Goizueta Effect
Emory University's Goizueta Business School
All episodes
Best episodes
Top 10 Goizueta Effect Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Goizueta Effect episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Goizueta Effect for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Goizueta Effect episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
The Journey of an Idea
Goizueta Effect
05/23/22 • 40 min
When CEOs are asked, "What is a skill you most value in your people?" time and again, creativity, problem-solving, and innovation top their list. However, according to Ad Age, 75% of people believe they are not living up to their creative potential.
It’s easy to see why. It can be a long slog from initial concept to final product. Even in organizations that pride themselves on rapid iteration and experimentation, most truly novel ideas either stall out or lose their originality along the way. How do you defy those odds?
Jill Perry-Smith joined the Goizueta Effect Podcast to discuss creativity and how businesses can take ideas from the mind to the marketplace. She is a professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School where she has researched the intersection of creativity, innovation, and business for nearly 20 years. She received her PhD in organizational behavior from the College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has consulted numerous Fortune 100 companies, and has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, CNN, and Fast Company.
This episode of the Goizueta Effect was co-created in partnership with Emory student Scott Masterson.
Can You Learn Creativity?
Similar to the question, “are leaders born or made?,” creativity may come naturally for some, but everyone has the capacity to develop a creative skillset. Nowadays, the workplace is more flexible than ever before. Creativity is rewarded and encouraged in the most successful firms.
Harnessing a Broader Definition
Typically, when we think of creativity, we think of artistic expression. In the workplace we think of breakthroughs in technology, but some of the most important creativity has to do with creative problem-solving.
The Process of Creating an Idea
One fundamental way of studying the journey on an idea is categorizing the different phases that an idea goes through from the time the idea is birthed to the time when the idea is implemented.
The journey an idea takes isn’t always linear: ideas have a bumpy journey. The ideas may cycle backward several steps in the process after months of planning. Creators may get less confident in their idea and be less willing to take the risk and put it forward. They must also deal with an onslaught of input and valuable feedback from others along the way, which lengthens the process. Alongside such a complex process, the novelty often gets snuffed out of the essence of the idea.
The Phases of the Idea Journey: With Whom Should I Collaborate?
Each phase of the idea journey is unique and requires specific attention to ensure optimal results. For example, the collaborative needs change across phases. Risk must be considered when developing an idea as well: an idea is original since it has not been done before. As humans, we tend to stick to what is most comfortable and this can combat the innovation process.
The Generation Phase
The generation phase is when a concept is born. For this phase, the best people to associate with are acquaintances and strangers. Innovators need inspiration and an open mind. Speaking with strangers is a great tool for spurring this inspiration. Since people that are close to us tend to be more like us and potentially over supportive, going outside our comfort zones and talking to people in different social spheres will facilitate open-mindedness.
The Elaboration Phase
During the elaboration phase, creators need support and encouragement to develop their ideas. It's risky so friends and close peers are extremely beneficial to the process. Typically, managers are not the most helpful as they can be viewed as evaluative.
Deeply analyzing the idea with one or two other people as opposed to sharing it with a larger collective is most valuable.
The Promotion Phase
During the promotion phase, influence and reach are critical due to the risk associated with the idea and lack of precedent. This phase can entail the acquisition of resources and the selling of the idea to others. It's not always easy to get decision-makers to understand or buy into an idea, because of these inherent characteristics of creative concepts or ideas. At this point, we want to seek network brokers: people who are linchpins connecting otherwise disconnected people across the organization. They provide access to people and exposure.
The Implementation Phase
Shared vision and trust are what's needed during this phase. A cohesive team with a shared north star can drive success.
Tips and Best Practices for Facilitating Workplace Creativity
You don’t have to hire a Chief Innovation Officer to en...
The Power of Inclusive Brands
Goizueta Effect
07/10/24 • 45 min
From Barbie to Dove and Dasani to Sephora, brands are constantly shifting to reflect their markets and make their customers feel seen. Emory University's Goizueta Business School Professor Omar Rodríguez-Vilá joins to discuss the power of brand inclusivity, how to serve the needs of historically underrecognized communities, and what sets inclusive brands apart. We'll also talk about integrating diversity and inclusion into marketing strategies, ensuring these efforts foster long-lasting connections rather than fleeting trends.
