In this wide-ranging and important episode, Dr. Michael Baran interviews two guests: (1) legendary thought leader, author, and workplace consultant Howard Ross, and (2) his son Jake Ross who is collaborating with Howard to write the second edition of the book, Everyday Bias, to be released in summer 2026. Michael and guests revisit the insights from Howard’s 2014 book Everyday Bias and then dive into what is being updated for the second edition. This includes updating the research and context in the book as well as new chapters on AI and social media. We also dig into ways that political opinion has moved from a bell curve to a barbell shape, the lack of white men in DEI work, how to avoid triggering defensiveness, and how to make real human connections. We close with some reflections on activism and change and some optimism for the future.

Resources mentioned:

Everyday Bias by Howard Ross book

Reinventing Diversity by Howard Ross book

Our Search for Belonging by Howard Ross book

Bowling Alone by Robert Putman book

The Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker book

Biography of Andrew Jackson by John Meacham book

Ken Burns: The American Revolution series

In this powerful episode, Dr. Michael Baran interviews Dr. Overton, a fellow social scientist. They discuss Cynthia’s transition from a person without a disability to a person with a disability at age 26 when she was diagnosed with a rare spinal cord injury. Cynthia tells the story of what that was like, how people engaged with her, and how she navigates life now. She also provides insights on the health care system, learned from her experiences living in hospitals for seven weeks. This episode will help listeners think more deeply about a wide range of disabilities, think more critically about the health care system, and learn practical strategies to interact with all people and build a culture that is truly inclusive and safe for everyone.  We will also discuss more lighthearted topics such as Cynthia’s forays into stand-up comedy and her love for The Golden Girls or K-dramas.

Resources mentioned:

Clear Cane Chronicles book

Crip Camp documentary

In this incredibly relevant and important episode, Dr. Michael Baran interviews two guests: (1) legendary trailblazer Mary-Frances Winters who coined the term Black Fatigue in her 2020 book of the same name, and (2) her daughter and business partner Mareisha Winters Reese who is collaborating with Mary-Frances to write the second edition of that book, to be released in June 2026. Michael and these guests unpack what Black Fatigue really is and how racism literally erodes the mind, body, and spirit across generations. Mary-Frances and Mareisha share what has changed in the forthcoming second edition of the book, including new chapters on AI, global Black experiences, and their perspective on the deliberate attempts to erase Black people, culture, and history. We also dig into the emotional weight of this political moment, the weaponizing of and co-opting of terms like DEI, “woke,” and Black Fatigue itself! We close with concrete ways to learn, act, and sustain resistance, including their upcoming companion workbook on healing Black Fatigue.

Resources mentioned:

• Black Fatigue book
• Preorder Black Fatigue second edition
• Documentary, 13th
• Podcast, 1619
• Michael’s piece on Frozen II

In this behind-the-scenes episode, Dr. Michael Baran interviews Oscar, Emmy, and Peabody award-winning documentary film producer Caroline Waterlow. Caroline isbased in New York City and has been working in the documentary film industry for almost 30 years. She produced such award-winning documentaries as OJ: Made in America, STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A, Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae, and so many more. In this episode, Michael and Caroline talk about a wide range of fascinating issues: (a) ethical representation in documentary filmmaking, (b) rapidly building a culture of inclusion and safety with project teams, (c) bias and inequities faced by women in this industry, (d) building trust with people, (e) fascinating behind the scenes details about the making of the documentaries, and so much more. She ends by giving us a teaser of her upcoming work, dealing with themes of sex, AIDS, body positivity, and public access TV in New York City.  

Resources mentioned:

Caroline Waterlow IMDb page

OJ: Made in America on Netflix

Stax: Soulville USA on HBO

Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae on Hulu

Cameraperson on HBO

Subject on Prime Video

In this big-picture episode, Dr. Michael Baran interviews internationally acclaimed strategist, author, speaker Effenus Henderson. Effenus went from working on a tobacco farm in North Carolina to Chief Diversity Officer for Weyerhaeuser Company and now President and CEO of HenderWorks, Inc. and Co-Founder of the Institute for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion.

In this episode, Effenus talks about a wide range of important issues: (a) his journey and experiences with segregation and bias, (b) the economic imperative for organizations to nurture culture, and how they can do that, (c) trust-building leadership in today’s complex world, (d) invisible barriers to success in the workplace, and so much more. He ends by talking about what the workforce may look like in 15 years, when the US becomes a majority minority country and how businesses must adapt with an inclusion lens to that diversity.

