The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace - Presented by the Department of Sport Management's Emerging Leaders Council

Syracuse University | Falk College | Department of Sport Management

Falk College’s Department of Sport Management Emerging Leaders Council (ELC) launched a virtual professional development series for young professionals on July 15, 2020 called “The Juice.”

The Juice livestream is dedicated to supporting, promoting, and encouraging professional development and social interaction among young professionals in the sports and entertainment industry. Experienced professionals will engage in dialogue, offer guidance in professional development, and answer questions submitted by the students through a weekly live webinar series.

The first session occurred on Wednesday, July 15 entitled “The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace.” This event, moderated by Professor of Sport Management, Dr. Mary Graham, addressed how and why diversity is important, challenges companies and professionals encounter throughout their careers, success stories, and ideas for how every person can help foster a more inclusive work environment. Featured panelists will shared their strategies and successes building and working with diverse teams as well as highlight the positive impact diversity and inclusion can have on a corporate culture, business success, and a company’s bottom line.

Panelists included licensed clinical psychologist and Syracuse University Falk College alumna Dr. Tasha Brown ’10, as well as Spelman College Assistant Professor Dr. Danielle Dickens, whose research includes identity negotiation, stereotyping, and prejudice in the workplace. Dr. Brown and Dr. Dickens will be joined by WarnerMedia Executive Director Josette Sprott and sport and entertainment professional Orestes Hernandez.

Learn more about this series.

Transcript:

Open Captioning Provided By: Sally Maiorano, CRR, RMR, CRC

This is being provided in a rough‑draft format.  Open Captioning is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings

>> NICOLE COST:  Good afternoon, welcome to The Juice.  This is a live webinar series created by alumni from the Department of Sport Management at Falk College at Syracuse University, known as the Emerging Leaders Council.  This group of young professionals wanted to provide engaging professional relevant content for students and industry professionals alike during unpredictable remote times.  Today is session one of six in a series, with future topics including creating your own brand, being an industry professional, pro athletic career, emerging trends in sport and entertainment. 

I would like to give a special thank you for council members Dan [indiscernible] Robinson, Elijah Biggins, and Charma Harris, who worked to round up today's panelists. 

My name is Nicole Cost.  I'm with the Department of Sport Management, and I'm a graduate of the program as well.  As someone who's been a part of the department from the very beginning, I am thrilled to see it continue to evolve specifically with incredibly important programming like this.  I'd like to start today's program by introducing our moderator of the inaugural edition of The Juice, led today by Dr. Mary Graham.  Thank you for moderating today, Mary.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you, Nicole.  So I'm a sport management professor at Syracuse University.  And I'm very grateful to have been asked to moderate this session today, which I think is going to be fantastic.

I've taught courses on management for over 20 years, and I devote a substantial amount of time to antidiscrimination laws and workforce diversity initiatives.  I also publish in these areas, so I've reflected on issues of racism and sexism in some depth.  Nevertheless, I was horrified to watch the May 25th murder of George Floyd and last month I attended my first Black Lives Matter rally.  Clearly I along with a lot of other white people have more work to do to further social justice and to fight racism.

Workforce diversity in current events are not unrelated and will probably get into both today.  And I invite all the participants to participate in the panel today with a ‑‑ or approach it with a sincere openness to learning from the expertise of our panel.  The format of the webinar is as follows:  Syracuse University sport management alum and advisory board member Charma Harris will introduce our distinguished panel.  I'll then ask panelists ‑‑ a set of questions and facilitate a discussion for about 40 minutes.  And following that, Nicole will have questions from the audience, and so if you have questions feel free to type them into the Q&A.  That's at the bottom of your screen as you move your mouse.  And only we will see the questions and we will not use your name with the questions, so please ask away.

The chat is ‑‑ oh, sorry, I already said that.  We are recording the webinar for future viewing as well.

So after the Q&A session, Charma will help us wrap up with some offline comments.  With that, I invite Charma to introduce our panel.

>> Thank you, Dr. Graham for the introduction and for moderating today's panel.  I am really excited to hear from our panelistists.  Our first panelists is Dr. Tasha Brown.  Dr. Brown graduated from Syracuse University in 2010 with a bachelor of science in child and family studies in psychology.  In 2013 Dr. Brown received her master of arts in clinical psychology and in 2016 she received a doctor of philosophy in clinical psychology from DePaul University.  Dr. Brown is currently working as a licensed psychologist at New York Presbyterian Hospital and is also a faculty member at Columbia University Medical Center.  Thanks for joining us, Dr. Brown.  Our next panelist is Dr. Danielle Dickens.  Dr. Dickens received a bachelor's from Spelman College, and also received masters and doctor's degrees from Colorado State University.  Dr. Dickens is an assistant professor at Spelman College.  Her research examines how members of underrepresented groups cope with and experience discrimination.  Thanks for joining us, Dr. Dickens. 

Orestes Hernandez has business develop experience in highly competitive markets.  He is previously worked for the Miami Marlins, the PGA TOUR and the Mascot Hall of Fame.  Orestes earned his bachelor's degree in business administration and sports management in University of Miami. 

The final panelist ‑‑ thank you also for being here today. 

