UNMUTED leadership with Heather Hansen
angela_r_howard (00:00.202)
end of the hair day. Hey Heather, welcome to the podcast. It is so wonderful to have you on. I am so honored that you're with us today, which by the way, it's like nine o'clock at night where you are in Singapore. So we're so appreciative that you take the time with us today.
heather_hansen (00:00.478)
Yeah, I was gonna be out.
heather_hansen (00:18.606)
Well, thanks for having me. And I think it's worse for you. It's early morning over there. So I don't mind.
angela_r_howard (00:23.706)
Yeah, so we were talking about like, she's got end of day hair. I've got early morning hair, like barely together, but it's all good. It's all good. We're here. I'm really excited to talk to you because, you know, first of all, you just launched your book. Your background is in global cross-functional cross-cultural, see early morning, cross-cultural communications. And I'm really interested to
heather_hansen (00:29.607)
Yeah.
All good.
angela_r_howard (00:52.67)
get into it with you today. So give us a little bit of a background on who you are and what you do, but also the impact you're looking to make on the world.
heather_hansen (01:02.854)
I love that question. The impact I'm looking to make on the world. That's really what it comes down to for all of us, isn't it? Well, I was born and raised in California, but I've spent the last 20 years living abroad. So I left on the 4th of July, 20 years ago, my own personal Independence Day. I love thinking of it like that. And in the last 20 years, I've been back and forth between Denmark and Singapore. My husband's Danish, so I've lived there a total of eight years and I've had a total of 12 years here in Singapore. I started my company.
angela_r_howard (01:07.303)
Yes.
angela_r_howard (01:19.57)
I love that.
heather_hansen (01:31.83)
15 years ago in Singapore, which is Global Speech Academy. And we are a communications consultancy training firm and coaching firm, helping top multinational leaders to communicate better, to speak up and show up and be confident with their global teams, regional teams or now very much remote and dispersed teams. And so really anything that goes into communication, whether that's cross-cultural skills or it's building empathy and building human relationships and connection.
angela_r_howard (01:50.693)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (02:00.182)
building confidence and presentation skills and articulation training to speak clearly for global audiences. We look at all of those factors. So yeah, that's what I've been spending my career doing and the impact I hope to make on the world, which is the best part of your question, is I really want to see more global voices speaking up and showing up in the world. We've been listening to the same demographic of voices for a very long time that have been leading our world.
And we're at a point right now where it looks like we're about to fall off the cliff and we need some new ideas. We need some new leadership. And so the people who could be listening today, I hope that I might inspire you to come forward with your bright ideas and to speak up in the world and inspire action and others for what's really meaningful for you and what you're really passionate about.
angela_r_howard (02:48.238)
I love that, yes. Well, we're so grateful that you are doing this work and impacting the world the way you are. And there's a lot to unpack, I think, with some of the things you just said around new voices, bringing global voices to the table. I think in the United States in particular, and around the globe, we've kind of prioritized the English language pretty...
heavily and I think we are now coming into with remote work. I mean, I think globalization has been happening for a while, but I think it is becoming a reality that your location doesn't always matter. And we've got the digital nomads who are moving to other countries or deciding to have multiple places where they work. So I think the conversation is now to be having this, but also, you know, I think organizations need help with that.
heather_hansen (03:17.983)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
heather_hansen (03:41.052)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (03:45.598)
there's a, I think there's a huge gap around how do we communicate globally. And so I would love to learn more about, and tell us a little bit more about your book because this framework that we're gonna talk about comes straight from it. So tell us about your book and the framework you've developed to help organizations and leaders lean into some action and accountability around this.
heather_hansen (03:46.008)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (03:56.27)
Sure.
heather_hansen (04:07.874)
Hmm. Well, first, I mean, what you say about globalization is so true. I think even if you don't think you are in a global company, you really are. You can be sitting in your living room in my little hometown in California and never leave it. But the world is coming to you. Right. And so, yes, we have all these people moving out and around and dispersed and global. But even for those who don't ever leave, the world is coming to them.
angela_r_howard (04:24.306)
Hmm.
heather_hansen (04:34.826)
So we all need to start thinking a little bit differently about this. So to get to your question around the unmuted framework, the new book is called Unmuted, How to Show Up, Speak Up and Inspire Action. And so I've developed an unmuted framework that brings together all of these different pieces of the puzzle that I've been teaching, training, coaching, consulting on for the past 15 years plus. And so the Venn diagram that we've come up with here is conscious, confident and connected communication. So if you think of each of those three as your big circles,
Then we have the overlaps and the middle, which is becoming truly unmuted when we are conscious, confident, and connected. So the conscious communication is all about knowing yourself so you can better understand others, knowing what your values are, knowing how you're showing up in the world. The confidence piece is how you actually open your mouth and speak up in the world. So are you confident in yourself and are you confident in your skills to do that?
