In today’s episode of The One Problem, Rosie Yeung talks about how North American organizations can become more Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive.

Hi there. My name is Avil Beckford, and this is the latest episode of the One Problem Podcast. You know, there are tons of problems in the world, but for our time together, we're focusing on one problem. So most of the people I've had on so far, I've had some sort of relationship with them. And that's the case with my guest today.

I first met her at an Ellevate Network event, and I've mentioned that organization several times. And I've had several people as guests, who I've met there. So my very special guest today is Rosie Yeung. She's the founder and President of Changing Lenses. She's very passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, and that kind of stuff. So over to you, Rosie.

Rosie Yeung

Thank you so much, Avil. And thank you to all of you who are watching and listening to us today. My name, as Avil said, is Rosie Yeung. I am a Chinese Canadian cisgendered woman who immigrated from Hong Kong to what we now call Toronto, Canada. And It’s actually colonized land that is the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, the Huron-Wendat, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. This land is still home today to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people.

I am a daughter, an Auntie, a best friend, and a child of the Creator. And I'm also the President and Jedi coach of Changing Lenses. So Jedi in this context stands for Justice, Equity, Decolonization and Inclusion. And my Jedi coaching is one way that I am taking action towards decolonizing corporate workplaces and not just diversifying them. So that is basically the one problem that I want to talk about today. How can North American organizations, both for profit and not-for-profit, change to become more equitable, diverse and inclusive, or EDI for short?

That's been the stated goal for many companies, especially in the last two years. And it's such a complex issue that it is really hard to narrow down to sort of one problem statement, let alone one solution. Today I just want to focus on one aspect of this massive issue. It isn't given much attention, in my opinion, in corporate EDI plans, which is the personal side of things. There are a lot of business articles out there that talk about the business case for EDI, mainly about higher revenue or higher profits.

Rosie Yeung

They're very financially focused. And there is also the moral case. It's the right thing to do. It's good for people. And the legal case. We're required by law to do it, or you have to protect yourself and comply. But what all of this is missing is the human aspect, and honestly, our psychological response to the threat of loss. So let me explain what I mean by that. The reason why we need to have equity and inclusion is because there is an unequal balance of power, wealth and privilege in our workplaces and the world in general.

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And to equalize that requires redistributing that power, wealth, and privilege so that the people who have most of it now, mainly white people, will have less, and the people who have little of it now, mainly racialized people, will have more. But even if you are the most motivated, most morally convicted person who believes in antiracism and gender equity, you'll still encounter cognitive blocks that prevent you from doing the very actions that you need to take in order to meet your DEI goals. And that's just a human response. That's very normal. So some of these cognitive blocks, they're actually psychological cognitive biases.

And there's science behind it. One example is called loss aversion. That's an example of a cognitive bias. And loss aversion is the tendency to value something more when we have it in our possession, when we already have it, than when we don't. And in fact, data shows that we weigh our losses almost twice as significantly as our gains. Which means even if I believe that my company will be more profitable, will make more money, or it's the right thing to do, that's something in the future.

Rosie Yeung

That's a gain that I don't already have, but my power and privilege. And I count myself as a person who also has some power and privilege. That's something I have, and I will feel that loss a lot stronger. And that's a human, normal response that doesn't make anybody a racist or emotionally fragile. I actually really don't like that term because it involves a lot of shame and blame. Now, this is not an excuse. This is not a justification for lack of change or saying, oh, it's okay to be this way or not change anything. I do not believe in that at all.

But what I do believe in is humanity and emotion and that we need to bring the human back to human resources, and stop trying to separate business from personal. So the solution to this is not to avoid difficult conversations or to not engage or be out of fear of, say, cancel culture or that white fragility term. A lot of talk is out there about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.

The One Problem, Rosie Yeung, Founder and President Changing Lenses

How are we going to do that? I don't see a lot of help and support being given to individuals to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Now if you are capable of for yourself kind of self coaching and doing a lot of self awareness work, inner work, understanding and parsing out your emotions and feelings to really grasp what it is that you're feeling, why you're reacting that way, and then work through the loss aversion bias, other biases, like status quo bias, the bias of wanting to keep things exactly as they are, then that's great.

Rosie Yeung

That is what we need to do to understand not just why we want to do something, but why it is that we will resist the change initially. Some people need some coaching help, and that is also where I feel that passion to support individuals through Jedi coaching to help them recognize the emotions, that in business, we all like, no, leave your stuff at the door. This is a workplace. You have to be objective.

That is what the capitalist market tells us to do. I think we actually need to bring that emotion, that normal human feeling back into things. Allow yourself to feel whatever you feel and work through it, recognize it and work through it with a coach, with a counselor, with yourself, with your friends, family, colleagues, as a group, whatever you need to do so that we're not just rejecting or avoiding things that make us uncomfortable outright.

We're actually facing it and understanding where our feelings are coming from and then how to deal with it. So that is just one aspect of a very big problem that I've kind of come to and where I'm most passionate about right now. And I thank you for this opportunity to share with you. I just want to hand it back over to you. I thank you so much.

Avil Beckford

This has been a great one.

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The post Rosie Yeung, Founder and President Changing Lenses appeared first on The Invisible Mentor.