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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Well, hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining us in this eSuite conversation.
00:15Can we talk the moments that matter?
00:19Well, I'm really excited to be here. Thanks for being here.
00:22We are going to jump in, and when we are done, we've got a mic there in the middle,
00:27we call it the Keep It Real mic, for any and all of your questions.
00:33Why don't we jump in? You ready?
00:35Absolutely.
00:36All right, so I'm sitting next to an incredibly talented woman who has had an amazing career as an attorney
00:43across a number of big Fortune 500 companies.
00:48And one of the things I would love to hear from you, Monique, is how you've achieved the successes that you have,
00:56how you continue to slay in your lane, what insight can you give from your wonderful experience?
01:03Okay, wow. You told them a lot about me.
01:07Do you want us to start out giving them a quick introduction to ourselves?
01:10Yes.
01:11Okay. Phil and I are going to do that.
01:13That gives me time to think about that hard question he just gave me.
01:17You know, Phil and I last month had the opportunity to attend our company's first diversity, equity, and inclusion innovation lab.
01:26It was an amazing experience where we had the opportunity to really dig deep and understand the lived experiences of our employees
01:34and how we're going to address them if there were tensions and challenges.
01:38As a part of that, there was an exercise where we had to do an elevator speech in 60 seconds.
01:45Okay, now y'all know that's hard.
01:48We are going to attempt to do that.
01:51I'm going to start us off.
01:53I'm glad you're going first.
01:55We'll see how well I do.
01:57Okay.
01:58I am Monique and I am a transformational, strategic, and innovative executive leader in DE&I.
02:07I'm very passionate about advancing diversity, equity, inclusion to elevate diverse talent within the workforce
02:16who drive towards corporate success for any company.
02:19I am the mother of two amazing children who I think are extremely smart and talented.
02:26And I just celebrated my 23rd wedding anniversary with the love of my life.
02:30His name is Terrence.
02:32I also have the privilege of taking care of or being the primary caretaker for both of my parents.
02:39And my primary job is to make sure that they are happy, that they're healthy,
02:43and that they're comfortable as they enter into the twilight of their careers.
02:48And finally, I believe in self-care because without self-care, exercise, weight lifting,
02:53trying to eat well half the time, I can't do all of that.
02:57Phil.
02:58That was impressive.
02:59Not a hard act to follow.
03:00That was good.
03:01All right, 60 seconds.
03:03I'm going to start in the reverse.
03:04I am a Jamaican-born son of a country pastor, son of an English teacher.
03:09Moved to the U.S. when I was 12 years old.
03:11Went to high school in Atlanta, college in Virginia, graduate school at the University of Denver.
03:16My career has spanned consulting at Accenture to retail at Target.
03:21I am now the CIO of the Optum division at United Healthcare.
03:26My team runs the technology for our health services and technology business.
03:32I am passionate about health and health equity and the role that technology plays in creating greater equity and health in the country.
03:41I am married to my lovely wife, Amy, of 24 years.
03:45And I have five children.
03:49My oldest boy, Maxwell, and I am blessed with four spitfires of daughters.
03:56And so this Essence Fest is kind of cool because there's a whole bunch of black girl magic running around here.
04:01And with the girls that I have, that's an exciting place to be.
04:06Okay, so back to your question.
04:09I think about two really important moments that helped me to overcome challenges and slay throughout my career.
04:17One is living your strength.
04:20What do I mean by that?
04:22We're all going to have a variety of responsibilities and different roles throughout our career.
04:27But one of the main things we want to do is work primarily on our strengths because that's what's going to help us to be successful in any role.
04:35I'm not saying to ignore whatever our development areas are or our weaknesses, but I'm saying don't spend the most of your time there.
04:42And for anybody who is a people leader, especially at an executive level, you can hire people who are really good at whatever your weakness is.
04:51And then when you hire those people and you bring them in, trust them, right?
04:56Make sure they believe in the vision and then trust that they're going to get the work done so that everybody is successful.
05:03The second thought I have in terms of what I've done in my career is I recognize very early on that no woman is an island.
05:12So you've heard the expression that it takes a village to raise a child.
05:19Well, it kind of takes a village to advance and raise a career.
05:24And this is very similar.
05:26So in my career, I have learned that I have to involve others, right?
05:32So I very quickly like to identify who are those leaders that I feel I can go and talk to and I can have really real moments, be my authentic self,
05:41in a real conversation and be vulnerable enough to tell them what's really going on in my life at that moment or what I need help with.
