EP 463: A Brand is a Constellation with N. Chloé Nwangwu

How do you get seen in a world that doesn't see you? How do you get recognized when so many systems are designed to keep you unrecognized? Those are the questions at the heart of today's episode. In the 2nd episode in my 5-part series on decoding empathy, I talk with behavioral scientist and brand strategist N. Chloé Nwangwu about how she helps underrecognized people "emerge from the margins" and get noticed.

Footnotes:

• Find out more about Chloé Nwangwu and Nobi Works
• Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
• The Question of Access by Tanya Titchkosky
• "Why We Should Stop Saying Underrepresented" by Chloé Nwangwu on HBR
• "Racial attention deficit" by Sheen Levine, et al
• "Forget the ambition gap, it's the ‘ambition penalty’ that's really holding women back at work" by Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez on Glamour
• Speech by Angela Bassett 

Every episode of What Works is also available in essay form at whatworks.fyi 

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• (00:00) - Aren't we all the same?
• (01:42) - Introduction
• (02:44) - "Institutionalized rejection of difference" Audre Lorde
• (04:14) - The Mythical Norm
• (06:20) - Underrepresented vs underrecognized
• (09:12) - Access and recognition go hand in hand
• (10:27) - Visibility biases and invisibility taxes
• (17:38) - What is a brand?
• (19:09) - A brand in action on the global stage
• (20:45) - A "politics of wonder"
• (23:36) - Circle of recognition
• (27:02) - Conclusion

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What is What Works?

Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.