Are you struggling with how to talk about your organization's DEI commitments in today’s volatile climate? In this episode of the "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality" mini-series, host Rhodes Perry offers message-tested communication strategies to fortify the heart of your work.

Discover how to take a "Goldilocks approach," balancing what you say to different audiences to avoid legal risks while protecting your brand's reputation. Learn why the full phrase "diversity, equity, and inclusion" is more powerful than the acronym "DEI" and how to frame your initiatives around universal values like fairness, respect, and belonging.

This episode gives you the practical tools to navigate challenging conversations, counter divisive narratives, and ensure your message resonates with everyone.

• [2:00] The "Goldilocks approach" to DEI messaging.

• [4:30] Organizational development best practices for communications.

• [7:00] Winning messages that resonate across audiences.

• [10:15] The power of using full words over the "DEI" acronym.

• [12:00] Using "targeted universalism" to fortify your work.

• [14:30] Practices to avoid when communicating about DEI.

• 📝Sign up for the Belonging Movement Newsletter: http://www.rhodesperry.com/subscribe

• 📚Get a copy of Imagine Belonging: http://www.rhodesonamazon.com/

🏆Book a 1:1 coaching session with Rhodes: https://tinyurl.com/5n6f47pz

In this special bonus episode of the "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality" mini-series, we reflect on the material consequences of inflammatory rhetoric and dangerous policies that impact protected employee groups. Host Rhodes Perry identifies the groups disproportionately impacted and outlines the strategy behind Project 2025, which aims to unravel decades of civil rights gains.

This episode offers a critical examination of how threats to civil rights enforcement, mass deportations, and healthcare restrictions can impact your workforce and business outcomes. You'll learn essential best practices for conducting impact assessments and delivering targeted support to help your organization gain a competitive edge by protecting and retaining the next generation of talent.

Don’t miss this crucial conversation about how to support employees, acknowledge their unique needs, and build a culture of belonging for all.

• [2:00] Identifying employee groups disproportionately impacted by anti-DEI attacks.

• [4:30] A look at Project 2025 and its material consequences.

• [7:00] Best practices for conducting impact assessments and delivering employee support.

• [10:15] Why investing in trauma-informed leadership is crucial.

• [13:00] Practices to avoid, including adopting a universal approach and overlooking intersectionality

• 📝Sign up for the Belonging Movement Newsletter: http://www.rhodesperry.com/subscribe

• 📚Get a copy of Imagine Belonging: http://www.rhodesonamazon.com/

🏆Book a 1:1 coaching session with Rhodes: https://tinyurl.com/5n6f47pz

In the face of growing opposition, what proactive actions can leaders take to fortify their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments? This final episode of the mini-series "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality" is your guide to moving from a defensive stance to one of proactive leadership.

Host Rhodes Perry shares essential strategies for building a powerful "champions coalition" beyond traditional teams, and a roadmap for reimagining your DEI framework to ensure success for everyone. You'll learn to clarify outcomes, design scaled behavior change, and embrace "leveling strategies" that de-bias workplace systems.

Discover how to avoid common pitfalls like performative activities and working in a silo. Listen now to learn how to lead with clarity and courage, mobilizing your organization to build a true culture of belonging.

• [2:00] The importance of moving from a defensive to a proactive stance.

• [4:30] Building a champions coalition and reimagining your DEI framework.

• [7:00] How to clarify outcomes with the "for the sake of what?" question.

• [9:15] Embracing leveling strategies and scaled behavioral change.

• [12:00] Why mobilizing the field and coaching people leaders is crucial.

• [15:00] Key practices to avoid: performative activities, working in a silo, and more.

• 📝Sign up for the Belonging Movement Newsletter: http://www.rhodesperry.com/subscribe

• 📚Get a copy of Imagine Belonging: http://www.rhodesonamazon.com/

🏆Book a 1:1 coaching session with Rhodes: https://tinyurl.com/5n6f47pz

In this episode of the Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality mini-series, we're talking about something every leader needs to be aware of: the profound impact of collective trauma and grief on your workforce. Host Rhodes Perry shares how the current climate amplifies fear and anxiety, disrupting the very fabric of trust and psychological safety in the workplace.