05:48I like to identify people that are in a role that I want to have at some point.
05:53It might be two or three levels above where I might be at that point, but I want to go meet those people.
05:58Because I want to talk to somebody like you, Phil, if I was myself seven years ago to say how did you get to be Chief Information Officer?
06:06What were some of the experiences that you had?
06:08What were the skills and capabilities that you learned?
06:11What do you think is critical for your continued success in that role?
06:15So I can think about, with respect to the experiences I'm going to have, how I'm going to acquire that.
06:21Now, in the spirit of diversity, equity, inclusion, that doesn't mean that I have to have every role that Phil has had.
06:28I don't, because that's how we get to a point in which everyone who has made it to that point has all looked the same.
06:37You don't need to look like everyone else who's had the role, but you do need those skills, capabilities, and that EQ that is necessary for one to be successful.
06:47When you do that, you are putting yourself out there to go meet others.
06:52That is very hard for us to do.
06:55People always say develop your network.
06:58It's hard.
07:00But you have to force yourself to do it because what we were taught, which is that just do great work,
07:07just doing great work is not enough if you want your career to advance.
07:12It is, however, the price of admission that we can't even have this conversation about these things if you're not doing great work.
07:19You probably need to start there and correct that, and then we get to this conversation.
07:24But to the point about sort of developing that network and meeting people, people at high levels of the company.
07:31Most people don't do it until they have run into a crisis or a challenge, right?
07:37And that's what we want to avoid, or at least we want to come out successful against that challenge.
07:43So by way of a quick story, when I first started leading diversity, equity, inclusion some years ago in a very formal role,
07:51I had the opportunity to be a chief diversity officer and support one of the executive leaders that reported to the CEO.
08:00He was a black man. He was the CFO. He was smart. He was very approachable. He was very down-to-earth.
08:12He was warm and inviting. He loved people. He was from the South, so he invited everybody who was new to the company.
08:18He was like, hey, how are you doing? You need to come up and talk to me. Come to my office. Make an appointment. Let's sit down and talk.
08:25He would invite people out to lunch. Raise your hand if you think that employees took him up on that.
08:32No. Because people don't come up and make time with you like that, do they? No.
08:39And that was really disappointing to him because he knew that each one of us would have some challenge in our career
08:45where we really do need that village to help us. And he would find out about a person as they were getting walked out the door,
08:54as they were leaving for a new opportunity, as they were calling him to say, hey, I just want to let you know my last day is on Friday.
09:03And he would say, you know what? I remember meeting that person. I said, hey, let's get together. And they never did.
09:10So we wanted to avoid that. Why? Because when someone like that says, hey, I want to connect with you,
09:15I can tell you right now that's a person who will pick up the phone because he's an influencer, he has lots of power,
09:21and he will use it in a moment. So I've seen him send emails as an advocate for someone questioning why someone was being let go
09:32as a part of a reorganization or restructure. I have seen him volunteer to make space for people in his own organization.
09:40So it's really important for us to capitalize on those relationships.
09:45And if somebody at that level invites you to get to know him, please take him up on that.
09:50I agree. I'm going to pull a thread that you said. The work that you do, the work that we all do together,
09:57is really focused on how do we increase diversity and inclusion in our companies writ large.
10:03But there's also the work that we've got to do to increase that representation at senior levels as well.
10:10And you mentioned this idea of the moments that matter, right? And I'd love to hear you talk a bit around,
10:17you know, how do you educate the organization on those moments that matter?
10:22And what advice do you have to people here on what are they and how do you take advantage of them to advance your career?
10:31The moments that matter are five key concepts, Phil, that we identified out of our Global Diversity Equity Inclusion Office
10:41to focus on with executive leaders to help them understand how and when they need to lean in to ensure the success of their diverse talent,
10:50you know, to be clear. It applies to everyone, but because we have the greatest need with our diverse talent,
10:57that's who we were talking about. The five are the recruiting process, which is are we bringing in diverse talent?
11:05Are we bringing in African-Americans, Hispanic, Latino, Asians, veterans, people with disabilities,
11:13people who self-identify as LGBTQ plus? Are we bringing all those people into the company?
11:19And those who are part of the selection process and the interviewing process and the decision-making process,
11:25are those people diverse? And are they diversity advocates as well? Because those people are critical to make sure
11:32that we are appreciating the varied experiences that those candidates bring to the table.
