In this episode, Pilar talks with Michael Jenkins, CEO at Expert Humans, Partner of FutureWork Forum and an anchor on BeNext's upcoming program, 'Building a Culture of Empathy for Productivity & Innovation'

Even prior to the pandemic, we were living in intensely uncertain times. Business leaders the world over are aware of the need to approach this disruption with compassion, to guide with empathy and to exhibit kindness and authenticity. But what does this actually look like? In this conversation with Pilar, Michael describes the critical concepts behind his ACE model (Altruism, Compassion and Empathy) and their application to the present day's challenges, including health, sustainability, and digital transformation, seeking answers to big questions: what are the subtle but important differences between these concepts? Can empathy and compassion be taught or learned? What is the business imperative driving this need to create a culture of empathy? 

Michael's latest book, 'Expert Humans: Critical Leadership Skills for a Disrupted World' is available for purchase here. 

For women across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has created the ‘perfect storm’ of economic, social and health impacts. Before this crisis the majority of recessions were either classed as 'man-cessions' or impacted men and women equally. This time around, however, there has been a disproportionate effect on women. 

In this insightful conversation with People Matters, Mohammad Naciri, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific at UN Women, discusses how the events of the last year and a half affected existing gender inequalities and what might be some of the challenges for women to achieve equity with men going forward.

The BeNext program on Gender Balance: Promoting Women addresses these issues and more. Running July 12th — 13th August 2021, this program is designed for women leaders committed to accelerating their career growth within their organization and learning critical skills for heading up teams. 

Pilar mentions the book 'Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men' by Caroline Criado-Perez. 

Episode 7 features a panel discussion between four of the Lighthouse Speakers from the BeNext 'D&I: Overcoming Unconscious Bias' program. The episode touches on topics such as psychological safety, driving innovation through different viewpoints, compassion, empathy and the importance of coaching, mentoring and representation when it comes to building a more inclusive and diverse organisation. Here, the speakers draw on dilemmas such as how to win over team members who are resistant to D&I transformation efforts and what can be done to address biases both within ourselves and those around us. The voices included in this episode are:

• Dr. Ritu Anand, Chief Leadership & Diversity Officer at Tata Consultancy Services

• Maria Teixidor, CEO of VUCA Solutions 

• Duncan Hewett, senior vice president and general manager for VMware's business in Asia Pacific & Japan
  
• Dr Sondra Thiederman, Ph.D., President of Cross-Cultural Communications and author of four books, including 'Three Keys to Defeating Unconscious Bias: Watch, Think, Act.' 

This panel discussion was part of the LIVE Masterclass Session for the BeNext ‘D&I: Overcoming: Unconscious Bias’ program, which will be returning in August. Many of the themes discussed in this episode will also be explored in our upcoming July program, ‘Gender Balance: Promoting Women,’ which you can find out more about here.