WEBVTT - Andrew McCaskill, LinkedIn

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<v Speaker 1>Check me out at the annual Black Effect Podcast Festival,

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<v Speaker 1>happening Saturday, April twenty seven in Atlanta. Live podcasts are

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<v Speaker 1>on deck from some of your favorite shows, including this one,

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<v Speaker 1>Black Tech, Green Money, and also some of the best

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<v Speaker 1>podcasts in the game, like Deeply Well with Debbie Brown

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<v Speaker 1>and Carefully Reckless. Atlanta is one of my favorite cities

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<v Speaker 1>in the world. I've lived there for two years actually,

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<v Speaker 1>and my worldview seeing a successful in every industry and

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<v Speaker 1>not having any limits on our potential largely was shaved

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<v Speaker 1>by Atlanta. So to be there with you doing this

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<v Speaker 1>podcast talking about how we build or leverage technology to

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<v Speaker 1>bill wealth. Come on, man, doesn't get better. I want

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<v Speaker 1>to see you there. Get your tickets today at Black

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<v Speaker 1>Effect dot comback Slash Podcast Festival.

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<v Speaker 2>And when I have these conversations with my with my

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<v Speaker 2>white counterparts about AI, they're like, oh, man, it's gonna

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<v Speaker 2>change the world. We're gonna be doing all these crazy

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<v Speaker 2>cool things.

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<v Speaker 3>Hey.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, sometimes I talk to my friends in the

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<v Speaker 2>group chat, They're like, man, the devil is busy with

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<v Speaker 2>that AI, right, Like, you know, you get different impressions about.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Will Lucas and this is black Tech Green Money.

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<v Speaker 1>Andrew McCaskill is a communications executive with twenty years of

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<v Speaker 1>experience delivering award winning communications and be our campaigns at

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<v Speaker 1>Fortune five hundred companies and highly successful technology startups.

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<v Speaker 2>He was SVP of Global.

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<v Speaker 1>Communications and Multicultural Marketing at Nielsen, head of D and

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<v Speaker 1>I Global Sales and Marketing at Facebook.

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<v Speaker 3>Is an investor and advisor at.

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<v Speaker 1>Culture Genesis and its career expert in Global communications at LinkedIn.

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<v Speaker 2>He's also pr Week's Top forty under forty.

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<v Speaker 1>Not everyone who listens to this podcast is going to

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<v Speaker 1>start a company, many, if not most, will be career

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<v Speaker 1>professionals in climb the ladder regardless. You want to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure you build wealth. And it's often said, however, that

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<v Speaker 1>you can't build wealth by selling your time. I asked

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<v Speaker 1>Andrew to speak on that.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, man, I think it's so important because you're right,

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<v Speaker 2>everybody's not going to be an entrepreneur. Many of us

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<v Speaker 2>are points, have most of our working lives and some

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<v Speaker 2>version of a nine to five. And I think that

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<v Speaker 2>the biggest thing that I feel like that people can

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<v Speaker 2>do to build wealth is to start having wealth conversations, right,

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<v Speaker 2>And what I mean by that is, you know, I

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<v Speaker 2>grew up middle upper middle class, right, and my parents

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<v Speaker 2>did not talk to me a lot about money. Money

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<v Speaker 2>in my household was grown folks business, and you know,

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<v Speaker 2>they basically gave me a couple of things is save

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<v Speaker 2>some money and don't spend more than you make, right,

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<v Speaker 2>good luck, and you know, call us if you need us.

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<v Speaker 2>And what I think that that sometimes we do with

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<v Speaker 2>that is that we don't information share enough. And so

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<v Speaker 2>I feel like that one of the things that is

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<v Speaker 2>the beginning of financial mobility, financial mobility starts with financial stability.

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<v Speaker 2>And I think that amongst amongst particularly younger black folks,

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<v Speaker 2>younger black professionals, we have to collaborate and not compete.

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<v Speaker 2>And that means that many of us are not gonna

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<v Speaker 2>get somebody from some ivory tower to come down and

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<v Speaker 2>tell us all these things about money. So we have

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<v Speaker 2>to peer to peer mentor each other in a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of ways. Right, My group chat has saved me so

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<v Speaker 2>many times from making mistakes about money at work. And

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<v Speaker 2>so the first time I had a job in tech

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<v Speaker 2>where I had to actually negotiate for equity, I had

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<v Speaker 2>to go and look up on the internet what restricted

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<v Speaker 2>stock units were. I had no idea what I was

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<v Speaker 2>potentially leaving on the table because I didn't have that information.

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<v Speaker 2>Luckily for me, I had not even necessarily a mentor,

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<v Speaker 2>but a dude that I knew in tech that I

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<v Speaker 2>had met at a conference, and I was like, yo,

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<v Speaker 2>I noticed, dude is senior. I still have this number.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm just gonna roll the dice and call him, and

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<v Speaker 2>he broke it down for me in a way that man,

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<v Speaker 2>I could have left so much money on the table

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<v Speaker 2>as a nine to five or if I hadn't really

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<v Speaker 2>thought about it in the right way. So the number

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<v Speaker 2>one to get from that mobility stability is having the

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<v Speaker 2>most information, and sometimes that information is gonna come from

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<v Speaker 2>people who look like us. Right. The other thing I

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<v Speaker 2>think is is really just the behavioral shift and a

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<v Speaker 2>mindset shift that you know, I think that we all

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<v Speaker 2>have to have around that is that many of us

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<v Speaker 2>who are in that nine to five world, a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of us are grappling with something that our non Hispanic

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<v Speaker 2>white counterparts don't have to grapple with. And that's the

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<v Speaker 2>untold story is the fragility of the black middle class.

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<v Speaker 2>Middle class status is very fragile for us in our

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<v Speaker 2>communities because oftentimes, Man, you know, you might be the

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<v Speaker 2>one in the family that's got that good job, but

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<v Speaker 2>when big Mama's water heater breaks down, you getting that call, right.

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<v Speaker 2>And so I feel like that one of those things

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<v Speaker 2>that we have to do is that we're constantly sort

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<v Speaker 2>of accounting for that. So if it comes down to

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<v Speaker 2>Gucci versus Grandma, I'm gonna save that money for Grandma

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<v Speaker 2>every time, right because I want to, Because I think

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<v Speaker 2>that that's the call that many of us are gonna get.

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<v Speaker 2>So I think that that mobility of getting to wealth

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<v Speaker 2>starts with like reimagining how we think about that money

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<v Speaker 2>in the beginning. That one we get more money when

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<v Speaker 2>we talk about money and have money conversations with people

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<v Speaker 2>that we trust that we can you know, we sort

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<v Speaker 2>of grow together. You need to grow with your peer group.

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<v Speaker 2>And so when you're sharing that information, like one thing

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<v Speaker 2>about me, I'll send you my old offer letter from

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<v Speaker 2>from Facebook, I'll send you my old offer letter from

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<v Speaker 2>you know, previous companies that I had. So at least

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<v Speaker 2>you should know that this is where you should level set. Right.

