In the post-George Floyd era of DEI adoption, many organizations are fully convinced that DEI is a priority. What remains challenging, however, is advancing a specific agenda beyond that point. DEI practitioners face regular and frustrating challenges when advancing a DEI agenda, and this friction can lead to a host of negative outcomes.

 

In this interactive session, Willie Jackson will present the common types of pushback one encounters on this journey along with actionable tactics attendees can use in their work. We’ll cover the role of courage, when to push back, and how to create a sense of excitement and urgency where one didn’t previously exist.

 

In this session, you will learn:

• How to sell a vision without being selfish or pushy.

• Unorthodox ways of creating excitement and urgency.

• How to turn opponents into allies.

 

Speaker Bio:

Willie (he/him) is a keynote speaker, consultant, and facilitator who helps organizations advance vital conversations that unlock connections across differences. His belief in the transformative power of media to change narratives led him to found Abernathy, a magazine for black men backed by companies like Mailchimp, Atlassian, and WeWork. In its four-year run, Abernathy published 400+ articles and produced a series of curated events for diverse professionals across the nation.

 

Willie served as Founding Technical Lead of Seth Godin’s altMBA program for high-performing individuals who want to level up and lead, and CTO of The Domino Project, an award-winning publishing company founded by business luminary Seth Godin and powered by Amazon.com. He's been featured in documentaries (I’m Fine, Thanks), on HGTV (House Hunters International), and in print (Icarus Deception). Willie is an avid houseplant aficionado and loves to spread the gospel of self-watering planters whenever possible.