GEICO’s Post

During a presentation I did last week, I asked a mostly Latinx audience: Who wants to get promoted? Everyone raised their hands. By the way, these employees are highly engaged in their organizations. The majority of them were leading their ERGs (81%). They were mostly mid-level professionals. It's not that folks don't raise their hand to get promoted, have you identified them as high performers, high potential employees? Have you ever asked them whether they want to be a director or a VP in the future? Have you invested in their development? If the answer is "no," then you don't truly value these employees as critical partners to the organization. Organizations must keep high performing, high potential employees.

Last week, our advantAGE employee resource group—which works to improve intergenerational collaboration and understanding—hosted "Generations Connect,” a global webcast to explore how we can come together as a multigenerational community and build on our diverse strengths to be more collaborative, innovative, and inclusive. Or, in the words of our #PMIDNA, how we can be better together through empathy and mutual respect.   "Generations Connect" was a thought-provoking event hosted by Oksana Krasieva and featuring our esteemed guest Patrice Gordon, an award-winning speaker, author, and coach who specializes in inclusive leadership. The panel also included advantAGE’s executive sponsor, Massimo Andolina, as well as Stefano Volpetti, and Parichaya Juntkuang, from Philip Morris International, who all shared ways they have bridged generational gaps on their teams.   My top takeaways from the discussion were: 1. Acknowledging, appreciating, and considering the diverse experiences that individuals from different generations bring to the table is vital to succeed at any organization.   2. An open-minded approach coupled with mutual respect can lead to enhanced team dynamics and out-of-the-box thinking. 3. Collaboration is a reciprocal process that thrives on trust and a willingness to learn from one another.   4. When employees are given the space to voice their opinions and contribute ideas freely, innovation flourishes, and engagement levels rise.   5. Mentoring is a powerful tool for learning and growth at any stage of one's career journey. Reverse mentoring—where knowledge flows in both directions—can foster a culture of continuous learning and skill development across generations.   Thank you to the entire advantAGE team and its global co-leads, Gerald Margolis, Irina Piazzoli, and Ahad Badar, for organizing such a powerful program. How are you working to bridge the generational gaps in your organization? Do you have an employee resource group like our advantAGE? I hope you will share your insights with me.   #ProudtobePMI #GenerationalDiversity #Inclusion #CompanyCulture

It was an exciting and motivational two days at the #LEAD Network Europe Conference in Düsseldorf! At the largest diversity and inclusion event, I learned how the FMCG industry leverages the full scope of diverse talents to drive innovation and ensure business success. Impressive best practices have been shared on how to move forward to create a more inclusive and equal environment. The key takeaways for me came from inspiring and strong female leader Tracy Massey, COO at #NIQ: Dream bigger; anything is possible; take a risk; progress and growth require us to get out of our comfort zones; lead by example; think of your legacy; help others grow; and be passionate about what you do. Stop wishing and just do it; push and be pushed!

In today's rapidly evolving global landscape, inclusive leadership has never been more crucial. At our annual not-for-profit Inclusive Leadership Forum, we bring together thought leaders, innovators, and change-makers from diverse backgrounds to explore, learn, and collaborate on creating more inclusive workplaces and communities. Our first three Inclusive Leadership Forums attracted over 600 registrants per Forum from almost 60 companies across Asia and Europe with organisations such as AbbVie, Bayer, Coca-Cola, Crocs, Deloitte, Google, Keppel Data Centres, Neste, Société Générale and Unilever coming together to share how they are building their inclusive organisations in Asia. This year is our 4th edition of the Inclusive Leadership Forum and our theme is "Empowering Inclusion in Every Step”. In a world rich with diverse perspectives and experiences, fostering inclusion isn't just a goal - it's a responsibility. We're committed to taking proactive steps to ensure that every individual feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique talents. As we continue on our journey towards greater inclusion, we invite you to join us for this year’s Inclusive Leadership Forum 2024. Together, let's create a world where every voice is heard, every perspective is valued, and every individual has the opportunity to thrive. For more information and to register, visit our website: https://lnkd.in/gyayVUig ** A big thank you to all our sponsors and partners for the Inclusive Leadership Forum 2024: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation – SMBC Group The Coca-Cola Company AbbVie S&P Global Crocs Shangri-La Group British Chamber of Commerce Singapore (BritCham) #ILF2024 #InclusiveLeadershipForum2024 #EmpoweringLeaders #DiversityEquityAndInclusion #DEI #InclusiveCulture

🌟 A Remarkable Summit Finale! 🌟 Our closing panel on "Turning DEI Commitments to Actions" was nothing short of inspirational, led by an exceptional group of panelists. 🌈 Panelists: Aylin Arslantas Bumin, Director of Marketing & Communications, Europe, Lineage Logistics Annie Jelavic, General Counsel, Kraft Heinz Continental Europe Emma McDonald, Head of Construction Safety and Technical Vendor Management Ops, Construction Sheila Gemin, Global IT Lead Corporate Technology, ING Moderator: Ebere Akadiri 🗣️ The solutions proposed by our esteemed panelists left us all with a renewed commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion: Conversations Where It's Not Happening: Encouraging open dialogue where DEI discussions are often overlooked. Naturalizing DEI: Annie Jelavic shared Kraft Heinz's approach to making DEI a natural part of their corporate culture. Leadership Principles: Emma McDonald highlighted Amazon's "DEI rock" as an example of how companies can turn their commitment into concrete actions. 🚀 The audience also shared their powerful takeaways: Consistency at Work: Showing up consistently and being the change we wish to see in our organizations. Parental Responsibility: Educating the younger generation about bias and sensitizing them to create a more inclusive future. Visibility: Embracing visibility as a means to drive change. Consciousness of Bias: Being mindful of our own biases and working to overcome them. The summit has been a revelation, sparking important conversations and inspiring us all to take action. Let's carry this momentum forward and continue our journey toward a more inclusive and equitable world. 🌍💪 #rlsummit2023 #DEI #Inclusion #CommitmentToAction #SummitTakeaways #BeTheChange

