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Is Your Belonging Strategy a Legal Liability or Asset?

Imagine Belonging at Work

Release Date: 09/12/2025

Are You Using the Right Language to Talk About DEI? show art Are You Using the Right Language to Talk About DEI?

Imagine Belonging at Work

Are you struggling with how to talk about your organization's DEI commitments in today’s volatile climate? In this episode of the "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality" mini-series, host Rhodes Perry offers message-tested communication strategies to fortify the heart of your work. Discover how to take a "Goldilocks approach," balancing what you say to different audiences to avoid legal risks while protecting your brand's reputation. Learn why the full phrase "diversity, equity, and inclusion" is more powerful than the acronym "DEI" and how to frame your initiatives...

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Imagine Belonging at Work

In this special bonus episode of the "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality" mini-series, we reflect on the material consequences of inflammatory rhetoric and dangerous policies that impact protected employee groups. Host Rhodes Perry identifies the groups disproportionately impacted and outlines the strategy behind Project 2025, which aims to unravel decades of civil rights gains. This episode offers a critical examination of how threats to civil rights enforcement, mass deportations, and healthcare restrictions can impact your workforce and business outcomes. You'll learn...

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Imagine Belonging at Work

In the face of growing opposition, what proactive actions can leaders take to fortify their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments? This final episode of the mini-series "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality" is your guide to moving from a defensive stance to one of proactive leadership. Host Rhodes Perry shares essential strategies for building a powerful "champions coalition" beyond traditional teams, and a roadmap for reimagining your DEI framework to ensure success for everyone. You'll learn to clarify outcomes, design scaled behavior change, and embrace...

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Imagine Belonging at Work

In this episode of the Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality mini-series, we're talking about something every leader needs to be aware of: the profound impact of collective trauma and grief on your workforce. Host Rhodes Perry shares how the current climate amplifies fear and anxiety, disrupting the very fabric of trust and psychological safety in the workplace. This episode provides actionable, trauma-informed strategies to support your employees. You'll learn how to: Provide psychological safety first aid. Acknowledge and validate employees' grief. Model collective...

info_outline Is Your Belonging Strategy a Legal Liability or Asset? show art Is Your Belonging Strategy a Legal Liability or Asset?

Imagine Belonging at Work

Are you confident your organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are legally sound? In this episode of the Imagine Belonging Podcast mini-series, "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality," we explore the shifting legal landscape and what it means for your workplace. Host Rhodes Perry provides a clear-eyed analysis of the legal attacks on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, including recent court rulings, executive actions, and congressional proposals. This episode gives you the essential legal context to fortify your diversity, equity, and...

info_outline What to do When Your Profession is Under Attack? show art What to do When Your Profession is Under Attack?

Imagine Belonging at Work

In a climate where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals are facing unprecedented challenges, how can leaders continue to build spaces of belonging? This exclusive mini-series, Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s New Reality, inspired by a toolkit originally for Fortune 100 leaders, is your roadmap! Host and creator of the Imagine Belonging Podcast, Rhodes Perry, a nationally recognized belonging culture thought leader, offers the essential guidance you need to navigate the shifting landscape of legal challenges, evolving rhetoric, and evolving workforce strategies....

info_outline EXCLUSIVE: Pride in Exile featuring Former EEOC Commissioner, Chai Feldblum and New York District EEOC Administrative Judge, Karen Ortiz show art EXCLUSIVE: Pride in Exile featuring Former EEOC Commissioner, Chai Feldblum and New York District EEOC Administrative Judge, Karen Ortiz

Imagine Belonging at Work

Congress established the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Its primary purpose is to prevent and address unfair treatment in the workplace, ensuring that employers don't discriminate against individuals based on race, gender, religion, or age in hiring, firing, or promotions.   Essentially, the EEOC attempts to create a level playing field in the job market by investigating complaints and enforcing anti-discrimination laws. Yet today’s EEOC, led by acting chair Andrea Lucas, is rapidly changing, especially as it enforces—or...

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Imagine Belonging at Work

The past decade has tragically tested the resilience and brilliance of transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive (trans) people living in the U.S. Misinformation about who we are and what we want has sparked thousands of anti-transgender bills introduced in nearly every state capital across the country, adversely impacting almost every segment of the trans community. Despite this harsh reality, the future is a rainbow, and it’s wise for business leaders to recognize this truth. It’s also essential for these leaders to recognize the responsibility they have to prepare their...

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Imagine Belonging at Work

Allies. In workplace settings, there are times when most of us need them. Consider this scenario; you’re in a meeting, and you’re about to take a calculated risk to share an unpopular idea. As soon as you complete your thought, one of your colleagues quickly responds, complimenting you on your idea, and asking you to share more. That’s an act of allyship.   Conversely, in that very same meeting, you can take an act of allyship by showing up for a different colleague when another person says something unskillful to them. Without a beat, you can simply say, “You just said [insert...

info_outline [Out & Equal Mini-Series] Part II: Reaffirming Our Belonging Commitments Ken Janssens, Co-Founder and Head of Social Impact for Windō and Board Chair at Out & Equal show art [Out & Equal Mini-Series] Part II: Reaffirming Our Belonging Commitments Ken Janssens, Co-Founder and Head of Social Impact for Windō and Board Chair at Out & Equal

Imagine Belonging at Work

Welcoming LGBTQ+ employees into the workforce is one of the great business success stories of the last 20 years. By implementing LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and practices businesses led the way, before the laws caught up, and organizations like Out & Equal paved the way. Listen to this episode featuring Windō Co-Founder + Head of Social Impact, Ken Janssens, share how to protect the progress made for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion, and gain insights on how to protect the heart of this essential inclusion work. For those unfamiliar with Ken, he is a former tech executive and Chief Data Officer...

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More Episodes

Are you confident your organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are legally sound? In this episode of the Imagine Belonging Podcast mini-series, "Navigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's New Reality," we explore the shifting legal landscape and what it means for your workplace. Host Rhodes Perry provides a clear-eyed analysis of the legal attacks on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, including recent court rulings, executive actions, and congressional proposals.

This episode gives you the essential legal context to fortify your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Rhodes will demystify recent judicial decisions like the U.S. Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions ruling and explain the three-pronged legal test (aka, "the three p's") to determine if your programming is at risk. You'll learn best practices for conducting legal audits and how to build a strategic advisory team to protect your organization.

Tune in to discover how to mitigate legal and reputational risks while strengthening your commitment to advancing your organization's belonging strategy.

Key Takeaways & Timestamps

  • [2:15] Overview of the legal landscape impacting DEI

  • [4:00] Analysis of the SFFA and Muldrow v. City of St. Louis Supreme Court decisions

  • [6:30] Impact of Executive and Congressional actions

  • [9:00] Best practices for fortifying your DEI work

  • [11:00] The "three p's" legal test for discrimination claims

  • [14:20] Practices to avoid to mitigate risk

 

 

Grow the Belonging Movement!

 

 🏆Book a 1:1 coaching session with Rhodes: https://tinyurl.com/5n6f47pz