Joe Gerstandt | keynote speaker, freedom fighter, freak-flag flier

As I said in my last post… Diversity means difference, and there is nothing more universally human than difference. Difference has consequences. Rolling a boulder up hill is very different from rolling the same boulder down hill because gravity has consequences. Similarly, thinking of and approaching difference as an obstacle, a problem to be fixed,   [Read More…]

I benefit from a tremendous amount of privilege. I have, throughout my life, received the benefit of the doubt, from people, organizations, and institutions, including when I did not deserve it. When you are on the advantaged side of things, privilege is a terribly easy thing to not see. Two things seem to come quickly   [Read More…]

See you in Vegas? The 2015 Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference & Exposition is rapidly approaching and it is in Las Vegas this year. This is a big conference, so there would be lots to do and see regardless of where it was held, just due to the fact that it brings something   [Read More…]

I get told from time to time that we should only talk about certain kinds of difference. People have actually gotten angry at me for suggesting that diversity means difference (which it does), and that difference takes many forms. If the dictionary offends you please take it up with the dictionary people. More often than   [Read More…]

For most organizations, inclusion remains a vague, abstract idea. This is why it is so easy to find leaders quick to proclaim how inclusive they (and their organization) are, yet cannot explain what that actually means. One of the tools I like to use in making inclusion a more tangible thing comes from a wonderful   [Read More…]

This is easily one of the more common question that I get. Whether I am talking about authenticity, diversity and inclusion, creativity and innovation, social media or social capital…this is one of the questions that always shows up. I use to have several soft, mushy, sympathetic answers for this question. I use to say things   [Read More…]

My work has been focused on diversity and inclusion from the beginning, and over the past 2-3 years, authenticity has become my third primary focus. There are a number of reasons for this. 1- I am trying to fill my buzzword bingo card. 2- My own personal experience tells me that authenticity is hard work   [Read More…]

One of the books that I find myself recommending a lot is Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie. It is a wonderfully written book touching on organizational culture, authenticity, courage, creativity, expression and other related issues. One of the stories in the book has always stuck with me, since the first time I read   [Read More…]

This is the beginning of a busy season for me, and I am on the road almost constantly for the next couple of weeks. Being the emotional infant that I am, I have a natural range of about four “emotions” when I travel for work; 1- busy working, 2- busy reading, 3- busy sleeping and,   [Read More…]

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” -Walt Whitman I am a lot of things. I am a straight, white, male living in Omaha, Nebraska. I am a business owner, a speaker and an author. I am a father, son, brother, husband, uncle and cousin. I   [Read More…]