Breaking Cultural Barriers: Unleashing the Power of Diversity with Dr. Sarah-Soonling Blackburn
- S6E57
- 47:01
- December 4th 2023
After we finished recording, I told Sarah she is one of the most humble yet smartest people I know.
Dr. Sarah-Soonling Blackburn has a PhD and decades of experience teaching and coaching teachers. Now, she brings this conversation about her background, her unique life story and experience with a mom who is Asian, a dad who is white American, and the intersection of those worlds.
In her upbringing, she lived and traveled around the world. The cultural differences that she watched and experienced gave her an opportunity to see the world, relationships, and people for who they are.
She grew to celebrate each person, and to elevate their unique, distinct differences. It's not a win-loss, zero-sum game. There's an opportunity for all of us to truly hear the stories of the people around us.
And that's what we're going to talk about today with Dr. Sarah-Soonling Blackburn.
Show Outline
- 1:14 - Understanding Cultural Differences
- 2:41 - Recognizing Value Judgments
- 8:23 - Effective Communication in Diverse Settings
- 9:59 - The importance of proactive thinking and equitable voices
- 12:59 - Recognizing the need to break our brains for adaptation
- 18:05 - Recognizing and embracing cultural differences
- 20:37 - The importance of diversity for business success
- 21:30 - Creating a culture of trust and healthy conflict
- 22:11 - Navigating cultural differences in the deep south
- 30:51 - The importance of being proud of oneself
- 31:55 - The power of storytelling for children
- 39:32 - Recognizing and challenging value judgments
Quotes from the Show
- 38:52 - "I wish I had learned that every time you really think you're hitting a wall is when something truly transformative can happen if you're willing to let it."
- 6:11 - "That feeling is often a good cue that there's some kind of judgmental thought going along."
Connect with Dr. Blackburn
Episode 57 - Full Transcript
Coming soon!
The New Generation Leader with Aaron Lee
You are an expert at your business strategy, but now it's time to build your People Strategy. On the New Generation Leader, we'll build your toolkit for a high performing team, increasing your profits and making a significant impact in your community.
The building blocks of a New Generation Leader will help you be the leader our digital world needs you to be.
Aaron’s passion is to solve the leadership crisis for leaders and teams. He has consulted and spoken with government agencies, healthcare, nonprofits, and higher education institutions.
Aaron is an ACC-certified coach, the author of The New Generation Leader. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond and holds a Master of Divinity.
Aaron lives in Richmond with his wife and 2 daughters.
I help leaders lean into crises and harvest the chaos they've experienced so that they can rise and accomplish their goals with passion and unwavering confidence.
I grew up in a small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. My early years were spent operating a shovel for my father's paving company; mowing grass, running a swimming pool, emptying trash and cleaning a bathhouse in the campground we owned, trying to find time for sports and if possible, picking up hay for local farmers. Life was about hands-on, hard work, with no fear of getting dirty in the process.
I always enjoyed meeting new people and spending time listening to stories about family and the lives of folks from all over the country. The knowledge attained from just listening can be key to growing wiser.
I am passionate about helping folks get to where they dream of being and connecting them to those who may be able to help them realize those dreams more quickly.
For over 25 years, I have been helping business leaders finally reach their goals by effectively showing and competently coaching them through their blind spots. They can now effectively speak into the lives of others so that they will be heard, seen, and known.
Through this skill of developing my clients, they are able to increase their leadership capacity towards professional and personal goal accomplishment.
Growth at work becomes an intentional result of the passion they have through a shared vision of company goals, and in collaboration with their trusted leadership.
Jay Smack has been doing voiceovers professionally for over 20 years.
A background in nearly all facets of the industry, from broadcasting, to recording, mixing, engineering, post-production, copywriting, advertising, even custom music composition, provides a unique perspective from both sides of the desk.
Jay has a wide range of voices in his repertoire: movie-trailer deep-n-gritty to caring and friendly to character reads with vibes like Sam Elliott or Morgan Freeman to dry industrial to upbeat retail.