And then the connected piece is one that I see a lot of organizations struggling with, especially throughout the pandemic. And that's building a psychologically safe, inclusive environment where people feel comfortable speaking up. So how do we form those human connections? How do we build empathy and trust so that we can bring out the very best in our people? And so I really believe these three areas, if we could start balancing them better and mastering our skills in all of those areas, we can start to communicate a lot more.
angela_r_howard (05:42.258)
Mm.
heather_hansen (06:00.394)
successfully across cultures and languages and across our differences in general.
angela_r_howard (06:06.042)
Yeah, and I love, let's start with conscious because I think that one is the core. It's the one I'm assuming you kind of maybe start with if we were to, none of this is linear, of course, but you talk about your values. And so how does one learn more about their values, but also widen their perspective, right? Because when we're talking about communicating globally, it means perhaps even
heather_hansen (06:16.68)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (06:29.219)
Hmm
angela_r_howard (06:34.374)
being flexible and living outside of your values and understanding other people's values, or maybe even changing your values a little bit, you know, being nimble around, like, how do we reevaluate those? Because I think with the great resignation, with other, you know, other buzzwords, right, people are reevaluating their values right now. So talk more about that. Yeah.
heather_hansen (06:54.514)
Absolutely, absolutely. That's so well said. Yeah, we're absolutely re-evaluating our values. And for some of us, I think we're finally discovering our values. It's amazing how long we go through life without really realizing what our values are. I mean, if we just randomly ask people on the street, what are your top three values? Nobody really has a good answer for that. We have to sit down deliberately and think this through and have self-reflection around it as well as like you say.
angela_r_howard (07:04.56)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (07:21.942)
you know, confront other values, confront people who are different from us so that we can see our own values. I think I learned the most about myself through my 20 years living abroad. It's not until I ran up against something that was so different from my own culture that I thought, wait, what? Why do you do it like that? Oh, wow. I had no idea that was so meaningful for me. You know, a good example, this is a crazy one, and I don't know why this is the first that came to mind, but it's actually switching. It's my husband.
angela_r_howard (07:25.178)
Mm-hmm
angela_r_howard (07:45.994)
Hehehe
heather_hansen (07:50.09)
The first time he came to America for Christmas, in my family on Christmas Eve, my grandmother would make homemade pizza. That was our family tradition, homemade pizza. And she only made it once a year, only on Christmas Eve. Well, for a Dane, Christmas Eve is very, very specific. There's very specific food that you eat on Christmas Eve, and it's very special. And this was like, the world was ending when he had to have pizza on Christmas Eve. But it taught him the value of how special his
angela_r_howard (07:56.903)
Mmm.
heather_hansen (08:19.086)
Christmas traditions were to him, which he hadn't really realized how much it meant until he was confronted with something that was so different and he thought, how am I going to live like this? And this is such a silly example, but it happens every day in work, in life. When you come up against something that you aren't expecting and you think, whoa, I never would have thought to have pizza on Christmas. What on earth are you doing? And then you have to come to terms with that. And can I try that? Does that infringe on my own values to do that?
angela_r_howard (08:21.31)
Yes.
angela_r_howard (08:29.383)
Mm.
heather_hansen (08:47.51)
because what I talk about in Unmuted is authentic adaptability. And you were hinting at exactly this idea with the flexibility of being able to try new things. But I think it's important we know where do we draw the line. And that's why you have to know your values and what you stand for. So when I lived in Denmark, for example, this is another crazy story, but one I included in the book, but I almost didn't. The changing room culture. I've been a swimmer and water polo player my entire life.
angela_r_howard (08:51.469)
Mm.
angela_r_howard (09:08.042)
I'm going to go to bed.
angela_r_howard (09:13.624)
Ah.
