The Future of Work is Diverse, Inclusive, Just and Equitable

GlobalMindED closes the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline through connections to role models, mentors, internships for low-income students, returning adults, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.
Chief Medical Director of Employee Health and Well-Being at Johns Hopkins Medicine: Meet Richard Safeer, MD

Richard, what is your personal narrative? What key moments in your life led you to where you are?

I was a bit surprised to come to the realization that practicing family medicine in a suburban community wasn’t my cup of tea. Disheartened is a better description. I had spent 11 years after high school getting to this launching place and after a year of seeing patients, I didn’t feel like I was making an impact.

I knew in my heart that if I had the time (more than the 15 minutes the HMOs were dictating when I came out of training), I could help my patients address the root cause of their ailments. I fortunately came across an article about how an employer was making a positive impact on the health of their employees. Then I read another. Soon I was actively seeking out the paradigm of the workplace as a conduit to health and well-being. Fast forward 25 years and I am now the Chief Medical Director of Employee Health and Well-Being at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
 
You are in the process of releasing your book, ‘A Cure for the Common Company’. What inspired you to write this book?

Like many other people, I had some time to reflect after the initial pandemic wave. I had been keeping a journal of my time at Hopkins, noting the successes and challenges. Simultaneously, I was starting to feel an urge to help other employers be more successful in their health and well-being strategies. I saw too many employers getting frustrated because they were offered false promises by well-intended wellness vendors who didn’t understand the full scope of what’s needed to set the conditions for the adoption of healthy habits. The results fell short.

The other reason employers weren’t seeing the results they expected was because they hadn’t been made aware that everybody has a role in supporting health and well-being in the workplace. There is one very important group that isn’t being drawn into the solution – managers and business leaders at all levels. It is critical that everyone contributes to a well-being culture. Well-being is a team sport and without managers, leaders and the human resource team contributing, an employer strategy will fall short. Hence, the book, to reach this audience.
 
Why is it important to create a well-being culture in the workplace? What does that look like? How can companies take actionable steps toward this today?

A culture is the shared behaviors, beliefs and attitudes that exist amongst a group of people. When the organizational culture aligns the social forces and resources so that everyone and everything is situated to support health, then it becomes ‘normal’ to go through the day supporting the well-being of each other as well as oneself.

The current approach is that wellness is an event or something you need to sign up for. That’s not likely to make a significant contribution to our overall well-being. Ideally, we’ll be healthy and well regularly, not just intermittently. When we work in a well-being culture, we are immersed in a supportive milieu that allows us to reach and maintain our health goals and optimize our positive emotions. 
 
What advice would you give to future Inclusive Inspirational Leaders?

Being an inclusive and inspirational leader is a good start to creating a well-being culture on your team. Research shows that when employees work for caring organizations and leaders, they are more likely to be engaged and stay with the company longer.

My advice is that you work on building a well-being culture on your team, by focusing on these six building blocks:
  • Peer support – creating opportunities for people in your organization to support each other emotionally and with creating and maintaining healthy habits.
  • Norms – creating healthy norms; the expected behaviors of your team. This can be done with the other well-being culture building blocks.
  • Shared Values – if your organization hasn’t already identified either health or well-being as a value (or something closely related), then it is time to make health and well-being a priority. That includes making plans. creating goals and holding each other accountable.
  • Culture Connection Points – these are the various ways that employers nudge their workforce to have a healthier day. A common culture connection point is marketing and communication. However, there are a dozen other strategies.
  • Social climate – create a work atmosphere where everyone feels like they belong, there is an upbeat attitude, and everyone is working toward the same goal.
  • Leading with Well-being – this means not only saying well-being is important, but also being a well-being role model, managing with care (treating those on your team the way you’d want your manager to treat you) and removing barriers that are keeping people from having a well day.

That’s a lot of advice! Of course, there’s much more to it and it’s all conveyed through stories in my book, ‘A Cure for the Common Company’. Good luck!
If you weren’t able to join us live, you can watch this event in 50 min segments (click on links below) by yourself or with colleagues over the next several weeks. Please share this with your networks!"
  • Rose Scott; Host and Reporter, WABE 90.1 FM interviews Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover; President, Tennessee State University, Dr. David Thomas; President, Morehouse College, and Dr. M. Brian Blake; President, Georgia State University
 
  • Dr. Raheem Beyah; Dean, College of Engineering, GA Institute of Technology, and Rontavious Coley, Recent graduate, Owner of The Early Way on Broad, introduce Dr. Jean Accius; SVP, Global Thought Leadership, AARP who interviews global hip-hop sensation, Michael Render (aka Killer Mike) of Run The Jewels, who shares his personal vision of Love & Respect, which is also the title of his new PBS talk show.

