Sep 11, 2018
Jason and Kendra Beutler are leaders of Edusource, a technology company that believes in taking advantage of young talent. As they share, young people can help solve the talent gaps in technology. And, they have a proven track record of investing in young people, which in turn, has helped them solve complex problems for their organization and clients.
Together, they share what it is like to lead as allies, and to be candid. When they hired two summer interns who were female, they wanted to be sure to have an actively inclusive culture where the new women felt supported and a sense of belonging. To do this, they facilitated a “Gender Sensitivity Training.” It was an open dialogue to discuss situations that might make others feel uncomfortable, and modeled how to proactively engage in inclusive behavior like asking team members to go out to lunch. In fact, gender sensitivity training turned into playful code word to callout negative behavior in moment. It helped to make uncomfortable conversations more candid and productive.
As Kendra and Jason share, to move beyond just diversity, you have to live the values to build a culture of genuine inclusion. They choose to focus on diversity through broader recruiting, utilizing blind interviews to ensure all qualified candidates are interviewed and remove names from resumes. To strengthen their inclusive culture, they build upon their known differentiator, relationships where people are their best assets.
Together, they demonstrate how men and women lead as yin and yang. In their case, one is a visionary, and one executes on the vision. They are sounding boards to one’s another’s challenges and often spend more time listening than speaking as leaders.
Follow Jason and Kendra at www.edusource.us and on Twitter @jrbeutler and @edusource.
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