11:38Second is talent development. We get them in, we've got to be able to do something with the people.
11:46We have to develop them so they can be competitive for those next level positions.
11:51Third, talent management discussions. What are they saying about you that will either get you to the next level or keep you at level?
12:01Fourth, retention. We must retain our top talent. We don't want to have a regrettable loss.
12:10And then finally, being an inclusive leader. So we talk to leaders about all of those, and I'm going to just index on two
12:18that I think are really, really critical. The first is talent development. Do you know what people are saying about you
12:30in rooms when they're having conversations? How have they identified you? Actually, I'm sorry, this is a talent discussion.
12:38So are you a high-potential employee? Are you an emerging leader? Have they decided that you are at level?
12:49Because even if they've decided that you are at level, you still want to have some vertical movement.
12:54You still want to be further developed. If you don't know that, those are questions you should ask.
13:02Do you know when the talent discussions occur? Most companies have a formal process, and those conversations
13:10happen either once or twice a year, sometimes more. Most of the time, men know when the meetings are.
13:17As you were kind of in your career field, did you know when those meetings were?
13:20I might have. You might have. Okay, I can tell you that we as women, we typically don't know when the
13:26talent discussions are happening. But you have to ask your leadership. Then once you find out when those
13:33talent discussions are happening, you have a really important job to do. Number one, you got to find
13:39out who is invited to participate in that conversation about you. Number two, can you influence the people
13:47who are going to be attending that meeting? Maybe yes, maybe no. Even if you can't, you want to know who they are.
13:55Why? Because there might be somebody who's in that meeting that you have worked with or for at some
14:01point in the past, and they gave you some feedback. And listen, feedback's a gift. But if they gave you feedback,
14:09you have to think about, okay, wait, did I close the loop with that leader? Because if you didn't close the loop,
14:15you need to go close the loop with that person before that talent discussion happens.
14:19You need to go back and say, hey, I remember we had this conversation. I appreciate you giving me that feedback.
14:25I want to tell you what I did to work on that concern. You want to get alignment from that leader that, yes,
14:30you have closed that loop you've worked on because when they go into that meeting, you want them to be an advocate.
14:36You don't want them to be still talking about the concern that they had last year, six months ago, three years,
14:42whenever that was. So you've got a lot of work to do before you get to the talent discussion.
14:47And you want to be able to influence it in a positive way if you can. And then once the conversation occurs,
14:54you want to make sure that someone debriefs you. You have to find out what's the company policy on that.
15:01Do they openly do that or do you have to ask for it? But you need to make sure that you're proactive
15:07with respect to asking what was the feedback so you know what you might have to work on.
15:12Talent development, the one thing I'll say is what do you want to do? What do you want to be when you grow up?
15:20I know you're like, I'm grown. I'm in my career. I know what I want to be. I mean when you get to the end
15:31of your career, like those last one or two roles that you take. To get there, you have to be on
15:39somebody's succession plan. So back when I was talking about relationships, how do you get on a
15:46succession plan? Well, first you need to meet people who are in those roles. Develop a relationship
15:51with them. Create a career path that mirrors it in some way. Remember, not exactly. You don't have to
15:57do everything they did. But you need to be on somebody's succession plan if you want to make it
16:02certain places. And you need to make sure that you have a sponsor that's going to help you get there.