  • Kwame Johnson; President and CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta leads the panel with Errika Moore; Executive Director, STEM Funders Network, Dr. Maxine Cain; Founder & President, STEM Atlanta Women, Valarie Mackey; President & CEO, WrightNow Solutions, Michelle Arrington; Director, Government Affairs, Verizon, and Nettie Brown; Graduate Engineering Student, GA Institute of Technology

  • Eric Kelly; Chairman & CEO, Bridge 2 Technologies leads the panel with Kristina Newton; Founder & CEO, HYPE, Richard Hicks; CEO & President, Inspiredu, Jaycee Holmes; Professor, Spelman College, Co-founder, CODEHOUSE, and Bryan Cox; Computer Science Program Specialist, Georgia Department of Education

  • Dr. Sybrina Atwaters; Director, OMED: Educational Services, GA Institute of Technology leads the panel with Guy Primus; CEO, Valence Community, Founding Member BONDS Network, Petal Walker, JD; Managing Director, Deloitte & Touche, James Rhee, JD; Founder and CEO, red helicopter, and Dr. Loretta Ovueraye; Vice Provost, Miami Dade College

  •  Michael Steele, JD; Managing Associate, Thompson Hine LLP leads the panel with Mahogany Labor; Engineering Student, GA Institute of Technology, Ki’Andre Thomas; Student Government Association Undergraduate President, Clark Atlanta University, Angelique White; Student, Miami Dade College, and Jalene Hudson; Student, Georgia Highlands College
GlobalMindED 2023 Save the Date June 7-9


June 7 Inclusive Leader Awards Dinner,
First Gen Leadership Program

June 8, 9 GlobalMindED Conference
2023 Denver, Colorado

Watch the brief video below that The PhD Project produced highlighting the experience at GlobalMindED from several key demographics; students, faculty, and business leaders
Making Impact: Leveraging Collaborations and Partnerships to Advance STEM Equity

Moderated by Dr. Susan Swayze, Founder & CEO Diversity Think Tank. Dr. Swayze is a DEI strategist and expert researcher who created Diversity Think Tank to help organizations identify transformative solutions and accomplish audacious goals. Susan is a highly sought-after speaker on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion with special emphasis on holding conversations about bias, race, and gender pay equity. She has inspired audiences in Africa, Brazil, Canada, and across the U.S. An accomplished scholar, Dr. Swayze has authored three books and more than 50 scholarly works. Speakers include:

Melvin Stallings, President, Cyber Green Group
CGG is a workforce training non-profit for teachers and students in STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, and Math) that trains, educates, and creates innovators of the future. Mr. Stallings is also a Curriculum Development Specialist and has written many math and science curriculums for high schools throughout the US. He has presented professional development workshops at local and national conferences and managed various STEAM initiatives for over 1,500 students in subject areas like Cyber Forensic, Biomedical Engineering, Coding, and the Art of Green Science across the US.

Dr. Janelle M. Johnson, Associate Professor of STEM Education, Metropolitan State University
Dr. Johnson is co-editor of “STEM21: Equity in Teaching and Learning to Meet Global Challenges of Standards, Engagement, and Transformation” (2018). Her research focuses on interdisciplinary STEM equity and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning. Janelle taught K-12 math and science with English Learners primarily in Guatemala, and now teaches multicultural education and science methods at the university. Dr. Johnson is on the board of the Colorado Assoc. of Science Teachers, the Director of the Colorado STEM Ecosystem 2.0, and she served on the Council of State Science Supervisors ACESSE Network in the disrupting ableism affinity group.

Lisette Torres-Gerald, Senior Research Associate and Program Coordinator, TERC
Dr. Torres-Gerald is a scientist and disabled scholar-activist at TERC, a non-profit made up of teams of math and science education and research experts. Her academic research focuses on addressing racial and gender inequity in science and higher education. Lisette is an active member of Science
for the People and a co-founder and executive board member of the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities. Dr. Torres-Gerald is also an advisory board member of Science Friday’s Breakthrough Dialogues Program and the Invisible Disability Project (IDP)

Rubi Amateco, Biology Student, Metropolitan State University
Highlights from the Resolve to Solve in Atlanta below. You can watch a YouTube video of the entire day,thanks to WABE/PBS Atlanta.
Rose Scott with Dr. Glenda Glover, Dr. David Thomas, and Dr. M. Brian Blake
Michael Render, AKA "Killer Mike"
June 2022 Conference Summary in Photos and Videos
We had an inspiring conference in June after two years of virtual gatherings due to COVID. If you missed that, you can still be a part of the experience through the photos from the 2022 GlobalMindED conference, as well as seeing the complete program for connections and inspiration.



Video remarks:

Honoring the 2022 Inclusive Leader Award Winners. Please see their stories:

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