heather_hansen (09:16.014)
And I played water polo for the Danish national league. There were only three teams. It's not as impressive as it sounds, but the changing culture there, you go into the changing room and it's communal and you have to strip naked shower in front of everyone. There are signs on the wall that show you which body parts must use soap and water to wash before you go. Okay. Thank you. Another American who's like, I could not do that. Right. It would, right.
angela_r_howard (09:21.726)
Hahaha
angela_r_howard (09:35.411)
Oh my
angela_r_howard (09:41.331)
Yeah, yeah, that would be a little awkward for me. I agree.
heather_hansen (09:45.774)
whole life as a swimmer. And so I change into my bathing suit. I go under the showers, I start rinsing off and I'm gonna go into the pool. And there's like a guard there and she comes up to me like no points at the signs. Makes me strip in front of her and she watches me to make sure that I am using soap in the proper areas. I was humiliated and after like the first season of water pool I'm like forget it I'm not doing this. When I had my children in Denmark I never took them to a swimming hall because I didn't want to deal with that culture. That for me crossed a line.
angela_r_howard (10:03.618)
Oh my.
angela_r_howard (10:13.552)
Mm.
heather_hansen (10:15.286)
where nobody tells me who I have to show my body to. And so that crossed a line for me in my very puritanical American upbringing, right? So you have to know for yourself though, what are your values? Where is that line you won't cross? And we don't really know. Many, many people don't know.
angela_r_howard (10:20.14)
Mm.
angela_r_howard (10:31.635)
Yes.
angela_r_howard (10:35.394)
Yeah, yeah, and it's an important, you know, I just kind of like making a parallel to the world of work, right, which is, I think we are now in this awakening of, we've talked about values at work, right, we've done the strategic workshops where you define your values and behaviors. And we've been, you know, we've been a part of that work for a very long time organizations have been thinking about values. But I think this is really like, the rubber has met the road, you know, where
heather_hansen (10:49.134)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (10:58.357)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (11:04.386)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (11:05.178)
I think people, and especially this upcoming generation, is saying every part of my lifestyle and my day, you know, needs to be some kind of reinforcement of my values, right? And, but I think there's also this, again, this awareness and understanding of other people's values, but there is this line of, when do I start experiencing someone else's values and when do I...
heather_hansen (11:19.626)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (11:33.598)
kind of revert back to my own, I guess. And it's a very complex topic because to your point, it's kind of this constant awareness of, OK, I'm experiencing this. This is uncomfortable. Does this fall outside the realm of my own values? If it does, maybe I could rethink my values and maybe re-evaluate that conversation in my head. Or it is so far off that I'm standing firm.
heather_hansen (11:35.818)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah. It is.
heather_hansen (11:53.996)
Yeah.
heather_hansen (12:00.162)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (12:03.59)
When it comes to workplace culture, so we've got a lot of world events happening right now, right? Lots of really tough conversations that are hitting people at their core ethics and integrity and values. How do you navigate that? I know it's a really tough question, but how do you navigate it? I'm sorry. Yes. Didn't mean to throw that one at you, but it just came up because I think there's.
heather_hansen (12:06.046)
Mm-hmm.
Oh yeah.
heather_hansen (12:12.825)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (12:18.147)
Yes.
Yeah, that's a hugely tough question. That's what we're all trying to figure out, right? Put me on the spot, you know?
angela_r_howard (12:33.647)
So many, especially executives and people who are running businesses and they know they have different diverse workforce with different perspectives, but they are also taking a stance, right? As an organization around their values.
heather_hansen (12:40.573)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (12:44.094)
Yes, yes, exactly. I think it is getting more and more difficult because we want to live our values at work. Like you said, it's not just clocking in and clocking out anymore. We want to find a match with a company where we feel like we're living our values, fulfilling our purpose on a daily basis. And I think from a leadership perspective, we have a much higher expectation outside of work that our leadership are standing up for their values.