Omar serves as a professor in the practice of marketing at Goizueta. He has 13 awards for teaching excellence, including six as Core Professor of the Year, and most recently, the Provost Excellence in Teaching Award. He has also shared his wealth of experience and expertise in leading media outlets, including the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Ad Age.
The Basics: What Defines an Inclusive Brand?
Omar begins by defining inclusive brands as those intentionally attuned to the needs of historically underrecognized communities. He explains how companies should first determine the role of inclusion by assessing the diversity of their customer base and identifying any whom they are not serving well.
He uses the story of Gillette vs. Bevel in the razor industry as a way to highlight how a singular focus on innovation—specifically, increasing the number of razor blades - led to suboptimal outcomes and the underserving of Gillette’s consumers with wavy hair.
He also highlights best practices in building inclusive brands, using Dove and Barbie as leading examples.
The Beauty of Inclusivity Practices
Omar encourages companies and managers to conduct an assessment to calculate their "inclusion maturity score" and discuss what changes are needed to be more inclusive in serving diverse customer segments. He discusses BRIDGE IMAX, the industry-first framework for operationalizing inclusion and driving growth. He explains how Sephora, whose score was “off the charts”, reflects their inclusive practices across stores, products, culture, and community engagement. His findings suggest that both diversity and inclusion increase engagement, with inclusion having a significantly stronger effect.
Understanding the Inclusion Opportunity
Omar focuses on the importance of understanding the size of the "inclusion market" - the opportunity to serve diverse customer segments that may be underrepresented in a company's current customer base. Datasets are a critical piece of the puzzle in order to make a stronger business case for investing in inclusive practices.
Approaching Inclusion Effectively
The framework for success in inclusivity is seen through understanding the market. Omar suggests understanding the composition of your customer base and identifying underserved groups. This will allow the brand to serve the market by creating innovative products and services to meet these needs. Lastly, Omar encourages listeners to show up authentically in the market.
Transformational Potential
While embracing diversity and inclusion requires effort, the potential benefits are vast and impactful. Omar encourages brands to explore how these principles can reshape their market approach, potentially redefining their competitive position in the market.
Omar emphasizes that embedding diversity and inclusion into your market strategy isn't just a trend—it's a transformative effort akin to adopting new technologies. Companies that integrate these principles effectively are poised to gain a competitive edge by better resonating with and serving diverse markets.
Diversity and inclusion are not just moral imperatives but also clear business advantages. Customers view diversity as fundamental, influencing brand loyalty and differentiation in profound ways.
For those inspired to learn more, visit Goizueta’s Business & Society Institute for additional resources and information on the intersection of business with inclusive economies, racial justice and climate.
For more insights to equip you with the tools and perspectives to excel in your career, subscribe to the Goizueta Effect podcast.
You can also read more about Omar Rodríguez-Vilá’s work at
Poor Ethics, Bad Business
Goizueta Effect
08/27/20 • 24 min
Business Ethics Matter in the Organization of Society
Dr. Gonzalo Maturana, Assistant Professor of Finance, at Goizueta Business School, Emory University, suggests that society must be organized around an economic system that places competition as the fundamental pillar for economic growth. And, that we can easily lose the benefits of capitalism when rules are violated.
An organized society formulated around an economic system that places competition as the competition for economic growth awards merit. The idea is that if one works hard there is an award. This fosters innovation and entrepreneurship, resulting in benefits to society, the entrepreneur hires workers, lower prices and covers a necessity. Central to the idea of merit is fairness. The strength of our economic system is predicated around this idea that the system is fair. There are a set of rules and polices that we have to help us move closer to fairness, but if not followed the system falls apart and a small group of people benefit at the expense of the majority. As a result, we could lose the benefits of capitalism when rules are violated.
So now the question is what happens if the public perceives that the system is not fair. A University of Chicago professor argues that without public support, or worse with public resentment, it's very difficult for the economic and financial system to operate.