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<v Speaker 2>The other thing is like, we know that we're gonna

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<v Speaker 2>get hit in different ways, so we have to think

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<v Speaker 2>about money and stability just totally different. And here's the

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<v Speaker 2>thing that I think is more in line with what

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<v Speaker 2>I think everybody really wants the answer to be from

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<v Speaker 2>this question is like, can you build wealth while working

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<v Speaker 2>for other people? Absolutely? You can. It happens every single dissa, Right.

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<v Speaker 2>You have to just really plan for and account for

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<v Speaker 2>your career in certain ways. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So you got a couple of questions there that

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<v Speaker 1>you speak my interest on. And so I've read some

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<v Speaker 1>of your posts and you had talked about how the

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<v Speaker 1>job market has tightened and there's one job for every

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<v Speaker 1>two applicants, right, and how can black people, black professionals

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<v Speaker 1>negotiate effectively to secure competitive conversation, not just accept what

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<v Speaker 1>they give you, but to negotiate that compensation and ensure

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<v Speaker 1>that you know financial reward is there in the market

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<v Speaker 1>where employers have a whole bunch of options for who

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<v Speaker 1>wants this job.

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<v Speaker 2>Here's the things I think that you can't is that

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<v Speaker 2>you can't go into it without the confidence that, hey,

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<v Speaker 2>I know, I know what my skills are and I

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<v Speaker 2>know that I can do in this role. And so

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<v Speaker 2>I do think that part of it is being really

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<v Speaker 2>confident about what you bring to the table and being

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<v Speaker 2>able to articulate that really well. And that's not just

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<v Speaker 2>about spitting workplace game, right. I think that that confidence

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<v Speaker 2>really comes from, you know, being really secure about how

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<v Speaker 2>you tell your story. And that is how you tell

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<v Speaker 2>your professional story, how you talk about your superpowers, what

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<v Speaker 2>you bring to the table, how you talk about your skills,

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<v Speaker 2>how you match up the skills that you that you

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<v Speaker 2>have with what the company is actually asking for and desiring.

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<v Speaker 2>And a lot of that comes from really being able

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<v Speaker 2>to practice and rehearse that. That's just table stakes practicing

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<v Speaker 2>and rehearsing how you tell your story and how you

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<v Speaker 2>talk about it. But the information piece of it. If

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<v Speaker 2>you're really trying to negotiate for a great for better

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<v Speaker 2>compensation at a job that you already really want, I

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<v Speaker 2>think there are a couple of things that you have

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<v Speaker 2>to do. One is make sure that you understand sort

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<v Speaker 2>of the value in the marketplace in terms of most

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<v Speaker 2>of the companies now will give you a somewhat of

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<v Speaker 2>a range. We all want the top of that brain

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<v Speaker 2>right when we see it. I think that what you

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<v Speaker 2>have to then do is negotiate for why you want

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<v Speaker 2>that at the at the top of the range. Also,

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<v Speaker 2>there's gonna be it's really competitive, and I think that

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<v Speaker 2>you know, yeah, we all want to get that next job.

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<v Speaker 2>But the worst thing that you can one of the

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<v Speaker 2>worst things that you can do, unless you just desperately

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<v Speaker 2>need a job. If you desperately need a job, do

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<v Speaker 2>what you got to do in I respect, right, But

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<v Speaker 2>if you're in a position where you actually have some choice,

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<v Speaker 2>and we have a lot more choice than we truly

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<v Speaker 2>have been, you know, sort of conditioned to believe. If

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<v Speaker 2>you've got the choice, I think you do have to

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<v Speaker 2>go in and sort of negotiate for what you want.

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<v Speaker 2>That negotiation begins with how much information do you have

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<v Speaker 2>about the role? How much information do you have about

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<v Speaker 2>the company. You're eight times more likely to get a

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<v Speaker 2>job at a company if you know somebody who's at

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<v Speaker 2>that company, and that doesn't have to be your work

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<v Speaker 2>best friend. That could be somebody that you worked with

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<v Speaker 2>ten years ago. That could be so that goes to

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<v Speaker 2>your church, but you you don't really know them, but

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<v Speaker 2>you know of them, right, because that just even that

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<v Speaker 2>conversation gives you a better idea of what the culture

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<v Speaker 2>is and how much and how much you can think

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<v Speaker 2>about it. They don't have to tell you how much

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<v Speaker 2>money they make or any of that kind of stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>But the little clues that they can give you, or

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<v Speaker 2>even just then mentioning your name, puts you in a

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<v Speaker 2>better position. Your network really really matters. And I think

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<v Speaker 2>that we have been sort of conditioned not to think

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<v Speaker 2>of our network as the way I feel like our

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<v Speaker 2>non Hispanic white counterparts think about it, right, is that

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<v Speaker 2>we oftentimes get caught up in thinking that if I'm

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<v Speaker 2>networking with you, it's got to be like a business

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<v Speaker 2>cards exchange or at a party or something like that,

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<v Speaker 2>or a cocktail hour or that, like it's got to

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<v Speaker 2>be some kind of quid pro quo or I'm asking

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<v Speaker 2>you for a favor or something like that. Our white

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<v Speaker 2>counterparts don't even think about networking in that way. They

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<v Speaker 2>don't think about, Okay, well, look, will gave me your number.

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<v Speaker 2>So anything you anything you say to me is a

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<v Speaker 2>reflection on will. That's just not how That's not how

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<v Speaker 2>anybody else thinks about it, right, It really is will

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<v Speaker 2>gave me this person's number. Maybe something comes from it,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe something doesn't. My connection, my connections that I sort

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<v Speaker 2>of share that network sharing man, your network is so powerful.

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<v Speaker 2>So I think using your network to get a better

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<v Speaker 2>idea of like what your opportunity is. But don't just

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<v Speaker 2>take the first offer. I always say that you have

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<v Speaker 2>to negotiate. Even for that recruiter to really or that

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<v Speaker 2>hiring manager to truly respect you, you need to and

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<v Speaker 2>at least negotiate something. And you negotiate like that.

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<v Speaker 3>I like that.

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<v Speaker 1>There are a lot of people with jobs, careers, I

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<v Speaker 1>should say, who are concerned about how AI is about

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<v Speaker 1>to impact their roles. Like, you know, I think about

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<v Speaker 1>like if if I can marry grammarly and chat GPT,

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<v Speaker 1>I never have to hire a copywriter again. Like, so

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<v Speaker 1>there's there are certain roles that are definitely under the gun,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, to use that phrase. So how are you

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<v Speaker 1>advising professionals to acquire in demand skills so that they

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<v Speaker 1>can be you know, still marketable in the years to

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<v Speaker 1>come in the professional workplace?

