330: Beyond DEI, Fixing Workplace Fairness with the FAIR Framework with Lily Zheng
Release Date: 02/01/2026
343: Discovering Joy and Autonomy in the C-Suite with Sabrina Calouri
Allyship in Action
Welcome back, everyone! I am just so thrilled to share my conversation with Sabrina Caluori, the CMO at Chief. You know, I talk a lot about capacity erosion—that feeling where your mental load is so heavy you're basically walking through quicksand while trying to run a marathon. Sabrina gets it. She’s been in those high-stakes rooms at Paramount, hitting a wall of burnout so thick she didn't even have the words to name it yet. But what I love about her perspective is how she’s flipped the script, moving from stepping off the ladder to building a community that reminds us we aren't...
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342: Finding Your Natural Allyship Rhythm with Dr. Meg Warren
Allyship in Action
I’ve always said that allyship isn’t a proclamation you make—it’s an aspiration that lives in the eye of the beholder. For a long time, we’ve been told that to be a real ally, you have to be this fearless, extroverted warrior constantly jumping into the line of fire. Let’s be real: most of us are just trying to hit our step goals and remember to eat less salt without feeling like we’re failing at life! In this episode, the brilliant Dr. Meg Warren joins me to flip the script. We’re moving away from that check the box mentality and diving into the baby pool of self-awareness to...
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341: Real Talk on Self Leadership and Shaking Off the Bullshit with Aiko Bethea
Allyship in Action
I am just vibrating with excitement after my chat with Aiko Bethea ! If you’ve followed her work as I have, you know she’s basically the gold standard for building cultures that actually mean something . We got into the nitty-gritty of her new book, Anchored, Aligned, and Accountable, and let me tell you, it is the blueprint we need right now . I even got a little unplanned coaching session myself—turns out, even after years in the DEI space, I’m still a recovery fixer trying to work my way out of every hard feeling . Aiko gently called me out on that toxic productivity narrative...
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340: How to Share Your Personal Life Without Hurting Your Career with Catherine Kleshinski
Allyship in Action
I am so excited to share this conversation with my wonderful colleague and friend, Dr. Catherine Kleshinski from Indiana University. We’ve all been there on a random Monday morning when someone asks, "How was your weekend?" and we’re dying to share a picture of our new puppy or the chaos of a first birthday party. I used to think these me-search moments were just simple trust builders—and they are! Catherine’s latest research in the Journal of Applied Psychology reveals that there is a lot of nuance behind that water cooler talk. It turns out that while sharing the non-work...
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339: How Human Skills Unleash the Real Power of Generative AI with Anthony Salcito
Allyship in Action
It is such a wild time to be in the world of training and development, isn’t it? I’ve had this persistent hunch—call it a "zag" when everyone else is "zigging"—that as much as we’re obsessing over AI, the real secret sauce is still our human intuition . I recently sat down with Anthony Salcito from Coursera, and it turns out my hypothesis wasn't just wishful thinking. We’ve all seen those robotic AI outputs that sound like they’ve never actually lived a day in their lives, and while I’ve certainly fumbled through my share of prompt engineering, the data shows that our...
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338: What Equity is and How Enable it at Your Organization with Celeste Warren
Allyship in Action
This week, Celeste Warren, a globally recognized thought leader, author, and former Fortune 100 Vice President, returns to discuss her latest book, The Truth About Equity. Celeste shares her insights on: Defining Equity: Moving beyond the buzzwords to understand equity as a pragmatic approach to meeting people where they are. The "Fence" Analogy: Exploring the systemic "isms" that create barriers and how acts of equity can help dismantle them. Equity in the Workplace: From recruitment and talent development to succession planning and performance management, Celeste identifies key...
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337: How to Use History and Personal Gifts to Rise and Resist with Dr. Janice Gassam Asare
Allyship in Action
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Janice Gassam Asare, founder of BWG Business Solutions and author of the new book, Rise and Resist: How to Reclaim Workplace Equity and Justice . Following a period of intense personal and professional backlash—including being targeted by high-profile political figures—Janice discusses why looking to historical legacies of resistance is the key to enduring today’s challenging DEI landscape. We explore how "everything is cyclical" and how we can draw strength from the stories of lesser-known figures who challenged the status quo long before...
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336: Navigating Change in the Allyship Journey with Jennifer Brown
Allyship in Action
Jennifer Brown is back to unpack her new book, The Shape of Change, the journey through allyship and change. Together, we discuss: How change can feel like being in a dark hallway and trying to find the path forward in uncertain times What inclusive leadership looks like when we are called to be brave in unprecedented times The tools to build resilience to shape the changes necessary to our important work Follow Jennifer and get her book at https://jenniferbrownspeaks.com/
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335: Leading Without Hallways, Building Culture with Teresa Johnson
Allyship in Action
Culture isn't just a poster on the wall. Culture is the heartbeat of a thriving business. This interview with Teresa Johnson, CEO of Color Me Mine, explores the incredible journey from being a single mom to purchasing a pottery studio on a credit card, leading a franchise empire of over 150 locations. Teresa shares her secret sauce for scaling businesses through intentional culture and the unique challenges of leading remote teams across the country. Key Takeaways Leading Without Hallways: Building culture in a remote or franchised environment requires a new leadership skillset. Teresa...
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334: Men at Work with Jennifer McCollum
Allyship in Action
In this episode, Julie Kratz welcomes Jennifer McCollum, President and CEO of Catalyst, a global nonprofit focused on workplace equity. They discuss the critical role of men in gender partnership and the release of Jennifer’s book, Men at Work. The conversation delves into the systemic challenges women face, the data supporting inclusive leadership, and how men can transition from passive support to active, mutually accountable leadership. Key Takeaways Mutual Accountability Over Passive Support: The concept of "men as allies" has evolved into gender partnership, emphasizing that...
info_outlineLily Zheng is a no-nonsense DEI strategist and best-selling author of DEI Deconstructed and Fixing Fairness. They discuss the limitations of traditional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and introduce Lily’s FAIR framework: Fairness, Access, Inclusion, and Representation. Lily challenges the industry’s reliance on "one-and-done" training and advocates for a 90/10 split—prioritizing system-level changes over individual interventions. This conversation is a masterclass for leaders who want to move beyond performative buzzwords to create workplaces that truly work for everyone.
Key Takeaways
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Evolving DEI to FAIR: Lily proposes replacing the broad, often misunderstood terms of DEI with the FAIR framework. This model focuses on whether everyone is set up for success, free from discrimination (Fairness), whether environments allow full participation (Access), if people feel respected and safe (Inclusion), and if employees truly trust their leaders (Representation).
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The 90/10 Systems: First Approach: Real change happens when organizations spend 90% of their effort on changing systems (incentives, hiring processes, and transparency) and only 10% on individual training. Training alone rarely solves systemic issues and can often lead to the "Cobra Effect," where poorly designed incentives actually make problems worse.
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Representation is About Trust, Not Tokens: True representation isn't just a "check-the-box" exercise of hiring diverse faces. It is achieved only when people from all social groups
Memorable Quotes from Lily Zheng
"Rebranding DEI as FAIR will not save us. But reimagining how we conceptualize and execute what we used to call DEI just might."
"If you had $10,000 to invest... I'd invest maybe $100 into training. But everything else is going into creating that system, to creating the incentives, to creating the culture."
"We have to stop [teaching people how to jump over gaps]... we got to point at the missing stair and go, 'Why is there no stair there? We have to put a stair there.'"
Follow Lily Zheng at lilyzheng.co and get their book at https://www.lilyzheng.co/authorship