Housing Crisis and Mortgage Back Securities
The 2008 mortgage crisis revealed the negative impact of not following ethics and behaving fairly. Recession mortgage backed securities helped facilitate additional mortgage credit that was not available. This fueled the demand for houses and contributed to the housing bubble. The market grew rapidly around 85 billion in 2000 to 1 trillion in 2006. Catching these during an economic boom is very difficult in part because no one is paying attention and the problem is exacerbated during an economic downturn.
Mortgaged back securities are non-agency securities. The mortgages are put together and securities are created out of them which is then sold to investors. This allows banks to transfer credit risks allowing borrowers to default on their mortgages. Homeowners may want larger loans and a lower rate and the loan officer collects important information to determine how risky the borrower is.
There are several conflicts of interest when creating such securities. The loan officer is often compensated on loan volume, so there is some incentive to lowering the standards. Originators may also have an incentive to inaccurately report information to the underwriters. Misrepresentation may be difficult to catch due to the complexity of mortgage back securities, the structure of the payments and how you measure risk. Most problems flow directly or indirectly to the incentive of the underwriting bank.
Residential mortgage backed securities are extremely complex in terms of the structure of the payments and how you measure risk. Also, credit rating agencies were supposed to certify the quality of the securities, but again they were paid by the underwriters with whom they have repeated business. Dr. Maturana has research that shows that there was a ripple effect that operated house prices and incentivized someone’s decision to expand a credit. When the recession market collapsed and disappeared by these lenders went out of business quickly.
Ramifications for Unethical Behavior
Dr. Maturana says employees involved in the creation of residential mortgage backed securities that were later found to be misrepresented did not face significant career penalties. These employees remained employed at the same bank, moved to another large bank, or were promoted. This is concerning because the employees that were analyzed, worked at banks that settled with the Department of Justice and admitted wrongdoing during the structuring of these residential mortgage backed securities.
Findings show that the system of settlements may not be good. These results and the lack of individual prosecutions send a message to current and future finance professionals that there's little if any place for punishment for abusive practices. This level of repercussion can reinforce cultural norms that allow or encourage employees to ignore the warning signs of fraud and abuse. Dr. Maturana says good business ethics need to be part of the culture and that the guidelines need to come from upper management who should lead by example. If a boss cares about business ethics and good behavior then that's something that's constantly discussed in the work setting. Also, for incentivizing good behavior he suggests having a strong enough deterrent. Increasing accountability and rethinking statute of limitations for example are a way to generate incentives.
How Academia Plays a Role in Business Ethics
<...
08/06/20 • 10 min
Impact of Economic Downturns on Young Adults
College students who graduate into a recession certainly experience obstacles according to Dr. Bianchi, Associate Professor of Organization & Management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Young adults are often the last to be hired during a recession and this can be quite challenging because they have very few work experience and skills and the entry-level jobs they go after are usually the first to go. As a result, unemployment for young adults usually jumps significantly during recessions, much higher than the unemployment rate for others.
Professor Bianchi became interested in how this shapes young adults for a long period to come. During the Great Recession, there were many stories about the 2009 graduation season and how students were doomed. There have been studies to show that young people graduating during a recession earn less for decades. Other studies have shown that people who graduate in recessions tend to have lower levels of occupational prestige. Even if they do become chief executive officers, they tend to become CEOs of smaller, less prestigious firms. There's no question that, economically, the effects are real, that people who graduate in a recession do earn less, and you see that for a long time to come. But the effects are also pretty small.
Given all the worry and all the difficulty of finding their first job could graduates be happier once they are hired by an employer? Dr. Bianchi found that people who graduated in worse economic times reported greater job satisfaction than people who graduated in better economic times. There are hardships and challenges. The difficulties are serious, but there are some long-lasting positive implications down the road.