Our final panelist is Josette Sprott.  In her current role at WarnerMedia, she provide strategic business partnership to leaders of the WarnerBros plan to deliver solutions.  She is passionate about strong inclusive company cultures and thrives on developing and executing people strategies that have a direct impact on employee experience. 

Dr. Brown, Dr. Dickens, Orestes, and Josette, thank you for being a part of our inaugural Juice event.  We are excited to hear about your experiences and insights regarding this timely and important topic.  Dr. Graham, over to you.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you, Charma.  A very sincere welcome to all of our panelists and to the participants in the webinar.  We're very glad the panelists are with us today.  Honor they've taken the time out to be with us.

So the first question directed to each of you on the panel is how do you define diversity and inclusion?

And has the recent Black Lives Matter movement and activities changed how you think about diversity and inclusion?

Tasha, why don't we start with you.

>> Tasha Brown:  First of all, thank you so much for having me.  I think that's a great question to start out with.  I think when we start to define diversity and inclusion, we have to just start with the acknowledgment that systems in America have been built on notions of white supremacy and as a result racism, classism, homophobia are threaded throughout many if not if all the institutions that we work for and interact with.  And because it's really important to dismantle this white supremacy, we have to talk about diversity and we have to talk about inclusion in ways that are beyond a very surface‑level type of understanding of it.

So I think when we talk about diversity, this understanding that we all bring so many unique characteristics to the table in terms of our experiences where we're from, how we identify, and those should all be represented in very unique ways in our workspaces.

And when we talk about diversity, we can't just leave it there.  Because we can be there and diversify places, but what's really important is inclusion.  So how are we included in these workspaces that we diversify, so are our opinion validated, can we really make changes, what ‑‑ is what we bring to the table respected and valued.  So inclusion is really about what it is we bring to the table and how we ‑‑ and how we're valued.  And I think in terms of the recent very public

 acknowledgments of the murders of Black people in America and the Black Lives Matter movement, I don't think for me personally it's changed the importance of thinking about diversity and inclusion in the workplace, I think for America on a whole I think there's just so much more attention and so companies and institutions are being forced to not only talk about but really show like receipts about how they have incorporated diversity and inclusion in their workspaces.

And so what the current Black Lives Matter movement and the publicity has made it so everyone has to be very public about what it is that they're doing.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Daniel?

>> DANIELLE DICKENS:  I think you gave a great answer, but to add to what Tasha mentioned, when I think about diversity, it's that idea of recognizing differences.  As she mentioned, differences as it relates to different social identities.  Race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, age, et cetera.  And then also I think it's the idea that we can't have this colorblind ideology.

And some people have this misperception that saying I don't recognize color or I don't see differences that that is appropriate.  But that is considered to be discriminatory.  It's an idea that it is we should recognize differences which also is related to like multiculturalism.

And then also when I think about in diversity and inclusivity the idea that we have to provide spaces where people are welcomed because of their different social identities, and particularly with individuals feel a sense of belonging.  And so that may look differently depending upon if it's a workplace or a college, but providing different spaces where people feel safe.  And I agree with Tasha that the Black Lives Matter movement hasn't changed my perspective on diversity and inclusion, but as she mentioned, I think that it has forced people to talk about these issues, that what Black Lives Matter is bringing to the forefront a lot of Black people we have always had these conversations and felt this way, but I think that also with the ‑‑ due to social media, it has been getting a lot of traction to bringing out more people.  And also I think due to our employment climate.  But as she mentioned I think it's forcing people to now have these

 open and honest conversations around race and other identities.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you.  Orestes?

>> ORESTES HERNANDEZ:  Thanks again for inviting me on the panel.  So let's talk about diversity.  When people talked about being a five tool player or being a well‑rounded person, having a diverse set of things that you're an expert in builds you in into that five tool player into a well‑rounded person.  Companies are no different.  Diversity among your team brings expertise from different perspectives, seeing things from different angles, it's the thing that helps build great teams and, you know, and great organizations.

Now, let's talk about inclusion.  For me, it's really simple.  It's a sense of belonging.  You've got to feel that you belong in the team that you're in.  And I can count many times when I didn't feel that way, and I'm sure many of you maybe have the same experience.

The recent ‑‑ and I'll do "recent" in quotes, the "recent" killings of Black people hasn't changed my thinking about diversity and inclusion at all, it's really ‑‑ it's always been a fundamental importance to me in society and in the workplace.

This hasn't changed.  What ‑‑ what it has done, though, is ‑‑ at least, you know to me, is brought to the forefront how fundamentally racism our country's foundation was built on.  It's an eye‑opening, you know, thing for me.  In my opinion I'd say it's all a matter of education and how it's delivered to students at all levels.  You know, I can remember as a young professional maybe three or four years out of graduating from the University of Miami thinking that colleges should be offering [indiscernible] until business networking and building relationships.  It's an essential skill that, you know, I should have learned in school and didn't.  Today with what's happening in our society, which should also be ‑‑ being taught in school is an unredacted reality of the country's history.  I should have learned about Juneteenth, for example, and didn't.  So those things are going to build a better workplace more inclusive workplace and build diverse culture in organizations across the country.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you.  Josette?

