www.vrandolphbrown.com | 1

COVID-19:WHAT THE WORLD

NEEDS NOW:

STEPS TORESPECTFULEMPATHY8

I can hear that refrain so clearly and loudly in my head today. For many of you, this is the original song by Hal David, composed by Burt Bacharach in 1965 and may be way too old for you to remember. For me, however, it feels so much like yesterday. It was so simple, so right, then, and today. Fortunately, or unfortunately, COVID-19 has clearly brought this critical message back into our focus worldwide and especially within our…United States. Perhaps, if there was more love and respectful empathy, George, Breonna, Philando, Alton, Eric, Tamir, Tanisha, and so many countless more would still be alive. Today, they would be living their lives, playing with their children, working at their jobs, and most importantly receiving the love that we all desire and deserve from our family and within our communities.

“What the world needs now, is love sweet love; it's the only thing that there’s just too little of."

by Vincent R. Brown

©2020 V. Randolph Brown Consul�ng

approaches, techniques, and methodologies, which are critical to optimizing every person's performance by understanding diversity, practicing inclusion, and ensuring equity for all.

We acknowledge that we are all biased; especially if you are humanWe introduce and frame the concept of Intrinsic Inclusion™ We are excited to share that despite all people being biased, some people are more naturally inclusive which forms the basis of Intrinsic Inclusion™We identify the five characteristics of naturally inclusive people as Intrinsic Inclusion™We share the impact of three factors that enable bias---nature, nurture, and biology We propose that you cannot eliminate bias, but you can create new neuropathways to provide alternative routes for more inclusive behaviors to occur We also share 4 TRUE Bias Disruptors (and perhaps many more) that can lead to more inclusive behaviors and reduce the impact of implicit, unconscious bias

We also provide additional insights on some of the ongoing research and applications that will impact how inclusion is optimized in people and organizationsgoing forward. Finally, we challenge everyone to do more in both the technical and social science fields to accelerate the progress of diversity, equity, and inclusion. What if you could take a pill to reduce biases?

I am challenging everyone to take less than four minutes to pause and listen to this song and practice these 8 steps towards respectful empathy.

While it is true the world needs more love, it is also true that the world needs more intrinsically inclusive people who demonstrate respectful empathy. Respectful empathy is one of the four true bias disruptors that Dr. Janet Reid and I have identified and present in our upcoming book: Intrinsic Inclusion: Rebooting Your Biased Brain, scheduled to be released on September 1, 2020. This date is of considerable significance to us. It represents our third book together and is exactly eight years from the day when we, along with our other partners, sold our company Global Novations, which was the largest diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) consultancy in the country to Korn Ferry International.

Since that date, we have continued our journey toidentify the best diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)

Can’t We All Just Get Along? Time for Inclusion and Diversity (April 2018)

The Potential of Intrinsic Inclusion™ (July 2018)

A New Approach to Diversity and Inclusion (September 2018)

A New Path to Diversity and Inclusion (November 2018)

1.

2.

3.

4.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

©2020 V. Randolph Brown Consul�ng2 | www.vrandolphbrown.com

Importantly, we believe that all DEI practices should be simple and easy to understand and apply. Therefore, let us offer additional perspective on eight steps to feel respectful empathy and how this can disrupt bias in the age of COVID-19 and begin to build more inclusive neural pathways.

8 Steps Toward Respectful Empathy

#1 Understand that respectful empathy for someone different from yourself enables you to be more understanding, appreciative, mindful, caring, concerned, and thoughtful regarding others' circumstances. This can alter the way you observe, interpret, create mindsets, and ultimately behave towards others. Over time, this new set of behaviors can help you to create new neural pathways towards others.

#2 Imagine that you are really practicing respectful

empathy with people who are very different from you across a variety of diversity dimensions. Imagine that you were not just thinking like them, but that you actually became them. You felt what they felt; you experienced their emotions; you understood and appreciated their history and their current day realities.

Age (you are now someone who is 75 years old, single or with family members that no longer live in your same city)Race (you are now someone of African, Asian or Latino decent) Economic status (you are now someone earning less than $30,000 per year, a renter, and has a family of four)Health status (you are now someone who has underlying health conditions of hypertension, diabetes, and is overweight; with no health insurance.)

