Ep 161 - Maria Morukian, CEO at MSM Global Consulting

Minority Report Podcast

In episode 161, Erik and Kerel talk with Maria Morukian, CEO at MSM Global Consulting, a company offering a unique approach to organizational culture change by empowering organizations to achieve greater success through embracing equity, diversity and inclusivity. They talk about Maria’s multicultural upbringing, how that has inspired and impacted her work in the DEI space today, lessons and stories from her life and work, the premise of MSM Global Consulting and how they partner and collaborate with clients to do the real work, not the performative DEI work. Maria shares so many powerful stories and examples of the work and challenges that come up in DEI. Stories range from people practicing expansion, companies not understanding the actual work they need to do rather than surface level, pointing at leadership to blame, and how all of us “coming to the table” isn’t the inclusive act many think it is. She also tells us what keeps her up at night, what she’s grateful for right now, and what’s made her laugh lately - questions asked from her idea of Compassionate Leadership. Timestamps :35: Maria Morukian, CEO at MSM Global Consulting shares her family’s past with fleeing, immigrating from Europe to Cuba, her growing up speaking spanish in Detroit, and her experience seeing racial segregation and cultural differences all around her 3:53: How Maria’s past with ties to Cuba, Istanbul, the Caribbean, having a multilingual and eclectic family has influenced her work in DEI today 6:38: One of the biggest lessons learned by Maria and how to find balance in the work of DEI 8:03: How Maria balances differences of opinions, experiences and more within DEI and how she sees whether a company is really there to learn or if it’s a performative stance 9:50: What MSM Global Consulting is based on, how they partner and collaborate with clients, and what work they do in the entire process 12:07: How MSM Global Consulting measures DEI initiatives of items such as belonging and inclusion on a tangible level and how companies can start telling themselves the wrong story 16:29: Maria explains the importance of belonging, how to cultivate culture in organizations for belonging to be felt, and why the data is important 18:39: A topic that was brought up in Maria’s TED Talk, practicing expansion, is explained, how our human nature is to gravitate to others like us and becoming aware of that, and what it means to truly be inclusive 22:13: Maria shares a powerful story about two US veterans having very different opinions on a polarizing topic while still being able to relate on the shared veteran status, an excellent example of practicing expansion 26:40: Where the future of DEI is going, why it’s a fascinating time to be in the work, stay in it and to build a future that has never existed before 29:37: Advice for those who want to make a difference in DEI in their organization but get a lot of pushback, growing our allyship, and expanding out of our networks 30:26: Erik asks Maria a few questions to check-in in regards to being a compassionate leader, an idea by Maria, and for this one, she shares what’s made her laugh recently 33:46: Maria is asked what’s she’s grateful for today and shares what types of friendships are important 34:53: Maria is asked what keeps her up at night, the polarization in our world, and what will happen if we continue on this path 36:30: Maria shares what advice she’d give to herself 20 years ago 37:08: What is in Maria’s music rotation right now including digging into some 90’s hip hop 38:34: Where to find Maria, her podcast “Culture Stew,” see more about MSM Global Consulting, and her book “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Trainers: Fostering DEI in the Workplace” Follow Us: Newsletter: bitly.com/2QLEY8U Linkedin: bit.ly/2ZZUBxG Twitter: bit.ly/2Qp0SzK Instagram: bit.ly/2QLfEQc