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<v Speaker 2>Oh man, I love this question because let's even even

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<v Speaker 2>if you take AI out of the game, that our

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<v Speaker 2>research shows that even if you're not changing jobs, your

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<v Speaker 2>job is changing on you. Most people's jobs change about

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<v Speaker 2>fifteen to twenty percent every two years. Right, so you

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<v Speaker 2>could be in the job that you've been in that

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<v Speaker 2>job five years. Your job is so different from the

0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:38.080
<v Speaker 2>day you started to today. And you know, when I

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<v Speaker 2>have these conversations with my uh with my white counterparts

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<v Speaker 2>about AI, they're like, oh, man, it's gonna change the world.

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<v Speaker 2>We're gonna be doing all these crazy cool things. And

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<v Speaker 2>you know, sometimes I talk to my friends in the

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<v Speaker 2>group chat and they're like, man, the devil is busy

0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:57.360
<v Speaker 2>with that AI, right, Like, you know, you're getting different

0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:02.319
<v Speaker 2>impressions about it, right. But we actually, we actually talked

0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:07.640
<v Speaker 2>to a large number of black professionals about how they

0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.760
<v Speaker 2>were feeling about AI and sort of what's happening. And

0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:15.360
<v Speaker 2>what we found, man, was that actually most black professionals

0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.559
<v Speaker 2>were actually were actually really intrigued and excited about AI.

0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.800
<v Speaker 2>But what they also said was that about forty seven

0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.320
<v Speaker 2>percent said that they didn't know where to start getting

0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.240
<v Speaker 2>AI skills and getting up to speed. And so's the

0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.520
<v Speaker 2>that's the hook right there. What we did at LinkedIn

0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.520
<v Speaker 2>when we saw that was we said, okay, well we're

0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:39.600
<v Speaker 2>gonna make our top ten AI courses free for everybody.

0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.160
<v Speaker 2>You don't have to have LinkedIn premium or anything like that.

0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.160
<v Speaker 2>So we've made our top ten AI courses for free,

0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:51.280
<v Speaker 2>and that's everything from understanding you know prompt engineering to

0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.360
<v Speaker 2>understanding you know AI one on one. We've even got

0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:57.679
<v Speaker 2>some more advanced courses. And if you if you follow

0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.040
<v Speaker 2>my newsletter The Black Guy in Marketing on linked and

0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.280
<v Speaker 2>then I've got all of the courses listed there, you

0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.199
<v Speaker 2>can literally click on the courses and take the courses. Right.

0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:08.640
<v Speaker 2>It's like tons of free courses. But I think that

0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.640
<v Speaker 2>that's the key to it is that for black professionals

0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:13.960
<v Speaker 2>in particular, I think that if you don't know what

0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:15.960
<v Speaker 2>a large language model is, and you're listening to this

0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:17.640
<v Speaker 2>conversation right now, I know there are a lot of

0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.240
<v Speaker 2>tech people who probably do know exactly what that is.

0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:22.880
<v Speaker 2>But if you don't, now is the time for you

0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.600
<v Speaker 2>to start at least get the language and the lexicon

0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:30.800
<v Speaker 2>of AI down because we need more black people using

0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.200
<v Speaker 2>the tool. We need more black people getting the skills

0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:39.440
<v Speaker 2>and getting the certifications because major revolutions in work have

0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.760
<v Speaker 2>not always been kind to us. But now we're in

0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:48.160
<v Speaker 2>a space where the information is literally at our fingertips.

0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.040
<v Speaker 2>If you've got a computer, you've got a smartphone, you

0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.040
<v Speaker 2>can get access to starting to learn how to use

0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.319
<v Speaker 2>these tools and play with these tools. And I think

0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:57.800
<v Speaker 2>that that's the key to it is to get in

0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.480
<v Speaker 2>there and start playing with it now because AI is

0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:03.800
<v Speaker 2>coming to work. It's at work already, and I don't

0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.480
<v Speaker 2>want us to feel like that it's this scary thing

0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.200
<v Speaker 2>because we've been I mean it, all it really is,

0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:14.040
<v Speaker 2>as you know, is like really well educated guesses to

0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.320
<v Speaker 2>what you to answering questions for what we all need.

0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:21.000
<v Speaker 2>And if you've used you know, almost any technology tool

0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:23.880
<v Speaker 2>that in the last you know, five or six years,

0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:26.600
<v Speaker 2>there's been some bit of it that is making some

0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:31.360
<v Speaker 2>educated guesses for you. Right then, completely on the Google

0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.880
<v Speaker 2>search bar. Absolutely, I use that example all the time

0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.360
<v Speaker 2>auto completely on Google. Right. But here's the other thing

0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.200
<v Speaker 2>is that I don't want people to have this. I

0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.400
<v Speaker 2>think that people have this fear, Oh AI is going

0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.920
<v Speaker 2>to take my job. That's not what you should be

0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.880
<v Speaker 2>afraid of. AI is not gonna take your job. But

0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:52.120
<v Speaker 2>someone who understands AI, who has AI skills, may take

0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:57.520
<v Speaker 2>your job. And so that's where that's that particularly. Yeah, Yeah,

0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.480
<v Speaker 2>to that particular point you just made.

0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.760
<v Speaker 1>LinkedIn has this Jobs on the Rise twenty twenty four list,

0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:07.880
<v Speaker 1>which includes industries like AI, sustainability, and et cetera, which

0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.400
<v Speaker 1>are often associated with earning potential, And you talked about

0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.880
<v Speaker 1>these core courses and curriculums that are available. What should

0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.720
<v Speaker 1>we be looking for specifically when we go because it's

0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.320
<v Speaker 1>kind of like you know when they tell you five

0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:22.000
<v Speaker 1>years ago, ten years ago, and they say you should

0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:23.800
<v Speaker 1>learn the code, and they said, all right, I'm gonna

0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.000
<v Speaker 1>go learn the code. Now, there's twenty thirty different languages,

0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.440
<v Speaker 1>these Ruby on rails, there's Python, there's C plus plus,

0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:31.920
<v Speaker 1>there's all these things. So I'm like, I don't I'm

0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.720
<v Speaker 1>swimming in the sea of options of what to learn,

0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:36.800
<v Speaker 1>and you don't know everybody's gonna tell you something different.

0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.040
<v Speaker 1>And so when I say, okay, the earning high earning

0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:44.000
<v Speaker 1>potential is in sectors like AI is sustainability, What should

0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:45.480
<v Speaker 1>I be going to learn when I go to that

0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.000
<v Speaker 1>list that you talked about what should.

