Founder's Story
Marilyn Nagel: Championing Diversity and Communication for the Modern Workplace | S2 Ep. 148
Tue, 5 Nov 2024
In this insightful episode of Founder's Story, host Daniel Robbins sits down with Marilyn Nagel, a seasoned leader in DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and Co-Founder of Risequity. Marilyn shares her journey, the importance of diverse and inclusive workplaces, and her advocacy for effective communication in today’s rapidly evolving work environments.Key Discussion Points:Why Risequity?Marilyn explains the inspiration behind Risequity, which was founded to help companies foster diverse and inclusive work environments. She emphasizes that diversity goes beyond demographics—it includes varied ways of thinking and problem-solving, which leads to better decision-making.The Value of a Diverse WorkforceMarilyn and Daniel discuss how diverse teams outperform non-diverse ones due to their range of perspectives. Marilyn illustrates this with a compelling example: "If Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Brothers and Sisters, it might still be around." She advocates for diverse leadership as a pathway to more thoughtful and resilient companies.Addressing the Needs of a Multigenerational WorkforceMarilyn discusses how different generations view work-life balance and job satisfaction. As more younger employees seek fulfilling and flexible work environments, Risequity helps companies create workplaces where employees can thrive and grow in their roles without feeling the need to leave.Leveraging Employee StrengthsMarilyn emphasizes focusing on employees' strengths rather than weaknesses. She shares a powerful example from her time as Chief Diversity Officer at Cisco, where shifting an employee to a role better suited to their strengths transformed them into a top performer. She advocates using tools like StrengthsFinder to align roles with individual capabilities.The Rise of the Four-Day WorkweekMarilyn shares her support for the four-day workweek, stressing the need to eliminate unproductive meetings and unnecessary tasks. She argues that reducing work hours without overloading schedules can lead to a healthier work environment and promote innovation.Upcoming Webinar on Civility in the WorkplaceMarilyn highlights an upcoming webinar on "Civility in the Workplace in Turbulent Times," featuring communication expert Sherry Browning. Set for November 12th at noon PST, the webinar will cover strategies for navigating challenging conversations and building respectful workplaces—timely advice for an increasingly polarized world.Noteworthy Quotes:"Diversity is about more than demographics; it’s about embracing different ways of thinking to make better decisions.""Focus on what employees are good at, and let them shine. That’s how teams succeed.""If we want creativity and innovation, we need to avoid burnout and give people the space to recharge."Connect with Risequity and Register for the Webinar:Website: RisequityWebinar: "Civility in the Workplace in Turbulent Times" on November 12th at noon PST. Email or visit the Risequity website to register.Our Sponsors:* Check out Indeed: https://indeed.com/FOUNDERSSTORY* Check out Northwest Registered Agent and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: https://northwestregisteredagent.com* Check out Plus500: https://plus500.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.com
Chapter 1: Why did Marilyn Nagel start Risequity?
But I'm really excited to learn about why right now did you start Rise Equity?
Well, we actually started several years ago. And the reason we began this effort is because we believe and believe been proven to find that the more diverse a company is and the more diverse leadership teams are, the better decisions are. So we used to joke and say that if it was Lehman Brothers and Sisters, it probably would still be around.
Chapter 2: How does diversity enhance decision-making?
And that doesn't mean that if it's all women, it's a better thing, or all men. It means that when we get a mix, women ask different questions than men. People with a background that they're new to a field ask different questions than people who have been in a field a long time. So diversity is not just things like gender, race, and ethnicity. Diversity is... is different ways of thinking.
It's everything we bring to the table. And we know that companies that leverage everyone who works there, all of the talent, do a better job. I've been doing this work for a very long time, but Rise Equity has come into
It's come into being, really, we launched our company in order to meet the needs of companies today, companies that are dealing with AI in the workplace, companies that are dealing with multiple generations in the workplace who are looking for a way to succeed in their careers. And that's what we help them do.
Thank you for clarifying that. I really like how you've defined diversity as different thought process, not just one specific thing. Can you share with me the companies that are coming to you that you're helping? Do they share something similar as to the ones that are really looking to ramp this up or get better at it?
Chapter 3: What challenges do multigenerational workforces face?
