Description

Guest: Lenora Billings-Harris

Lenora Billings-Harris, is the founder and CEO of Critical Voices Initiative, a not-for-profit movement that helps people from all walks of life use honest words to open minds that build stronger communities. Before founding that organization, she held leadership positions within two Fortune 100 companies and a major university. Next Lenora worked for over 35 years as a diversity and inclusion strategist and specialized in helping organizations make diversity equity and inclusion a competitive advantage by disrupting bias. She is the author of two books, and numerous articles, and she is included among the top 100 thought leaders on diversity by the Society of Human Resource Management. Lenora is a past president of the Global Speakers Federation, and past president of the National Speakers Association-USA – the first African American to hold those positions.

In 2022 she received an honorary PhD for her research and global work, and in 2024 she received the International Ambassador Award in recognition of her impact around the world. Lenora was inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame in 2018- again a first, as an African American woman.

Although she has been the first at many things, her joy comes when she sees she is not the last. 

HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS:

• KG: Is there a red thread that ties all of it together for you?What's the driving force behind all that you do and all that you've done?
• LENORA: I went to South Africa for three weeks at a time, twice a year for several years. And on one of those trips, I learned the proverb Ubuntu. Ubuntu, which is a sort of philosophy through many African countries, but I learned it in South Africa and it's a Zulu tradition and it means I am because we are. And when I learned that, I had just learned my purpose on this planet. I really felt that what it signifies is that we not only are all connected as human beings, what I do impacts you and what you do impacts me, regardless of whether we know each other. It just struck me to my core. And so my business has always... used Ubuntu as a foundation. So as it relates to the question of mentoring and speaking and writing books, my belief is that most people will do better when they know better, not everybody, but most people. And from a Ubuntu perspective, if I can, as a diversity strategist, as a speaker, et cetera, if I can help my audiences understand people different from them more readily, then perhaps we all will get along better. Perhaps we all will understand each other better. Obviously that's not what I say from the platform, even when I'm writing about it, I don't actually say it quite that way. But that is what comes from my heart. And that's what motivates me to do what I do. 
• KG: How do you also maintain your own individuality and protect your own inner flame? In other words, I have seen you walk that path so beautifully in feeling that sense of connectedness while also maintaining your own sense of integrity and ethics, especially when the world is such a layered, complex place and there's so many wicked problems that I know you've been involved in trying to solve and bring to resolution. And so in that context, what do the terms ethics and integrity mean to you? 
• LENORA: What ethics really mean is that I will do the right thing, whatever I deem to be the right thing. I will do the right thing, even when no one's watching. Because as you know, ethics and the law are not the same thing. So it's not about not breaking the law. Ethics is what is the right thing to do? Integrity to me means doing what I promised to do. So being willing to not over promise. And what you had asked me earlier is, how do I do all of that and still be an individual? And my honest answer is I only know how to do me.
• LENORA: What I have come to know now having been doing this work for so long and given my age, we are our most powerful self when we are being who we are. And each of us is an individual, there's no two of us alike. We all know that. But it sometimes takes a while to figure out what that is. 
• LENORA: What I learned over time was to pay attention to the way other people describe me so that I can pick from those descriptions what really fits for me. For me, it has become easier over time to be more comfortable being who I am, doing what I think is right for me and for others, and being more intentional on setting boundaries. That helps me stay in my individual space and in my life. 
• KG: I know that you too are working on ethics right now. Can you tell us a little bit about the role you're currently involved in?
• LENORA: I have been a member of the National Speakers Association for many years and have been fortunate to sit in various leadership positions, including having been a past president of the association. And for those of you listening and watching that are not familiar with the National Speakers Association, it is an organization for people who use the spoken word for part of or all of their income. And when I say spoken word, actually it's broader than that. So it's really for people who write books, who have podcasts, who deliver keynotes, workshops, our consultants, all of those things that surround using words, so to speak, as part of your enterprise and our organization not only teaches people how to be more effective on the platform, is the way we would describe it. That platform could be a book or it could be a podcast, again, whatever, whatever avenue you take. Also, our real focus is to help people know how to do this as a business. 