🗣️ Authentic, equitable leadership is the cornerstone of the #UNFOLD movement, uniting our community of current and future Corporate Affairs leaders. It’s why the theme of the 2023 UNFOLD Convene event is ‘Equity in the Workplace’. Hosted by Randstad, CEO Sander van 't Noordende will give a keynote speech on why equity is at the heart of the organisation.   Joining Sander is Melissa Gee Kee, CHRO of Unilever Ice Cream, and Amanda Edelman, COO of Edelman Gen Z Lab, who will discuss what it takes to drive equity in business. They’ll consider the question: are we really doing enough in reality?   🤝 Corporate Affairs leaders have co-created the UNFOLD movement to positively shape the role of business in the world. The invite-only movement is united in its belief in the importance of authentic, sustainable purpose and the value of inclusive perspectives through which a company can create demonstrable value for all stakeholders. We look forward to bringing the community together and will feedback on the learnings from this important event.   ➡️ If you’re interested in learning more about the UNFOLD movement, please reach out to one of our board members: Anita van de Velde - Rayat, Ellen van Ginkel, Esther Busscher, Gareth Mead, Sarah Campbell Donia, Saskia Kapinga, Simon Henzell-Thomas (he/his) or Steven Heywood.  

We reward the wrong things. “Be the first one in, the last one to leave.” We celebrate individuals with EOM/EOY awards while emphasising the importance of working as a team. We glorify how busy and exhausted we all are. All the while, businesses keep up the pace of unsustainable targets. I’ve never seen an organisation reward it’s people for meeting metrics by lowering the metrics ahead. Seriously, ya’ll, have you ever been told, “You’ve done such a great job I’d like for you to dial it down by 30% next quarter”? And yet, the greatest competitive edge a company can have is the talent and commitment of its employees. We should reward kindness. Courage. Accountability. Transparency. Civil disagreements. A commitment to growth. We should not only know our company values, but the personal values of our colleagues and honour those in our interactions. We can do better. The current, standardised, system we have in place ain’t it. It can start with us. It can start this week ahead. Happy Growing! -M. #MullMentum #NarrativeLeadership #GenerationalMentorship

Inclusive Leadership………….. delighted to be part of this insightful and eye opening panel!!!   I know personally from my own journey and career how much impact this has and am honoured to help articulate the importance and how this has the capability to affect so many.   Our theme was on the act of building inclusive environments through inclusive leadership – an environment where everyone can thrive as part of the financial services industry although applies to all sectors.   It was a pleasure to be joined on the panel by several super stars!! Caroline Waddington, who is and has always been the most amazing, sincere, genuine and awesome leader, dear friend and amazing ally and who inspires me in SO many ways and Nita Patel, an inspiring and fearless leader who also exudes so very much humility and leads from the front. We were also so lucky to have Kemi Ladegbaiye as our epic moderator who was, needless to say, beyond amazing.   This was part of the Empowerment Series of events for our group of Interns and it was so good to see so many join this event – I was delighted to see such a diverse collective of individuals across so many different dimensions of diversity as part of this group.   We covered many themes including the importance of visible commitment to diversity and challenging the status quo, the significance and impact of humility, being aware of bias in all its forms, being curious about others and having an open mindset to allow growth and progress on the journey of allyship, exemplifying cultural intelligence and to ensure effective collaboration, empowering others and paying attention to diversity of thinking.   A few of the other questions we covered included:   - As a leader, what does it mean to work in an inclusive and diverse environment? - What has influenced our own thinking around diversity and inclusion, and motivated us to be an advocate and agent for change? - What is the biggest challenge you face as leader when advocating for a more diverse and inclusive workforce? - How can we effectively ensure focus on diversity and inclusive leadership continues alongside all the other challenges and demands faced and the importance of diversity in all its forms.   A large shout out also to the brilliant Paula Mizingou, Lisa McNeil-Duncan and the entire team who make these events possible and kudos to you all for putting on such a great series of events.   #InclusiveLeadership #DiversityAndInclusion #StrongerTogether

On April 20th, we culminated our first annual DEI Day by announcing the Intentionally Inclusive Challenge, an initiative to drive actionable, meaningful change around Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for our employees, customers, and communities. The Intentionally Inclusive Challenge, or "IIC" for short, rests on three pillars - learn, engage, inspire. These pillars frame how we hope to spur and view action around DEI.  Psychological safety goes hand in hand with inclusion according to Susan Chambless, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition at Pyramid Consulting, and a winner from Round 1 of the Intentionally Inclusive Challenge. When we feel comfortable, valued, and safe, we let our guard down and allow more of ourselves to emerge. Psychological safety enables true collaboration as diversity breathes innovation.  Thank you, Susan, for this powerful message. By participating in the Intentionally Inclusive Challenge, you are actively cultivating safe and inclusive environments where people can thrive. When people feel respected and heard, they contribute in more meaningful ways. Susan, your leadership inspires us to keep striving for workplaces where all people feel they belong and can achieve their full potential.  Are you Intentionally Inclusive? Join us and take the challenge today!!!  Learn more here: https://hubs.la/Q021Ghpv0   #IntentionallyInclusive #diversityequityandinclusion #IIC #Takethechallenge #IICWinners #Changemaker