Empowered Human Academy

Lisa Wardell self-describes as a lifelong learner who is dedicated to constantly challenging her lens. As the only Black female CEO in the S&P 400 and the Fortune 1000 in 2017, Lisa believes that diversity is imperative to ensuring that a business stays competitive and healthy over time. Throughout this conversation we explore how to make dialogue about race sustainable in the workplace and what it means to belong in the room. Lisa’s hopeful perspective is a grounding and inspiring force during these heartbreaking and yet heart-expanding times—we learn so much from Lisa and feel so honored to share this conversation with you.

Show Notes

Lisa Wardell self-describes as a lifelong learner who is dedicated to constantly challenging her lens. As the only Black female CEO in the S&P 400 and the Fortune 1000 in 2017, Lisa believes that diversity is imperative to ensuring that a business stays competitive and healthy over time. Throughout this conversation we explore how to make dialogue about race sustainable in the workplace and what it means to belong in the room. Lisa’s hopeful perspective is a grounding and inspiring force during these heartbreaking and yet heart-expanding times—we learn so much from Lisa and feel so honored to share this conversation with you.

Full show notes, downloadables, and links are also available at empoweredhumanacademy.com/1.

Keep the conversation going…
  1. Table Question: When it comes to race, how are you currently challenging your lens? How do you find yourself responding (or reacting) when you don’t know what to say? 
  2. Journal Prompt: Brainstorm your dream list for your personal board of directors. Write a few sentences about each person to explore why you’ve chosen them—perhaps your list will evolve as you sit with it more. Do you share a personal connection with them? Is there something you give them, too? 
  3. Action Step: One specific way to challenge your lens is to become curious about your own blind spots. Harvard has put together a series of implicit bias tests to help identify subconscious beliefs to ultimately help deepen self-understanding. Find 15 minutes this week to take one of the tests. You can find them here: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html.
View the printable worksheet on Google Docs

Further reading
This is a production of Lightward, Inc. Like everything we do, this show is Pay-What-Feels-Good.

What is Empowered Human Academy?

We believe that we’re all meant to live our most expansive lives possible—but it can be overwhelming knowing where to begin, and feeling stuck is real. Empowered Human Academy exists to unlock your imagination with real conversations with inspiring humans of all different kinds, sharing the wisdom they've gained in their respective fields. Throughout these episodes we’ll explore holistic wellness, activism, self-discovery, emotional intelligence, and more. We’ve gathered some of the most heart-forward humans we know all in one place—and we can’t wait for you to meet them. The truth is, we find ourselves in each other’s stories—and learning is ultimately just remembering what we already know. We hope you’ll join us and become the empowered human you’ve always been inside.