Resources mentioned:

Effenus Henderson’s book SPINE 

The Institute for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion 

Effenus Henderson’s LinkedIn 

HenderWorks, Inc.

In this action-oriented episode, Michael interviews highly acclaimed workplace influencer, speaker, and four-time author, Karen Catlin. Karen went from 25 years building software products and serving as a vice president of engineering at Adobe to now being one of the most widely-known thought leaders on the topic of allyship. In this episode, Karen answers questions that so many people have about allyship. She clarifies how allyship really means taking action and how allyship is essential for building workplaces where everyone thrives. She also shares some examples of ally actions that from her newsletter that goes out to 40,000 people every week, including the example from the title which is related to the common occurrence of men leaving “office housework” to women in workplaces. Along the way, she talks more her journey and her optimism about the ripple effect that ally actions can have for our workplaces and for the world.

Resources mentioned:

• Karen’s TEDx talk on women in tech
• The Wake Up book by Michelle MiJung Kim
• Sign up for Karen’s Newsletter
• More information about Karen’s books

• Katica Roy’s MSNBC article breaking the new about 300,000 Black women pushed out of US labor force
• New York Times front page that mentions Katica’s research 
• Katica Roy articles, from Forbes
• ABC News video with Katica Roy interview
• Katica Roy website 

Have you struggled to understand why people share pronouns or what it means to use they/them pronouns? Have you noticed people making others feel uncomfortable by not using their pronouns naturally? What is behind all of this, and what can we do about it?

In this episode of The Culture Advantage, host Michael Baran explains multiple encounters with people messing up on they/them gender pronouns as he would mention that the co-author of his book used those gender-neutral pronouns. He started to wonder whether it was just really hard for people to make their brains do that work if they weren’t used to it. But then he describes a situation in which a swim team coach used gender neutral pronouns perfectly! And it wasn’t because they had a lot of practice; it was because they were announcing a big award and wanted to keep the winner a surprise. 

Michael gives some immediately actionable tips that everyone can follow: (1) use they/them pronouns naturally, without any extra eye rolls or tone changes; (2) give context if you think people need it;(3) understand that this use of they/them as singular has been around since the 1300s, according to Merriam-Webster; (4) speak up, even if it doesn’t affect you directly; (5) understand that using the pronouns that people want to be called does not threaten your own worldview; (6) don’t debate with people or play devil’s advocate, as they have thought long and hard about their identity; and (7) know that you will mess up sometimes and that the key is correcting it and moving on.

This episode will be useful for everyone, with tips that will be used both in and out of work. The lessons in the episode are especially important for those trying to build cultures of inclusion in their workplaces. Intentional attention to detail and to practice around these issues is vital to ensure that the many nonbinary people in your organization (and other LGBTQIA+ people as well) feel their best and can do their best at your organization.

In this episode of The Culture Advantage, host Michael Baran explains why he has found unconscious bias trainings frustrating. First, they fail to provide a deep understanding of what bias really is and why we have them. And second, they fail to give practical solutions that can be implemented at work. Michael provides that deep dive into what unconscious bias really is, why we develop biases starting in early childhood, and what we can really do about them. 

Michael narrates some of the classic and striking research studies about unconscious bias, focusing first on a study about gender bias in orchestras. When the gender of the candidate was fully blocked by putting a screen on stage, more women were immediately hired, because the interviewers were just listening to the music without the bias getting in the way.  In a second example, Michael describes how copies of the exact same resume were sent out to jobs, only with half of them using a stereotypically sounding white name, and half of them using a stereotypically sounding Black name. These studies highlight the striking impact that bias can have on our workplace decisions.
  
Understanding the impact of bias, what can we do about it? The suggestions that we just try to “make our unconscious biases more conscious” don’t feel helpful because (1) we don’t know what they are, and (2) they are deep seated. Instead, Michael provides some practical tools for how we can reduce our own biases in the long term while also thinking about ways to block the impacts of bias immediately at work. Suggestions include (1) using the Implicit Association Test as a learning tool, (2) diversifying our perspectives and getting to know more about others, (3) introspecting when we commit subtle acts of exclusion, (4) keeping a bias journal, (5) diversifying panels and committees and considering other perspectives when making decisions, (6) baking the bias mitigation into policy and practice, and (7) slowing down the big decisions.