So it's one thing to say you have these values and the company stands for this, but then the CEO also needs to be publicly speaking about this, standing up for it, posting on LinkedIn, being public, speaking at conferences. This is a kind of responsibility that we didn't see before from business leaders. The few exceptional leaders were always doing this, but I think now it's become more of a requirement that if you're top leadership, you have to stand for something. And your personal brand,
angela_r_howard (13:12.592)
Hmm.
heather_hansen (13:41.638)
is going to be just as important as your company's brand. And this is really interesting because as we watch professionals move between companies or take on new roles, how is that going to start changing what we see of them publicly, I wonder? You know, you have to really start thinking that what you stand up for and believe and talk about within the company and also externally, that it is in sync with yourself because otherwise at some point that's all going to break. And that's a big difference.
angela_r_howard (13:56.871)
Hmm.
heather_hansen (14:08.854)
beautiful picture is not going to stand anymore when people say, wait a second, you were just working at this company and now you've switched to this one. You were talking all about sustainability. Now you want to go work for oil and gas. Where did that come from? You know, people now need to really think about, it's not just about making a buck. It's not just about the money of high profile leadership positions. You need to be doing something that is in alignment with what you stand for in the world. And that's, I think, a new challenge people haven't thought through completely.
especially those who have been on the fast track to success for so many years. And the industry wasn't necessarily a consideration. They could be the COO across any industry, really. And now they need to really find alignment with who am I and what do I stand for in the world and what company can I help to achieve a larger mission that's in alignment with what I believe. But these are all super difficult challenges, both individually and from a leadership perspective, but also.
angela_r_howard (14:48.346)
Right.
heather_hansen (15:08.798)
making everyone happy. I mean, how do we do that? And I think that's why in many cases, a lot of people feel muted at this stage instead of unmuted. They feel like, if I say something, who am I going to offend? Can I say anything without offending someone? How do I speak in a way that isn't offensive? And that I think is really hard. And we need to be very, very careful with cancel culture and these backswing movements that we aren't silencing.
angela_r_howard (15:16.756)
Hmm.
heather_hansen (15:38.038)
people who do have good ideas when they're trying their best and they're trying not to offend, but that we somehow learn to educate in a polite manner and have civil conversations, which we're lacking so much right now in business and social media and news and you name it. We really need to go back to basics and start treating each other as humans and respecting one another for our differences and having civil conversations and try to lead with
understanding each other and giving some flexibility and helping to educate others when they do overstep or they do offend instead of just becoming so angry and so extreme in our views. It's not getting us anywhere.
angela_r_howard (16:18.942)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (16:22.67)
Yeah, and I think, you know, there's like a big spectrum around these issues, right, where I think, you know, there's definitely like, I'm right, you're wrong, and that's that. And then there's, you know, I think there's some issues that are just, they've reached their, they've reached their expiration date for grace, I guess, right? And
heather_hansen (16:29.666)
Yeah.
heather_hansen (16:34.743)
Hmm.
heather_hansen (16:48.879)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (16:50.214)
So we're also, I think we're also at the point where we're just like, it's time for action, it's time for accountability. And so how do you have those conversations in a way that is going to advance some of the work, I think is what you're getting to, or the movement.
heather_hansen (16:56.054)
Yeah.
heather_hansen (17:02.942)
Yeah, yeah. Yes, and I think that's the education, the education piece, right? Of having open conversations in organizations around what are micro inequities, what are microaggressions, how do we stop them, how do we talk about them? Let's create a space where it's okay to talk about these things that we aren't going to be accusatory, but we're going to point them out and we're going to educate and be open to that education. I mean, there are topics that I feel very strongly about.
one of them is very much the equality between men and women. And I have male colleagues and I will call them out. And we have relationships where I say, they'll be grateful for that because of the relationship we've built. But that relationship needs to be there first. That psychological safety needs to be there. That connected workplace needs to be there so we can have these conversations. So I can say, see that post you just put up on Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever it was.
that's not good, that's going over the line. And then I can explain why. And they say, gosh, wow, okay, yeah, I didn't realize that, you're right. Okay, I'll take it down. And, but you have to have that relationship with the person to be able to have that conversation. And I think we aren't quite there in a lot of workplaces to have built close enough, strong enough relationships built on really strong mutual respect, where we can just speak openly and say, hey, will you just let me know if I do overstep or I say something that...
you find offensive because I really don't mean to do that. But I'm aware that I could do that because we all could in all different ways without knowing it. And I would hope someone would tell me in a very respectful way, Heather, there are some groups of people that wouldn't appreciate the way you phrased that. And then I could say, really, what did I say? How did I say it? Because I never have an intention to offend, but how can I learn if someone doesn't teach me, right? But...
angela_r_howard (18:34.152)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (18:55.518)
I think that's where we're right on the brink of being able to do this better. And if we can sit down in our organizations to create those environments where this is okay, then maybe we can start moving forward.
