People don’t always realize that soft skills are needed in basically every work-related role, but if there’s one department that they usually do know soft skills are needed in, it’s the HR department. The person in an organization who handles diversity and inclusion, a role that has evolved in a myriad of ways and plays an increasingly important role in an organization’s success, will especially need to make use of these important skills.
Today’s guest is LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics, Inc. In the episode, you’ll hear her discuss both how she came to hold that role and how she’s both learned in it and helped to shape it. Listen to today’s interview to learn why a role in diversity and inclusion feels so personal, why it’s important to cultivate resilience and how to do so, and why keeping a sense of humor matters so much to this particular role.
Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:
- LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics, Inc, and what she’s doing in her role today
- What a day in the life in this role feels like
- The position that LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics was in prior to this role, and how she evolved into this spot
- The ways that the DE&I role is personal and the events that are catalysts to change
- The importance of making the organization uncomfortable, but also supporting them through it
- Lessons that LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics, Inc, has learned along the way that could be helpful to someone else traveling that path
- How LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics, remembers her high school and college learning experiences
- The things that helped LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics cultivate resilience
- The way that a sense of humor and levity can help a person in a difficult role at work
- Soft skills that stick out as the ones people should think about if they want to be in DE&I or be leaders
- The value of recognizing the challenges of other people
- How mentors and mentoring have factored into the career role that LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics, Inc
- The difference between being tapped for something and strategically choosing that thing and setting goals to get there
- The skills someone needs to develop to follow a career in HR
- What LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics, Inc, would tell her younger self
Resources:
LaQuenta Jacobs, Chief Diversity Officer at XPO Logistics, Inc