• LENORA: We as leaders, we need to be clear about what our own personal values are. And we need to be clear about what the organization's values are. And so often, although my area of focus is not ethics, so often when I'm doing my own research, that are relative to inclusion and equity and that type of thing. And I ask people, what's the organization's values? They don't know. And even when I ask leaders that, it is written somewhere, but it's so obtuse that no one really knows it. When we don't know what our values are, we have no guidance on what our behavior should be. 
• LENORA: Some people really don't care about the good of everyone. They're still stuck in their ego. But if we could just get clear on what your values are, and it takes some work to get clear on your values... It's not just what other people say. It may not even be what your parents or guardians might've taught you, but it is worth the work to be with yourself and identify what's really important to you, because that then can guide the rest of your behavior. 
• KG: Both as a leadership consultant and advisor to many organizations, but also as an acclaimed speaker, what do you feel are ethical dilemmas most relevant to leaders today? And what would your advice be in such situations?
• LENORA: Some people are so stuck with the short term, what they believe is the short term immediate reward for doing things that clearly long term will hurt many. I struggle with why that is such a difficult decision to make. And one of the things that I've chosen to do, in helping people get clarity around that.
• LENORA: Today's leaders are so pressed to produce whatever it is they're supposed to produce. They are not taking the time to get a perspective from more than one viewpoint. And consequently, it's raising their stress level. It certainly raises the stress level of others. And to do that, to have the willingness to get more information, to listen to different perspectives, to talk to different people, means you have to have a beginner's mindset. That is to say, when you reach out to someone whose perspective might be different than yours, your job, especially as a leader, is to listen, not just wait for the period at the end of the sentence so you can jump in and try to convince them that they're wrong. 
• LENORA: What I have decided to do personally is to help people have critical and difficult conversations. To teach them the skills to have those conversations because what I've learned over time, when I used to ask the question, and I've asked this to thousands of people at this point: “So what holds you back from speaking, having a conversation, a dialogue about diversity or racism or sexism or any of those isms, what holds you back?” And the answers always are, I don't know the right thing to say, I'm afraid I'm going to be judged. And by the way, we're gonna be judged anyway, because human beings can't not judge other people. So we're gonna be judged. So we might as well let that one go. But I don't know the right thing to say, I'm afraid I'm going to be judged. And I don't want to hurt the other person's feelings. Well, if we had better skills for these difficult conversations, we wouldn't have so much anxiety because we could go into those conversations by really being curious rather than judgmental with the intention of coming out knowing more than we did when we went in. 
• KG: Can you tell me how you have always done this balance so beautifully, where you are an appreciative inquirer into other people's ways of thinking while also holding your own sense of self so firmly? and with such clarity. I think that's a thing of beauty. So is there a book, quote, anything that inspires you, encapsulates your philosophy towards this? 
• LENORA: The first one is speak up even when your voice cracks. That is, don't be silent because you think other people are going to judge you or that type of thing. Now, of course, I mean, speak up with respect and that type of thing. I'm not advocating being cruel in any way, but be willing to speak up because your voice is needed. And speak up even when your voice is cracked, of course, means even when you're afraid. That piggybacks on my favorite quote by Marianne Williamson. Now she's written up, it's a whole long piece, but the part of it that resonates most with me is, and I'll paraphrase it because I know I won't get it exactly right, but she says, playing small serves no one. Let your life light shine, let your light shine. 
• LENORA: As I have gotten older, I realize I have no one else to please but myself. And at the end of the day, I have to be happy with who I am. Speaking up, though my voice might crack, speaking up comes in many different ways. So it's not necessarily always verbalizing. It certainly doesn't mean that the moment something happens that you disagree with, that you jump right in, you have to pick your battles and also the timing to, you know, to manage your, manage your emotions. But for Marianne Williamson's quote, playing small does not serve anyone so often, especially as women. We're socialized to play small. We're socialized to let other people's light shine and not ours too much because it might outshine someone else. Well, guess what? There's plenty of space on this planet for all of us to shine. 
• LENORA: My friend, Jana Stanfield wrote a song that you can find it on YouTube. And the song is, All the Good is the name of the song. And the refrain that just keeps repeating in it is, I can't do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good I can do.

REFERENCES & LINKS:

LENORA’s LinkedIN/Website page

LINKEDIN

UbuntuGlobal

CRITICAL VOICES INITIATIVE

LENORA’s Suggested Song/Quote

ALL THE GOOD

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

The Human Conversation Podcast Channels

APPLE PODCASTS

SPOTIFY