Dr. Sy Islam, is an associate professor of Industrial Organizational I/O psychology at Farmingdale State College, a co-founder and Vice President of Consulting with Talent Metrics, and a published author. He joins us to talk about his upbringing and how he got his start in IO psychology. We also talk about the importance of humor and the effective ways to use it in building relationships in the workplace. While recounting his journey, Sy talks about all the stereotypes that he has encountered, overcame, and deflected. Regarding career progression, he reminds us to be mindful, be respectful, and be yourself — listen to the podcast to hear all the details!

Real talk with Leaders in the Field: The Very Handsome Sy Islam

Dr. Vivian Woo, published author, Lead People Science at Culture Amp, and Chair of 2024 Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology spoke to us about the journey she took to becoming an industrial organizational psychologist. Vivian spoke about the challenges she faced in graduate school, mentorship, or lack there of, as she progressed,  the obstacles she navigated at work, and advice she would give to the next generation of Psychologists. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation!

Real Talk with Leaders in the Field: Becoming Vivian Woo

We bid adieu to the Paris Olympic Games and unpack some of the themes that we noticed about the treatment and portrayal of AAPI and Asian athletes competing at the highest level of sports. 

Disclaimer: we had some audio trouble with our microphones, so the sound quality may have suffered a little bit in this episode. 

Reddit link: Asian representation at the Olympic games [https://www.reddit.com/r/asianamerican/comments/1er2rud/anybody_else_bothered_by_the_lack_of_asianaapi/]

Emma Navarro being a sour loser against Qinwen Zheng [https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5670274/2024/07/30/qinwen-zheng-emma-navarro-olympics-tennis/]



Au revoir -Asian athletes and representation at the Paris Olympics

In this episode, we debate the use of the terms "underrepresented" and "underrecognized." What's the upside of using one term over the other? Is this just wordsmithing or is there more to shifting the way we talk about marginalized minorities? And what does it mean for us Asians? 

https://hbr.org/2023/04/why-we-should-stop-saying-underrepresented

Underrepresented vs. underrecognized: What’s in a name? 

We're back and we're kicking off season 3 with the following question: what food from your culture do you feel comfortable bringing to work? What's considered a delicacy, or a yum, might be viewed by others as a yuck. So how do you navigate that, especially at work, if you're the type that likes to bring your lunch to work? We discuss these and a whole lot more!

Yums and Yucks

To wrap up season 2, the three of us met up in NYC to record the last episode of the season in-person and debrief a recent organizational psychology conference we all attended. We share the latest insights we uncovered on topics ranging from leader prototypes to AI coaching, dwelling on the sessions that resonated with us. If you're curious about what an I/O psychology conference looks and feels like, check out this episode! 

Finally, we are taking a short break and will return in July with more content on all things Asian in the workplace! 



Three doctors, one organizational psychology conference

Shradha, an organizational design expert and leader, joins us in our virtual studio to chat about everything from executive coaching to the immigrant experience and what it was like for her to transition from working at a large international company in India to doing organizational design work for another global firm in the US. 

Link to Shradha's podcast: Unpacking Organizations: The Practitioner's Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unpacking-organizations-the-practitioners-podcast/id1697837236]

Real Talk with Leaders in the Field: Shradha

Hidden in plain sight welcomes its first ever guest speaker, Beiwen! Beiwen, a seasoned DEI consultant, sat down with us to talk about the rewards and challenges of doing DEI work. Is there such a thing as DEI gone wrong? What is virtue signaling? Is it harmful? Is your organization doing DEI just to check the box? Lastly, where and how do Asian American and Asian professionals fit into the DEI discourse? Join us for a thought-provoking conversation! 

Articles for nerds

https://www.wsj.com/business/c-suite/chief-diversity-officer-cdo-business-corporations-e110a82f

Link to Beiwen’s podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/%E9%9B%85%E7%97%9E%E4%B8%8D%E7%97%9Eyuppieyawns/id1487023939

https://open.spotify.com/show/7ufKsdBIL3ro46wSLWkRGi?si=4yMkUJJPTIOa3TWn9hnnhA



Real Talk with Leaders in the Field: Beiwen

In this episode, we talk about who we would invite as speakers in our development program. We start out by listing our dream speakers and why they are important to the community, touching on their background, and the unique contributions they can make to our program. We get creative as we chat about questions we'd ask them regarding their lived experiences, grit, motivation, as well as their racial identity journey and why and how this all matters to Asian American and Asian professionals. 

What speakers would you add to the leadership development program? Let us know at hiddeninplainsight855@gmail.com!

Dream Design: Asian Leadership Development Program - Part  3

In this episode, we discuss what roleplaying scenarios we would put leaders in to practice how to respond to typical microaggressions. Using real-life situations, we share different routes to call out microaggressive behavior. We break down the difference between ideal response and acknowledge what typically happens in reality. We also talk about ways to better communicate, model behavior, and manage up to reduce workplace microaggressions.

What skills would you want to add to the leadership program? Let us know at Hipsata1@gmail.com

Dream Design: Asian Leadership Development Program - Part 2

We are three organizational psychologists - Duoc, Eccho, and Jenny -  here to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly on all things Asian in the workplace. Each episode will break down a specific topic, such as how stereotypes play into pay negotiation, what professional development looks like for Asian employees, and what forms of bias, stereotypes, and microaggressions Asian professionals have to navigate, and so much more. We draw from current events  and from the organizational behavior and psychological research (because we are nerds) to share tips and advice on how best to navigate tricky organizational dynamics. We invite anyone - whether you’re a practitioner working in this space or a casual listener -  with an interest  in this topic to tune in so that we as a community can all play an active role in shaping a more inclusive workplace!

If there's a topic you'd like us to explore, questions regarding what we discussed, or you wanna drop us a line to let us know what you'd like us to do more or less of, you can reach us at: hiddeninplainsight855@gmail.com.




Hidden in Plain Sight

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