Fatimah Gilliam

Fatimah Gilliam Speaking Topics

• Bedrock Race Rule – 3-Step Process to Making Equitable Decisions & Navigating Difficult Issues for 21st Century Leaders

  This interactive leadership session explores the skills and tools in the innovative and groundbreaking book Race Rules – What Your Black Friend Won’t Tell You that provides tips and tools on cross-racial interactions in people’s personal and professional lives. This book introduces a straightforward, universal 3-step framework to unlearn racism, drive equity, and challenge misconceptions.

  This decision-making framework is helpful for anyone who values effective leadership, management, and interpersonal skills. It can help keep organizations relevant and sustainable in a diversifying global society and workplace with leaders, employees, clients, and customers from a broad range of backgrounds.

  This Bedrock Race Rule is a real-time 3-step process for when navigating uncertainty in how to proceed, interact, or behave across race. It helps people when facing difficulty with hot topics, polarizing issues, uncomfortable conversations, or struggling with what to think, say, or do.

  The interactive discussion addresses:

  • How to use the Bedrock Race Rule to drive equity, improve business and leadership decisions, and strengthen personal and professional relationships.
  • Successfully navigating polarizing issues.
  • Effective allyship and leadership for modern-day leaderships and professionals.
  • Real-time decision making to align impact with intent.

• Democracy, Voting Rights & Jim Crow 2.0

  This session covers how to protect voting rights in America and how recent trends to restrict voting are jeopardizing America’s democracy. This discussion includes a historical overview of voting rights in the U.S. and action items to support access to voting in our communities.

  Fatimah has spent many years volunteering as an attorney for Election Protection, which is a non-partisan organization that works to secure people’s voting rights and access to the polls.

  The interactive discussion addresses:

  • History of voting rights and voting restrictions.
  • Similarities with Jim Crow era voting restrictions and present-day contemporary Jim Crow 2.0.
  • The link between voting and creating the necessary framework and marketplace where companies can thrive.
  • Action steps to protect democracy and voting rights.

How to Become a Master Negotiator

Much in life can be learned from understanding common mistakes made when negotiating. When striving to become a better negotiator, it is helpful to explore negotiation tools and tips in light of what typically derails negotiations. This talk highlights how to avoid pitfalls when seeking to gain leverage and influence to advance career or business objectives, which is critical in becoming a master negotiator.

This session’s interactive features offer an opportunity for participants to explore the broader career and business implications of their negotiation styles when engaging with colleagues and clients, and when aiming to become more effective leaders in business.

The interactive discussion addresses:

• Common mistakes made during negotiations.
• Lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid during negotiations.
• Key factors to becoming a better negotiator.
• Useful tools for more successful negotiations.

White Welfare – Leveraging History to Drive Equity & Transition Beyond Allyship

This discussion introduces the term “White Welfare” that’s detailed in the innovative and groundbreaking book Race Rules – What Your Black Friend Won’t Tell You. White Welfare is broader than white privilege and involves the historical, policy, and societal framework at the heart of race-based wealth and opportunity gaps and America’s caste system.

The interactive discussion addresses:

• The power and importance of understanding history in shaping systemic outcomes and today’s organizations.
• Contemporary links between present-day life outcomes and access to opportunity.
• Leveraging learning from the past to create a better future of leaders skilled at driving equity and meaningful impact.
• Why White Welfare matters in business and the workplace.
• Shifting beyond “my family didn’t own slaves,” “I just got here,” and “let’s move on from the past” mindsets, which block progress.
• Solutions to dismantle White Welfare, disrupt racism, and drive effective allyship at home and work.

Effective Allyship & Unlearning Racism

We need to reposition how we think of “allyship,” what effective allyship looks like, and how taking action is a critical factor in driving equity. This session explores how to effectively disrupt racism, strengthen your ability to form genuine relationships across race, and proactively live your values beyond recognizing that racism is bad – including tangible tools and action steps to drive equity.

The interactive discussion addresses:

• Data on allyship.
• Allyship vs. disrupting racism.
• The importance of taking action.
• Aligning impact with intent.
• Action items to reinforce effective allyship and drive equity.

Controlling Careers through Influencing Skills

Want to have more influence over your career? Begin to explore what you can do to better drive your future and career. Ignite your thinking and start considering how to expand your influencing skills. This session is a launching pad to begin thinking about the types of factors that impact your ability to influence others and gain leverage throughout your career.

The interactive discussion addresses:

• The importance of influencing skills (a subtle, “soft touch” form of negotiation).
• How influencing skills can advance careers over time and help people emerge as leaders and influencers during one’s careers.
• Helpful tools to increase and assess influencing power.
• How this skill set is critical to actively take control of overall professional success.