Recessions Long-term Impact on Young Adults
There has been a fair amount of work on people's attitudes towards money, right? Economists have found that people who come of age in recessions tend to be more risk-averse with money and tend to choose less financially-risky strategies. Even as CEOs, they tend to be more risk-averse in how they invest their company's money. Using the metric of narcissism, Dr. Bianchi studied how people who come of age during a recession view themselves compared to other people. Narcissism is a sense of entitlement, a sense of grandiosity, a sense that one deserves better outcomes than other people. She looked at the characteristics heightened optimism, and individualism and wondered if people who came of age in that time are more narcissistic than people who came into age in a time where there was more uncertainty. Dr. Bianchi found that people who come of age in recessions score lower in narcissism, clinical narcissism, and sub-clinical narcissism.
According to Dr. Bianchi, young adulthood is a very transformational time in people's lives. Most are leaving their childhood homes, communities, and families and begin to develop an adult identity. They are figuring out who they are, who they want to be, what they believe in, and what they don't believe in. People overwhelmingly mention things that happened when they were young adults. All of these seem to suggest that what's going on in the greater environment, in the greater kind of cultural landscape or economic landscape, helps formulate those identities, helps shape those identities in ways that last throughout adulthood.
Dr. Bianchi says this will be an interesting generation to watch over the next couple decades.
How a Recession Changes Our Behavior
Goizueta Effect
07/30/20 • 23 min
In more individualistic societies, such as the United States, there is an emphasis on standing out from others, being different, and expressing one's uniqueness. In more interdependent or collectivistic societies, there's an emphasis on not standing out, on being part of a group, on attuning to the needs and interests and goals of the group, and on ensuring that the group is successful. Individualism is a core part of identity in the United States and that has increased over time. Over time, Americans have become increasingly individualistic and currently, the United States typically scores higher on individualism than any other country.
Associate Professor of Organization & Management Dr. Emily Bianchi's research into whether people become less individualistic in times economic hardship, reveals that when the economy is worse, people are more likely to embrace interdependence and collectivism. Examples include parents giving children more common names and articulating that they wanted their children to exhibit such behaviors as helping and getting along with other people, over being independent and standing out from others. Her research also revealed that during bad economic times, American music is less individualistic and more collective, as exemplified by more songs that had more first-person plural pronouns (we, us, ours) than singular first-person pronouns (I, me, mine).
In short, in better economic times, Americans, seem to be more self-focused and during worse economic times, they are more interdependent.
Interdependent behaviors and attitudes have limits and can result in derogation of others
Even when people are more interdependent or collectivistic, they are not more interdependent towards everyone in society. People are typically more interdependent towards people who are similar to them or are in their in-group. That often is associated with greater derogation of dissimilar others. In societies that are very collectivistic or very interdependent, there is often a great deal of wariness of outsiders.
Interdependence – leaning on and taking from other people – is one way people manage uncertainty, including economic and financial uncertainty. Another way is to look for perceptual order, which can involve seeing things in rigid terms, such as being more likely to see people who are not very different from them as being “other.”
Racism can be greater during difficult economic times
In examining state economies, Dr. Bianchi and her colleagues found that in states hit hardest by the Great Recession, there was a greater spike in Whites' negative attitudes towards Blacks. In states that were less hard hit, there wasn't as much of a change.
Racial wage gaps increase during recessions, making diversity efforts crucial
Dr. Bianchi has also conducted research that revealed that the racial wage gap increases during recessions, regardless of industry, education level, age, and other factors. Moreover, African American employees are more likely than White employees to be fired during a recession and take a greater hit in salary when they are hired or rehired. She concludes that its crucial for businesses to maintain their diversity efforts in recessions and other difficult economic times.
Big Data and the Future of Privacy
Goizueta Effect
06/25/20 • 19 min
Commercial uses of personal data
The goal of marketers is to better understand their audience so they can offer the products and services that people are going to be interested in. That requires learning about the customer. Marketers used to rely on demographic information. They knew customers’ zip codes and could get census-tracked information and would rely on customer surveys. A lot of that information was gathered or being directly elicited from consumers themselves. That's not necessary anymore. Today, marketers learn what people are interested in by seeing what they’re posting on social media. People talk about brands they’ve bought and post photos with products in them. They interact with brands on social media. They also express opinions about brands and share experiences with them. For example, if someone posts online about a horrible customer service experience with their cell phone provider, that's a signal to other cell phone providers that this might be someone they can potentially poach. People provide signals of the strength of the relationship they have with brands and those conversations are potentially observable by other brands. This isn’t not necessarily just useful for competitors. If someone reports having a great experience at a retailer or reports they saw great show at a theater, that's information that those venues and brands can use to determine that someone has a good relationship with them and they should keep that in mind for subsequent interactions.
