About the speaker
Denise Pirrotti Hummel, J.D. is the founder of Lead Inclusively, an organization devoted to helping clients integrate business and H.R. strategies to optimize workplace cultures by enabling diverse talent to positively impact organizational success through inclusion.
Ms. Hummel began her career as an employment lawyer by litigating and winning the first class action under the Americans With Disabilities Act. She moved into international M&A people integration, where she developed a cross-cultural optimization consultancy, Universal Consensus, LLC, which was acquired by Ernst & Young, where she became a Principal. She is a serial entrepreneur, IDEO™ certified in “Leading for Creativity,” Ted Talks™ finalist and is on Marshall Goldsmith’s final legacy team 100 coaches™. She is a staunch advocate of a diverse workforce, her mission has always been measurable action driving tangible business results.
KEYNOTE
TED TALK: IGNITING INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP
Denise Hummel’s Ted Talk is about a fundamental transformation that could forever change the ability of corporations to recruit, retain and advance diverse talent in their organizations. She begins by speaking about why she became dedicated to helping companies move from diversity (the demographic mix of a diverse workforce) to inclusion (how those people feel when they get there). Her experience, as a single mother, growing her own business, which she ultimately sold to Ernst & Young, has helped to define her experience of inclusion. Her experience as an attorney who tried and won the first class action under the Americans With Disabilities Act helped to define her mission in life – to move away from the litigiousness of “us versus them” and towards a paradigm that together we can create a work environment where inclusion is the ignitor of business performance. This Ted Talk has inspired thousands of women and men to collaborate to balance workforce power.
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KEYNOTE
CROSS-CULTURAL EFFECTIVENESS
Global markets represent the greatest opportunity for American companies today. Involving these markets in company initiatives to establish critical buy-in and improve engagement is no longer optional, since failure to do so often means an inability to attain the business results sought. Denise Pirrotti Hummel is one of the world’s premier experts on understanding the cross-cultural factors that impact global strategies and how companies can leverage this knowledge for successful programs. This keynote is uniquely positioned to help clients foster strategy, communication, and teamwork excellence, reducing cost, increasing quality, and eliminating many of the risks associated with global initiatives and challenges with fostering cross-border relationships. Studies and our client-project experience shows efficiency gains of approximately 30% when implementing a targeted culture solution.
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KEYNOTE
CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE
Champions of Change is a keynote created for men and women to partner together and drive balance in workplace power. It’s for organizations who want gender parity not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s an economic imperative to organizational success. It’s for all the wonderful male executives out there who believe in women and want to see them succeed in the workplace. It’s for the men with promising daughters and powerful wives, girlfriends, colleagues and friends and it’s for the men who simply believe that all people should be permitted to reach their potential without unnecessary impediment, but maybe don’t know how to help. It’s for all the wonderful female executives out there who know they need to have the courage to ask men for support, but don’t know how.
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KEYNOTE
CLOSING THE GENERATIONAL GAP
The wisdom of the world lies in the mixing, managing, acceptance and appreciation of generational differences. If information is used to pigeonhole people, it will become a dangerous weapon. We hear constantly about complaints relative to Millennials being lazy and self-absorbed with low attention spans, but the reality is that we, as more experienced professionals, have failed to reach them in a manner that aligns with their values — connecting purpose with productivity. Likewise, Millennials often see us as professionals whose time has passed, that we are unaware of the latest technology and unable to see future opportunity as clearly as they can. While this attitude fails to acknowledge the depth of knowledge that can only be gleaned through life experience, they are correct that growing up as a “non-native-digital” has its deficits. The key to closing the gender gap is seeing the talent life cycle as cyclical rather than linear with each generation providing the other with value. This keynote is compelling in that it combines business performance facts and metrics with Ms. Hummel’s leadership of multiple Millennial teams from start-ups to the Fortune 500.
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KEYNOTE
Differently-Able
The differently-abled keynote focuses on the burden of perceived limitations on those with apparent disabilities (those that can be seen) and the challenges and opportunities faced by those with hidden disabilities (those that are not apparently visible). The presentation reveals the opportunity to be gained by bringing awareness to our bias, conscious and unconscious, and liberating ourselves from pre-conceived judgment about the limitations of others. Ms. Hummel is accompanied by Lex Gillette, a blind athlete and Paralympic champion. Ms. Hummel's perspective is as an advocate of people with disabilities and a businesswoman focused on the connection between inclusion and business performance. Mr. Gillette's perspective is that of a champion athlete who happens to be a person with a visual disability. Together, they speak to how we can be better together by bringing awareness and empowerment to all our interactions in the workplace.
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