0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:49.760
<v Speaker 2>I be looking at? I think the first thing you

0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.200
<v Speaker 2>got to do is get the basics. So there's literally

0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.640
<v Speaker 2>AI one O one, like, how to talk about it,

0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.480
<v Speaker 2>what the language is, explaining how AI works so that

0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:01.320
<v Speaker 2>people can can really get a baseline understanding. Then I

0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.320
<v Speaker 2>would graduate up to prompt engineering because I feel like

0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.160
<v Speaker 2>that once you start to understand how the tools work

0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.000
<v Speaker 2>and you start to build the language and the lexicon

0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:11.960
<v Speaker 2>to understand it, then the next thing you need to

0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.560
<v Speaker 2>do is learn how to harness the tools right. Because

0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.120
<v Speaker 2>there's a bunch of tools that are to tell it

0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:19.000
<v Speaker 2>what to do. You got to learn how to tell

0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.680
<v Speaker 2>it what to do right. And that's the biggest part

0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.320
<v Speaker 2>is that because garbage garbage prompts give you sort of

0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.640
<v Speaker 2>once you learn how to right, once you learn how

0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.600
<v Speaker 2>to really harness the technology, there's a lot of fun

0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.560
<v Speaker 2>to be had with it right. And I think that

0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.760
<v Speaker 2>that's the that that's where I think people should start

0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:42.000
<v Speaker 2>to go and then think about what it is that

0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.040
<v Speaker 2>you do every day or what it is that you

0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.200
<v Speaker 2>eventually want to do. So if you're once you start

0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.360
<v Speaker 2>to understand the technology, then you understand how to actually

0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:52.840
<v Speaker 2>use it and how to make the technology do what

0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.680
<v Speaker 2>you want to do. Then I think it goes into

0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:59.360
<v Speaker 2>where then is the technology being applied in your field?

0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:01.720
<v Speaker 2>And where do you feel like the inking one make

0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:05.920
<v Speaker 2>your job easier, make you faster, make you smarter, make

0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.960
<v Speaker 2>you be able to you know, maximize your workload. And

0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.679
<v Speaker 2>that's where you start is then take your time and

0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.160
<v Speaker 2>your attention to Okay, what are those tools. The other

0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.160
<v Speaker 2>thing I would say is there's been there's no better

0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.919
<v Speaker 2>time than now than to start talking to other people

0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.680
<v Speaker 2>in whatever your industry or your profession is about how

0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.639
<v Speaker 2>they're using AI. I would say too, for most people,

0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:30.680
<v Speaker 2>once you get some some basic language around on how

0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:32.840
<v Speaker 2>to talk about it, I would start talking to people

0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.480
<v Speaker 2>at work like, hey, how are we thinking about using AI?

0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.720
<v Speaker 2>Talk to your manager, how are we thinking about that?

0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:41.040
<v Speaker 2>There's probably an almost everybody's company right now, there's an

0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:46.240
<v Speaker 2>AI task force or AI or you know, an AI

0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.800
<v Speaker 2>like working group. Start to figure out, now that you've

0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:51.639
<v Speaker 2>got some information about it, how do you get on

0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:53.439
<v Speaker 2>that AI working group? How do you start to have

0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.480
<v Speaker 2>those conversations? And if you're a member of you know,

0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:00.960
<v Speaker 2>any other groups or professional ORGANI start talking to the

0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.000
<v Speaker 2>people in your profession by yo, what are y'all seeing?

0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.560
<v Speaker 2>So that you can be ahead of it. Information sharing

0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.040
<v Speaker 2>is again one of the major things that I feel

0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:14.000
<v Speaker 2>like is one of our biggest gaps to career advancement.

0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:18.080
<v Speaker 2>And now they're tools that can collapse geography. They're tools

0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.280
<v Speaker 2>that can where you can go out and you can say,

0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.680
<v Speaker 2>you know, okay, I'm gonna just jump on LinkedIn and

0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.679
<v Speaker 2>connect with people that I used to work with in

0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.399
<v Speaker 2>my old job or in my industry and say, or

0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:31.240
<v Speaker 2>join one of the groups on there. If it's an

0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.760
<v Speaker 2>engineering group, lem's join this engineering group. Is if it's

0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:35.960
<v Speaker 2>PR group, let me join this PR group. You know,

0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.239
<v Speaker 2>if it's nurses or people in the medical field, let

0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.360
<v Speaker 2>me join this and see how are y'all using this right?

0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.840
<v Speaker 2>And I think that that's the way that you figure

0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:50.200
<v Speaker 2>out what's next, because what's next isn't gonna come to you.

0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:52.200
<v Speaker 2>You gotta get to what's next, or you got to

0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.720
<v Speaker 2>start to investigate what's next, because by the time it

0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.960
<v Speaker 2>comes back to you, is somebody asking you to do

0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:58.679
<v Speaker 2>something that you may or may not have the skills

0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:00.119
<v Speaker 2>to do that.

0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:06.040
<v Speaker 1>And so I want to talk about resume building and skills.

0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.320
<v Speaker 1>And so I'm number one, So I got to preface

0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.960
<v Speaker 1>it's like I'm a university chair of the board.

0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:12.879
<v Speaker 2>So I'm chair the board of a university. But I

0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:13.920
<v Speaker 2>get also.

0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:19.480
<v Speaker 1>That there's been and a lean towards skills and not

0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:23.159
<v Speaker 1>necessarily degrees, and we're grappling with that, grappling with that also,

0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:29.159
<v Speaker 1>and so you admonish people to highlight their skills versus

0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.520
<v Speaker 1>necessarily their resumes their credentials in such a way. And

0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.080
<v Speaker 1>I'm a small business owner also, and I think about

0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:37.280
<v Speaker 1>my small business like, I can really care less what

0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.520
<v Speaker 1>school you into. I want to know what you can do.

0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.240
<v Speaker 1>And I think most small businesses might think that way

0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.359
<v Speaker 1>because what we need is people who can hit the

0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:49.040
<v Speaker 1>ground running faster. And your credentials don't necessarily say that

0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:51.080
<v Speaker 1>you can hit the ground running faster. What you can

0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.720
<v Speaker 1>show me shows me that you can hit the ground

0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:59.280
<v Speaker 1>running faster. And I think I feel like what that

0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.639
<v Speaker 1>as more small businesses hire more people. Number one, there

0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:05.840
<v Speaker 1>are more people who are employed by small businesses than

0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:08.280
<v Speaker 1>anything else in the country. Yeah, so as more of

0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:12.080
<v Speaker 1>us think that way, then the degree the credentials mean

0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.160
<v Speaker 1>less over time. And so can you talk about help

0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:17.920
<v Speaker 1>me think about think that through yep.

0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:23.080
<v Speaker 2>I listen everybody from LinkedIn the world's largest professional network,

0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.640
<v Speaker 2>to the President of the United States and the s

0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.480
<v Speaker 2>in the State of the Union is talking about skills,

0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:32.120
<v Speaker 2>skills based hiring, and skills first hiring. I think it's

0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:33.760
<v Speaker 2>the way of the future. I think it is the

0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:37.840
<v Speaker 2>way I think is a It is a pathway to

0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:42.600
<v Speaker 2>more and to a more equitable workforce. Having a four

0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:47.760
<v Speaker 2>year degree requirement actually just puts tons of jobs that

0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.439
<v Speaker 2>don't that should not be out of reach, out of

0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:53.440
<v Speaker 2>reach for large swaths of people of color in particular.