This episode provides actionable, trauma-informed strategies to support your employees. You'll learn how to:

• Provide psychological safety first aid.

• Acknowledge and validate employees' grief.

• Model collective care by giving support and requesting it.

By implementing these best practices, you can help your team cope with the ongoing challenges and build an enduring culture of creativity, connection, and belonging. Don't ignore the hidden impacts on your workforce—listen now to learn how to lead with empathy and clarity.

• [2:00] Defining collective trauma and its impact on the workforce.

• [4:30] Best practices for bolstering psychological safety.

• [7:00] How to practice collective care and cope with trauma.

• [9:45] Best practices for acknowledging and validating employee grief.

• [12:15] Practices to avoid when addressing collective trauma.’

• 📝Sign up for the Belonging Movement Newsletter: http://www.rhodesperry.com/subscribe

• 📚Get a copy of Imagine Belonging: http://www.rhodesonamazon.com/

🏆Book a 1:1 coaching session with Rhodes: https://tinyurl.com/5n6f47pz

Are you confident your organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are legally sound? In this episode of the Imagine Belonging Podcast mini-series, "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality," we explore the shifting legal landscape and what it means for your workplace. Host Rhodes Perry provides a clear-eyed analysis of the legal attacks on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, including recent court rulings, executive actions, and congressional proposals.

This episode gives you the essential legal context to fortify your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Rhodes will demystify recent judicial decisions like the U.S. Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions ruling and explain the three-pronged legal test (aka, "the three p's") to determine if your programming is at risk. You'll learn best practices for conducting legal audits and how to build a strategic advisory team to protect your organization.

Tune in to discover how to mitigate legal and reputational risks while strengthening your commitment to advancing your organization's belonging strategy.

• [2:15] Overview of the legal landscape impacting DEI

• [4:00] Analysis of the SFFA and Muldrow v. City of St. Louis Supreme Court decisions

• [6:30] Impact of Executive and Congressional actions

• [9:00] Best practices for fortifying your DEI work

• [11:00] The "three p's" legal test for discrimination claims

• [14:20] Practices to avoid to mitigate risk

• 📝Sign up for the Belonging Movement Newsletter: http://www.rhodesperry.com/subscribe

• 📚Get a copy of Imagine Belonging: http://www.rhodesonamazon.com/

🏆Book a 1:1 coaching session with Rhodes: https://tinyurl.com/5n6f47pz

In a climate where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals are facing unprecedented challenges, how can leaders continue to build spaces of belonging? This exclusive mini-series, Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s New Reality, inspired by a toolkit originally for Fortune 100 leaders, is your roadmap!

Host and creator of the Imagine Belonging Podcast, Rhodes Perry, a nationally recognized belonging culture thought leader, offers the essential guidance you need to navigate the shifting landscape of legal challenges, evolving rhetoric, and evolving workforce strategies.

This introductory episode sets the stage, exploring the historical roots of diversity, equity, and inclusion and why its foundational values are more critical than ever. We'll dive into the laws that shaped this field, from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the Respect for Marriage Act, and reveal how this work helps everyone—immigrants, people of color, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people with disabilities, Veterans, and others—get a fair shot.

You'll gain practical strategies to:

• Center the business relevance of your culture building work

• Stay informed on key legal and policy shifts in this dynamic landscape

• Monitor public discourse without making uninformed statements

• Avoid the temptation of working in isolation

This mini-series will equip you with the courage, courage, and commitment to become the leader you’ve been waiting for - the kind of leader our world deserves, especially now.

• 📝Sign up for the Belonging Movement Newsletter: http://www.rhodesperry.com/subscribe

• 📚Get a copy of Imagine Belonging: http://www.rhodesonamazon.com/

• 🏆Book a 1:1 coaching session with Rhodes: https://tinyurl.com/5n6f47pz

Thanks for growing the #BelongingMovement!

Congress established the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Its primary purpose is to prevent and address unfair treatment in the workplace, ensuring that employers don't discriminate against individuals based on race, gender, religion, or age in hiring, firing, or promotions.

