“I challenge you to raise your hand, educate your colleagues and lead by example.” – Eddie Baez in today’s Tip 505
Thank you again, Eddie, for helping to pull all of this together
Join the conversation below and be sure to check all the links!
Eddie Baez on Sales Success Stories Interview
Eddie Baez on LinkedIn
IBIS World
Career Pipe
Guide to Allyship
7 Ways to Support and Center People of Color
How U.S. Companies Can Support Employees of Color Through the Pandemic
5 Ways to Confront Racism and Support Communities of Color in the Wake of COVID-19
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
Justice for George Floyd
Justice for Breonna Taylor
Justice for Ahmaud Arbery! I Run with Maud!
How to Support the Struggle Against Police Brutality
The organizations behind the fight for reform
Donate to the bailout funds
Anti-Racism PDF
Have feedback? Want to share a sales tip? Call or text the Sales Success Hotline: 512-777-1442 or Email: [email protected]
Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Eddie Baez. Eddie was the star of the Sales Success Stories podcast back in episode 79. Thank you Eddie for this incredible tip and set of resources:
Eddie Baez: Hi Everyone,
This is Eddie Baez with a daily sales tip.
First and foremost, my heart goes out to everyone affected by the Murder of George Floyd and all of the men and women in America who have lost their lives to police brutality.
Like many of you I am left speechless by the chaos that has ensued over the last few days and I am hoping that this tip will bring some support and comfort to those who are struggling to find meaning during these difficult moments.
Today’s tip is focused on providing the sales community with resources and links that you can use to learn more about what it means to be an ally and how to best support minority groups and people of color in your workplace.
After seeing the news and watching the protests, on Sunday, I reached out to my team at IBISWorld to see how we can best support our colleagues through these difficult moments.
The end result was a broader conversation around starting and ERG (which is an employee resource group), group, and a black inclusion initiative to both promote diversity and inclusion and provide a safe space for everyone to feel supported.
As someone who had never started an ERG group, I started by reaching out to my colleagues at the National Sales Network in New York for advice. NSN is the largest and most diverse sales-specific networking organization in the US, and our board members were quick to lend a hand and provide me with guidance.
This one conversation led to several with similar organizations and companies to find and combine resources and best practices to address the current climate and the events that have transpired over the Murder of George Floyd.
Our HR department also reached out to their networks and conducted their own internal research to compile a list of resources to provide to our employees who have been affected and to their internal allies.
Through this discovery process, we decided to host a company-wide meeting to discuss how we can all support our employees of color and all of the minority groups within our organization.
To foster a collaborative environment and avoid censorship or creating a forum for public debate, we decided to focus on the theme of support and guidance for our colleagues as the backdrop for the constructive discussion.
We also reached out internally to find people within our organization that were passionate about the group and the topic of diversity and inclusion to help guide the discussions.
In order to ensure that our colleagues felt supported at every level of the organization, our CEO sent a company-wide address empathizing with our colleagues and promoting the Black Inclusion Initiative.
Several of our SVPs and senior management also raised their hand to support the cause by providing executive sponsorship for the employee resource group.
The meeting is scheduled to provide a moment of silence and a virtual vigil for George Floyd and everyone else we have tragically lost to police brutality.
We will be kicking off with the moderators opening up dialogue around support and what they have done in their communities to help.
The meeting will then transition into an open forum discussion about what support looks like and the various tools people are currently leveraging with their families and friends.
The meeting will conclude with a list of resources that everyone at the organization can use immediately after the call to show support and learn about the civil rights movements we are currently experiencing.
The Black Inclusion Initiative is definitely more than just one meeting. So as a follow up we will be hosting additional meetings with the group to create the mission and vision for our ERG and ensure that this resource group extends beyond the recent events and creates a community that will benefit both current and future employees within the organization.
If you are unsure about how to help or if like me, you are unsure of how to start and ERG group, the following are some productive ways to show your support:
-Sign a petition – Change.org has several petitions you can sign and contribute to
-You can donate to organizations like Black Lives Matter and several other civil rights organizations
-You can donate to the protestor funds to help bail out the folks advocating for change on the front lines
-You can promote videos, podcasts, movies, and articles to educate your colleagues about how to support employees of color and other minority groups
-You can start a book club and read Anti-Racism books with your colleagues and loved ones
-You can promote civil rights organizations on social media
-If you have a platform, use it, speak up, and provide a voice for those who might now have one
Sales Leaders I challenge all of you to be brave, speak up, and tackle the discussions head-on. Provide your employees of color the opportunity to share their feelings, feel uplifted and supported.
For the individual contributors and those passionate about legal reform and equality, I challenge you to raise your hand, educate your colleagues and lead by example.
In addition to this tip, I have included all of the resources and links that have been provided to me over the last few days by my colleagues to aid your own discussions.
I want to end by thanking all of you for listening and for caring about this moment in history. I would also like to say a special thank you to all of the brave men and women who are currently on the front lines peacefully advocating for our civil rights and the equality for all of us in this country. You inspire me, you make me dream, and above all else, you give me hope for a brighter and more equal tomorrow!
Scott Ingram: If you ever need more information, Eddie is your man. If you’ll click over to DailySales.Tips/505 not only are you going to find links to connect with Eddie, but you’re also going to find the most comprehensive set of resources we’ve shared related to any tip… ever! Lots of links, but there’s an Anti-Racism PDF that is particularly good. Thank you again Eddie for helping to pull all of this together. Again you’ll find everything at DailySales.Tips/505
Once you’ve taken action and checked out those resources. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip.
Thanks for listening!