0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:55.600
<v Speaker 2>Let's just point blank period. I mean, that's just it

0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.480
<v Speaker 2>is what it is. Yes, our educational attainment is going

0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:02.920
<v Speaker 2>up every year, particularly by black women, but if we

0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.240
<v Speaker 2>took away the four year degree requirement, it would open

0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:09.679
<v Speaker 2>the aperture for many, many more people of color to

0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:14.720
<v Speaker 2>get knowledge, knowledge based you know, air quotes white collar jobs.

0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:17.160
<v Speaker 2>So I do think that that is where we're where

0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.520
<v Speaker 2>we're going to go. I think that it's going to be.

0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:22.919
<v Speaker 2>But we're not completely there yet, right like we I

0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:24.840
<v Speaker 2>just be honest with you, We're not completely there yet.

0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:27.120
<v Speaker 2>But it is where people are starting to go. Even

0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:31.080
<v Speaker 2>our company, we've removed four year degree requirements from most

0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.719
<v Speaker 2>of our jobs at LinkedIn, and we're a tech company, right.

0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.320
<v Speaker 2>I will say, the thing that I want people to understand,

0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:40.560
<v Speaker 2>and even people who are at universities and who are

0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:43.000
<v Speaker 2>who are getting degrees and getting master's degrees and all

0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.040
<v Speaker 2>those things, is that you still are going to have

0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:48.160
<v Speaker 2>to talk about your skills. Regardless of how great your

0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:50.879
<v Speaker 2>grades were, You're going to be able to talk have

0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.159
<v Speaker 2>to talk to recruiters about what you know how to

0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.680
<v Speaker 2>do and where you have done it previously. You've got

0:21:57.720 --> 0:21:59.960
<v Speaker 2>to have a skills conversation. I want to see your portfolio.

0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:05.480
<v Speaker 2>I really don't care ABOUTIO, right, And that's that's just

0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.120
<v Speaker 2>what matters like listen. I mean, I love to tell

0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:10.439
<v Speaker 2>people that I graduated from Morehouse College. I love to

0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:14.640
<v Speaker 2>tell people that I have a business uh NBA from

0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:17.359
<v Speaker 2>of course what a school of business at EMMRA University.

0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.760
<v Speaker 2>But ain't nobody asking me? Not usually, you know what

0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:26.640
<v Speaker 2>I'm saying, Nobody's really, ain't nobody asked me yet? Ain't

0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:29.520
<v Speaker 2>nobody asked me? And here's the deal? Is that? And

0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:31.560
<v Speaker 2>what what I will say? And here's this goes back

0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:33.960
<v Speaker 2>to the AI thing to a little bit. Is that

0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.880
<v Speaker 2>we just released our most in demand skills. These are

0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:43.080
<v Speaker 2>the skills that companies are asking for most for all

0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:45.199
<v Speaker 2>of the out of all of the job postings on

0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:50.520
<v Speaker 2>our entire website, right, and the number one skill across

0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:53.359
<v Speaker 2>the board for the second year in a row. Most

0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:57.680
<v Speaker 2>in demand is communication and so part of that is

0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:02.959
<v Speaker 2>human skills, people centric skills. The future of work is

0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:07.119
<v Speaker 2>going to be human, no matter how pervasive AI becomes.

0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:11.280
<v Speaker 2>You the people skills are really in Those human skills

0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:15.639
<v Speaker 2>are really what's most in demand. Yeah, and more technical jobs.

0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:20.159
<v Speaker 2>There's gonna be other parts of it, but leadership, management,

0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:26.600
<v Speaker 2>team work, analysis, communication, those things really matter. We see

0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:30.439
<v Speaker 2>so many recruiters who say to us, we've got people

0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:33.120
<v Speaker 2>who are in their early careers, who are graduating from

0:23:33.200 --> 0:23:37.680
<v Speaker 2>college and they've got, you know, education, but they can't present,

0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:41.560
<v Speaker 2>or they can't write, or they can't or they can't

0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:47.520
<v Speaker 2>make a concise or data based argument. They're arguing with

0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:50.399
<v Speaker 2>feelings and what they you know, and what they think

0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:54.080
<v Speaker 2>as opposed to facts and data. And they're like, we,

0:23:55.000 --> 0:23:57.760
<v Speaker 2>you know, we're trying to grapple with how do we

0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:02.040
<v Speaker 2>train them to have these skills for these skills of

0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:06.000
<v Speaker 2>analysis and things like that. We talk to recruiters and

0:24:07.000 --> 0:24:09.920
<v Speaker 2>over forty eight percent of recruiters say that they are

0:24:10.040 --> 0:24:13.480
<v Speaker 2>using skills to source for talent. And we've got to

0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:18.399
<v Speaker 2>teach candidates how to now reimagine how they talk about

0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:22.960
<v Speaker 2>their skills in job interviews, and employees how to make

0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:27.840
<v Speaker 2>sure that they're always upskilling and keeping their skills fresh

0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:32.320
<v Speaker 2>and tight, and looking at how they continuously talk about

0:24:32.440 --> 0:24:33.640
<v Speaker 2>their skills and action.

0:24:35.160 --> 0:24:37.480
<v Speaker 1>To you, great point, because it brings me to a

0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:40.720
<v Speaker 1>quote that you gave, I think in an article on

0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:43.600
<v Speaker 1>afrotech and so you taught. You said in twenty twenty four,

0:24:43.640 --> 0:24:46.600
<v Speaker 1>we have agency. We want more than just jobs. It's

0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:50.000
<v Speaker 1>a new era where it's not just about stability, it's

0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:53.880
<v Speaker 1>about thriving and telling our personal story in a professional world.

0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:58.440
<v Speaker 1>And so with that in one hand, you think about

0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:03.560
<v Speaker 1>at least historically, longevity in the role meant trajectory. It

0:25:03.600 --> 0:25:05.440
<v Speaker 1>meant that you were gonna make more, you were gonna

0:25:05.440 --> 0:25:06.200
<v Speaker 1>get higher.

0:25:06.000 --> 0:25:07.240
<v Speaker 2>Better, prestigious jobs.

0:25:07.600 --> 0:25:10.200
<v Speaker 1>And what you're saying is that we're not just looking

0:25:10.240 --> 0:25:13.879
<v Speaker 1>for you know, jobs for fine ten twenty years like

0:25:14.040 --> 0:25:18.680
<v Speaker 1>our predecessors. Yeah, so then how do you reconcile being

0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:21.520
<v Speaker 1>able to make more and more money when we might

0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:26.680
<v Speaker 1>jump every three ish four ish years.

