Lean Blog Interviews - Healthcare, Manufacturing, Business, and Leadership
Business:Management
https://www.leanblog.org/380
Today's episode, #380, is very special to me for a number of reasons. For one, it's part of the #RootCauseRacism series that Deondra Wardelle has organized on my blog this week. Secondly, I'm joined by Dr. Randal Pinkett and Dr. Jeffrey Robinson to talk about important issues of race, diversity, and equity in organizations. Together, they are co-authors of the book Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness and the upcoming book (2021) Black Faces in High Places.
Randal Pinkett, Ph.D. is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and community servant. Randal is the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of his fifth venture, BCT Partners, a multimillion dollar management, technology and policy consulting firm in Newark, NJ, a partner in Blackwell-BCT, a joint venture with Blackwell Consulting Services, and spokesperson for the Minority Information Technology Consortium. He is a Rhodes Scholar and former college athlete who holds five academic degrees from Rutgers, Oxford and MIT (including the Leaders for Global Operations program). He was also famously the first and only black winner of “The Apprentice,” something we will talk about today.
Jeffrey A. Robinson, Ph.D. is an award winning business school professor, international speaker and entrepreneur. Since 2008, he has been a leading faculty member at Rutgers Business School where he is an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship and the founding Assistant Director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development. The Center is a unique interdisciplinary venue for innovative thinking and research on entrepreneurial activity and economic development in urban environments. He has an MS in Civil Engineering Management from Georgia Tech University and a Ph.D. in Management from Columbia University.
In the episode, we talk about workplace issues related to diversity and inclusion. Should we aspire to a “color blind” world or do we need to recognize and celebrate color? What can we do to turn “white places” into more inclusive places for all? How can the “innovation economy” be made more inclusive, and why is that important?
You'll also hear Randal talk about recently re-watching his season of The Apprentice online with his daughter. You can watch a separate 8-minute clip (an excerpt from the full interview) if you are particularly interested in his reflections about winning and being asked to share his win with the runner up. What did Randal learn while working in the Trump Organization?
I hope you enjoy the conversation, whether you listen or watch (or read the transcript below).
Jeff Liker on the Second Edition of "The Toyota Way"
Lesa Nichols: Reflecting on Hajime Oba and Her Toyota Experience
Brett M. Cooper and Evans Kerrigan on "Solving the People Problem"
Hide Oba Discusses His Father, Toyota's Hajime Oba
Patrick Adams on "Avoiding the Continuous Appearance Trap"
Remembering Norman Bodek
Michael Parent on Lean Six Sigma in HR and Talent Acquisition
Lean Communicators Talk About Their Podcasts and More
Woody Zuill on Mob Programming and the Power of Flow
Mike Leigh on Breaking Down Barriers, Lessons from the Navy, and More
Mary and Tom Poppendieck on #Lean Software & More
Keith Ingels on "Adopting and Adapting" TPS to the Raymond Lean Management System
Elisabeth Swan on the Problems With Brainstorming and Why "Structure Sets You Free"
Michael Lombard on Kata, Crises, and his AME Conference Keynote
Seán Paul Teeling on Lean Healthcare and Covid-19 Treatment in Ireland
Bonus: Billy Taylor's "Favorite Mistake"
Steven J. Spear Remembers Hajime Oba of Toyota
Emily Elrod on What it Means to Work "WISE"
Craig Gygi on the "Truth About Data"
Patrick Anderson on Deming, Lean, and Shifting From Command and Control