Mason Donovan is a principal at The Dagoba Group, an integrated global Diversity and Inclusion consulting practice that helps leaders take tangible steps to enhance inclusion and optimize teams. Mason has over a decade of experience consulting clients in the areas of talent acquisition, performance management and leading inclusive teams, including working with over half of the Fortune 1000 companies on talent acquisition and management initiatives. He has also represented the US Government and the State of Florida on a commercial and diplomatic basis in EMEA. Mason is co-author of The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off, which provides an actionable framework for companies to tap the bottom-line impact that results from an inclusive culture, and the SET for inclusion: An Underlying Methodology for Achieving Your Inclusion which will guide leaders, whether they are a top level executive, middle manager, or individual contributor, by applying the SET framework to lead inclusively. He is also author of The Golden Apple: Redefining Work-Life Balance for a Diverse Workforce, which is dedicated to solving one of today’s most pressing workplace challenges and Driven: A Manager’s Field Guide to Sales Team Optimization. Mason earned a Masters in International Business from Webster University in The Netherlands and a Bachelors in International Relations from the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.
Speaking Topics
Finding Your Inclusion Dividend: Crafting a Personal Business Case
Ask most any leader in an organization what is the business case for investing in diversity and inclusion and you will often receive very murky high level answers. This interactive discussion breaks through the clouds and helps leaders develop a business case that is not only aligned with the organization, but is also personal to their situation and teams.
Building Resilient Teams: Mindfulness That Works
Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment. Whether you are a team leader or an individual contributor, today’s demanding high energy lifestyle causes our physical and mental states to often be not co-located; meaning our bodies may be present, but our mind is miles away. The conflict, if managed correctly, can result in greater productivity, innovation, and inclusion as well as overall morale.
Four Core Leadership Competencies for Inclusion
Inclusive leadership is a skill that is developed and practiced like any other leadership practice. This talk focuses on four competencies that are required for any leader to move their culture forward.
Mitigating Unconscious Bias in the Workplace: Moving From Awareness to Action
Nobody wakes up thinking about how exclusive they can be that day. Leaders have good intent and want to have inclusive productive teams. It is good for them, their team and the organization. So if the intent is there, why are we not seeing matching good results? The answer can be found in something that all humans need to manage to be better leaders; unconscious bias. This is a very down-to-earth talk that speaks to moving beyond awareness of the subject and into very practical actions.
Achieving a Healthy and Inclusive Work-Life Balance Culture
Since the Great Recession, organizations having been trying to do a lot more with a lot less. Employees are stretched thin leading to decreased productivity, innovation, and overall well-being. In addition, this poor balance of work and personal life has a measureable negative impact on diversity and inclusion efforts. This talk provides a practical path for leaders that do not have the flexibility to hire more staff or reduce hours, but want to create a healthier culture for themselves and their teams.
