Have you ever left a meeting thinking: everyone talked, but nothing was achieved? Chances are that people were listening to each other, just not in the same way. Listening experts Maegan Stephens and Nicole Lowenbraun unpack the four different ways to listen, sharing a practical framework that could change how you respond, build trust and get results — starting with just one simple question.

In this 30-minute session, participants will explore the art and impact of storytelling as a catalyst for connection, empathy, and change.

The exercise will help participants:

• Explain the purpose and power of storytelling as a leadership and inclusion tool.
• Craft personal stories that connect individual experience to shared purpose and collective action.
• Demonstrate active listening and empathetic presence when receiving others’ stories, fostering psychological safety and trust.
• Use storytelling strategically to engage employees, influence stakeholders, and build buy-in meaningful and memorable ways.

In this session, ERG leaders will explore the art and impact of storytelling as a catalyst for connection, empathy, and change.

Leadership isn’t about a title or position — it’s about generosity, says organizational expert Joe Davis. Drawing on his extensive experience as a people manager, he shares three essential tips for leaders to unlock the potential of their teams by listening generously, embracing vulnerability and leading with humanity — and shows how it’s possible to both earn trust and drive results.

Team Effectiveness Touchpoints are a curated series of brief, actionable tips designed to embed inclusion and connection into how your team communicates, collaborates, and makes decisions. Each Touchpoint encourages team members to co-create a space where everyone feels heard, respected, and empowered to contribute. Delivered in bite-sized moments, Each Touchpoint offers a simple, practical way to build team effectiveness — one conversation, decision, or action at a time.

The Getting to Know You Bingo game is a great icebreaker or team building exercise.  The Bingo squares are designed to help employees get to know teammates and coworkers.

This well-known exercise is a fun, interactive team-building exercise used to help teams uncover individual strengths in order to improve overall team effectiveness.

The Leveraging Your ERG presentation and exercise provides a framework to strategically leverage your engagement in an ERG in support of your personal development and career goals.  The goal is to boost ERG engagement by demonstrating the benefits.

This tool is designed for ERG leaders and members.  ERG leaders can deliver this to members as a way to encourage active participation in the ERG.

Connecting with the people you work with doesn’t just make your team stronger — it’s good for you too. Whether you’ve just joined a new organization or you’re managing a remote team, these three tips from collaboration expert Mark T. Rivera can help you strengthen your ties with your co-workers, so that everyone can thrive.

These days, everyone feels pressed for time. Duke University professor Dorie Clark reveals the hidden reasons behind why we’re all so busy, and why we struggle to break out of the cycle of overwhelm. This talk presents a new way to look at the choices we make, and how to create more space in our lives to think.

Growing up in the US in predominantly white communities, Canwen Xu struggled to reconcile her American and her Chinese identities. She explains the unique ways that racial bias affects Asian Americans — and shares how she has learned to embrace all of the different parts of her background.

In this touching talk, Ash Beckham offers a fresh approach to empathy and openness. It starts with understanding that everyone, at some point in their life, has experienced hardship. The only way out, says Beckham, is to open the door and step out of your closet.

When journalist Mariana Atencio was seven, her father sent her from her home in Venezuela to a summer camp in Brainerd, Minnesota. Unsurprisingly, she was treated like an outsider. Over the course of many more such camps and a senior year in an American high school, she discovered that the best way to belong was to embrace the qualities that made her different. In this deeply personal talk, Atencio describes how these early lessons helped her succeed as an immigrant and as a journalist.

Making your mark in a world increasingly defined by strong or even overbearing personalities can be a daunting prospect even when you know it’s essential to getting ahead. In this inspiring talk, Emily Jaenson examines her journey from timid undergrad to senior executive in the male-dominated field of sports management to illustrate actionable tips on asserting yourself and fulfilling your potential.

Know you should establish clear limits at work but not sure how to do it? Here are a few strategies from relationship therapist and author Nedra Glover Tawwab that can help you feel more empowered and less overwhelmed, both on and off the job.

Calls for authenticity at work ask for passionate people with diverse, fresh perspectives who challenge old ways of thinking. But too often workplace culture fails to support the authenticity of professionals of color and other underrepresented groups, leading instead to backlash and fewer opportunities. Writer Jodi-Ann Burey outlines steps toward exposing privilege and achieving true equity on the job — and implores those in leadership positions to accept responsibility for change.

This exercise uses independent work and dialogue to explore the difference between sympathy, empathy, and compassion – and understanding that different situations may call for different reactions or responses.

We’ve all heard presentations about the importance of DEI. In this powerful talk, Carin Taylor shares why belonging should be the focus of any DEI strategy and the most important piece of the DEI discussion. She outlines the key ingredients needed to belong and how to create them. Leverage the discussion guide to host a conversation with your team after watching the Ted Talk.

Over the last few years, the pattern of divisive issues pushing people apart has only become more prominent. Politics, climate issues, equity, and much more have divided people across a number of lines. Elizabeth Lesser suggests a new strategy for bridging the gap between individuals and groups. Having lunch with those you may disagree with opens the door for productive conversation and growth. Understanding leads to a lack of contempt that breeds change and action.

Stella Young suggests that in our society disabled people are viewed as exceptional and “are congratulated for getting out of bed and remembering our own names in the morning”. She believes that we need to rewire our perceptions and celebrate their accomplishments for what they are, not as impressive because of their disability. Her unique perspective inspires thoughtful reflection on how we treat people with disabilities, and how we can celebrate them more appropriately.

Imagine a workplace where people of all colors and races are able to climb every rung of the corporate ladder — and where the lessons we learn about diversity at work actually transform the things we do, think and say outside the office. How do we get there? In this candid talk, inclusion advocate Janet Stovall shares a three-part action plan for creating workplaces where people feel safe and expected to be their unassimilated, authentic selves.

What do you think when you look at this speaker? Well, think again. (And then again.) In this funny, honest, empathetic talk, Yassmin Abdel-Magied challenges us to look beyond our initial perceptions, and to open doors to new ways of supporting others.

Elizabeth Lesser suggests a new strategy for bridging the gap between individuals and groups. Having lunch with those you may disagree with opens the door for productive conversation and growth. Understanding leads to a lack of contempt that breeds change and action.

By infusing DEI conversation into our daily interactions, we can become more aware and over time change our behaviors and contribute to a culture of inclusion. You will find five questions that are designed to inspire dialogue on the topic of privilege.

By infusing DEI conversation into our daily interactions, we can become more aware and overtime
change our behaviors and contribute to a culture of inclusion. Below you will find five questions that
are designed to inspire dialogue on the topic of equity.

By infusing DEI conversation into our daily interactions, we can become more aware and over time change our behaviors and contribute to a culture of inclusion. You will find five questions that are designed to inspire dialogue on the topic of unconscious bias.

By infusing DEI conversation into our daily interactions we can become more aware and over time change our behaviors and contribute to a culture of inclusion. You will find five questions that are designed to inspire dialogue on the topic of psychological safety.

By infusing DEI conversation into our daily interactions, we can become more aware and over time change our behaviors and contribute to a culture of inclusion. You will find five questions that are designed to inspire dialogue on the topic of inclusion and the behaviors that help foster a culture of respect.

By infusing DEI conversation into our daily interactions, we can become more aware and overtime change our behaviors and contribute to a culture of inclusion. You will find five questions that are designed to inspire dialogue on the topic of belonging.

This business alignment conversation starter is designed to help managers and their teams recognize opportunities to leverage diversity – particularly diversity of thought – to improve business results.