0:25:25.560 --> 0:25:29.240
<v Speaker 2>Or more longer? Right? Listen, I think that there that

0:25:29.720 --> 0:25:32.520
<v Speaker 2>longevity has a place as long as you're being compensated

0:25:32.520 --> 0:25:34.960
<v Speaker 2>and appreciated, as long as you are still you're being

0:25:35.320 --> 0:25:38.439
<v Speaker 2>whatever you the thing that you get from work that

0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:42.200
<v Speaker 2>you're getting right. I'm very money motivated. So I've made

0:25:42.200 --> 0:25:46.080
<v Speaker 2>a lot of my decisions early in my career based

0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:48.479
<v Speaker 2>on how much bang for the buck am I getting,

0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:51.360
<v Speaker 2>Like carried to one, what's my carry with one my institute,

0:25:51.400 --> 0:25:53.960
<v Speaker 2>what's my check on the person? At fifteen? Now I'm

0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:58.080
<v Speaker 2>a little bit older. Now I'm almost fifty, and I

0:25:58.119 --> 0:26:03.320
<v Speaker 2>am thinking about how I spend my time very differently, right,

0:26:03.680 --> 0:26:07.520
<v Speaker 2>And so money is still a great motivating factor in

0:26:07.560 --> 0:26:12.040
<v Speaker 2>my career, but I'm also thinking about where do I

0:26:12.160 --> 0:26:15.240
<v Speaker 2>take my skills and my talent? Right, So I think

0:26:15.240 --> 0:26:17.560
<v Speaker 2>that that's part of it. What I would say to

0:26:17.880 --> 0:26:22.040
<v Speaker 2>people in their careers of like, okay, yeah, you have

0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:25.240
<v Speaker 2>the agency piece comes in. I have a plan for

0:26:25.320 --> 0:26:29.840
<v Speaker 2>my career. I see the pathway forward. Most jobs are

0:26:30.000 --> 0:26:33.639
<v Speaker 2>vehicles and not destinations. And I think that once you

0:26:33.840 --> 0:26:37.120
<v Speaker 2>sort of get that as part of the mentality, how

0:26:37.119 --> 0:26:40.879
<v Speaker 2>does this job as is this a vehicle that gets

0:26:40.920 --> 0:26:45.920
<v Speaker 2>me to the next opportunity? For if visibility is important

0:26:45.920 --> 0:26:49.960
<v Speaker 2>to me, if opportunity is important to me, if money

0:26:50.000 --> 0:26:53.280
<v Speaker 2>is important to me, how does this job become a

0:26:53.400 --> 0:26:57.400
<v Speaker 2>vehicle that gets me to that next destination? And that

0:26:57.520 --> 0:26:59.720
<v Speaker 2>vehicle and that job becomes a vehicle to get me

0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:03.879
<v Speaker 2>today next destination. Sometimes that that move may be within

0:27:04.000 --> 0:27:06.760
<v Speaker 2>the company. I tell employers all the time that your

0:27:06.920 --> 0:27:10.359
<v Speaker 2>next best employee might be your current employee. You just

0:27:10.440 --> 0:27:12.320
<v Speaker 2>have to move them into a space to where they

0:27:12.359 --> 0:27:12.879
<v Speaker 2>can thrive.

0:27:13.920 --> 0:27:14.120
<v Speaker 3>Right.

0:27:14.640 --> 0:27:16.480
<v Speaker 2>And so that's the other thing that I say to

0:27:16.800 --> 0:27:20.240
<v Speaker 2>to black folks, right, is that you have to have

0:27:20.280 --> 0:27:22.840
<v Speaker 2>a plan for your career. The last thing that the

0:27:22.960 --> 0:27:25.600
<v Speaker 2>REF says to a fighter in the ring every time

0:27:25.960 --> 0:27:29.240
<v Speaker 2>is protect yourself at all times. And that is the

0:27:29.280 --> 0:27:32.760
<v Speaker 2>way I think about us and our careers. Protect yourself

0:27:32.800 --> 0:27:35.320
<v Speaker 2>at all times means that if I get that pink

0:27:35.359 --> 0:27:37.840
<v Speaker 2>stuff tomorrow, I ain't got I ain't gotta get ready

0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:41.560
<v Speaker 2>because I'm already ready. My resume is updated every six months. Right,

0:27:43.240 --> 0:27:47.240
<v Speaker 2>if that comes at me, I also have I also

0:27:47.400 --> 0:27:49.720
<v Speaker 2>have a network where I'm keeping people. I've got my

0:27:49.760 --> 0:27:52.920
<v Speaker 2>personal border directors in place. They can help me walk

0:27:52.960 --> 0:27:56.760
<v Speaker 2>through that. Right. I've been thinking about what my next

0:27:56.800 --> 0:28:00.879
<v Speaker 2>opportunity should be or could be anyway, so I don't

0:28:00.920 --> 0:28:05.760
<v Speaker 2>have the same emotional attachment to this particular job, even

0:28:05.760 --> 0:28:09.400
<v Speaker 2>if I enjoyed the work, because I'm thinking about what

0:28:09.520 --> 0:28:13.400
<v Speaker 2>my next move could be Now, I may be disappointed, absolutely,

0:28:13.680 --> 0:28:15.680
<v Speaker 2>but I'm not gonna be disillusioning and not gonna be

0:28:15.720 --> 0:28:20.280
<v Speaker 2>defeated because I'm thinking about how do I protect myself

0:28:20.280 --> 0:28:24.040
<v Speaker 2>at all times and if I'm in a job where

0:28:24.560 --> 0:28:28.639
<v Speaker 2>i feel like that I'm contorting and I'm you know,

0:28:28.680 --> 0:28:31.600
<v Speaker 2>assimilation is exhausting, and if i feel like I'm balled

0:28:31.680 --> 0:28:33.880
<v Speaker 2>up in a not all the time, I always tell

0:28:33.920 --> 0:28:37.480
<v Speaker 2>people like, look, do not let these jobs rob you

0:28:37.640 --> 0:28:41.239
<v Speaker 2>of your hairline, or your edges, or your relationship, or

0:28:41.280 --> 0:28:44.640
<v Speaker 2>your happiness, or your joy or your time with your kids.

0:28:45.120 --> 0:28:49.880
<v Speaker 2>Like there's so many places out here that will actually

0:28:50.000 --> 0:28:55.600
<v Speaker 2>appreciate the goodness that you bring to a professional setting.

0:28:55.840 --> 0:28:59.560
<v Speaker 2>And I talk about work in this way because we

0:28:59.640 --> 0:29:02.280
<v Speaker 2>when we talked about code switching at and our latest

0:29:02.280 --> 0:29:07.480
<v Speaker 2>survey with black professionals at LinkedIn, sixty black professionals felt

0:29:07.480 --> 0:29:09.720
<v Speaker 2>like that they had to code switch at work, and

0:29:10.160 --> 0:29:12.680
<v Speaker 2>forty two percent of them said that their parents and

0:29:12.720 --> 0:29:16.280
<v Speaker 2>their families told them that they need to do it right.

