A Recap of the 2021 National Workplace Summit
To help those leading teams move from reacting to crises to recovering and thriving in this “new world of work”, the Conferences for Women (in partnership with Cisco) hosted the first ever National Workplace Summit on May 6, 2021. This virtual summit featured sessions with some of the world’s leading workplace strategists, LIVE Q&A, expert-led facilitated networking sessions, and pre-summit networking with experts and peers. Below are some of the highlights.
Cate Luzio, founder and CEO at Luminary, shared some of her top tips and tricks for networking virtually, making connections, and nurturing those connections even while social distancing.
Thomas Friedman, three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning
New York Times columnist, provided clarity around the complex issues shaping our world today, explored how these issues will impact the future world of work, and offered tools for leading in a post-pandemic workplace. He also inspired us to strive for a “better normal” rather than a new normal.
Rana Foroohar, CNN analyst and author, later led a discussion with Friedman on the challenges and opportunities that now exist for leaders leading virtual teams, how to lead through crisis and times of change, and the importance of being agile and ensuring equity in the workplace–across race and gender.
Ijeoma Oluo, author of the book,
So You Want to Talk About Race, offered actionable insights to help managers have honest and productive conversations about race and racism in order to advance justice, equity and inclusion within their teams; even in virtual or hybrid environments.
Malcolm Gladwell, six-time
New York Times best-selling author, explored situational leadership styles for keeping teams engaged, productive and growing in the “new world of work”. He also used a recent (and controversial) workplace issue as a situational leadership example to analyze whether this new world of work threatens the ability for leaders to build cohesive and productive teams, and offered insights on how they should respond.
Key Takeaways
“We show our concern for things in how we choose to address them.” — Ijeoma Oluo on advancing JEI
“Strive to create a better normal.” — Thomas Friedman on managing in a post-pandemic paradigm
“Comfort is the enemy to diversity.” — Malcolm Gladwell on the need to get uncomfortable long enough to tackle diversity
Resources
Workplace Summit Program Guide
Workplace Summit Networking Guide
JEI Resource Center
