Courageous Conversations

Kevin McShan is a journalist, speaker,  disability advocate, and podcast host who has cerebral palsy. In this episode he and Jonathan Mahan have a vulnerable conversation about his experiences living with the disease. Disability is a sensitive topic that most of us prefer to avoid, today we're taking some time to bravely talk about uncomfortable topics such as his real versus perceived physical limitations, the emotional toll having a disability has, and the struggles of social isolation faced by most people with disabilities. If you want to watch this conversation in video format you can do so here: https://youtu.be/uE5dRygjqBg

Tyrone is a cyber security professional in the banking industry who has spent most of his career working in almost entirely white work places.  In this episode we talk about topics such as how he handles microaggressions, what makes it difficult for Black professionals to advance,  and even the different ways unconscious racial biases impact both white and Black people in the workplace. If you want to watch the video version of this conversation you can find it here: https://youtu.be/NrfkcD7_pf8

Whether it's folks on the religious right or the woke left or that vegan cross fitter you know one thing that is common in all groups of people is that many of them use their commitment to live by a certain standard as justification to be a jerk to people who aren't living by that same standard.    Greg Fontus is both a DEI consultant and a Christian minister and in this episode he and Jonathan Mahan compare this phenomenon across various groups of people, explore why it is that this is such a common occurrence, and even discuss how we all can avoid this common pitfall in our own lives. If you want to watch the video version of this conversation you can find it here: https://youtu.be/M46s4Y9nRAs

When you feel like you have to change who you are and act out a role in order to make those around you feel more comfortable, and you do so in order to gain access to social capital, career opportunities, etc that is code switching. People of all backgrounds may do this at some point in their lives, but members of marginalized groups (racial/ethnic minorities, neuro-divergent people, members of LGBTQ community, etc) experience it constantly in our schools and workplaces.   This is a truly fascinating conversation between Jonathan Mahan and Zeena Greene that not only covers code switching but also gets into where the notion of "professionalism" came from and how it is tied to the patriarchal, heteronormative, white supremacist aspects of our culture. If you'd like to watch the video version of this conversation you can find it here: https://youtu.be/PeiE-O73aQk

Empathy is a superpower, and one that everyone has the capacity for. However, oftentimes in life we find ourselves interacting with people who aren't showing any empathy. We may even have people in our lives who make a habit out of not showing much empathy.    In this episode Kevin Shah and I talk about empathy; what it is, how to develop it in yourself, and how to help others show up with more empathy in their interactions with you. You'll even get a better understanding of why it's so hard for some people to show up with empathy in various situations, and how you yourself can get better at this as well. If you want to watch the video version of this conversation you can do so here: https://youtu.be/Qb2c5x6gWjw