>> JOSETTE SPROTT:  Thank you for having me.  I don't have anything to add in terms of defining diversity and inclusion, outside of what the panelists have already said, but what I think is diversity has very little power without inclusion.  While it's important when you're in an organization to see leaders who look like you and where you're aspiring to how did they get there.  You know, we have to really look ‑‑ it's hard to be the only one, but I think we also have to look at the employee systems, the organizational culture, the level of innovativeness and commitment that an organization has to inclusion.

You know, looking at things like how are they providing employees with opportunities?

Is it clear, right, when I get feedback from my managers, what does that feedback look like, is it consistent, do I understand it, is it actionable?

How am I being developed?

Do I have exposure to other leaders?

We know that having a network is so important, right, but if I don't have those same opportunities to interact with leaders and folks who I can maybe eventually sort of being a mentor, then I'm hurt.  For me, what's important is, like, I'm a Black woman, ion an I mean the grant, I'm an introvert, I need to be able to walk into an organization and be my authentic self, right?

I need to be celebrated, I need to be heard, I need to be paid the same, I have those same opportunities.

And organizations have a very, very, very long way to go to get there.  The idea of like diversity inclusion is really sexy.  It's been around for a really long time.  And as I'm sort of thinking about where we are today the fact is that almost feels like we're starting from the beginning again, right?

And that for me is challenging but I'm also, like, hopeful that with this time, with social media, with ‑‑ the call to action, I'm hoping that there is going to be real change.

I agree with the others just in terms of what has changed.  And for me, that importance has not changed.  But what I think ‑‑ what I'm seeing is that sort of this sense of urgency and perhaps it is being ‑‑ is the fact that folks are being called out.  And I've asked myself several times and to be honest, I'm not sure if it's the right question, but like why now?

What is the difference now in ‑‑ there have been racial issues, there have been killings and all these things we're facing now for years.  Why is this the moment?

But I try not to dwell on that, I'm trying to dwell on the moment that we're in and the power of the voice and seeing all these young people organizing and protesting and that is really sort of giving ‑‑ it's encouraging and it's really sort of giving me hope.  I mean, one of the things that I will say just leadership is just so, so, so important.  You know, I sort of ‑‑ as I have sort of progressed in my career, obviously looked at diversity and how I talked it about as an HR professional in very different ways.  And it's a very, very difficult time now with COVID and with everything else going on, but I'm really happy that this is at the forefront of what we're talking about as a nation.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Great, thank you, Josette, and thanks to the entire panel for getting us started on such a strong, strong note.

The next question is why is diversity and inclusion important?

And why should it be important to students, young professionals, to their future employers, and any examples you have would be welcome.  And, Orestes, why don't we begin with you?

>> ORESTES HERNANDEZ:  Great.  Like I mentioned in the previous question, diversity among your team brings out expertise from different perspectives and you get to see things from angles that maybe you don't see.  Getting to the finish line maybe not going the route that everybody goes all the time.  We've always done it this way.  What if we went this way?

You know, it's ‑‑ again, it's the thing that helps build great teams and great organizations to accomplish great things.  Those two things should be important to students and today's young professionals for obvious reasons.  Everyone wants to be on a winning team, you want to accomplish something amazing in life, in your career, you want to reach your goals and you want to reach the finish line, so to speak, right?

In my career, I've worked in major league baseball, PGA TOUR, a civic museum in a Miami suburb and a children's museum disguised a as a sports hall of fame in northwest Indiana.  When I kind of zoom out and look at all of those experiences I can tell you that my time at the PGA TOUR stands tall among the rest.  And you may ask why is that?

At the time that I joined the PGA TOUR, that team I had in Durall, which is another suburb of Miami, you can, you know, argue in a blunt way that the PGA TOUR was run by a bunch of old white guys, right?

So our satellite team that ran that particular tournament in Durall, Florida, was arguably my most diverse and most inclusive of my four work experiences.  Our small team consisted of white, Black, Latino men and women.

And we all had our distinct responsibilities, and our specific roles to play.  And right, you know, a great challenge our small team succeeded.  Our satellite team at the PGA TOUR had it right, we had the right formula in terms of diversity and inclusion.  It's the foundation ‑‑ its foundation was a diverse time where everyone had their place, and I think that's where companies ‑‑ companies need to strive to be.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you.  Josette?

>> JOSETTE SPROTT:  I was reading an article recently about sort of where we are ‑‑ it was ‑‑ actually, it was a study about sort of where we are in terms of diversity.  And one of the things it says was that Blacks and Hispanic and Latinos are underrepresented in every area of their sort of the hierarchy of work above the support staff.  You know, 85% of the executives, executive teams held by white men, it's even more dire for women minorities, and it's such ‑‑ it's such a problem, right?

There are so many microaggressions that happen in organizations, you talk about things like cultural fit and hiring and oftentimes I've had discussions with leaders who or even met hiring managers who were sort of where you talk about qualifications and why a candidate is not ‑‑ is not the right one, they talk about this idea of cultural fit.  Right?

Which is a whole other issue.  And I think it's really important to tackle these and I think you have to have diverse voices in order to be able to do it.  If nothing else, it is good for business.  It builds resilience.

I was born in the Caribbean, and when I was younger we had three channels, nobody wants that, right?

We all want, you know, differing ‑‑ we want options, we want to hear different things.  We want to be challenged in different ‑‑ and that's how I think organizations need to be.  And nothing else, like when you have opportunity, you're able to contribute to the economy, right?

You're able to take care of your families.  And I just ‑‑ so there's certainly a lot of work to be done around, you know, around diversity, but those are the reasons that I think diversity really is important.  It's just ‑‑ it's good for society and for business and studies show that those organizations that focus more on gender and ethnic or racial diversity is ‑‑ they're much ‑‑ they're more successful than those that do not.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Great, thank you.  Tasha?

>> Tasha Brown:  I think automatically to the psychology behind inclusion and what it means for someone to feel like they belong at their workspace.  And, like, what ‑‑ how that changes how they show up.

So, yes, we diversify workplaces, but that inclusion part where everyone should feel as if they belong and their voices heard and they can contribute, the psychology behind that is so powerful.  So if you're showing up to a space where you feel included and there's true inclusion, the way that you are going to perform in terms ‑‑ and the research is very clear about this, in terms of what it is you produce, how you interact with your co‑workers, how you talk about your organization

 how long you stay at your organization, your desire to go above and beyond for your organization changes when you feel included, when you feel like you're just not there but you're valued.

And so inclusion is so important for the psyche of all ‑‑ of all of us working in places because it changes how we show up.

And on the counter, if you're showing up to a place where you're not included, that leads to lack of motivation, not staying in places for long, not wanting to put in extra when you're asked because you're voice isn't being heard.

I always think back to when I was in graduate school and some of my early career experiences in terms of like when I saw someone who looked like me who had already kind of gone a few steps ‑‑ who was already a little bit ahead in their career.  And sometimes it wasn't just about having them and seeing them there.  It was about how were they being treated, what were they being able to bring into those spaces, how was I able to see them navigate the politics and kind of the outcomes of their presence.  And so I really think that we ‑‑ diversity, we can talk about diversity all day long and diversifying places, but really focusing on ‑‑ on that inclusion part because that's where the psychological impact is there and everyone wants outcomes and we're not going to have outcomes if people don't feel included.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you, Tasha.  Danielle?

>> DANIELLE DICKENS:  I agree with what everyone has already stated and to say that we live in a diverse society, even though from a psychological perspective sometimes we tend to group with people that

 share a similar identity to us, but we live in a diverse world in society.  And so even if you may be at a particular workplace or institution now, when you do go in for your first job or others you're going to be around a lot of diversity.  So it's really important to think about certain skill sets in order to get along and to collaborate with your team members.  And also I think about as what was stated already about inclusion that this is important because people want to be able to feel their authentic self.

And we know that with ‑‑ we already mentioned it leads to better work performance.  And then also in made me think about too this question about Black Lives Matter movement and a lot of companies coming out and saying, okay, going to hire this amount of people that belong to underrepresented ethic groups, et cetera, but I think about what support are you going to provide when you hire all these Black individuals or other people of color to your institution.  So that's where inclusion comes in of providing a inclusive institution or work environment where they feel like they belong.  And they also feel like they see other people that look like them within higher positions.  It made me think about as it relates to athletics, now there's a lot of athletes who are deciding to go to historically Black colleges than predominantly white institutions because now they're recognizing even though I may get more scholarship money potentially by attending some of these top research intensive or predominantly white institutions, but I know I will feel supported at historical Black colleges.  So the idea if companies or institutions are not providing this safe space and putting action towards diversity and inclusion, then people will know they can go somewhere elsewhere they will feel supported.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Fantastic.

And I'm just ‑‑ this is such a rich discussion, I'm sitting here just reflecting on both your answers to Number 1 and Number 2.  And I would like to just ask a follow‑up related to what Danielle just set.  What can employers do who are really making efforts to include their Black employees and employees of color?

And specifically, you know, it must be difficult, I'm guessing, for Black employees and employees of color to deal with all the people who are like us who are new to the table, perhaps.  Would any of you like to speak to that?

>> ORESTES HERNANDEZ:  Real quick on that comment, I was thinking about the last answer.

I would suggest that they not, you know, when employers get on the bandwagon, right, and they proclaim, okay, you know what, we've been doing it wrong, we're going hire more inclusively, et cetera, et cetera, when they do that, to your point, to provide the resources to make that an enviable ‑‑ a productive task, they need to get off the high horse.  They need to be okay with saying that they don't know if they don't.  They've got to be okay to ask the question.  They've got to be okay with getting support from maybe a third party.  They've got to be okay with even asking those new hires, this is where we are, we brought you in, help us accomplish this and do it together.  That's kind of the first thought that came to my mind.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Great.  Anyone else on that point?

>> Tasha Brown:  I think asking questions is always a great place to start.  And also ‑‑ and doing the work outside of asking your questions at the same time.  So asking these new people who you're bringing into your organizations what's your vision, where do you see this company going, what are you bringing to the space that can help us move forward and address the needs of a wide variety of people and really taking into consideration what they're saying in order to move forward and make actionable steps.

And then on the flip side doing the work outside on your own and thinking about what can I do to familiarize myself with race and racism and white supremacy and how this has played out historically in my institution so that I'm not constantly playing it out again I think is really important.  So it's about what you're doing in the moment when you have these new people coming into your organizations or when you're trying to diversify and include people, and it's also what you're doing outside of work on a personal level.  Because we all know that we're all bringing our own biases and experiences into our workplaces and that plays out.  So it takes a level of work on the outside.

>> JOSETTE SPROTT:  I agree with that.  I think the idea of personal ‑‑ the accountability is so important, and I think it's not talked about enough when it comes to leaders.  Because oftentimes, you know, when you have these trainings and different things these organizations do, it doesn't feel authentic, it feels like it's additional work, and it's lot ‑‑ what you learn sometimes is just left at work and you sort of go about your merry way and sort of continue on with your life.  But I think if you sort of are looking within, if you're thinking about your sort of personal board of directors, I heard that term recently, I was like this is really amazing, you know, who are you surrounding yourself with?

Whose opinions matter to you?

Sort of taking that into the workforce when you have meetings, who are part of those meetings?

Who are you tapping into?

And I think that sort of very much helping ‑‑ sort of change it from being this thing on the side to it's really incorporated within the culture.  The other thing I think about it is organizations are kind of navigating through all of this is it's not the role of the people of color, those people who are being victimized to solve the problem.  And I think that's ‑‑ that's I think everyone's right around asking questions, educating yourself, but patient should also be the doctor if you will.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  And I ‑‑

>> DANIELLE DICKENS:  I wanted to add to that too, I think that another suggestion is that the institutions and companies should create these institutionalized structures of inclusivity.  So if ‑‑ because I know some companies have developed different mentoring programs for women, women of color or individual part of the LGBTQ community, now we have you here, but we want to support you as you navigate the politics within the workplace.  Or even thinking about the idea of not having Christmas parties because everyone does not celebrate Christmas.  So maybe having a holiday party instead.  So think about ways in which companies can be more inclusive in thinking about people belong to different groups, right?

And not just to focus on these dominant identities and groups.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Fantastic.

And we've had a little bit of activity in chat and the Q&A.  Wanting to up on Danielle's mention of college athletes, Black college athletes, in particular, if you wanted to elaborate on that, that would be great, but also we had one question about how does an athletic department foster an inclusive culture in that regard?

>> DANIELLE DICKENS:  So with the first part of the question, I think just to add to it, I think especially what's happening with the Black Lives Matter and also for nonstudent‑athletes, I do see that some Black individuals maybe they haven't considered historically Black colleges before, but now they are looking at them because understanding that they provide a safe space as it relates to their identity.  And so my mother attended a historically Black college, so I always knew that I would go to one.  But I understand that some people might not have grown up in that type of environment.

And of course the reason is financial resources.  And scholarships.  But recognizing I believe the importance of HBCUs and how historically they have always supported Black lives.  So I think that now a lot of Black individuals and particularly Black student of college athletes are recognizing that.  And they are also recognizing that if they want to, you know, get into the major leagues that people will find them, even if they are at historically Black college.  So I think they're recognizing that.  Like let me be around a space where also I get to learn about my history.  And so me growing up in Atlanta, it wasn't until I attended Spelman College where I learned about my history.

And particularly as it relates to a Black woman.

And I think they're recognizing now some of the other benefits and advantages to attending historically Black college.  And the second part of the question about what athletic departments can do, I think one of the things that's important that athletic departments see these athletes as human beings and not as, okay, this person's going to bring in money to the institution.  And I think people want to just be seen and they want to be heard.  Especially Black people want to be seen as humans.  Because when we think about Black Lives Matter is that we are and historically we have been dehumanized.  And so I think providing inclusion, providing spaces where showing that you care about them and also thinking about the ways in which how can we support them financially.  So even though that they are getting scholarships, et cetera, but how can we support them to make sure that they have all of their needs being met.  And then also how are we thinking about them in terms of their other different identities.  So besides being a student‑athlete, how are we thinking about, how are we nurturing their identities as it relates to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, et cetera.  So I think thinking about those besides their identity inclusion as it relates to student‑athlete I think is a start.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Great, thank you for your response.  Would anyone else like to comment regarding athletes and athletic departments?

Okay.  We'll move on to the next question then.  And this is directed to Josette and Orestes.  How are sport and entertainment organizations doing in the United States when it comes to hiring, retention, giving opportunities to Black employees and employees of color?

And what do you see working and what's not working?

>> ORESTES HERNANDEZ:  You want to go ahead?

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Yeah, sure, please.

>> ORESTES HERNANDEZ:  Ladies first, go ahead.

>> JOSETTE SPROTT:  Sure, sure.  I would say that based upon some of the numbers I shared earlier in terms of sort of diversity and executive ‑‑ we're not doing that well in the U.S.  And we certainly need to sort of capitalize on this moment.  I mean, one of the things I would say is that I think people good very excited about we need change now, right?

But I do think that this is a journey, right?

And there is so much we have to entangle around the structures that are part of organizations, right?

So while we've had to do diversity and inclusion programs, we know that just a lot of institutional racism and those kinds of things.  And so I think it is smart for organization to be thoughtful, to be strategic, to be innovative, in order to have long term, sustained programs.

And at the end of the day, you know, organizations, they don't have all the answers, right?

HR doesn't have all the answers, the [indiscernible] doesn't all the answers.  And so from what I've seen and I can sort of talk to you about what's happening within my own organization, there have been obviously sort of proclamation publicly about companies ‑‑ companies have been doing is sort of proclaiming about what they're going to be doing around DNI, who knows what's going to come to fruition.  One of the things with my organization, which I was surprised about and I was pleased is they immediately sort of addressed the Black Lives Matter and called it.  Like they named that thing.  I think in my past life organizations never really sort of, you know, named what the issue was.  They sort of danced around it.  Using corporate terms.  So that I think has been very helpful.  We're doing a lot of listening.  Listening sessions with organizations.  And from that sort of really committing to taking some actionable steps.  So from ‑‑ for example, from a WarnerMedia level, you know, we've got an enterprise inclusion team which has been in effect for a year or so, so you can imagine they're pretty busy.  But it's also things like do we know what our diversity numbers are?

What's the data around that and what do we do with that data?

So more transparency around data.  Looking at pay equity, which you know continues to be a problem.  Accountability around really having a diverse and inclusive organization and we don't know exactly what all those things will look like just yet, but it's sort of out there, it the commitment is out there, and I think that is certainly a start in addition to things like how are we developing people we talked about earlier.  At WarnerBros specifically one of the things they're looking at is sort of making inclusion more ‑‑ sort of defining it ‑‑ leading by example almost, right?

Like looking at how we're hiring, developing and growing the workforce with a focus on people ‑‑ excuse me ‑‑ people of color, excuse me, and women.  Right?

And we talked about like networks, not working and networks and so forth and exposing folks to those kinds of opportunities.  You know, looking at our content and how our content sort of mirrors what's happening in our community and then aligning those a lot better.  Talking about what we're doing as an organization, outreach for creatives and ‑‑ of color.  So there's a lot of work that's sort of being done, but again, I think it's going to be a long term it needs to be sustained, and so we're now at a time where it really needs to be ‑‑ needs to be smart.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you.  Orestes?

>> ORESTES HERNANDEZ:  Truly we shouldn't have to ask, you know, the country is in the middle of an awakening of sorts.  If sports and entertainment organizations want to get ahead of it, they ‑‑ they should be telling us, they should be telling their stake holders and their fans and their donors and their sponsors and their employees, they should be telling us how they're doing.  And it starts at the very top of the organization.

Arguably, I'd say it even starts with your team name and identity.  And this is sort of a sidetrack topic, but current in today's news with the NFL's team in Washington, D.C. finally deciding to move forward on changing their franchise name and mascot.  You know, some people might say that they're being pushed into it, you know, et cetera, referring to ‑‑ kind of referring to it in a negative connotation.  And while that's true that they're being pushed into it by their sponsors and big money talks always, right, especially in sports, I would ‑‑ if I were advising them, I would say focus on the positive.  I think Washington has a singularly unique opportunity to take this and go and run with it.  They should move forward with the most bold new name they could come up with and move the stakes further than anyone has or anyone could have guessed they could.  Right?

They represent Washington, D.C., the capitol of this great country, right?

This supposed great country.  I would argue that they could be a catalyst I think for a new way of thinking for corporate America and for for the sports and entertainment industries.  If they do this right, I think they have a great opportunity to become America's team for generations to come and for all Americans, right?

I think they have this really unique opportunity to do it and run with it and, man, I really think they could do it well.  If they commit to it.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Great, thank you.  I don't know if you were trying to make a pun, but I like the running with it, that really works well in football. 

So just did a little bit of a time check, and I'm going to pause here and hand it over to Nicole to pose some audience questions to the panel.  Nicole?

>> NICOLE COST:  Let me get back up here quickly.  Yeah, we've had some really great questions, and they also were relevant to some of the answers.  So one of the questions that we got was about higher education.  Saying that higher education in general does not always cater to the needs and experience of those within the BIPOC community, how do you professors and specifically, you know, in our program actually in sport management given that most of them are not BIPOC can create a safe environment that promotes diversity but can cater to specific needs of nonwhite students.  So how can we be more inclusive to create a safe environment and to also hopefully then get more diverse students into our program as well?

>> Tasha Brown:  I think one of the first places to start is when you think about developing your curriculum.  So being very critical about what it is you're putting on your syllabus.  And so starting with dissecting who are you reading and what are the backgrounds of the supposed thought leaders in the field that you're presenting to your students.  One of the best ways to build confidence in your students of color is to let them know that there are people who look like you and people who have similar experiences who are contributing to your ‑‑ to our field.  And so how can you interweave that into your curriculum and how can it be a constant conversation.  So it shouldn't be we're going to have this conversation and inclusion in November, the first week in November, so everyone get ready.  It should be day one, this is going to be part of our curriculum and it's going to come up in everything that we talk about.  And then creating the space to have those difficult conversations and acknowledging that they are difficult conversations.  Everyone in your classroom space is going to be interacting with and processing and having feelings on a very different level and understanding that it's okay for us to bring all of that into the room as long as we're respectful and we're trying to think about ways that we can move forward.  But bring that into your curriculum, bring that into how you talk about things, bring in current events.

If you ‑‑ one ‑‑ another thing you can do is thinking about who can you invite to talk to your class.  We're in the day and age of Zoom.  It's easy to Zoom one of these ‑‑ another person into your class to present a topic in a way that you might not be comfortable with or not even about comfort, but that it's just not your wheelhouse and someone else can bring in different areas of expertise.  So think about your curriculum.  And it might stretch you because if we're honest, not a lot of our training was like that.  And so we need to think about, okay, let me think about what was done with me when I was in school and what could have served the classroom as a whole and as better.  So what can you do to

 challenge the ways you were taught and bring something new to your current students.

>> NICOLE COST:  That's awesome, thank you.

>> DANIELLE DICKENS:  And to add to that, I reflect on my graduate school experience and being only one of two Black graduate students or Black people really within the department among graduate students, faculty, and staff.  And I didn't want to put it on me as my responsibility, but I really challenged probably a lot of other of my peers and faculty members in terms of bringing up issues like when I felt like I was being discriminated against I would bring it forth, I would talk to personally the ‑‑ like the department chair or even the graduate school to let about them know what's happening.  Because I think oftentimes, which makes sense that when you are experiencing any type of discrimination, you feel isolated, you feel marginalized and it may resort you to being silent about your experiences.  So I think it's more important to bring it forth so people know what's happening in that because sometimes is that people especially if they don't share those same identities or share the same experiences, they don't know what's happening.  And so it was ‑‑ even though I knew it wasn't my responsibility, I felt like I wanted to bring forth some of these issues as it relates to discrimination, diversity, to the forefront so that something can be done.  And then also I think this question keeps coming up but I think ‑‑ I really think institutions and particularly different programs have to think about how we're going to recruit and also retain diverse faculty.  And so I think that we still haven't got there because there's a lot of departments where it is predominantly white or predominantly white and male.  So I know this question keeps coming up, institutions and departments have to think about what are we going to do to not only recruit but retain diverse faculty.

>> That's great.

>> ORESTES HERNANDEZ:  I think a lot of that comes back to just communication.

And I think it's an uncomfortable topic for a lot of people, and I think, you know, in general people have to become comfortable with that uncomfortableness.  You have you've got to be comfortable talking about things that you don't know about.  And comfortable talking about things that you were never taught.  Right?

Communication is the key to all of it.  Agree.

>> NICOLE COST:  Thank you for using your voices, we need to make sure we're doing more of that.  I would like to elaborate then or have Tasha elaborate a little bit more actedly just obviously being a Syracuse alumna and Syracuse has experienced the sustained set of protests from last year and even before that, but obviously with the most recent movement, Not Again SU, could you share your experiences, the culture when you were here and maybe takeaways moving forward for our students and the University.

>> Tasha Brown:  Yeah, I want to start by saying I am extremely proud of the students who are behind the #notagain movement and just how brave they have been in kind of navigating something that has existed for generations before they even showed up on campus.  And so I really just want to applaud them for everything that they've doing, because it's not easy.  And it's a burden.

I think that if we're honest and really up front, we know that Syracuse University for decades have had significant issues when it comes to diversity, inclusion and racial tension and race hate crimes on campus.  And I think when I ‑‑ I remember my freshman year, we all took a writing course.  And I remember coming into Syracuse not really knowing what's expected, yay, college, and the focus of the writing course was diversity, white privilege, how to talk about this and kind of how to settle racial tensions on campus.  Because the year before there had been a lot going on, so now the University was really trying to make sure that students were having these conversations literally as soon as we stepped on campus.  And I think because we know in Syracuse there are thousands of students and as a Black student you could still be the only Black student in your class in a lecture hall of 500, 200 people, and it can still just be you, I think those conversations were difficult to navigate, especially you had those conversations and then you kind of are exposed to a campus that is racially segregated, and I think an added layer that we don't really always talk about when it comes to Syracuse is that not only is it racially segregated, but there are huge ‑‑ the economic and social status in terms of money is very diverse at Syracuse.  So not only is there this level of like white privilege, there's also people who are coming in with extreme amounts of wealth and that just adds to the system.

And so throughout my time, just like with the students now, we experienced these heavy racial tensions.  And I think moving forward the students who have put together this Not Again SU movement have made such great demands on the University and I think every single one of them they're asking for things that should have been implemented years ago.  So more funding.  Thinking about bringing students of color to campus so that there are ‑‑ there's representation.  So just thinking about the mere number of students who are coming into campus by supporting programs where they're able to thrive at SU.  I do think there are some of those things in place when I was there that I think really helped me to kind of navigate, so the McNair program, a program called pride in the psychology department that was really focused on students of color, but it seems like there's been a drastic shift again in the culture at SU that has taken a lot of funding away from some of those things.  So putting money back into some of those things, thinking about diversifying and meeting all the students' demands.  And one of their demands is a call for dramatic change in leadership.  And I think that should be critically considered and looked at because if we think about leadership and how to kind of falls down into kind of what happens, we need to have leaders who are critical and understanding

 of race and racism in America and how it plays out in big ways on college campuses.  And each one of those students needs to be applauded for their work and as alum I think we're constantly getting calls every two minutes about, hey, can you donate to SU?

What can you give back?

We need to, like, think about funding and where we send our money, how we direct our money back to SU and the demands that we make as people who have graduated from interest this institution on what needs to be done.

It's something that's ongoing because as we all know, it's been an issue for decades.