This episode will intrigue everyone and will deepen your understanding of not only bias but also brain development. And then, it will provide practical ways to begin a process of bias reduction, in our own heads, and in our workplaces.

When someone says something that makes you feel bad, how do you speak up? When you see something that might make someone else feel bad, how do you say something as a potential ally? When you get feedback about how you made someone feel bad, how can you respond in a productive way? 
In this episode of The Culture Advantage, host Michael Baran provides some best practice guidelines that organizations can use to create a speak up culture, where we can have challenging conversations that are productive, where resentments don’t build up, and where trust is built. 

Michael begins with a real example that happened to him, when a CEO committed a subtle act of exclusion in front of 70 global leaders. Michael was on stage at the time, speaking to the group at their annual retreat. What should he say in this situation? How should he say something in a “calling-in” way rather than a “calling-out” way?  

There is no one-size-fits-all way to do it. Nonetheless, Michael provides best-practice guidelines for speaking up in a productive way, either as the person experiencing the subtle act of exclusion or the person witnessing it and speaking up as a potential ally. He describes (1) pausing the action, even when we don’t know what to say, (2) assuming good intent, if the intent was actually good, (3) exploring the situation together rather than creating an adversarial interaction, and (4) explaining the impact, or the feelings involved.

Does this always go well? No, it doesn’t, and Michael describes a time when we followed all these guidelines and it did not go well. Where these interactions usually fall apart is in the way that the person getting the feedback responds. 
Because of that, Michael gives critical best practice guidelines for responding to feedback like this: (1) getting in the mindset of gratitude, (2) understanding the impact rather than defending intentions, (3) using the opportunity to learn and grow, and (4) following up with the person. Michael revisits the opening story, describing how that CEO responded well to Michael’s feedback. As the 70 leaders saw how he responded, they learned a powerful lesson about culture at this organization, and they learned how they could respond to feedback like this as well. 

This episode provides practical conversation skills that can be useful in situations like this or in any challenging conversation. It will be useful for people at all levels in an organization, and can also be used outside of the workplace to build trust and deepen connection with anyone.

Sometimes the most damage to an organization’s culture can come not from those explicitly trying to cause harm, but from those who are trying to be the nicest. How is that possible? What harm does that cause? And what can an organization do about it?

In this episode of The Culture Advantage, host Michael Baran provides some deep understanding about something that happens quite frequently in our places of work. People may be trying to connect, to bond, to ask a question, to be funny, or even to compliment someone else. And yet that effort may land with the opposite effect; it may cause hurt, pain, exclusion or stress. Often this happens across lines of difference, whether that’s race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, religion, age, or anything else. 

For 50 years, people have sometimes called interactions “microaggressions.” Michael explains just how often these are happening to some people in our workplaces and what the impact of them might be, on people and on organizations.  

The term, microaggressions, however, can get in the way of us truly making progress around bringing people together to build more understanding and trust. People react defensively when they hear the “aggression” part of it, as if their intention was to be aggressive, which it usually was not. Others react to the “micro” part of the word, feeling slighted or uninterested because they understand micro to mean small or unimportant. Because of that, Michael, along with his co-author, Dr. Tiffany Jana, coined a new way to talk about these interactions. They call them Subtle Acts of Exclusion, in their work and in their book by the same name.

Using this more straightforward term, they bring people together to be able to have productive discussions when someone makes another feel excluded. People are able to speak up without encountering the same defensiveness. Colleagues can learn about one another and act in more inclusive ways.
This reframing of the concept is only part of the story. Organizations need to develop a speak up culture, where we understand we’re going to make mistakes, but we can build more trust together when we are able to speak up and to be heard. No matter where you sit in an organization, this episode will help you think about inclusive action and the culture that is needed to support all people. Michael provides some practical strategies and promises to provide lots more in an episode coming soon.

The killing of Charlie Kirk is weighing heavily on many people. Is that something that can be discussed at work? How should leaders handle events like this in their organizations?

While many people are feeling deep emotions about the killing, it is happening in very different ways. Some are grieving because he was an inspiration to them and a voice for many of their beliefs. Others are devastated that people are unconditionally celebrating a man who they saw as espousing beliefs and actions that were directly aimed to dehumanize them or people like them. 

