Diversity and Inclusion: Breaking Out of Unconscious Gender Patterning

I’m writing this after attending the NMHC Fall Board of Directors meeting. It’s always inspiring to connect with many of the best and the brightest in our industry and see the kind of collaboration that occurs despite any competitive differences. One of the things I truly love about this industry is how its leaders come together to solve common problems more often than not.

One of the more intriguing common “problems” NMHC has been working to address over the past few years is the issue of diversity and inclusion. If we’re honest with ourselves, we have to recognize this is a real challenge. Sure, we have a few senior leaders in the industry who bring some diversity to the table, but the joke, “we have plenty of diversity…we have every kind of white male you can think of” rings just a little truer than I think most of us want it to. And while we’re being honest about it, I think we have to admit that we recognize the problem a lot more than we understand the solution.

This is important for more than just the moral imperative for equality. It’s important as a business best practice. Study after study shows that companies with diverse leadership groups outperform those that don’t. There’s strength in the wisdom of a greater variety of life experiences, and we do ourselves harm when we don’t tap into that.

Inspired by past Diversity and Inclusion Committee meetings and events, we have brought onboard a new partner to lead a program we’re calling “Solving the Gender Equation.” Rebecca Folsom brings a very unique background. Along with being a diversity advocate, she’s a performing singer/songwriter, an artist, an educator and a coach.

Rebecca focuses on encouraging people to empower themselves, “I want to help people, in whatever form I can, break down barriers, to help people free themselves to live more openly, authentically, and with confidence that their dreams are possible and truly valued.”

In “Solving the Gender Equation,” she coaches both women and men in professional positions to break out of unconscious gender patterning and embody their full potential. She helps professionals gain “presence” by better understanding how they are perceived. Through her experiences as a performer on stages large and small, she teaches how to operate and engage with others in their full capacity. She coaches people how to shift their presence, voice and physical embodiment in any situation to up their game in effectiveness, impact and success.

This helps everyone take and own their seat at the corporate table, bring their unique and valuable perspective to that table, communicate directly and unarguably, clarify commitments, know what they want and generate effective traction to create what they want, to open more ease and creative flow and to enjoy their success.

If you want to learn more about how Rebecca can help your company perform better by getting the most from your entire team, give us a call. We’d love to help you be part of the solution!