The gathering of personal data is widespread. Everyday actions taken on cell phones and computers share data; people share data through apps when they just carry their cell phones around over the course of the day. When people search for something on Google, listen to Spotify, or watch something on Netflix they leave digital traces behind. Some of those are proprietary, such as what people watch on Netflix, and others can be captured by a broader range of firms. For example, mobile location data from cell phones, is packaged, aggregated, and resold to brands and organizations.
Data isn’t just for commercial use
In the current pandemic, Google and Apple are collaborating on ways to use mobile location data to do contact tracing, and software developers all over the world are developing contact tracing apps that will run in the background on phones. That will provide the public health community a with great weapon to combat pandemic situations going forward. Social media activity can provide insights into whether people are in the midst of a potential mental health crisis, based on what they're posting online and the type of language they use. This does raise questions about where responsibility lies if a social media platform, such as Facebook, uses this information to determine what ads to show people and whether they should intervene if it seems someone is experiencing depression.
The trade-off with privacy
On the one hand, we value privacy, on the other, we value the convenience and features of our internet and mobile-driven lives. This balance is addressed in a book on surveillance capitalism by historian Shoshana Zuboff that provides insight into how we ended up where we are today. One factor was that the dot com boom, when a lot of today's behemoth companies like Google were in their growth stages, happened in the wake of 911. Zuboff argues that there was a shift in mentality that you could attribute to that event. Before 911 people believed that privacy was essential and could not be infringed upon; after 911, the mentality shifted to believing that we couldn’t allow something like that to ever happen again, even if it meant sacrificing some of our values with respect to privacy. The TV show Person of Interest takes that perspective. The premise is built on the government building a massive surveillance system In the wake of 911. It’s interesting to explore the ramifications being under surveillance 24/7 and whether that’s a society that we want to be a part of. Now companies are collecting as much data as possible and thinking about how they can turn it into something useful. In return, many tech companies have developed many tools whose usefulness may outweigh privacy concerns, such as Google search engines, Gmail, recommendation engines for shopping, and predictive text for messaging and email communications -- all of which require data collection. A New York Times article examined location data and the question of how it needs to be regulated because of how personally identifiable and sensitive the information is. Now that we’re going through a pan...
Conscious Capitalism
Goizueta Effect
05/21/20 • 22 min
Terminology
“Conscious capitalism” describes companies and organizations that have purpose behind the work that they do that goes beyond the core product or services that their organization delivers to have a broader, more positive impact on society at large.
Examples
Early examples are Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and TOMS Shoes, but it is not just the province of small start-ups. The Coca-Cola Company has an initiative around women and water that is examining how the company can mitigate the impact of its product requiring so much water, including on the communities from which that water is being taken. The founder of Whole Foods, John Mackey, is also one of the founders of the conscious capitalism movement.
Increased Relevance
Increasing generations of younger people are passionate about being part of organizations that have a meaningful purpose beyond business and profits and as they get into higher education and the workforce, they are articulating the expectations they have of the organizations where they'll be working. In addition, senior leaders in some well-established companies are seeing the need to change the way have done business because it may have a negative effect on the environment or other things pertinent to quality of life.
Business Roundtable
In 2019, the Business Roundtable issued a statement related to conscious capitalism which signaled broader support for the concept. Increasingly, political matters are also contributing to a sense of the importance of this work. It is likely that many companies will begin to see positive financial gain by investing and doing work in this manner.
Higher Education
Students entering business schools now have a clear preference and expectation that they will learn about business and industry in a manner consistent with what matters to them. The fundamental areas of finance, accounting, marketing, leadership, information systems, and operations continue but now with an overlay of how to think about each of those fundamental domains in a way that takes into consideration a much more conscious approach to how business is done.
