Episode 13:
Matthew Hanzlik is a diversity and inclusion leader at Nielsen, the global data and measurement company best known for the Nielsen TV Ratings. At Nielsen, he is focused on ensuring talent practices are inclusive, equitable, and enable all of Nielsen’s global associates to achieve their full potential. His approach to my work and volunteerism is inspired by Oscar Wilde’s quote “Be yourself, because everyone else is taken.”
He is recognized by Business Equality Network as a Top 40 LGTBQ Leader Under 40. He serves as an emeritus board member for the Parkinson Foundation Minnesota Chapter.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Matt began working in diversity and inclusion, and what role he fulfills as Nielsen’s Program Director for Diversity & Inclusion
- How a part of Matt’s role at Nielsen is to work in leadership development in their Diverse Leadership Network at a global level
- How Nielsen’s leadership development program has been able to show clear results, with almost 50% of the 2014 graduates now in VP or General Manager positions
- How leadership development participants, their direct managers, and a senior executive with the company all work together to develop and grow their careers
- How cultural competence is a part of the Nielsen leadership development program in a two-pronged manner
- Why Nielsen refers to the relationship between a senior executive and a leadership development student as a “coaching” relationship rather than co-mentoring
- What challenges Matt has faced working in the diversity and inclusion space on a global level, and how the global level is very different than work here in the U.S.
- How diversity and inclusion are vital to Nielsen both internally as well as to the consumer data they collect globally
- Why Nielsen CEO David Kenny wrote a New York Times op-ed called “A C.E.O.’s Plea: Don’t Mess With the Census” in opposition to efforts to ask about citizenship on the 2020 US Census
- What advice Matt would offer to a new practitioner just starting out in the field of diversity and inclusion work
Additional resources:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthanzlik/
- Nielsen’s Return to Sender: How Big Data Alone Can Be Biased and Unrepresentative article: https://bit.ly/2Q8xiNh
- Nielsen CEO David Kenny’s New York Times op-ed A C.E.O.’s Plea: Don’t Mess With the Census: https://nyti.ms/30mjwes