DEI: How to Achieve Personal and Professional Outcomes – How Do You Create Change?

Description

Corporations to small businesses to nonprofits, responses have ranged from statements denouncing racism to commitments for equitable representation of products from minority-owned businesses.

As many senior leaders and HR executives reexamined their organizations’ DEI initiatives, they discovered a reinvention was in order.

When it comes to DEI initiatives, many leaders and organizations have good intentions. But there’s often a gap between intentions and outcomes.

When empathy and inclusion go awry, organizations experience unintended consequences, such as individuals who don’t reach their full potential, strategies that fall flat, and organizations not equipped to excel. And as other people in the organization observe these consequences, the organizational climate suffers.

Robb Lee, Chief Strategy Officer for ASAE, and Jaya Koilpillai, MA, APR, MSMOB, ACC, Founder and Chief Consultant for Designing Communication, will take part in a moderated conversation with Crystal Borde, Vice President and Leader of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Practice at Vanguard Communications, about their experiences in DEI with perspectives informed through their experiences representing national brands, and working at agencies. They will speak about inclusive leadership, DEI change management, how organizations and individuals can deepen and foster their self-awareness, and how to be prepared for unintended consequences when inclusiveness efforts fall short.

You will hear:

• Robb and Jaya’s personal DEI experiences
• Thoughts on change management and the communicator’s role in it
• Guidance on empathy in leadership and self-awareness

About the Speakers:

Jaya Koilpillai, Founder, Designing Communication

Jaya L. Koilpillai is an award-winning public relations executive for global companies, associations, nonprofits and consulting firms. She runs Designing Communication (www.DesigningComm.com), a communication, engagement, organization development and coaching firm focused on the people side of business. Building brands and reputations from the inside out, Jaya provides consulting and coaching for communication, organizational culture, teams, leadership and effective structures.

Holding B.S., M.A. and M.S. degrees in journalism, communication and management/organization behavior, Jaya also is an instructor in her alma mater University of Maryland’s communication department. She is certified as an APR and as an ACC coach through the International Coaching Federation. She wrote the book, “This Changes Everything: Transforming Your Life from the Inside Out” and frequently speaks and publishes on leadership and workforce topics. Having lived and worked in Los Angeles, Chicago and internationally, Jaya is a Washington, D.C.-area native, and is a past Board member and active volunteer for PRSA-NCC and several other nonprofits.

Robb Lee, Chief Strategy Officer, ASAE
Robb Lee serves as the Chief Strategy Officer for ASAE in Washington, D.C. His responsibilities include management of marketing, enterprise product strategy/management, branding, and Associations Now, ASAE’s flagship media brand. His management responsibilities also include Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at ASAE.

He has more than 25 years of experience creating, developing, implementing, evaluating and managing national and international multi-media branding, advertising and public relations campaigns for products represented by organizations such as Mitsubishi, GEICO, Post Cereals, Kraft/General Foods Coffees and government clients such as The EPA, and others with budgets ranging from $1M to $55M. Robb has worked at several top 10 advertising and public relations agencies. His experience also includes Marriott International and ABC Radio.

Robb has been recognized as a Trending 40 CMO in the Washington, DC region as a top Chief Marketing Officer. He is a frequent speaker in the association community and sits on the advisory boards of several technology companies.

He resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife Jackie and they have three children, Ava, Noah and Robbie. Robb is a competitive bike racer and loves to read fiction and nonfiction whenever he can.