0:29:16.960 --> 0:29:20.000
<v Speaker 2>And so what I try to do is speak agency

0:29:20.080 --> 0:29:25.240
<v Speaker 2>into the professional lives of my friends or people who

0:29:25.280 --> 0:29:28.320
<v Speaker 2>see me on TV, or people who who I'm giving

0:29:28.320 --> 0:29:33.479
<v Speaker 2>career advice to because I recognize that nobody was speaking

0:29:33.560 --> 0:29:36.960
<v Speaker 2>agency over my career until I was almost thirty or

0:29:36.960 --> 0:29:39.840
<v Speaker 2>forty years old. They were saying, don't do this, don't

0:29:39.840 --> 0:29:44.000
<v Speaker 2>do that. Better be thankful for that right, And I'm like,

0:29:44.600 --> 0:29:48.600
<v Speaker 2>you have agency if you put the right strategy in place,

0:29:48.880 --> 0:29:51.320
<v Speaker 2>You're looking at your network in the right way, you

0:29:51.360 --> 0:29:53.640
<v Speaker 2>get your skills to where they need to be. You

0:29:53.800 --> 0:29:57.240
<v Speaker 2>understand what your superpower is and what you bring to

0:29:57.320 --> 0:30:00.960
<v Speaker 2>the professional world that is special and you that helps

0:30:00.960 --> 0:30:04.800
<v Speaker 2>people solve problems that are important. You gonna be okay.

0:30:05.360 --> 0:30:08.920
<v Speaker 2>And you don't have to be in a space or

0:30:08.960 --> 0:30:12.200
<v Speaker 2>a job or a role for long periods of time

0:30:13.000 --> 0:30:15.920
<v Speaker 2>where you feel defeated or that you feel like that

0:30:16.000 --> 0:30:18.040
<v Speaker 2>there's no opportunity for you to grow. You better than

0:30:18.080 --> 0:30:18.840
<v Speaker 2>that you better at a.

0:30:18.880 --> 0:30:22.719
<v Speaker 1>Job to that point, and this is the last one

0:30:22.760 --> 0:30:24.400
<v Speaker 1>I got for y'all. Want to do respectful. Your time

0:30:24.680 --> 0:30:30.080
<v Speaker 1>is DEI is under attack, right, and I have a view,

0:30:30.480 --> 0:30:35.400
<v Speaker 1>and it's been shown that every obstacle presents an opportunity.

0:30:35.600 --> 0:30:39.360
<v Speaker 1>And also that diversity is good for a business. It's

0:30:39.400 --> 0:30:42.720
<v Speaker 1>not just morally good, it's good for the bottom line,

0:30:42.920 --> 0:30:45.240
<v Speaker 1>and so that can't be lost.

0:30:45.280 --> 0:30:45.920
<v Speaker 2>I'm hoping.

0:30:46.000 --> 0:30:48.040
<v Speaker 1>You know, I'm saying it's completing like that can't be

0:30:48.120 --> 0:30:53.400
<v Speaker 1>lost on smart companies, that diversity is good for a business.

0:30:53.960 --> 0:30:58.040
<v Speaker 1>So if taking those two things, diversity is good for

0:30:58.160 --> 0:31:04.240
<v Speaker 1>business and they're is an opportunity in every obstacle, how

0:31:04.320 --> 0:31:09.480
<v Speaker 1>could this attack on the the E and I be

0:31:09.600 --> 0:31:14.280
<v Speaker 1>looked at differently other than just you know, woe is us?

0:31:14.320 --> 0:31:17.120
<v Speaker 1>You know they're trying to attack us again. How do

0:31:17.200 --> 0:31:19.360
<v Speaker 1>we see the opportunity here potentially?

0:31:20.360 --> 0:31:22.920
<v Speaker 2>Yo? So I look at it like this, right? Is

0:31:23.000 --> 0:31:26.520
<v Speaker 2>that I feel like D and I and DEI has

0:31:26.600 --> 0:31:30.600
<v Speaker 2>needed an overhaul for probably the last twenty years. I

0:31:30.600 --> 0:31:32.960
<v Speaker 2>think that, you know, we've made great strides, but I

0:31:32.960 --> 0:31:35.960
<v Speaker 2>think we low KI have been maybe doing it wrong

0:31:36.080 --> 0:31:39.400
<v Speaker 2>and not had the courage to actually you know, pull

0:31:39.480 --> 0:31:41.960
<v Speaker 2>the pull the lever stop and make them and make

0:31:42.000 --> 0:31:47.080
<v Speaker 2>a market shift. I think what the what the the

0:31:47.120 --> 0:31:51.560
<v Speaker 2>silver lining may be in this is that now DEI professionals,

0:31:51.600 --> 0:31:53.560
<v Speaker 2>the people who are really committed to it, they're about

0:31:53.560 --> 0:31:55.400
<v Speaker 2>to go back into the lab. They're going to go

0:31:55.480 --> 0:31:58.360
<v Speaker 2>back into the lab now with attorneys. They're going to

0:31:58.400 --> 0:32:02.000
<v Speaker 2>go back into the lab now with policy folks. And

0:32:02.040 --> 0:32:06.000
<v Speaker 2>that they and if they do the real work of saying, Okay,

0:32:06.160 --> 0:32:09.400
<v Speaker 2>how can we make this work unassailable? How can we

0:32:09.440 --> 0:32:12.240
<v Speaker 2>still get to what we need to do and make

0:32:12.320 --> 0:32:16.120
<v Speaker 2>this work unassailable. Let's go in and go under the

0:32:16.160 --> 0:32:19.480
<v Speaker 2>hood and actually take this moment and fix all of

0:32:19.480 --> 0:32:22.840
<v Speaker 2>these things. Let's fill in these gaps. And because Deus

0:32:23.320 --> 0:32:25.640
<v Speaker 2>has had some gaps, even the companies that have put

0:32:25.680 --> 0:32:29.400
<v Speaker 2>in major work, how do you now say, Okay, we're

0:32:29.440 --> 0:32:31.560
<v Speaker 2>about to go back into lab and what comes out

0:32:31.560 --> 0:32:34.880
<v Speaker 2>of this is gonna be unassailable. Right, It's gonna work.