angela_r_howard (19:09.566)
So you mentioned the connected part of the, because that's really, I mean, to summarize what you just said and kind of culminating that into the connection and creating the psychological safety within organizations. So how does an organization do that? I mean, it's such a complex topic. Psychological safety, it's been around for a while, but it is really taking off, I feel like, in these conversations around leadership.
heather_hansen (19:12.452)
Mmm.
heather_hansen (19:32.63)
Yeah.
heather_hansen (19:35.994)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (19:39.226)
and building businesses and organizations and spaces and communities where people can share their voice. So what does that mean? What does that look like? And what are some things that leaders can do to create that space?
heather_hansen (19:49.942)
Yeah, I think that psychological safety, primarily in my experience with my clients, it is a top down shift. But I think that doesn't mean we can let everyone off the hook. We need to also work from the bottom up. So when we're working in organizations to create an unmuted transformation, what we're really doing is starting with the top leadership to get them on board, to start walking the talk, to become more vulnerable, to share more stories of success and failure, because we need to reframe.
what failure looks like. We need to not be afraid of that. We need to have conversations about what we can learn. You know, all those ideas around failing forward. And these are all really good ideas if we can begin to implement them better. So the top has to be on board with this. Because what happens when you say, oh, please come to me with any problems and please speak up and please, I want to hear your views. And then they come and tell you and it's like, oh no, actually.
We already made a decision on that. I mean, I've seen this over and over again as we've re-entered normalcy when we started going back to work where leadership had sent out surveys saying Would you like remote work to continue? How many days do you think you'd like to be at home? And the leadership's already made a decision that you're gonna get max one Day at home, but everybody replied in their surveys. We want to stay at home. We want four days at home we want three days at home, whatever it might be and the leadership's like
angela_r_howard (20:54.483)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (21:00.702)
Ahem.
heather_hansen (21:11.034)
interesting, but sorry. That's not really creating psychological safety. Nice to know, but actually we already made another decision. That's not helpful. So leadership's got to be on board, but then we also need to be encouraging from the ground up that we are the only ones who can press unmute for ourselves. So the people from the bottom up also need to start sharing their stories. So we've been encouraging companies to do hashtag campaigns through their intranet, storytelling evenings of...
angela_r_howard (21:13.706)
It's like, nice to know. Yes.
angela_r_howard (21:20.408)
Mmm.
heather_hansen (21:40.67)
of learning to become unmuted or what is their unmuted mission in the world or having theme nights where people can share their stories, they can get to know each other, especially now that we're coming back together and we're looking for ways to connect. It's a great idea for bringing everyone in the company, not just the leadership, but getting to know each other at a different level through different kinds of stories and more personal sharing and without going over the line for people. But you know, when telling a story about
angela_r_howard (21:46.174)
Hmm.
heather_hansen (22:06.718)
a time you did feel muted and how that affected you and your confidence. And then people go, wow, that really resonated with me. And it creates that kind of connection we're looking for. So we do want leadership must absolutely be on board and respond appropriately. But also from the bottom up, we need to create campaigns and a movement within the organization to embrace this kind of change.
angela_r_howard (22:29.894)
Yeah, and I think you bring up a great point, which is leadership has to role model this. I think there's so much work right now happening around culture and culture change. And how do we want to show up and ways of working and, and leadership thinks it's like this, uh, top down activity where they just say, you are psychologically safe. And then everyone's looking at each other like, uh, no, we're not.
heather_hansen (22:34.913)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (22:52.994)
Hahaha
angela_r_howard (22:57.23)
So there's like this gap and this bridge, I think, between leadership and the rest of the employee population. And I think the only way we can create an environment, if you want to create a speak up culture, is to actually create environments that feel safe. And that takes work. That takes role modeling. It just doesn't take, you know, it doesn't become if you just say it. That's what I always have to tell executives. Yeah.
heather_hansen (22:57.389)
No.
heather_hansen (23:03.586)
Yes, yes.
heather_hansen (23:14.714)
Mm-hmm a lot of work Yeah
heather_hansen (23:22.738)
Yeah. And it's not, yeah, it's not a one day seminar either. Right. We love to throw training on our people. Oh, they need better communication skills. Give them a day of presentation skills training. That does nothing. And that was another reason I wrote the book, because we've been dumping skills training on our staff for so long. And what change is it really creating? It's because that's not how change happens.
angela_r_howard (23:27.351)
Nah.
angela_r_howard (23:30.96)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (23:46.642)
No.
heather_hansen (23:46.798)
even creating new habits and skills. That's not how it works. You need to do this over a long period of time. You need to be measuring the advancement or lack thereof. It's a much larger process. And the way we go about training and development, I think is flawed in a lot of ways, that it needs to be much more strategic and integrated into the organization's goals, values, strategy. So we need to start looking at that more and giving HR a more strategic role, which I think we're going that direction, but.
