To nurture cultures of equity, inclusion, and belonging in diverse communities you must help people see and appreciate their commonalities and differences. This begins by people knowing themselves, recognizing their impacts on each other, and having a common language to talk about their various experiences and perspectives. Aptitude in this area is doubly important for those in the recruiting profession as the very nature of the role involves engaging with people at a human level and maintaining empathy while engaging with those same people as rows on a spreadsheet or a name on a resume. Rajiv and Lexi will explore the work of nonprofit Atlas of Care, which has developed a novel approach called Mapping Ourselves. Rather than “big science”, they focus on human-scale personal science. And, rather than emphasizing the individual, on only knowing yourself, they acknowledge our interconnected lives by emphasizing collective self-reflection and seeing the complex interactions that influence wellbeing and belonging. A wide range of people, from social activists, to health professionals, professors, and business leaders, have universally found this powerful. The experience has deepened individual learning and increased social capital. Rajiv and Lexi will describe what Mapping Ourselves is, how it came to be, the impact it has had, and how recruiting leaders can apply this approach to their teams.
