I recently had a chance to sit down with entrepreneur Kim Kaupe to chat about diversity and inclusion on her podcast, “Coffee with Kim.” We discussed how much I love LinkedIn Learning, as well as the courses I’ve developed for this amazing learning platform (P.S. my Unconscious Bias course is still free through the end of this month!). I also shared some advice for those who are looking to change careers, and the perspective necessary to make sure it’s truly where they want to be.

After sharing some advice for those who are looking to change careers, we spent some time getting back to basics and discerning the difference between bias and discrimination. These two terms are erroneously interchangeable to some, but the distinction is important, especially in the workplace. Unconscious biases can trigger discrimination if left unchecked, which is why we developed the Unbias Blueprint. This Diversity Equity and Inclusion Workplace Assessment is a free tool to help companies establish a baseline that will support a long-term journey towards a more inclusive workplace.

Speaking of the workplace, it’s time to have all those “taboo” conversations at work that we’ve been told not to. It’s time to break out of our comfort zones for the sake of building authentic relationships. We can (and will!) make mistakes in these conversations, but we can always circle back to give the response we wanted to give, but couldn’t formulate at the time. It is possible to affect change as an individual, and we briefly talked about what that looks like.

Finally, I got to chat about my upcoming book, UNBIAS: Addressing Unconscious Bias at Work, which releases on March 30th. This action manual will help companies to increase awareness, align DEI initiatives with their company’s goals and values, develop a sustainable, long-term action plan, and create a workplace that truly advocates for all of its people (you can pre-order the book here!).

Grab a cup of coffee and listen to our conversation.