HR managers, some of the most brilliant people I see in organizations, and they aren't given the authority to truly create the change for their people that they could. So that's just another side note, I think, of really enabling HR to help create that change. That's really their job.
angela_r_howard (24:21.139)
Mm.
angela_r_howard (24:35.81)
Yeah, and training is really just it's one little slice of the pie when it comes to culture change, like teeny little slice. It's yes, it is a vehicle. It is a reinforcement opportunity. It's a way to give people more confidence and to build skill to get where you want to go. But really, it comes down to, you know, leadership is a mirror of culture. It comes down to the spaces, the things we tolerate, right? Accountability and the hard stuff. And it's hard work.
heather_hansen (24:42.314)
Yeah, the smallest. Yeah.
heather_hansen (25:00.47)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. It is hard work. It is. We've got our work cut out for us, Angela. Ha ha ha.
angela_r_howard (25:08.314)
And this, I know, I know, just, I mean, our, I mean, I hope one day I work myself out of a job, but, you know, I don't think we're anywhere near.
heather_hansen (25:15.65)
Yeah, I know. That's always the goal. No, I think we will be very well employed for the rest of our lives. Sadly. Yeah.
angela_r_howard (25:22.926)
Yes, yes, this will take time. And I'm always screaming from the mountaintops about this. But it gets us to confidence, which is kind of the last part of the Venn diagram. And again, back to connected, you can't really create the connection without, I guess, building trust, helping people understand that they have the, they are empowered to be unmuted. Right?
heather_hansen (25:32.64)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (25:51.614)
Absolutely.
angela_r_howard (25:52.806)
So how does an organization fill that gap? Because I kind of almost see this, because I'm an IO psychologist, so we always see the now and the end, and how do we fill this in? So if conscious is kind of the end goal, where everyone's kind of living into their values, they're able to speak up, we are considering other people's values, and then you have a lack of psychological safety. How do you fill in that gap to make everybody feel confident and-
heather_hansen (25:56.163)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (26:03.373)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (26:22.374)
have trust in the environment that leaders are creating in order to really live into that.
heather_hansen (26:26.59)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That confidence piece is interesting because I break it up into self-confidence as well as skills confidence. And so this is the only place really where that little training sliver pops into the equation. That's in helping to build the skills confidence. So if you truly don't know how to write a good email, then okay, let's fill that gap. Let's teach you that skill. That's something we can learn. That's easy, okay? But...
angela_r_howard (26:40.168)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (26:55.542)
The self-confidence piece, and I mean, talk about psychology. That is the piece that's really, really difficult, and it's very personal. So you could be a very conscious individual. You listen well, you're very aware of difference, you know yourself, and you're also well-connected, and you know that you're supported at work, and yet still something is holding you back from speaking up. And I have had clients where this is the issue, where it isn't so much about their skillset,
or their environment, it's simply that they were told from a very young age that their ideas didn't matter. They have a belief system that tells them, if I speak up, I'll be punished, or I was never allowed to voice my ideas. My ideas are not good enough. I am not good enough. I am an imposter. I shouldn't even have this job. I don't know how I got it. I don't know why they hired me. Whereas everyone in the environment is like, we wanna hear your ideas. You're so talented. You're so wonderful.
but the person themselves is just having difficulty pressing unmute. And in this case, you can probably solve that question a lot easier than I can, because those are situations where I say, listen, this is not my sphere. This is not my work to do. And that's where I need to refer them to other specialists who can help them to build that self-worth, which is really outside of my personal sphere, but is such an important element in this full equation of
angela_r_howard (28:15.325)
Mm.
heather_hansen (28:21.698)
How do we gain that confidence to show up and speak up in the organization? And it's a very sad situation when I find people like this because they have so much to offer and so much to give, and they're the only ones stopping themselves from expressing that to the world.