More institutions of higher education are trying to create opportunities for their students to be grounded in real-world issues and challenges, and to engage in the community in ways that they had not, historically.
Gift to the Goizueta Business School
The Goizueta Business School recently received a $30 million gift from The Goizueta Foundation which will allow the school to experiment with new ways to deliver online education so it can encompass experiential learning that involves students interacting with people in communities facing real-world challenges to engage in problem solving.
The Future
The world is much more globally intertwined, so we fundamentally have to think about how we do business differently. Conscious capitalism, 10 or 20 years from now, may look different than today, but the underlying assumption associated with it, having a purpose beyond just profit, will continue for quite some time.
Companies are starting to move towards a greater understanding of corporate social responsibility activities and are asking how to move those activities from being tangential to the core of the business to being seamlessly integrated into the business. This is where scholarship from business school faculty can play a role: understanding how to measure some of the activities and work going on in companies and how companies can align their core processes with the aspects of conscious capitalism. We will likely see more intersectionality of the conscious capitalism efforts with the core efforts of the business.
The Goizueta Business School is well-positioned to be a leader in some of this work. For more than a decade, the faculty have been invested in laying the groundwork for some of the curriculum we now offer, and some of their research and scholarship puts us ahead of many of our competitors. The additional financial support will allow for ramping up manifestation of this work in powerful and impo...
Reimagining Business as a Catalyst for Social Change
Goizueta Effect
05/26/21 • 29 min
Wes Longhofer, Executive Academic Director at The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute, joined The Goizueta Effect Podcast to discuss business and the critical role it plays in driving societal change.
His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and featured in the Washington Post, American Sociological Review, and American Journal of Sociology. Most recently, Longhofer co-authored Super Polluters: Tackling the World’s Largest Sites of Climate-Disrupting Emissions.
The Role of Business in Driving Societal Change
Business and capitalism are tremendous engines of prosperity and innovation. Organizations provide much-needed jobs and countless goods and services that undoubtedly make our lives better.
We're also living in an incredibly challenging time. Climate is in crisis. There's mounting inequality. Political polarization seems to be at a peak. Not to mention an ongoing pandemic that's shown us the power of business to urgently create a vaccine, but also raises important questions about the equitable distribution of it.
Recognizing the role of business in driving positive social change begins with acknowledging that there is no business without society. Too often, we think of markets as existing outside of people and the society that comprises them, but no market can exist without a society that sets the rules of the road, without a government that sets up things like property rights, or without an environment that provides natural resources that, if exploited, will threaten the ability of the market to function.
If we start by recognizing that business exists in society and that markets are designed for and in the interest of people, then, we can begin to think about how to reimagine business. This view will help us as we work to redesign markets to serve both more of society and the natural world. It's about recognizing business not just as economic actors, but as civic and environmental actors as well.
Stakeholder Capitalism
Stakeholder capitalism is messy. Primary stakeholders of a firm include employees, customers, investors, the firm itself, and the community in which the firm is located. That only scratches the surface. There's also government, the media, social movements, competitors, and the earth itself. So how do you make sense of this and which stakeholders matter the most? The classic professorial answer...it depends.
The History of Corporate Responsibility
Throughout history, there is a constant push and pull between business and society - from the expansion of the railroads, to the growth of U.S. steel, to the creation of the automobile.
In the post-World War Two period, there was this idea that companies would provide jobs, not just for a few years, but for an entire career. They would provide opportunities for mobility over the life course. They would give you pensions. They would employ not just you, but a lot of your friends. A handful of large corporations really shaped and defined not just business in America, but civic life as well.
As the years progressed, the U.S. began to see momentous social movements and transformative public policy that raised awareness of things like civil rights and environmental degradation. Investors began to look at the old way of companies and decided they were not very profitable. In the late 1970s and 1980s, investors decided it might be better to break up those companies. They identified managers as a problem because companies were trying to do too much. Organizational scholars called this the garbage can theory of decision-making - you throw a bunch of strategies at the wall with ill-defined goals. Some said, "Well, maybe managers should just focus on maximizing profit rather than getting involved in all these other distractions."
