Diversity + Inclusion = Innovation with Lori Emerick - a podcast by Andy Storch

Bio:

Lori is Founder and Principal of Aspen Group Consulting, a leadership and inclusion consultancy. She is a Master Practitioner for The Wiseman Group, delivering keynote presentations and experiential workshops founded on the research published in Multipliers, How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter. She also serves as an adjunct professor at Portland State University in the School of Business/MBA Program, located in Portland, Oregon.

Lori brings over 20 years of experience as a catalyst in leadership and board development, diversity & inclusion, and organizational development. Her experience inside Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations, including Nike, Intel, Boeing, Kaiser Permanente, and serving on Non-Profit Boards, provides a unique portfolio of expertise that she offers to partners and clients.

During her time at Nike, she led a global initiative to integrate Multipliers habits into the core accountabilities for all leaders and managers across the company.

Lori is known as a truth-teller and delivers insight and solutions that probe deeply beyond the surface.

Her approach includes artful questioning and candid commentary, resulting in transformational gains for leaders and their teams. She is sought out for her collaborative, creative, and inclusive nature in her partnership approach with clients.

Lori loves spending time with family (two adult children, Sara & Bryan and husband, Gary), traveling, running and practicing yoga. She gets much joy out of her volunteer service at Children’s Cancer Association (CCA), where she is a Chemo Pal to an amazing, inspiring, and courageous two-year-old battling leukemia.

Expertise:

I am an optimist by nature and believe every human has greatness within them…it needs to be nurtured and encouraged in the workplace in order for employees to show up and be their best. I am curious by nature, which is a beautiful trait to embody as this leads to trust and mutual regard in my relationships. I try my best to live by a famous quote credited to Maya Angelou

Notes:

Lori’s experience and passion for non-profit work

The work that Lori did at Intel and Nike

The D&I work that Lori did at Nike with the freedom to really try and test things

Regardless of the diversity on the team, if you fail to include them, you fail to get results

Diversity + Inclusion = Innovation

Companies report out the big Diversiity numbers but not inclusion

If we continuously act on our biases to exclude people, we never access their geniuses

Article: Is that Inclusion I see in my Soup?

The importance of looking at where you are getting input and ideas

Are you truly creating psychological safety for everyone?

Using “yes, and” and design thinking

Challenging people to think outside the box and gather ideas from people with different perspectives

How to change culture to be more inclusive

Culture starts with the core tenant of expectations of who you are as an employee and company

How to create a culture that is more innovative

Lori’s proudest accomplishment of leading a big initiative at Nike

Links:

Book: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

Book: The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier

Book: Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman

Aspen Group Consulting

For questions, comments and guest suggestions, contact the host, Andy Storch, at storch@advantageperformance.com

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