5 Things In 15 Minutes: Good Vibes in DEI – Details, episodes & analysis

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5 Things In 15 Minutes: Good Vibes in DEI

Bernadette Smith

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News

Frequency: 1 episode/9d. Total Eps: 128

I'm Bernadette Smith (she/her), a keynote speaker and author of Inclusive 360: Proven Solutions for an Equitable Organization. I'm also one of the most positive people you'll ever meet. What's 5 Things? I discovered that there were a lot of inspirational actions being taken to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive world, but typical news stories focus more on negativity. I decided to share what I consider to be "good vibes" in a weekly newsletter to provide a little bit of hope -- to others, and to myself! 5 Things began in 2019, caught on quickly and now thousands of leaders around the world receive 5 Things and share the stories with their organizations, families, and friends. Each week a special guest and I discuss these 5 Things, right here, in just 15 Minutes, starting your week off with Good Vibes in DEI. We also talk about a few other things, so most episodes land at around 22 minutes.

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🇨🇦 Canada - management
16/05/2025
#73
🇨🇦 Canada - management
06/02/2025
#83

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https://5thingsdei.com/
116 shares
https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/5-things
115 shares
https://www.mildon.co.uk/
4 shares

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhodesperry/
2 shares
https://www.linkedin.com/in/celiasandaniels/
2 shares

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Score global : 63%

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Self-Compassion (Solo Episode)

Episode 115

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 • Duration 19:54

This time, I’m doing a solo episode to share my thoughts and recap the latest 5 Things. This week my conversation with myself is about inclusive books winning big, Pride over profits, Michigan stepping up against hate, and more!

Here are this week's good vibes:

Inclusive Stories Win
Hate Stops Here, Michigan Steps Up
Thailand Puts Money Behind Gender Care
Pride > Profits: Community Steps Up
DEI Showdown: Companies Hold the Line

Good Vibes to Go:

It’s Lunar New Year, a 15-day festival in many parts of the world. Here is a good primer on Lunar New Year. What do you say to someone who celebrates? Happy New Year!

Read the Stories

Watch the show on YouTube.

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes in DEI every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

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Pain Points with Carlos Butler-Vale

Episode 114

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 • Duration 21:33

Carlos Butler-Vale (he/him), Co-Host, Corporate Cafecito Business Podcast, and Founder, Avizo Consulting, and I recap the latest 5 Things (good vibes in DEI) in just 15 minutes. This week our conversation is about history at the Oscars, marriage equality in Thailand, Bloomberg’s big investment, and more!

Here are this week's good vibes:

Bloomberg Stands for Climate Action
Hyatt and Carnival Lead Accessibility Wave
A Trailblazer’s Moment
Thailand Says 'I Do' to Equality
Brave Rep. Emily Randall

Good Vibes to Go:

Bernadette’s GVTG: Read this article by Lily Zheng in Harvard Business Review in which they present a new framework: What Comes After DEI.

Carlos’ GVTG: Look for a symphony performance of “Encanto”, the Disney movie, and support the Central Illinois Friends Center, or your local LGBTQ Center. Find yours at CenterLink.

Read the Stories.

Connect with Carlos Butler-Vale

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes in DEI every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

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The Rebrand with Dorie Clark

Episode 105

Tuesday, November 5, 2024 • Duration 22:31

Dorie Clark (she/her), WSJ Bestselling Author and Professor of Executive Education at Columbia Business School and I recap the latest 5 Things (good vibes in DEI) in just 15 minutes. This week our conversation is about Inclusive Care with a Smile, Raising the Curtain on Neurodivergence, Toasting Respect, and more!

Here are this week's good vibes:

Inclusive Dentistry Is More Than Words
Long-Overdue Apology Hits Home
Neurodiverse Stars in the Spotlight
Respect in Every Pour
Neurodivergent Nights

Good Vibes to Go:

Bernadette’s GVTG: Watch Rez Ball on Netflix! It’s a drama about a high school basketball team in New Mexico competing for the state championship. I loved the authenticity of the storytelling.

Dorie’s GVTG: Dorie celebrates LGBTQ-inclusive wedding cards while acknowledging there aren't many of them including on Etsy!

Read the Stories

Connect with Dorie Clark

Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes in DEI every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

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5 Things in 15 Minutes / National Hispanic Heritage Month

Episode 15

Tuesday, October 4, 2022 • Duration 23:59

We are in National Hispanic Heritage Month and I’d like to recommend some Latine folks for you to follow and/or hire all year long. Ingrid Harb is my guest on 5 Things in 15 Minutes this week. She’s a fabulous, connective speaker who also leads transformative in-person DEI experiences. You can follow Ingrid here and catch her on my podcast this week.