16:07Agreed. Yeah, that's great insight. I agree. I want to turn this around the field because I feel like I
16:15have been talking a lot. And I do like to talk. But we really need to make sure that we hear from
16:20Phil. Yeah. You know, one of the things is, you know, this is about black women empowerment, women
16:26empowerment generally, but black women empowerment specifically. And in the corporate environment
16:32field, black executive male leaders are critical to black women from an advocacy standpoint, from a
16:41sponsorship standpoint. I wonder if you can give some advocate, some comments, I'm sorry, around what
16:48your advocacy has looked like in terms of advancing career of black women. I'll speak to it quickly and
16:54then maybe we'll take a little bit of time for questions. I'm going to pull the thread that you said around
16:59sort of that moment number three that matters. And it's the talent discussion. And how important it
17:06is to be in the room. And how important it is when you're in the room. And I'm lucky and blessed to be in the
17:15room. And to have that opportunity. But I think when you're in the room, you have to use your voice. And for me,
17:22that's the moment of advocacy that I bring. And it's not just in the talent management discussions. It's in
17:28business discussions. And it's often times something so simple as a well placed question that says,
17:35I understand the feedback that you had about Johnny. And I understand the feedback that you have about
17:44Jennifer. And some of the same strengths that you ascribe to Johnny, you ascribe as opportunities for
17:53Jennifer. Can you please help me understand that difference in point of view? And I think you
18:00guys all know what I'm getting at in that statement. But I take it on myself. And it's also just my
18:06personal style. To ask a question in a very calm and reserved manner that prompts a, at times, uncomfortable
18:16conversation. But in those moments, if I'm in the room and I don't ask that question, no one will. And
18:24for me, that is how I view this notion of advocacy as a senior brother who gets to be in the room for
18:33some of those conversations. So that's one moment. Very specific that I do on a regular basis in one of those
18:41moments that matter. And then the second one, I would say, is to always ask and advocate for the
18:50people that aren't in the room. Oh, we're doing a meeting and, you know, this person is the expert on a
18:56topic, but they're not here. This African American, this sister is the expert on the topic, but she
19:02isn't in the room. Oh, well maybe you ought to invite so-and-so to the meeting, because I believe she is
19:08actually the expert on the topic. And I think if, as an executive, I don't use my place and my voice,
19:17I come up short. And I think, I don't sit in, I sit in this chair because there were people that sat in
19:23the room who did the same for me. And I feel a profound sense of responsibility to do that for the
19:29people that will follow and sit in the chairs after me. And so for me, it's the power of voice. And it's the
19:35power of voice in the rooms where not enough brothers and sisters and other brown people sit.
19:44That's how I use it.
19:46Thanks for that, Phil. Yeah.
19:48We will open it up for questions now. That is a keep it real mic, so please make your way to the
19:53microphone. Keep it real means don't worry about trying to use the exact words that make everybody feel
20:00comfortable. Let's get right to it. And if you know either of us, you're probably going to get that honest answer.
20:05Hi, I'm Janae Adams. I'm the owner of Debt Sucks University. And I spent 10 years in pharmaceutical sales,
20:12so very familiar with UnitedHealth Group, and my own business now for 11 years where I do financial
20:17wellness with companies. So thinking about diversity and inclusion, looking at it, we always talk about color
20:23and race and everything, but looking at it from a standpoint of finances. Because if you come in there,
20:29everybody doesn't come from the same background. And if you're talking about them going to higher levels,
20:34but they don't have the finance to be able to be in those rooms, because they might need to take a second job
20:39and so forth, what are you all doing as a company to kind of even out those fields around financial wellness
20:44and finances, not just who's being hired and so forth? Well, I'm happy to start out, Phil. Yes, start out.
20:51Okay. You know, that reminds us, we have many different areas within our organization of UnitedHealth Group,
20:59which UnitedHealthcare is one part of the business. Optum, that Phil works in is another.
21:05And as a part of that, we have certain positions where people work hours that are really not conducive
21:11to them learning, participating in diversity, equity, and inclusion events. So we've had to think about
21:17how do we take those same messages, learning, panel discussions, and break those down into bite-sized chunks
21:25that they can participate in, learn in the amount of time that they have. Honestly, we are still working on that.
21:33We are looking at our benefits. We're looking at the way we deliver learning. We're looking at all of that
21:39to make sure that we are able to reach all of our employees because we have recognized that those who sit in corporate positions,
21:45easy to get this, right? One of our main goals out of the Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office
21:51is to make sure that we're getting to everyone, right? And I can say we may not have always focused on that as a corporation before,
21:59but we're definitely focused on that now because we want to lift all boats, everybody in all positions.
22:05So thank you for asking that question. It's really an area of focus for us.
22:13All right. We are getting the hook. So thank you, Essence Festival. Thank you for being here.
22:21Thank you for your attention. It really, it's an honor for me to be able to participate in this forum
22:27and frankly just to show up and be a part of it. And so really appreciate y'all's attention and focus
22:33and participation in this conversation.
22:36And we want to thank you all and invite you to come and see us over at the Convention Center.
22:40Yes.
22:41Come and see our booth and get to experience what it's like to be an employee of United Health Care,
22:46United Health Group. We would love to have you, especially at two o'clock.
22:49We have something really special that's going on at that time.
22:52Okay. Thank you all for coming. Let's give yourselves a big hand.
23:01Thank you so much.
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