angela_r_howard (28:39.486)
And it goes back to, you know, honestly, I think it does go back to the connected part of your graph, which is maybe in the past, right, because I think our past kind of reflects our future and a lot of times how you handle that, right, like you can honor your past, but then build a different future or you can let your past kind of impact negatively or positively what's to come. So
if I have been in situations where I have been muted or I've been in rooms where my ideas didn't resonate because, you know, people couldn't even really relate to me, which kind of gets me to, you know, you had this wonderful Ted talk about languages and you talked about the idea of like accent bias and I think bias there's obviously we could spend four hours on talking about bias and
heather_hansen (29:29.687)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (29:34.14)
I know.
angela_r_howard (29:36.19)
how many of them we just unconsciously work through throughout the day. But I think the English language, there's so much emphasis put on it, but our world is becoming more and more globalized. And so, I've worked with executives who perhaps start hiring folks from other countries or people who have lived here for a while, but have a heavy accent, let's say. And it's like, they need to change.
heather_hansen (29:50.37)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (30:01.578)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
angela_r_howard (30:04.458)
they need to learn the English language. They need to articulate the English language versus why don't we start to open our perspective a little bit. So maybe you could summarize that Ted talk and we'll make sure to link it in the, in the show notes, but. Tell us more about how that fits into the diagram.
heather_hansen (30:12.165)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (30:21.278)
Yes. Yeah, what you're talking about right now is really the epitome of accent privilege. Those of us who are born into the English language that are born into a prestigious variety of English, that if you just think of just native English speakers in America, we have very specific ideas. When we hear someone speak with a Southern accent versus a New Jersey accent versus a Boston accent versus a California Valley girl.
We have immediate ideas of what these people stand for, how well educated they are, what their socioeconomic status is. We can easily group them into that. Then if we add race and ethnicity on top of that, and we talk about varieties of African American English, Latino English, all of these kinds of additional biases on top of it.
angela_r_howard (30:58.723)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (31:14.822)
This is really the issue. And then we have foreign language, right? People who are coming in, immigrants into the United States, new citizens, people who have possibly lived there 30 years and still have an accent, right? I did eight years in Denmark. I still have an American accent, an English accent. I always will for the rest of my life. That's just how it works. And we seem to think when we are privileged that, oh, well, why can't they just change it? Why can't they speak more clearly? This isn't something you can just flip a switch and change.
And it's not something you should have to change because it's your identity, it's who you are. So yeah, that's really what that TEDx is all about. And it's called 2 Billion Voices, How to Speak Bad English Perfectly, because all of these people who think, oh, my English is so bad, it's not bad at all. If you are being understood and you understand others, then you're speaking English perfectly. There is nothing bad about it. And we need to stop trying to reduce people's accents, reduce their identities.
and instead learn to recognize other accents, tuning our own ears. And this is a skillset that we've never learned. We've never needed to learn it, but there are ways for us to start learning. How can I figure out an accent? If I listen to someone for just a couple minutes, I can immediately, because I've done this for years and years, I know immediately, oh, this person pronounces TH like this. They pronounce A like this, O like that. I can immediately hear the differences and I'm just decoding. I'm decoding the accent.
angela_r_howard (32:19.09)
Mm.
heather_hansen (32:42.61)
And then I'm able to tune my ear much faster. But the more contact you have with an individual, the easier it gets. The problem is when we're biased, we often avoid that person. We don't want to listen to that person. We're embarrassed and we're embarrassed for them more than we're embarrassed for ourselves. And this is reaching into every area of our lives, from hiring to promotions, to the legal system and judges who...
angela_r_howard (32:52.454)
Mm.
angela_r_howard (32:58.131)
Hmm.
heather_hansen (33:06.658)
who put down rulings based on accent witnesses, who have accents who aren't taken seriously by juries. It just continues on and on and on. So it's a huge, huge issue that we don't talk about enough in diversity and inclusion. And that's probably the piece of the puzzle it plays into most. But when it comes to our unmuted framework, I talk about it a lot in the conscious bubble around how do we have inclusion also of different accents as well as all of our.
other differences and cultural differences.
angela_r_howard (33:38.15)
Yeah, and it gets to the question, you know, what is an accent, right? Like what is considered an accent? I think, you know, if we think everything. I mean, obviously, it gets back to the individual. So if someone's dialect, tone sounds different than mine, that's an accent. Right. Yes, yes.