In this episode of The Culture Advantage, host Michael Baran dives into the challenges of this current moment, for people and for organizations. The strong emotions don’t disappear when we go to work. They carry over, affecting our engagement, our creativity, our mental health, and our collaborations with others. Leaders wonder, “should I do anything about this? And if so, what?”

Michael draws from both his social science background and his practical experience working with organizations to give some basic, foundational guidelines for navigating these challenges.  He first explains that silence from leaders might have worked in the past, but these days authentic and humble communication is essential. 

Michael also explains how helpful it can be for organizations to embark on a journey of reconceptualizing and recommitting to the organization’s values. These values can provide a framework and a guide for handling novel situations if they are thoroughly communicated to everyone. 

A key strategy for ensuring that tensions and conflicts are addressed is to make sure that managers are thoroughly trained to be inclusive leaders, to be able to handle challenging situations in the moment with authenticity and vulnerability. He also highlights research on false polarization and deep canvassing, showing that we are not as divided as we think and that we can learn and grow and connect more than we realize.  

The conversation is both professional and deeply human, offering guidance for any workplace striving to build a culture of connection, resilience, and inclusion in turbulent times. Whether you’re a CEO, manager, or employee, this episode will help you think about how to foster trust, lower stress, and strengthen community even when the world outside feels divided and scary.

DEI work is mistakenly thought to be only about quotas or the most extreme examples of “wokeness.” What is the work really? And how can it help organizations? 

In this episode of The Culture Advantage, Michael Baran elaborates on different kinds of work that organizations do that falls under the umbrella of DEI. He breaks down some of the most common categories of that work and provides concrete examples for each.  

Michael unpacks the work that it takes to assess where an organization might need to improve and where they are already doing well. He explains how surveys, focus groups, and interviews can help answer common leader questions and often provide surprising answers. He gives concrete examples of biases and habits that can get in the way of hiring practices, for example, and some common pitfalls to watch out for. 

He'll also explain how DEI work has designed products and services to accommodate for disabilities, but in the process make work and life better for everyone. He also talks about how intentional DEI thought could have avoided some well-known PR disasters, such as the Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial. DEI work could have saved a lot of time and money by ensuring a more diverse team in all stages of planning for that ad.

Finally, Michael shares about some of the work that DEI trainings can do. They may help leaders who don’t know how to lead a diverse team; they may help leaders who act more like bosses than leaders, delegating and thinking they have all the answers; they may help all employees build trust, have hard conversations, and work better together; and they might help individuals get the devoted attention they need to grow through coaching. 

If you’ve been wondering what the day to day work of DEI really is, beyond the stereotypes, this episode will lay it all out, and it will help you see how this work is essential for thriving organizations, no matter what you call it.

DEI has become the subject of the most heated debates about today’s workplaces. Is there any validity to the attacks against it? Is DEI really dispensable?

In this episode of The Culture Advantage, Michael Baran takes a hard look at the political attacks against diversity, equity, and inclusion. He breaks down how the attacks actually mislead people about the very meaning of DEI itself and the work it entails. Opponents of DEI suggest that DEI is all about quotas, that it is an “overcorrection,” or that it is “wokeness gone wild.” 

Michael unpacks these misleading claims about DEI and reveals how these narratives harm individuals and entire organizations. He explains why DEI work doesn’t lower standards or give unfair advantages, but rather removes barriers, works toward more fairness, and creates the kind of culture every team needs to thrive.

You’ll also hear some thoughts about moving forward with the work in today’s climate, including how recent EEOC guidelines still allow organizations to pursue meaningful DEI work, why spelling out “diversity, equity, and inclusion” may be more effective than using the acronym, and why this work is more essential than ever if you want to build trust, respect, and collaboration at every level of your organization.

Finally, Michael shares a practical follow-up activity you can do. Reach out to those involved with DEI efforts inside your own company, learn about the work that’s happening, and explore how you can play a role. Whether or not the acronym survives, the work itself is not optional but is the foundation for doing any job well.

If you’ve been wondering what’s really going on with the controversies over DEI, this episode will help you see the attacks with more clarity, and it will help you see why your organization can’t afford to ignore this work.

In this inaugural episode, Dr. Michael Baran shares about his background and his motivation for starting this podcast to help you build a culture that supports all people, catalyzes effective collaboration, and leads to thriving organizations.

In the premiere episode of The Culture Advantage Podcast, Dr. Michael Baran unpacks what culture really means, why it determines everything from retention to innovation, and how leaders can intentionally create environments where people thrive and teams excel.