My friend, speaker Miguel Aviles-Perez is based in Puerto Rico, which remains in crisis once again due to the devastation of Hurricane Fiona. Much of the island still lacks power. Miguel is thoughtful and insightful and his energy is amazing! You can follow Miguel here.

Finally, we have a new team member here at Equality Institute, Erika Latines, who is a compelling and engaging facilitator and storyteller. You can read more about Erika here. She’s available for our new workshops True Colors and Just the Way You Are, as well as our bestseller, Voices Carry.

And if you’re looking for a great novel, I highly recommend the NYT bestseller Olga Dies Dreaming written by my old friend Xochitl Gonzalez. It’s a juicy novel set in NYC and Puerto Rico. I loved it.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

Virgin Atlantic Announces Non-Gendered Uniform Policy

5 Things in 15 Minutes / Recovery

Episode 14

Tuesday, September 27, 2022 • Duration 17:57

There was a recurring theme this week in my conversations with clients: how to recover after you’ve been called out or accidentally offended someone. Here’s the short answer: don't get dramatic. Apologize sincerely once without diminishing their experience. If you’re corrected, say thanks. Educate yourself, rather than asking them, so you can do better next time.

During an in-person keynote for a corporate client, I was asked a question that took the topic a step further. I was asked, “How much responsibility do I need to continue to take after I’ve offended someone when, after my sincere apology, they remain angry and/or aggressive?”

Here are a couple of guidelines: Remember you don’t know what it’s like to walk in their shoes and it’s a good idea to acknowledge that when speaking with the person. And, after an appropriate period of time, it’s OK to ask, “Is there anything I can do to repair this relationship?”

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

Disabled Models and Designers Take Center Stage at New York Fashion Week
Hearst Joins Employers Expanding Benefits to Include Divorce Support
Twilio Promises ‘Anti-racist’ Layoffs as Ceo Says 11% Job Cuts Won’t Hit Workers From ‘Marginalized Communities’ More Than Others
Hot Chicken Takeover’s Mission Is to Hire People Who Might Be Passed Over Elsewhere, Whether Because of Prior Incarceration, Drug Addiction, or Homelessness
Interior Department Completes Removal of “Sq___” from Federal Use

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-recovery

To learn more about Rex, visit: https://www.rexwilde.com/

5 Things in 15 Minutes / No Matter Why

Episode 13

Tuesday, September 20, 2022 • Duration 24:43

If you’re a long-time reader of 5 Things, you may have noticed that it doesn’t matter to me why an organization decides to “do the right thing” – to embed equity and inclusion into its systems as a way to accelerate the promises of diversity.

I don’t care whether an organization is working on DEI initiatives because everyone else is because they see the promises of higher revenue because they want to reduce turnover, because they don’t want to be left in the dust, or because it’s just the right thing to do. I don’t care why Hard Rock is paying $100 million in wage hikes (as you’ll read below). I care about the long-term benefits.

Don’t get me wrong: having an inspirational and aligned purpose will only help organizations get there faster (if they effectively rally employees around that purpose) – but if it’s just about making more money, that’s fine, too. Real change, the systems and policy change that I write about every week here, that I wrote about in my awesome book Inclusive 360, is replicable, scalable, and sustainable.

In my conversations with clients, I will keep making the business case because – whatever works.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

5 Things in 15 Minutes / The Sales Team

Episode 12

Tuesday, September 13, 2022 • Duration 15:55

This week I met with a client to prepare for an upcoming keynote. We were discussing some of the company’s DEI challenges, and I heard the familiar comment, “We struggle to get the sales team to care. They don’t get why it’s important.”

It’s a common struggle: in many cases, DEI events are voluntary, and many folks on the sales team are in the field. How do you reach them? How do you get them to care?

It starts with embedding DEI into the sales meetings and getting the senior leaders at those meetings to care. But there are a few other tricks, best summarized in this lovely feedback I received from a client: They were VERY appreciative of the practical tips for relating to their clients and candidates. I personally felt that her focus on those folks, over their own colleagues, also may have made this feel more like a professional development session than "another DEI lecture" for those that are less receptive to our DEI council's efforts.

The sales team is financially motivated. To reach them, share any myriad bits of data about the financial benefits of diversity. Then talk about DEI and cultural competency more broadly in terms of how it relates to their clients and candidates – how do they establish trust with, and NOT accidentally offend their increasingly diverse client and candidate base? No one, especially no one in sales, likes to embarrass themselves in front of a client.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

5 Things in 15 Minutes / High Potentials

Episode 11

Tuesday, August 30, 2022 • Duration 26:24

This week I facilitated a conversation with a client about my book Inclusive 360. In the conversation, I was struck by how often my conversations around DEI quickly focus on hiring for diversity. Yes, that’s important, but data tells us that at the entry-level of organizations, the percentage of men vs women, and White people vs BIPOC are fairly balanced. The gaps widen as employees are promoted. Classic unconscious bias.

