Paper #1: Leader Communication Skills Matter - No Matter the Race
One especially tough context for organizational change is efforts to reduce race segregation at work (it has returned); these efforts are known as workforce diversity practices. Diversity goals face headwinds: political backlash and economic downturns. While prior research said that Hispanic, Black, and Asian executives should avoid championing diversity, I helped discover a communication skill that reduces the backlash (OBHDP). This is already published.
Next Paper: Measures for Workplace Social Skills
My first publication focused on how executives from minority backgrounds can communicate more successfully during times of controversy. That got me started on an extensive investigation to validate measures of social, emotional, and behavioral skills (SEBs) for grownups – as we already have great measures for school children (Soto et al). Building upon my background in international diplomacy, I collaborated with The World Bank Group and WellSpring, a donor-advised fund, to validate 14 workplace social skill measures in 5 countries with over 10,000 participants. These new measurement scales show psychology at its best: internationalized and validated across all economic strata. We have self-reports and subjective judgment tasks, as well as entrepreneurs and wage workers – all African. We are finalizing a submission to JAP.