110. Dr. Poornima Luthra: Demonstrating active allyship

Access to Inspiration

In episode 110, host Sue Stockdale interviews Dr Poornima Luthra, an associate professor at Copenhagen Business School. They explore the concept of active allyship and discuss ways to overcome the fear of saying or doing the wrong thing when supporting diversity and inclusion within organizations.
Poornima is the founder and CEO of TalentED Consultancy ApS. Poornima’s work in DEI focuses on expanding the dimensions of diversity we address with an emphasis on intersectionality, empowering individuals to be active allies of inclusion and enabling inclusive leadership.She has been recognised as one of the world’s 30 up-and-coming thinkers whose ideas will make an important impact on management thinking in the future by the prestigious Thinkers50.
Her book ‘The Art of Active Allyship’ was named one of the 10 best management books of 2023 by Thinkers50. Poornima is also the recipient of the Professional Women of Colour Denmark 2021 Impact award, and the national winner (Denmark) in the Trailblazer category of the 2023 Nordic Blaze Inclusion Awards Nordic Blaze Inclusion Awards.She is currently co-authoring her third book in the DEI space titled ‘Leading through Bias’ which will be published in November 2023 with the Danish version of the book being published by the Danish publisher Djøf in 2024.
Connect with Poornima Luthra via her website : LinkedIn : Facebook
Time Stamps
[00:01:09] Squiggly career paths.
[00:03:31] Microaggressions and gender biases.
[00:07:32] Inclusion and diversity interests.
[00:10:32] DEI as a zero-sum game.
[00:13:54] Fear in diversity and inclusion.
[00:18:35] Allyship and its definition.
[00:22:19] Progress in active allyship.
[00:25:47] LGBTQ+ community acceptance.
[00:27:45] Addressing fear and inequality.
Key Quotes

• "I really liked the idea of understanding human beings and the workplace environment."
• "I went to the program director and said, I'd really like to be considered for this role. And he looked at me and said, not until you've got a lot more white hair".
• "Fear is a topic that we really need to put on the table.
• "When we look at diversity as a zero-sum game, that it's one group against another, we actually do more harm."
• "Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
• "Allyship is a lifelong process of building supporting relationships with people who are from underrepresented, marginalised, discriminated groups."

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