Essentially, the EEOC attempts to create a level playing field in the job market by investigating complaints and enforcing anti-discrimination laws. Yet today’s EEOC, led by acting chair Andrea Lucas, is rapidly changing, especially as it enforces—or rather fails to enforce—protections for LGBTQ+ employees. Pride in Exile, a volunteer organization, was created to seek actionable ways we can resist the weaponization of the EEOC as it threatens the hard-earned rights and protections of LGBTQ+ employees.

In this exclusive interview, I am honored to host two absolute titans in the fight for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion: Chai Feldblum, a renowned legal scholar, activist, and former Commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under President Barack Obama, and Judge Karen Ortiz, an administrative law judge at the EEOC’s New York District’s Office who has bravely challenged the current EEOC’s leadership over policies affecting LGBTQ+ cases.

Together, we explore:

• Our Guests’ Career Journeys. The guests' journeys to EEOC leadership and the significant advancements in LGBTQ+ workplace protections made over the past two decades.

• Threats to LGBTQ+ Workplace Protections. An in-depth look at current threats to LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion and concrete strategies to counter them, including the vital role of the all-volunteer organization, Pride in Exile.

• Vision for a Belonging Society. A forward-looking discussion on envisioning and building a future of work where belonging is truly inclusive for all, especially the most vulnerable within our LGBTQ+ communities.

Our conversation is designed to support people like you—visionary leaders and those on their way to joining us. Want to gain the skills necessary to apply this learning to your work?

Join the Belonging Movement today! After you join, you'll receive exclusive access to complimentary workshops, group coaching sessions, and 1:1 somatic coaching offers designed to help you lead with your values and build groups that center team safety, trust, and belonging.

Don't just imagine belonging – build it. Join the Belonging Movement here: https://www.rhodesperry.com/subscribe.

Support Pride in Exile by becoming a member: https://www.prideinexile.org/

The past decade has tragically tested the resilience and brilliance of transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive (trans) people living in the U.S. Misinformation about who we are and what we want has sparked thousands of anti-transgender bills introduced in nearly every state capital across the country, adversely impacting almost every segment of the trans community.

Despite this harsh reality, the future is a rainbow, and it’s wise for business leaders to recognize this truth. It’s also essential for these leaders to recognize the responsibility they have to prepare their organizations today in anticipation of this future talent upgrade. Afterall, the latest research shows that 20% of Generation Z identifies as LGBTQ+, and of that number 1 in 4 are nonbinary, with another 20% questioning their gender identity.

Many business leaders today struggle with how to build gender-inclusive workplaces and ways to prioritize this essential aspect of advancing their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments in the face of unprecedented backlash. Strong objections from a well-organized and vocal minority, which are out of alignment with public opinion, have led some organizations to backtrack on their gender inclusion commitments.

To enhance the skills and confidence leaders will need to weather this current storm, this episode of the Business of Belonging mini-series features Third Segment CEO, Amanda Simpson, and JPMorgan Chase Executive Director, Chris Mossiah.

Amanda serves as an advisor on aerospace, energy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a nationally renowned speaker, she has presented before a wide variety of corporate, government, and nonprofit audiences. She has served in executive leadership positions at Airbus, Raytheon, and Douglas Aircraft, and the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy.

Chris is an Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase’s consumer & community banking line of business. They are also the co-chair of the Firmwide Gender Expansive Council and co-lead for the Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Nonbinary Subcommittee of the PRIDE Tri-State BRG. Both Chris & Amanda serve on Out & Equal’s Transgender & Nonbinary Executive Leadership Circle.

Together, we explore:

• Common Barriers. What are some of the common barriers transgender and nonbinary people experience at work?

• Future of Work. Why is the future of work gender-diverse, and what can business leaders do today to prepare?

• Gender-Inclusion Practices. What actions can leaders take today to build more spaces of belonging for gender diversity to flourish?

This interview was designed to support people like you - visionary leaders, and those on their way to joining us. Savor this insightful talk, and if you’re looking for more ways to connect with inspiring leaders like Amanda & Chris, be sure to join our Belonging Membership Community - a community of practice committed to putting our values of belonging, community, and collaboration into action. Members have the unique opportunity to connect with guests like Amanda & Chris for 1:1 laser coaching sessions.

Imagine belonging with fellow visionary leaders when you join the Belonging Movement Newsletter: www.rhodesperry.com/subscribe.

Out & Equal: https://outandequal.org/