Ginny Clarke
Diversity, Workforce, Leadership – Bringing it All Together
Ginny Clarke, a holistic leadership strategist and former director of executive recruiting at Google, spoke about building a foundation for talent, optimizing that talent, and engaging conscious leadership. She emphasized starting with the business need when hiring and promoting talent, gathering data through performance evaluations, and creating talent plans.
“I’m not sure a lot of companies are thinking about what the business need is when hiring and promoting talent,” she said.
Ms. Clarke also stressed the creation of a full ecosystem supporting talent across all levels, focusing on competencies and abilities rather than just impressive resumes.
As for performance reviews, she said she dreaded them and that they took too much time to prepare. Ms. Clarke said she was able to reframe reviews to eliminate multi-page self-assessments and instead gather information to keep employees progressing.
“Feedback is a gift. You should ask for it, and you should give it constructively and regularly,” she said. “If you’re not giving it to people and asking for it, you’re not developing them.”
Ms. Clarke also asserts that leaders should not be people pleasers. She encouraged leaders to focus on earning respect rather than just being liked and to actively seek and give feedback to develop themselves and their team. “If your goal is to be liked as a leader you’re going to fail,” she said. “Likes don’t translate to leadership. I would rather be respected than liked.”
Additionally, she discussed the importance of diversity, including hidden workers – such as immigrants and formerly incarcerated community members, and holding senior leaders accountable for their behaviors.
Finally, she emphasized the importance of communication and accountability for senior leaders in creating a successful and inclusive workplace.