Very quickly, the idea of the company started to change. Employees started to spend less time at any one company, ownership became more centralized, companies began to invest more in financial markets and less on their own assets and R&D, and managers were compensated for maximizing profit. Companies began to view societal issues, like pollution, as externalities.
Purpose-Driven Organizations Today
Today, a number of organizations are embracing purpose as part of their culture and their brand.
Patagonia's the obvious one that comes to mind. They have a deep commitment to sustainability in their supply chain. They work with industry pa...
Racial Bias is Everywhere
Goizueta Effect
10/29/20 • 32 min
Dr. Erika Hall, assistant professor of Organization and Management at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, focuses her research on the influence of race, gender, and class-based biases on interactions within the workplace and more broadly within society.
Racial Bias in the Workplace
Bias is an instance of prejudice and racial bias is an instance of prejudice based on a person’s race or perceived race. In the workplace, racial bias manifests in a number of ways such as lower wages, higher job loss, being passed over for a promotion, and so on. It is important to understand the difference between bias in the workplace versus an anomalous outcome versus a true deficiency in performance that led to an outcome. With a sample size of one, that determination may be difficult but Hall has looked at hundreds and sometimes thousands of people and companies in her research studies which enables her to identify trends in discrimination.
Organizations can use control groups to evaluate whether or not an instance is due to racial bias. This means looking at a situation and determining if there was another person that had the same type of qualifications, who had the same résumé, would that person suffer the same outcomes as the Black person is right now.
Hall says hiring biases are quite common. There are negative stereotypes associated with Black candidates regarding future performance. Many résumé studies show that bias is in play with hiring managers if the name on top of that résumé is perceived to be black versus white. In these studies, a fictitious résumé is created with all the qualifications necessary for a position. Two copies of the résumé ─ one version with a stereotypically Black or Asian or Latino name on it and the other a name that is stereotypically white ─ are submitted to actual companies for real positions. Even though it is an identical résumé except for the name at the top, the callback rate for candidates with names that are stereotypically Black or minority, in general, tends to be lower than for candidates with “White” names.
Code-Switching
Hall notes that it is not uncommon for people of color to change their name or go by their middle name in order to not be discriminated against when applying for a job. A study published in Administrative Science Quarterly suggested that both Black and Asian employees tend to change their names in a way that will make it whiter, a behavior known as résumé whitening.
Making your name seem more “white” is related to code-switching or when a person adjusts their style of speech, appearance, behavior, or expression based on the setting they are in (home vs office, for example) or those who are around them. Hall says everyone has to code-switch to some degree between their personal and professional lives, but it seems to be more distinct and more disparate for Black Americans.
Racial Bias Misconceptions
The biggest misconception about racial bias in the workplace, says Hall, is that you have to be a racist to be biased. A racist is someone who is prejudiced against people on the basis of their racial or ethnic group.
If you don't hire someone who is Black because you are fearful that your customers would respond better to someone that is white, you have introduced racial bias into the hiring process, even though you personally may not hold any negative feelings toward Black people.
Another example of racial bias can be found in the real estate industry. While companies that value homes for sale are bound by law not to discriminate, there are reports that it happens often. Homes in predominantly Black neighborhoods or homes that have evidence of Black owners (such as family photos) are appraised at lower rates than homes with white owners. Hall references an article in which a professional appraiser said that appraisers try to mirror the market. Buyers are less willing to purchase a home that was previously owned by a Black person and their valuation of the home reflects that. The appraisers may not be racist but they are contributing to discrimination and in doing so are disadvantaging Black home sellers.
Black vs African American
The terms Black and African American often are used interchangeably within the United States but there is a literal difference. Black refers to the entire diaspora of people with ...
From C-Suite to Me-Suite
Goizueta Effect
06/28/22 • 31 min
You’re a high performer who wants a career on your own terms. Maybe you’re exploring the best next step? Maybe you feel stuck? Maybe you want more? No matter where you are right now, you need options. When you have options, you’re in control.