heather_hansen (33:44.002)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (33:55.238)
Exactly. And every single one of us has an accent, right? A lot of people will say, I don't know, you know, I'll start a seminar and say, everyone who has an accent when they speak English, please raise your hand. And there will always be this group of a very certain demographic who does not raise their hands. And it's like, wait a second, you have one too. I have one too. We all have accents. Even when I go home now to California, then all my friends and family say, you talk funny.
angela_r_howard (34:12.806)
Right. All right, it's like it's you. Yeah.
heather_hansen (34:23.786)
because I've spent so long abroad and I've made very minor changes to the way that I speak that sound different than the typical Californian where I'm from. And that's just because I've lived abroad for so long and I don't necessarily realize it that I'll use some British pronunciations here and there or I'll have a clearer T in places or just little, little things that I haven't even consciously done. But yeah, everybody has an accent.
and you will believe someone has an accent if they sound different from you. So that's pretty much the whole world because we all have very unique ways of speaking.
angela_r_howard (35:00.326)
Yes.
Yeah, so, you know, if I could summarize this for, you know, the leaders who are listening out there, I think the, I think the, um, the action is expose yourself to differences. And I think we talk about that pretty, you know, frequently when it comes to DE&I, this is not just about having the black friend or having the, you know, whatever, you know, like I have, I have those friends ticking the boxes and saying, you know,
heather_hansen (35:27.254)
or ticking the boxes. Yeah.
angela_r_howard (35:31.582)
highlighting that the goal is actually immerse yourself a little bit in other cultures and differences and traveling abroad if curious yeah
heather_hansen (35:39.966)
And be curious and be curious. Ask people if you can't travel and have those experiences and live abroad for 20 years like I have. Just be curious. Ask people about their cultures. Ask about where they're from. Ask them to tell you stories. This is why I love the storytelling evenings and having these kinds of events within the company where people can share these kinds of stories and you can learn something about them. It's really exciting, I think, to learn.
angela_r_howard (35:46.342)
right? Yeah.
heather_hansen (36:08.35)
about each other in that way, even if it's like a cooking class and somebody shares a family recipe from whatever heritage they're from. I mean, we're so diverse in America. We have so much history from so many places. There's so much more we could learn about each other to have a different kind of appreciation for each other. Instead of being scared or fearful or thinking you're different from me, it's more about being curious about how are we the same and finding those similarities as well.
angela_r_howard (36:37.09)
Yeah, I love the point around curiosity because I do think we approach these things with, oh, that's different, that's foreign, right? I mean, that's kind of the feeling versus I'm curious or, you know, being curious enough to then be able to ask questions. And that's what everything opens up the conversations. So I could talk to you all day about this. I think this topic
heather_hansen (36:58.602)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (37:07.042)
I've been in situations where, you know, I haven't always said the right thing. You always haven't said the right thing. But I think what we're talking about is creating spaces where we can equally have a voice and align that with our values, but also call people out in some cases or call them to the stage to say, hey, let's talk more about that. Because from my perspective, that's problematic.
heather_hansen (37:31.15)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (37:33.678)
And I want to have a conversation around that. It's about education as well and accountability. So tell everybody where to find your book. Give us the full name so we can make sure to include in the show notes and then how they can find you if they want to reach out to you, work with you, collaborate, partner with you. What's the best way to get in contact?
heather_hansen (37:33.814)
Mm-hmm.
heather_hansen (37:54.126)
Oh, yeah, I'd love that. Getting in touch with me is easy. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm all over social media. You can find both me and my book at HeatherHanson.com slash unmuted for the book in particular. My corporate site is global speech academy dot com. And the book is unmuted, How to Show Up, Speak Up, and Inspire Action. And you can find that everywhere online and hopefully in some of your local bookstores as well. Look it up. I know if it's not in stock, you can easily order it.
But it's all over the United States at this point and the whole world. So it's, it's out everywhere.
angela_r_howard (38:31.01)
Heather, thank you so much for your time. Again, I know now it's closer to 10 p.m. where you are, so I'm hoping that after this you get a chance to go to sleep and rest. Yes, yeah, so thank you. Thanks, Heather.
heather_hansen (38:36.787)
Yeah.
heather_hansen (38:40.098)
I'm off to bed and have a great day. Thanks for having me. It's been such a pleasure.
