We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Angela Howard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Angela below.
Angela , thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
“They’re not a culture fit” has been a phrase I’ve heard over and over while leading teams and organization.
My response has always been – “what are they fitting into?” and “if we want them to fit, we’re not creating the culture we think we are.” The phrase is also personal to me, and here’s why:
I grew up in Rogers Park – the North side of Chicago – known to be rich with diversity, with over 80 countries represented and 40 languages spoken. This brought a beautiful mix of diversity and culture to my life. As a multi-racial kid growing up amongst a utopia of representation, I was sheltered from the idea of having to fit in somewhere until I entered a Fortune 500 company for the first time at age 19.
Being the “other” started to become routine for me. This wasn’t just about my appearance on the outside, but also opportunities to relate, perspectives that weren’t understood, language I used that didn’t resonate and progressive ideas that fell outside the margins of dominant culture or mainstream best practices.
For a long time, I felt like “not fitting” was a disadvantage. Opportunities to enter spaces where I was included and felt like I belonged became more and more scarce and harder to achieve. I spent a lot of my energy grappling with the cognitive dissonance between what organizations said and how I was experiencing it. I learned that my story was not unique – that many organizations had not created workplace cultures and structures that successfully created inclusive spaces where all people were able to thrive.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m an organizational psychologist who is passionate about conscious culture building. As the CEO and founder of Call for Culture, I work with leading companies and convene interdisciplinary changemakers (via our Culture Impact Lab) to drive meaningful and sustainable change. By stepping outside of the traditional boundaries of HR, I take a multidisciplinary approach to help companies hone the capabilities and strategies they need to future proof their organization and transform them into human-centered workplaces that create social impact.
We are excited to share that our first inaugural Culture Impact Lab will be held in my hometown of Chicago on May 15th and 16th. This will be our first convening and community event with a diverse and interdisciplinary community of conscious leaders and culture champions nationwide to intentionally blur the lines (and the conversation) between workplace culture and culture in the world at large. Participants will enter the lab with a real-time workplace culture challenge and leave with a plan of action to implement back into their organization.
More here: https://callforculture.com/culture-impact-lab
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Respect — making an effort to understand different perspectives, emotions, and experiences.
Self-Awareness — recognize my own strengths, weaknesses, and emotions.
Emotional Intelligence — ability to understand, manage, and develop my own feelings (and do the same when it comes to the feelings of others).
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
The strangest and most jarring thing about becoming an entrepreneur is the lack of support you receive from people who you think are going to support you and the abundance of support you receive from absolute strangers. The contrast can be really confusing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://callforculture.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelarhowardcfc/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelarhowardconsulting/
- Other: podcast: Social Responsibility at Work https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/social-responsibility-at-work/id1534670655
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