I've talked through the unconstitutionality of the California recall with a few informed, well-read friends recently who completely didn't understand how the process works until I explained it. This process is confusing *by design.* TL;DR - vote no. (1/ Why is it unconstitutional? It has the potential to allow a small plurality of the state to determine our governor, against the interests of a much larger population. This defies the "one person, one vote" principle on which our democratic system is meant to operate. How? (2/

In some truly fortuitous timing, I had therapy today. My therapist reminded me that there are two ways to manage anxiety: top down, and bottom up. Sharing here in case this helps anyone else in the way it helped me. 1/ Top down means starting with your head. Writing your thoughts on paper. Slowing down your "what ifs." Responding to your own worst case scenarios. Reminding yourself of the strategies and tools you have available. When you can calm your mind, that calm can move into your body. 2/

Oh I really hate this statement on so many levels. But the last sentence is key: *whose* way of life are we trying to improve?

https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1324613715724013569

The “cultural issues” we’re “policing” are the very things that will improve the lives of the most marginalized people in our society. When we advocate for Black Lives Matter, or trans rights, or accessibility - these aren’t just random cultural issues.

A lot of people seem confused about "diversity of thought." First, no one I've ever met is opposed to "diversity of thought" as a concept. It's a red herring to position this as people who believe in "diversity of thought" vs. those who don't. 1/ Theoretically, diversity of thought sounds like an appealing concept. But, there's a reason most organizations that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion don't talk about it in these terms, and why it's so cringey to those of us who care about DEI. 2/

Apologize. Take ownership. Even for small mistakes. Especially for big mistakes. It doesn’t make you look bad to say “I fucked up.” It *does* make you look bad to not realize you fucked up. There’s nothing more refreshing than someone saying “I totally messed that up, I’m sorry.” I can’t even be mad about the underlying thing anymore.

A lot of organizations are reaching out to our team asking us if we can facilitate "uncomfortable conversations around race in a safe environment." An important question is, uncomfortable for *who*? Initially this ask seems right up our alley. DEI workshops, for example, should make people from majority groups uncomfortable. But often, the ask seems to be about how we can make all ideas feel equally valid, and give all perspectives air time.

I'm hosting a webinar next week on inclusive hiring, which might seem like strange timing. As the economic crisis has gotten worse, I was expecting we'd stop hearing from organizations around their hiring needs. Interestingly, that hasn't been the case. paradigmiq.zoom.us/webinar/regist… This is still one of the areas of interest we hear about most - dozens of organizations reach out each week with questions around inclusive hiring. Why?

I'm super excited to announce the launch Paradigm's two newest eLearning modules - Inclusive Hiring and Inclusive Performance Management. Two of the themes our clients ask about most. paradigmiq.com/2020/04/30/ann… Our goal is always to make training tactical - we want learners to leave with specific skills they can use immediately to make more inclusive decisions. With these new modules, we're helping leaners focus in on key areas of decision-making that are particularly prone to bias.

Having a miscarriage during this time has been such a confusing experience. It's been hard to process my feelings about it in the midst of everything going on. It's really sad, of course. It's also a frustrating conclusion to 12 weeks of ill-timed nausea and exhaustion. It's also lonely. Miscarriage, while super common (something like 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage), is so stigmatized that people often navigate it in secret. I've had a lot of support, I've decided to not deal with this in secret (obviously), and it has still felt lonely.

I see a growing number of companies surveying employees on how they're experiencing what's happening right now. That's great! But most are failing to ask demographic questions to understand the ways in which people's experiences are not the same. That's a huge miss. I highly recommend surveying on themes like engagement, isolation, belonging, work-life conflict, distraction, trust in leaders, etc. But people from different backgrounds are likely experiencing these things differently.

We're seeing an uptick in requests for virtual training and eLearning. It's great that many orgs are committed to continuing their DEI learning. What I'd have expected more of: asks for leadership coaching and HR advising on how to keep inclusion top of mind at this moment. How are you thinking about supporting working parents or other caregivers who's caregiving responsibilities have shifted or m ay shift dramatically in the coming days?

There's so much I'm proud of about our work at Paradigm, but nothing more than this - each year, we make significant donations to organizations doing meaningful social justice work across a range of issues. paradigmiq.com/2019/12/12/par… Our theory of change acknowledges we're approaching equity from one *particular* angle. We recognize the importance of the many other angles through which to create a more just world, and we support organizations doing that work.

For years our clients have been looking for modern, fresh, impactful DEI training that can *scale*. We took the best of our in-person workshops and leveraged principles of online learning. I'm super proud of what we created - Paradigm REACH launches today! paradigmiq.com/online-learnin… Importantly, DEI training is no replacement for structural and systemic change. But what we've found is that bringing people along in that change - equipping them with understanding and skills to play a role - is critical. In-person workshops are invaluable, but they don't scale.

Incredibly excited to share that we're launching a new eLearning platform - Paradigm REACH. With REACH, organizations will be able to scale targeted, impactful DEI training to their entire workforces. medium.com/@PRDGM/expandi… When I first started Paradigm, I was super skeptical about the potential for training to have any impact at all. Research on the efficacy of training around DEI, and I thought that *at best* training could only have a very small impact as compared to structural change.

I'm hearing a lot of critiques that my thoughts on Google are hypocritical. To be clear, I think companies should *always* look at the causes of pay disparities, rather than asking only the way-too-basic question "do people with exactly the same job title get paid differently?"

https://twitter.com/joelle_emerson/status/1102653914585784320

That requires understanding the inputs that determine pay - leveling, time in role, promotion rates, performance, etc. In an ideal world, for entry level roles, also what's going on in the hiring process. Depending on what you find, you may need to ask a second set of questions.

In the biggest pay gap correction I've ever seen, Google has spent nearly $10 million to boost MEN'S pay to correct for an apparent gender pay gap that favored women. I have...so many thoughts and concerns.

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1102618485161635842

First, it would be wonderful to see companies work so hard, and invest so much, to address pay disparities when the group suffering is underrepresented. When that is the case, we typically see all manner of excuses as to why such disparity is justified.

3 DEI Predictions for 2019: medium.com/inclusion-insi… (1) Employee-led corporate activism will drive change, both within their organizations and externally. We're already seeing this, and I expect and hope to see more in 2019.

Wow, go @Pinterest and @Candice_MMorgan - this is amazing. qz.com/work/1412141/p… Companies that don't currently offer the same amount of leave to parents of all genders: take a moment and ask yourself what message that sends to your workforce.

So many survivors see our attackers in Kavanaugh. I’m hurt, and I’m so incredibly angry. Jeff Flake is just the latest in a long line of people who let us down. Yale law professors KNEW this guy was a creep. Why didn’t they speak up?

The likability/competence tradeoff is so real. I use what @JoanCWilliams calls "gender judo" literally everyday. When I do a stereotypically masculine thing, I balance it out with a stereotypically feminine thing. abajournal.com/news/article/s… While this helps *me* as an individual, it's not a sustainable strategy. First, it's taxing. Women (and particularly women of color) in leadership roles often expend a ton of extra energy strategizing on how their words will be perceived.

With the Starbucks training coming up, we’re getting a lot of questions about unconscious bias training. Is it effective? How does it work? We’ve researched this quite a bit, so I wanted to share some thoughts. As context, started by reviewing the existing literature (which is pretty limited) and then testing different models ourselves. We wrote about that here hbr.org/2017/04/dont-g… and have continued our research since then.