DiversityWheel

•

•

•

•

www.vrandolphbrown.com | 3©2020 V. Randolph Brown Consul�ng

#3 Now consider some of the COVID-19 realities and how they might be currently disproportionately impacting you. (Yes, you are now and have become the actual person in the diversity categories mentioned above—you are living their lives, walking in their shoes, living in their apartment complex, working at their two part-time (essential) jobs, have their bank account, use their healthcare, etc.) Yes, you are now the “Undercover” boss in this real-life reality show.

#4 Now pause and reflect on your level of respectful empathy (not sympathy) towards others and insights from their circumstances that are heightened in you from you walking in their shoes:

People of color have shouldered a disproportionate burden of illness and death from COVID-19Some call COVID-19 the Asian disease, a Chinese illness; it’s your fault Many lower-income people and families have preexisting conditions and comorbidities Many lower-income people have no health care nor no primary care physicianThe data shows that people of color are often last hired, first furloughedMany single parents have few to no child-care options and must also figure out how they must go to work---even during this deadly pandemic, which means they may potentially bring the virus home every daySome people of color have experienced real-life today and historical negative healthcare experiences(like the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and more recently, African American women health inequities and infant mortality)

Some people have family members and loved ones who are currently in prisons and jails, which are now major hot spotsSome hourly workers must continue to work and cannot social distance and come home every night sharing the same space with their loved onesSome Latinos have higher rates of uninsurance from working in lower-skilled, very labor intense jobs in agricultureA significant number of older adults, especially those in nursing homes are suffering alone and feel depression and isolation

#5 Given all the above, what are your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? Don’t just think about it; feel it; experience it, let their story become your story. Imagine a virtual reality simulation that brought this experience to life. This is not about sympathy (feeling sorry for them). This is about respectful empathy (feeling like them and appreciating them).

#6 Now continue to imagine that you are a person of color, older, in poorer health, have no insurance, and must work, and someone walks in front of you wearing no face protection and does not social distance from you. What are your thoughts, feelings, emotions, concerns, reality, reactions?

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

©2020 V. Randolph Brown Consul�ng4 | www.vrandolphbrown.com

#7 Now imagine the behavior of an intrinsically inclusive person, after they have practiced respectful empathy with the topics above. Is it safe to say that a sure sign of someone more likely to be intrinsically inclusive is that they are wearing a face mask? (versus someone who intentionally chooses not to wear one).

#8 Further is it most likely that the intrinsically inclusive person recognizes that wearing face protection is not about their own protection? It is all about caring for and protecting others, who may have a different world view, circumstances, and experience than their own. Intrinsic Inclusion™ is about practicing the platinum rule---treating others as they would like to be treated.

In closing, I would imagine that an intrinsically inclusive person is more likely to listen to the song mentioned above and remember another one of its other great refrains, “oh not just for some, but for everyone." I am sure they would like to pause to hear the words, feel the message, and practice the behaviors found in this old, but never truer song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZVwkeoW_Xs&list=PL2nR2Iq4ncXaS5YbysLLKDt_v3wZ7NvBD

Pause now, treat yourself, and listen to the lyrics of the recently released version done by Rumer. Become more intrinsically inclusive.

Intrinsically Inclusive™ = Naturally Inclusive

“We must be the change we want to see in the world.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

35+ Years of DEI Experience

Bias and Intrinsic Inclusion™: What They Can Mean For Your TeamCatalysts for Change: Behaviors that Accelerate Racial ReconciliationStories of Black Men/Women: Connecting with Head, Heart, and HandsThe Power of the Pause: Actively Listening and Hearing the PainTell Me What Makes You, You: Sharing What Connects and Inspires UsLeveraging Strengths: Communicating Across Cognitive PreferencesOpposites Attract: Finding Your Complement When All You See is DifferentThe Storytellers: Cultural Carriers of Generational WisdomAdvocacy in a Time of Activism: How to Be a Proactive, Inclusive Leader and Ally for Change

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

www.vrandolphbrown.com | 5©2020 V. Randolph Brown Consul�ng

DEI Virtual Workshop Offerings