It’s clear to me that organizations should instead prioritize embedding equity into the employee lifecycle to give everyone a fair shot at success and growth. This includes everything from updating and standardizing the performance review process, to inclusive leader training for managers, and coaching for high potentials. There’s a reason that many organizations are paying out big bonuses right now…it can be far more cost-effective to invest in current employees than hire new ones.

Yes, we can help you with those things…but here’s how to start making the case for this: share the data that shows it can cost 3x an employee's salary to fill a role (including time spent by other employees as part of the hiring process). Then ask some of your high potentials, “what can we do to keep awesome people like you around?” Listen to the ideas and work through what’s reasonable, bit by bit.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

Period Poverty: Scotland First in World to Make Period Products Free
Global Consumer Brands Are Wading Into an Uproar Over the Firing of a Popular Female Television Anchor
Ben & Jerry's and Tony's Chocolonely Team Up To Tackle Cocoa Slave Labor
All-Black, All-Female American Airlines Crew Flies From Dallas to Honor Bessie Coleman
Races Are Finally Making Room for Nonbinary Runners, Whose Stories Are Driving the Change

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-high-potentials

5 Things in 15 Minutes / Everybody In

Episode 10

Tuesday, August 23, 2022 • Duration 20:00

This week the U.S. Congress passed a significant and transformative climate bill that President Biden is expected to sign. Among many other things, the law will provide many incentives for shifts to clean energy, including rebates for car buyers.

I found this timely when I read how GM connects the dots between diversity, equity, and inclusion and its goal to be an electric vehicle leader. Telva McGruder, chief diversity, inclusion, and equity officer at GM, shared:

“Our tagline, ‘Everybody in,’ means that we are designing vehicles that will be able to accommodate people regardless of their level of income. So vehicles from low- to high-income price points. It also means people who purchase electric vehicles are going to have the ability to charge them wherever they are, regardless of location…We're also thinking about the impact on the electrical grid, making sure that communities that are typically underrepresented or under-considered when major infrastructure plans are made are indeed represented.”

A holistic approach to DEI is deep and robust and hard work. But wow, when it’s thoughtful, what a difference it can make in the lives of others – literally in the lives of Black and brown communities. That’s what matters. Read that whole article above about GM – they’re doing some fantastic stuff with DEI.

Here are other good vibes I found this week:

Private equity giant Carlyle thinks it’s found the formula for incentivizing diversity work
Taco Bell has a unique strategy to improve its frontline ... a six-week program aimed at helping store workers move up the ranks
LinkedIn has added nudges to its hiring platform to prompt recruiters to consider diversity
Gender neutral ‘Mx.’ prefix option added to the Disney experience

Read the full blog here: https://www.theequalityinstitute.com/equality-insights-blog/5-things-everybody-in

5 Things in 15 Minutes / Trade-Offs

Episode 9

Tuesday, August 9, 2022 • Duration 19:27

This week I was reminded that every story is nuanced – sometimes, I miss the [whole/complete] picture when researching the stories. In the last 5 Things, I shared how Shopify’s CEO was humble and kind in handling layoffs. A reader so smartly responded:

While they lost their jobs due to his mistake he still made over $20 million and cashed out more than $623 million in equity last year. To me, this raises huge questions about internal equity, executive compensation, and holding decision-makers accountable for their decisions. Instead, once again, we will likely see huge numbers of lower-wage, junior, and shared service (where most diversity exists in US companies) employees paying the price.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Perfectly put.

And yet, in addition to some layoffs, I’m also seeing salary bumps and bonuses announced across industries as a potential antidote to still-high resignation numbers. Does that count as a good vibe?

Ultimately, there are so many gray areas, and there are always trade-offs. I’m hopeful we will mostly see leaders choose the path that causes the least harm. I’m reminded of what my friend Jess Pettitt says, “Do the best you can with what you have some of the time."

Another reader had a question about Disney’s Fairy Godmothers from last week… we inadvertently left off an apostrophe, causing the story about going gender-free to make no sense. Sorry for the confusion! To summarize Fairy Godmothers in Training --> Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices.

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

How the World’s Biggest Four-Day Workweek Trial Run Changed People’s Lives in the UK
Spotify Allowed Its Employees to Work From Anywhere in the World and Its Turnover Rate Dropped
Gen Z Knows What It Wants From Employers And Employers Want Them
U.S. Companies Support Harvard, UNC in Supreme Court Affirmative Action Cases

5 Things In 15 Minutes: Good Vibes in DEI – Details, episodes & analysis

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5 Things In 15 Minutes: Good Vibes in DEI – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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