059. Diversity; Equity and Inclusion is a Business Imperative with Martine Kalaw

💭 Do you truly understand what Diversity; Equity and Inclusion really means? Have you considered the business benefits? Have you thought about how DE&I can bring a competitive edge to your business? Do you want to be an ally but don’t really know where to begin?

We are joined today by Martine Kalaw, the CEO of Martine Kalaw Enterprises and the author of 2 groundbreaking books – The ABCs of Diversity, and Illegal Among Us.

Martine’s organization helps company to understand the Return on Investment of implementing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. DE&I is not only the right thing to do.  It is a business imperative.  If you want to be a successful organization that attracts and retains an amazing and talented workforce you MUST have an effective DE&I program in place.  Martine opens our eyes that it is okay to measure the ROI of DE&I, that it does not cheapen the discussion or the drive. You still need to be doing for the right reasons, you need to make sure you are measuring the rights things and not just arbitrary KPIs, but you can measure the business impact of your DE&I and make it a source of competitive edge.

Martine’s background as a stateless orphan provided her a real life education on what it feels like to understand what it feels like to feel dislocated and marginalized.  She has also seen the world from the side of the ally and having people and organizations that want to help marginalized groups but don’t really know how.

We explore active and passive allyship and some of the challenges that organizations and people face in implementing programs and being an ally.  We explore the delicate balance between being a passive ally, an active ally, or having a saviour complex where you typically overstep your bounds and offend people along the way.

Martine considers herself to be a bridge builder with the ability to empathize with all sides of the diversity, equity and inclusion discussion.

She has seen the world through the eyes of those with privilege and those without privilege.

We also unpack the clear distinction between equality and equity.  Equality is the concept of everyone playing on a level playing field and is a wonderful utopian destinat

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