May 29, 2019
Welcome to Heels of Justice; these are the stories of women lawyers who are trailblazers in their field and paved the way for the rest of us.
Today, the Heels of Justice interview Neha Sampat, CEO, founder, coach, and consultant at GenLead|BelongLab, where she focuses on building belonging and true inclusion. Through consulting, training, speaking, and writing, she helps organizations create peak-performance, inclusive teams by addressing hidden barriers to belonging, such as Imposter Syndrome and internalized bias, unconscious bias, and generational diversity.
Key Takeaways
[1:09] Sarita welcomes Neha to the Heels of Justice podcast and asks her to describe what she does at GenLead and how.
[2:14] Neha talks about what belonging means to her and how it means different things to different people, she adds an interesting caveat to the idea of “fitting in.”
[4:53] Neha explains how she hopes the concept of a belonging approach will replace the terms diversity and maybe even inclusion.
[8:02] Sarita talks about the evolution she has seen from diversity to inclusion and now to actually trying to make this inclusion “inclusive.”
[9:59] How does diversity make diverse recruitment easier? Neha shares the personal example of how she entered the law profession.
[13:25] Conversations Neha is having with lawyers about belonging show a disconnect between what individuals and organizations are prioritizing. Could there be a bit of intergenerational envy?!
[16:07] Sarita asks for tips on better aligning a company’s and individuals’ needs. Some more courageous firms have been doing belonging assessments; Neha explains what those are.
[18:20] Neha sees a few unique challenges for the law profession in the evolution towards belonging, one of which being the paramount reliance on data versus subjective experience. Sarita and Neha experience an important Aha moment.
[22:56] Neha touches on what we can all do to own our value and how impostor syndrome, though often denied, is really prevalent in the law.
24:45] Sarita roleplays with Neha to get a better sense of what it means to own your value. How are you uniquely qualified? How are knowledge gaps just an opportunity to grow?
[33:33] How did Neha come to be so ‘woke’? Sarita asks what path led her to where she is today.
[34:20] Sarita asks how Neha advocates for herself.
[38:43] Sarita thanks Neha for sharing so much of her experience on the Heels of Justice podcast and she signs off until next time.
That’s it for this episode of Heels of Justice; if you like the stories we’re telling, please visit our website. You can join our mailing list, learn more about our guests, and see what we have planned for the future.
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Disclaimer: The opinions you have heard are ours or our guest’s alone. They’re not the opinions of our employers, or our clients, or our bosses, and not our husbands, kids or pets, or anyone else’s.
More about the Heels of Justice hosts Sarita Venkat, and Katherine Minarik
Sarita Venkat on LinkedIn
Katherine Minarik on LinkedIn
Katherine Minarik on Twitter
Katherine Minarik at cleverbridge
More about our guest
Neha Sampat’s bio on GenLead
Neha Sampat on LinkedIn
Neha Sampat on Twitter
Neha’s gift for our listeners!
The GenLead|Belong Lab 5 week course on tackling Impostor Syndrome will open this summer, stay informed here.
Once registration opens, use the discount code HEELSOFJUSTICE for 15% off your registration fee for this 5 weeks of practice-based course to help you feel and perform better! Learn more here.
Additional resources on belonging and Impostor Syndrome
Neha’s email
Neha’s blog
Neha’s YouTube channel
BelongLab’s Twitter
Articles:
Mentioned in this episode