We work with companies from all industries. We have consumer goods, we have a fast food product, we have tech companies, we have STEM healthcare companies, we have small and large, small firms, large global multinationals. The common element is these are companies who care about their employees, the communities in which they work,
and the product they want to ensure that their product resonates with the people who buy it whether that's b2b or b2c their companies that care about the employees want to make sure that the employees have a rich experience and can grow their careers want to stay with them because we know that younger and newer employees the newer generations in the workforce tend to switch jobs every two years
Chapter 4: How can companies leverage employee strengths?
But it's possible to switch jobs and stay within the same company if you give people a rich experience. So companies are coming to us to say, how do we provide that rich experience? How do we provide an experience that gives people an opportunity to stay with us and grow their career?
I'm really glad you bring that up because that's something when I was a leader, I always struggled with in the corporate environment because they didn't really look at strengths and putting you somewhere in your strength. And let's say you were struggling in your role.
They just did a performance improvement plan to get you out of the company versus finding you somewhere that maybe fit better into the strengths that you have. How do you look at this here in terms of Like you said, a person doesn't need to leave a company to change roles.
Chapter 5: What are the benefits of a four-day workweek?
Absolutely. I had a wonderful experience back when I was the chief diversity officer at Cisco Systems. I was struggling to find, to expand my team. So many people are because we're always doing more with less. This is not the first era when leaders are asked to do that. And someone said to me, I have someone who's struggling on my team, not performing well. I'm willing to give them to you.
And I believe we emphasize people's strengths, not their weaknesses. Look for what people are good at, find a role that plays to their strengths, and let them go. So I took on this person, and this was back probably in 2005. They're still at the company. They're a super performer now. They were just in the wrong role.
Chapter 6: How can a company create a rich employee experience?
I think it's incumbent on us as leaders to look at what are people good at, find ways to leverage those strengths. We use Strength Finders, the book. It's a great tool for folks. We all have strengths. We all have areas of opportunity. Don't focus on where your opportunities are. Focus on what you're strong at, what you're good at. Play to that.
Add people who are good at the areas that you're not good at and let them do those things. Together, that's teamwork. That's collaboration. That's what makes the team work.
I love strength finders, by the way. And obviously it worked, right? Like, could you imagine if you didn't take that person on? They might have been fired or they might have quit because it just didn't fit how they're, you know. I was reading recently about how Iceland had implemented a four-day work week.
Chapter 7: What strategies can improve civility in the workplace?
And how a lot of generations now are looking at things in terms of working less, not wanting to do the 50, 60, 80 hour grind that we all thought we had to do, which I think is maybe creating a little bit of a clash with older managers who were brought up in working a huge amount of time and working every day on a salary.
How are you seeing this in the workplace with how these generations are looking at things?
I love the four-day workweek concept, frankly, and we brought in a speaker to meet with the CHRO community and share with them the benefits of four-day workweek. But you have to couple that with getting rid of things that are taking up leaders' and employees' time that doesn't add value. How many hours a week are we spending in meetings where we...
rehash the same information over and over again and come out, you know, we talk about it, but we don't take the action that comes out of the meeting. And then we meet again to talk about it again. And so the only way a four-day work week can work
is if you cut down on things that are not productive in the workplace and that doesn't mean working 50 hours in four days that that's not the goal the goal is to say what are we doing that isn't adding value and let's eliminate those things if if they're
there are 10 people sitting in a meeting and only really three or four of those people are needed for making a decision, then let's only have three or four people sit in on that meeting. Let's not have the rest of the people sitting there on their phones or on their laptops trying to get surreptitiously do emails or do other things.
Let's not copy the world on an email that doesn't need to be copied. But by the same token, let's make sure we communicate transparently with people that need information and not hold it as ransom for power. So both things have to happen. Organizations have to be more efficient and more effective and look at what's, you know, what is needed, who is needed in the room.
Do we have the right people in the room? Um, and, and how can we save time and energy and not expect people to work 24 seven that 24 seven on culture.
isn't going it is not sustainable people are not working at their best when they're always on needing to respond to an email on you know saturday afternoon or tuesday at midnight doesn't work even when we're working in global scenarios i worked with a global team for years but that didn't mean that i had to be available fall hours or that my team needed to be.
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