Episode 35:
Murray Allen Moshe ben Gershon Martinez Mann is of Argentinean, Mediterranean, and Russian heritage; he lived in a Catholic and Jewish household – as Murray says “with a round guilt trip ticket.”
He is male, straight, and an LGBT ally. Being a person with a disability is one of those things Murray “forgets,” until someone, consciously or unconsciously, treats him in marginalizing ways.
Murray is a parent of four who lost two adult children. He is a Baby Boomer and a member of the Sandwich Generation caring for an aging parent and a grandson whom he adopted at the age of two.
Murray’s guiding values are Amor de La Vida (Love of Life), Familia (family) y Comunidad (community). Early on, Murray’s multicultural upbringing and experience navigating physical barriers and human biases taught him to see every person as unique and differently gifted and started him on a life-long journey to empower people and organizations to follow their calling.
For Murray, trust in the workplace does not come immediately because one has a title or credentials. Trust evolves through the building of relationships, creating mutual understanding and actual experience. Culturally it often involves creating a safe space for self-disclosure and being authentic. Just as respect looks different in various cultures, the same applies to the many cultures of “people with disabilities.” For Murray, Respect, Dignity, and Personhood are intertwined.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Murray’s multicultural upbringing and his family’s experiences as victims of hate crimes sparked an interest in diversity and inclusion
- How Murray has observed what started as affirmative action evolve over time into diversity, equity and inclusion work over the course of his remarkable career
- How coaching for diversity, equity and inclusion practitioners differs from other types of coaching
- Why people who are working in this field often lack the resources and support they need from their organizations
- Why there is a significant need for coaching for people of marginalized and underrepresented communities
- How recent study results show that most Latinx professionals feel the need to compromise their authenticity to conform to mainstream expectations
- How Murray founded the Forum On Workplace Inclusion’s Coaching Center, and what it offers to conference attendees
- How the Coaching Center has served more than 600 unique individuals from more than 90 corporations since its founding
- How to participate in the Coaching Center’s one-hour coaching session if you plan to attend the Forum On Workplace Inclusion Annual Conference
Additional resources: