In this episode, JoDee and Susan discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion in the U.S. today with Joelle Emerson, Co-Founder and CEO of Paradigm.

Topics include:

• How DEI is perceived in the U.S. workplace today
• What business leaders should be thinking about right now when it comes to DEI
• The biggest misconception about DEI
• Pushback against organizations’ DEI efforts
• The risk of not dealing with some of the backlash from employees, investors, and political figures regarding DEI
• What HR professionals and business leaders can do to combat the DEI backlash
• What’s working right now in advancing DEI efforts in organizations
• Belonging as a strategy

In this episode’s listener question, we’re asked about how we selected our theme music. In the news, the mean distance from home to work has increased from 10 miles to 27 miles since 2019.