I am
leading a team meeting, right,this is how I show up.
I may adjust situationallybased on the audience, but
fundamentally, they're alwaysgoing to get the same daisy, and
that's self-worth, that'sconsistency, because that daisy
(32:14):
is, I think, someone that'sreally important and special
enough to be shared.
Right?
But you have to feel that aboutyou, right, because we all have
that.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
You have inclusion revolution and it's amazing, and
we've talked about theself-worth in the workplace and
really showing up with communityand all of that.
What has inspired you to writeyour second book, burnt Out, to
Lit Up how to Reignite?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
the Fire.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
We are so excited for this book.
I am excited too.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I wrote Inclusion Revolutionout of a fervent belief that
organizational health, growth,dynamism all of that thrive when
diversity, equity and inclusionbloom in organizations right?
So I believe that, and I wrotea book that draws on my
(33:04):
professional climb as a Latinaexecutive working in diversity,
equity and inclusion, and Iwanted it to be a practical call
to action, right?
So?
It's a management book thatwalks you across the employee
life cycle, from hiring toonboarding to professional
development, coaching, all ofthose and it's meant to be a
step-by-step blueprint forembedding diversity, equity and
(33:27):
inclusion on the entire employeelife cycle.
But as a practitioner of thiswork, I also know that reshaping
systems is relentless, it'scomplex and it is fraught with
setbacks, with skepticism, withresistance, with moments of just
saying I want to give up.
And so in those moments, wehave to carve out spaces for
(33:49):
ourselves to pause, to reflect,to recharge and to reset,
because otherwise we burn out.
And so I wrote the book ofBurnt Out, because I wanted to
sustain the revolutionary workof anchoring DEI right, so that
you can stay strong and inspiredyourself to continue to do this
work, because this work needsall of you.
(34:11):
This work doesn't need justmoments of you, it needs all of
you, and so that burnt out tolit up is a response to the
pressures of navigating thiswork with skill and with
humanity.
It's meant to help you be theleader you want to be.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
So right now, everybody should come to the
event on Friday.
We'll get to hear even more ofDaisy's wisdom about embodying
your wholeness.
But how else can people stay intouch with you?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Oh well, linkedin is my community.
You can find me on LinkedIn,daisy OJ Dominguez, and
Instagram.
Daisy AD is my what is it mytag at Instagram and then on my
website, but most of my ongoingconversation with the broader
community is on LinkedIn andInstagram.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Thank you so so much again for joining us, daisy, and
do not worry, folks that arelistening.
We'll have all the links tostaying in touch with Daisy in
the description below.
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