It may be time to change your mindset from C-Suite to Me-Suite. A well-planned strategy can help you answer the question: “How can I achieve the pinnacle of my career and have a life I cherish, too?”.
Donna Peters joins the Goizueta Effect Podcast to discuss strategies for career-driven individuals who want more out of their work and life. She is an adjunct lecturer for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School’s Executive MBA program where she teaches healthy career-growing strategies. She is the founder and CEO of a career coaching organization, The Me-Suite. Her book, Options Are Power, helps high performers understand how the pursuit of their next career success, and a focus on a healthy lifestyle, are inextricably intertwined.
This episode of the Goizueta Effect was co-created in partnership with Emory student Scott Masterson.
The “Me-Suite” Mindset Defined
In most businesses, the C-Suite is composed of key positions including the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and chief marketing officer. Among top priorities, these leaders handle three core duties: They marshal the core values of the company, keep the day-to-day operations running smoothly, and stay fresh and relevant for the future of the organization. When looking to lead our fullest lives, we should be thinking as C-suite leaders.
Peters developed this idea while on a business trip and has lived by it ever since. Like the C-Suite, we all need core values, a definition of primacy for ourselves (a sense of what is most important at any given time), a financial plan, a personal brand, relationships, an understanding of skills and strengths, and care for physical and mental health.
Usually, a company has one executive to oversee one specific area -- we should try to think like each of those executives across different scenarios given our lives are riddled with micro and macro decisions, like a business.
Components of the Me-Suite Mindset
Thinking Like a C-Suite: Companies that Lead by their Core Values
Airbnb has a core value of “accessibility of home” which creates a warm place of family-like interaction. When the refugee crisis was peaking over this last year, Airbnb started offering free housing to refugees. It was an example of how the core value of the company as a moneymaker was also being used to say, "But this is who we are. And this is what we do. I'm not changing my company and my values. I'm just applying the value in a different situation. Still staying true to the core value of the company."
Airbnb’s decision directly aligned with its positive core values. Companies actively make these decisions since core values are the foundation holding their business up.
Primacy: Not Everything is of Equal Importance
When at a crossroads between choices consider asking yourself, “What matters the most right now?” For example, you may need to decide between salary and title, or salary and company reputation. You need to decide which aspects matter more to you in that moment.
While high performers want to achieve, they often always say “yes” to everything. Primacy can provide a great guide in learning to say “no”.
Developing Your Personal Brand in a Remote Working Environment
We have a personal brand whether we like it or not and we need to own it. Develop your brand so it signals what you want to attract.
Think about the mediums you have access to online: What does your LinkedIn profile say about you? What about your punctuality to online zoom meetings? On your screen, what’s behind you and how are you dressed while on call? It’s all up to you and there are no wrong answers if each decision is intentional.
Relationships and Networking: It’s Necessary and More Natural than You May Think
People often describe networking as “slimy.” Think of it as a bank account: we’re constantly making deposits and withdrawals by helping one another.
Connections can also be characterized like a temperature on a thermometer; hot, those who will respond to you in 20 minutes with an emoji; room-temperature, people you may have just met or you connected with on LinkedIn because you went to the same university; to frozen, unfortunate relationships that are not helpful to you. Networking is crucial in creating powerful options that you can draw from. Understanding where your connections fall on the temperature scale is a great first step.
<...
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Goizueta Effect have?
Goizueta Effect currently has 30 episodes available.
What topics does Goizueta Effect cover?
The podcast is about Analytics, Marketing, Management, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, School, Accounting, Podcasts, Finance, Education, Business, Innovation, Strategy, Ethics and Mba.
What is the most popular episode on Goizueta Effect?
The episode title 'Uncovering the Hidden Fallacies of US Healthcare: Making the System Work for You' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Goizueta Effect?
The average episode length on Goizueta Effect is 31 minutes.
How often are episodes of Goizueta Effect released?
Episodes of Goizueta Effect are typically released every 35 days.
When was the first episode of Goizueta Effect?
The first episode of Goizueta Effect was released on May 21, 2020.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