EP339: Dr. Ella F. Washington - How To Build A Workplace Utopia

Dr. Ella F. Washington (Jan 10): you want to look outward as well, especially for those of us who have our own businesses. We may have people working for us, or we work with external partners, and we want to think about what are their needs? Like, how do they feel when they come to work? How do they experience this industry? How do they experience this company? What about those that are maybe from marginalized groups? Is their experience different? You're listening to The Successful Bookkeeper with your host, I'm Michael Palmer. Listen each week as inspiring guests share their secrets of success to help you increase your confidence, work smarter, and build a business you love. This episode of The Successful Bookkeeper is brought to you by purebookkeeping.com, the proven system to grow your bookkeeping business. Welcome back to The Successful Bookkeeper Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Palmer. And today's show is going to be a great one. Our guest is the founder and CEO of Elevate Solutions, an organizational psychologist, a diversity, equity, and inclusion workplace culture expert, and author of The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion. Dr. Ella F. Washington, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. It's great to have you. And so, Ella, I'd love for you to describe your career journey leading up to what you're doing today. Yes. So, I was a psychology major in undergrad. I attended Spelman College, which is a historically Black college for women in Atlanta, Georgia. And there became my love for understanding what makes people tick on the inside and also what makes them thrive on the outside, especially in workplaces. And so, I was so fascinated Fascinated by that, I went to Northwestern University and earned my PhD in organizational behavior with a specific focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, specifically around leaders in organizations and how we can have more leaders in organizations from marginalized communities.

Michael Palmer: And so since then, that was about a decade ago, I have been working in the space of consulting and research and writing all about DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and And part of that work is my work as a professor at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business, where I teach undergraduates and MBA students and executives all about how we can create workplaces where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Wow. That sounds like quite a journey. Thank