0:32:34.920 --> 0:32:36.840
<v Speaker 2>We're gonna take the best of what we've seen and

0:32:36.840 --> 0:32:39.560
<v Speaker 2>we're gonna kick the old stuff out. Right. I hope

0:32:39.600 --> 0:32:41.920
<v Speaker 2>that we see on the other side of this is

0:32:41.960 --> 0:32:44.880
<v Speaker 2>that a whole new strategy emerges, a whole new way

0:32:44.880 --> 0:32:48.360
<v Speaker 2>of talking about this. The legislation and the potential court

0:32:48.400 --> 0:32:51.560
<v Speaker 2>cases is gonna make us use different language and different

0:32:51.560 --> 0:32:53.640
<v Speaker 2>words to talk about this, right, And I think that

0:32:53.680 --> 0:32:56.120
<v Speaker 2>we needed a language overhaul in DEI for a long

0:32:56.160 --> 0:32:58.560
<v Speaker 2>time anyway, And so this may be the forcing factor

0:32:58.600 --> 0:33:01.280
<v Speaker 2>that takes us from good to great. That's the way

0:33:01.280 --> 0:33:02.840
<v Speaker 2>I see it. I think the people who are truly

0:33:02.880 --> 0:33:06.200
<v Speaker 2>committed to it may be quiet in this next view,

0:33:06.480 --> 0:33:08.640
<v Speaker 2>this next eighteen to twenty four months. Some of the

0:33:08.680 --> 0:33:10.680
<v Speaker 2>people that have been really loud may have to get

0:33:10.760 --> 0:33:13.400
<v Speaker 2>quiet for a little while. But when they come back,

0:33:14.040 --> 0:33:17.360
<v Speaker 2>my gut says to me that a lot of people

0:33:17.360 --> 0:33:19.600
<v Speaker 2>are gonna come back, and they're gonna come back with

0:33:20.280 --> 0:33:24.840
<v Speaker 2>better ideas, better impact, better innovation, better ways of measurement,

0:33:25.240 --> 0:33:27.960
<v Speaker 2>and better ways of thinking about what impact looks like.

0:33:28.120 --> 0:33:30.640
<v Speaker 2>Because here's my think on it, will is that if

0:33:30.760 --> 0:33:35.360
<v Speaker 2>I go to a company and they say, oh, well,

0:33:36.000 --> 0:33:38.280
<v Speaker 2>I want you to know that they're fourteen percent of

0:33:38.280 --> 0:33:41.520
<v Speaker 2>the view of the of the US population is African

0:33:41.560 --> 0:33:45.080
<v Speaker 2>American and we have you know, ten percent African Americans

0:33:45.120 --> 0:33:47.960
<v Speaker 2>at this company, and you're like, oh wow, that's crazy,

0:33:48.120 --> 0:33:51.760
<v Speaker 2>Like that's crazy good for most companies in terms of representation.

0:33:52.280 --> 0:33:55.320
<v Speaker 2>But if all of those all of those black people

0:33:55.920 --> 0:34:00.920
<v Speaker 2>went to Dartmouth, went to you know, they went to Dartmouth,

0:34:01.240 --> 0:34:06.160
<v Speaker 2>they went to Harvard, they went to Yale, talk to

0:34:06.200 --> 0:34:10.120
<v Speaker 2>me a little bit about representation again, right, Because you

0:34:10.160 --> 0:34:13.239
<v Speaker 2>can go to some companies and all of the black

0:34:13.280 --> 0:34:16.799
<v Speaker 2>folks came from the same three schools. I'm not saying

0:34:16.800 --> 0:34:19.480
<v Speaker 2>that that's a bad thing. I'm saying it ain't necessarily

0:34:19.520 --> 0:34:22.719
<v Speaker 2>representation thing, right, it's a thing. It's a thing. It's

0:34:22.719 --> 0:34:24.400
<v Speaker 2>a thing that we don't talk about because you know,

0:34:24.480 --> 0:34:26.680
<v Speaker 2>oftentimes we just happen to see some more black folks there,

0:34:27.120 --> 0:34:29.200
<v Speaker 2>you know what I mean. But I think that we're

0:34:29.239 --> 0:34:32.760
<v Speaker 2>gonna come back smarter, We're gonna come back stronger. And listen,

0:34:32.800 --> 0:34:34.879
<v Speaker 2>you're right about them. This is the last thing I'll

0:34:34.880 --> 0:34:39.040
<v Speaker 2>say is you're absolutely right about the the These companies

0:34:39.480 --> 0:34:42.880
<v Speaker 2>need representation. Ninety percent of the population growth that has

0:34:42.880 --> 0:34:44.880
<v Speaker 2>happened in this country in the last fifteen years has

0:34:44.880 --> 0:34:47.800
<v Speaker 2>come from communities of color. If you don't have black,

0:34:48.320 --> 0:34:53.279
<v Speaker 2>Latino Asian folks and listen also LGBTQ plus folks in

0:34:53.320 --> 0:34:56.279
<v Speaker 2>your companies helping you decode culture, you're not gonna sell

0:34:56.320 --> 0:34:57.920
<v Speaker 2>You're not gonna sell products in the way that you

0:34:57.920 --> 0:35:02.359
<v Speaker 2>need to sell products because you can't just engage. You

0:35:02.400 --> 0:35:04.480
<v Speaker 2>can't engage us in the same ways that you did

0:35:04.560 --> 0:35:08.800
<v Speaker 2>because the younger, younger people of color and younger women

0:35:08.840 --> 0:35:12.600
<v Speaker 2>of color in particular, are just not down for to

0:35:12.719 --> 0:35:15.160
<v Speaker 2>take the same things from companies that they do business

0:35:15.160 --> 0:35:18.560
<v Speaker 2>with that you know, previous generations were down to do.

0:35:19.160 --> 0:35:24.600
<v Speaker 2>And you've got to have that representation to really understand culture,

0:35:25.000 --> 0:35:28.120
<v Speaker 2>and I think culture is going to be particularly in

0:35:28.800 --> 0:35:33.160
<v Speaker 2>as the country becomes more and more diverse and becomes

0:35:33.400 --> 0:35:36.919
<v Speaker 2>majority multicultural in just a short order of time. It's

0:35:37.000 --> 0:35:40.480
<v Speaker 2>going to be even more incummon upon these companies to

0:35:40.600 --> 0:35:43.600
<v Speaker 2>make sure that they not only have representation, but they

0:35:43.600 --> 0:35:47.560
<v Speaker 2>have representation that they're listening to and that they are

0:35:47.600 --> 0:35:50.680
<v Speaker 2>giving voice and optionality.

0:35:49.840 --> 0:36:07.040
<v Speaker 3>To Black Tech.

0:36:07.040 --> 0:36:09.759
<v Speaker 1>Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro Tech on

0:36:09.920 --> 0:36:13.120
<v Speaker 1>the Black Effect Podcast Network and Ihurt Media. It's produced

0:36:13.160 --> 0:36:16.960
<v Speaker 1>by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with additional production

0:36:17.040 --> 0:36:20.640
<v Speaker 1>support by Sarah Ergin and Love Beach. Special thank you

0:36:20.680 --> 0:36:23.759
<v Speaker 1>to Michael Davis and Kay McDonald. Learn more about my

0:36:23.840 --> 0:36:26.400
<v Speaker 1>guests and other tech. This is an innovators at afrotech

0:36:26.480 --> 0:36:30.200
<v Speaker 1>dot com. I'm joining Black Tech Green Money. Share us

0:36:30.239 --> 0:36:33.080
<v Speaker 1>with somebody Go get your money.

0:36:33.640 --> 0:36:34.200
<v Speaker 3>He's in love