>> NICOLE COST:  Thank you.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Tasha, thank you so much for sharing that.  And just so the webinar participants know, we told Tasha we were going to ask her that question, but we still really appreciate her honesty and willingness to talk about these issues.  And many of us sport management included are really proud of the students leading the not again SU movement.

So we're winding down a little bit and I'll ask each of the panelists if we could to briefly share one or two take‑aways that maybe our young professionals could come away from the webinar with today.

Let's see, Josette, why don't you start, if you don't mind.

>> JOSETTE SPROTT:  Yeah, that's fine.  I think, you know, we talked a lot about the idea of inclusion, we talked about the idea that leadership is really critical in this moment.

But I will also say that you have a voice.  Right?

And I think one of the ways in which you can sort of use that voice is, for example, when ‑‑ you can sort of influence some of this change or influence the progress of this.  And so one of the things to think about is when you are going for an interview, ask about an organizational ‑‑ organization's diversity and inclusion, what they're strategy is, what they've been doing, what their successes are.  If that's important to you.  Understand what your values are and

 your value and making sure that you're aligning it with whatever organization that you're going ‑‑ even if it's your existing organization, I think having a mentor or someone who could advocate for you within the organization is incredibly important.

Your leader may not facilitate that, but I think it's absolutely okay to go ‑‑ reach out.  We're all working from home now and I think leaders see there's ‑‑ there really is a need to uplift.  So I think you can certainly sort of take certain ‑‑ take a couple of those steps in order to sort of progress for yourself and also for others and for this cause.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you, Josette.  Tasha?

>> Tasha Brown:  I think my biggest takeaway for young professionals, I think if you are in a position of "privilege," meaning that you're white, you're male, you are represented most in your company, do the work.  And so what do you need ‑‑ thinking critically about what it is that you need to do to make sure that you are not just having these conversations, it's great that we're having this webinar and having this conversation, but what are you doing in terms of actionable steps to make sure that these things are being played out.  I think when I talk about institutions, I always go to Ben and Jerry's as a great example, Ben and Jerry's, the ice cream company put out this beautiful statement about Black Lives Matter.  But I think what I love most about that statement is that they had actionable items.  This is what we're doing, this is how we're going to do it, this is when we're going to do it, and this is what you can expect from us.

And so I'm holding your institutions no matter who you are to that criteria.  What are you doing, when are you going to do it, how are we all going to be included, and what can we expect to be the outcome.

And these things are not working, let's come back to the table and continue to ‑‑ continue to move on.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you.  Why don't we do Danielle and Orestes briefly and then we will go to Charma.

>> DANIELLE DICKENS:  So I would say if you belong to a marginalized group I would say try to find a workplace environment why you can be your authentic self or you're celebrated and also to find people that will celebrate you in those spaces.  And if you belong to a dominant group identity, I would just encourage you to ‑‑ to learn and to do your research in terms of thinking about ways in which you can better show up for the people around you and ways in which you can ‑‑ that you can make a change individually.

>> ORESTES HERNANDEZ:  You know, there's not a whole lot to add to all these comments, but I did want to echo what Josette was mentioning.  I think one of the biggest take aways from my perspective anyway is for students and young professionals who are looking for their first opportunity or for their next opportunity is to be comfortable in being empowered, to ask your interviewer about the organization's values and their culture and about their diversity practices.  They're interviewing you just as much as you're interviewing them.  And it's okay to make them earn your talents and your expertise.  So, you know, it goes both ways, and I think people need to view themselves as an asset to whatever company they're going to.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you so much.  And thank you very much to all the panelists, we're not done yet, we've asked Charma Harris to give some final remarks, if you can stick with us for a few more minutes.

>> CHARMA HARRIS:  Thank you, that was awesome.  Thank you for being a part of it.  I felt like it should have been longer than an hour, so thank you to the panelists, the moderator, and for everyone participating and hanging in there with us, it was a great discussion. 

A few things:  The first thing, if you submitted a question in our chat box and it was not answered, we are going to provide those questions to our panel members, get their responses and then respond back to you individually.  So you will be hearing from us and we want to make sure we're able to continue these conversations.

And then just as a takeaway for me, what I found in this conversation which is very insightful and hopefully you all too that we all have our own experiences and backgrounds that we bring to our communities, our schools, our places of work, and the different organizations that we belong to.  These differences should be celebrated and acknowledged there.  And that individually we all play a role in making sure that we're promoting and providing diverse work ‑‑ diverse and inclusive work environments.

So as we walk away from this conversation and moving forward, I challenge everyone listening and who is participating in the ‑‑ excuse me ‑‑ in the future we'll eventually read and listen to this video recording to find and figure out your place in and your role in this time in our country and ensure that you are listening to others and helping be a part of what's going on right now.  So thank you, guys, for being a part of the panel.  This is a great discussion.  I'm honored to be a part of this and host the inaugural event with the ELC and moving forward we invite you all to be a part of the next installment of The Juice event and virtual series which will be featuring a conversation on personal branding and building your reputations.  That's going to be hosted on Wednesday, July 22nd, at 2 PM.  Thank you, guys.

>> MARY GRAHAM:  Thank you to the entire panel.  Good to see you all.  Good discussion.

(End time:  3:04 PM ET.)