Jay Boykin (00:17.76)
Well, hello and welcome to the first episode of Just Human. This podcast is going to talk about a bunch of different things having to do with our shared humanity. And we're going to really lean in on topics having to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion. My name is Jay Boykin. I am your host and again, welcome to the show. We're also going to discuss topics that are relevant.
to men such as modern masculinity, we're gonna look at mental health, we're also gonna look at topics related to work -life balance. And honestly, I feel that by addressing many of these overlooked topics, it's gonna give us the opportunity to not only create a more inclusive environment, but it's really going to help all of us reach our full potential.
So let's get started. So whether you are listening on Spotify or your favorite podcast platform or watching on YouTube, do me a favor and just subscribe, leave a review, leave me a comment. Let me know what you think about all of this and hopefully we'll get you coming back pretty regularly. So today, again, being our first episode, we're going to lean in on
this topic of our shared humanity. And if you think about it, right now we live in some really, really divisive times. If you watch the news, if you are on any type of social media, there are so many things out there that are seemingly focused on how to divide us and focusing in on our differences.
especially if you're paying attention to anything related to politics, that is highly, highly divisive. But here's the thing, I wanna focus on moving beyond our differences and trying to find a common ground when it relates to anything having to do with inclusion. I remember a time, I'm 58, almost 59 years old,
Jay Boykin (02:39.444)
And I remember a time in politics when you could be on different sides of the aisle. You could be a Democrat versus a Republican. And you could still be friends. You could disagree and you could agree to disagree, but you could still have a barbecue together. You could still go to dinner together. But now it just doesn't feel that way anymore. It feels extremely divisive. So
Before we dive into this topic more, I have a confession to make. I'm gonna open our first episode with a confession. I'm a Trekkie. Yes, I'm a nerd, but I like, honestly love all things Star Trek. I started watching Star Trek as a little kid. I remember watching the original series with...
Kirk and Spock and Uhura. And it was really a first of its kind because there were no other shows in the 1960s that had people of all of these different backgrounds and even all of the people who were from Earth, which on that series, that was the majority of the people on the ship other than Spock. You had
individuals who were black, you had individuals from other countries with these strong accents. That was not anything that we had ever seen before on American television. So it was a trailblazer at that time. Now I'll tell you that if I fast forward to college, I had a roommate in college who was a huge Trekkie.
and he had all of the movies that had been produced at that time. He had the VHSs of every TV series episode. He had the books. He had the action figures. He had everything. He was like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory. That's how much of a Star Trek fan that he was.
Jay Boykin (05:00.01)
Well, because we were roommates and we spent a lot of time together, there would be times that I would walk in and he's watching Star Trek and I would sit down and I would watch with him. And I started paying even more attention to the show, even during my college years. And the, the next generation series with Captain Picard, that really became my favorite. And the thing that I loved about Star Trek,
is its portrayal of this experience. I don't want to say human experience because the show was talking about many different species of beings. So it wasn't just a human experience, but in all of them, it was talking about cooperation and empathy and mutual respect. And I'll tell you, there was this one episode in the Next Generation series.
and the episode was called Darmok. In this particular episode, Captain Picard and this alien captain named Dathan were stranded on this planet and they have to figure out a way to cooperate. They are battling some unknown alien attacker.
and they have to figure out how they're going to survive. But here's the interesting thing. They are unable to understand each other. Even though Captain Picard has his Star Trek coined technology of the universal translator, it's not working because Dathan speaks in these strange metaphors. so while Captain Picard understands the words, he doesn't understand
the meaning and the context behind those words. And so during this episode, through their shared experience, even though they're getting frustrated with each other, they work it out and they find a way to meet in the middle. They find that common ground. And it really highlights how when we take the time to learn, when we take the time to listen,
Jay Boykin (07:25.94)
when we show mutual respect to one another, we can overcome a lot of differences, even basic differences such as communication barriers. And so how does this relate to this experience of our shared humanity? When I think about Just Human and the name of this podcast, I think about its role in
empathy and creating connections because if you think about it, if you strip away all of the things that make us different, you take away our gender, our sexual identity, our race, our ethnicity, at the end of the day, we are all fundamentally the same. We all feel pain, we all feel joy, we all seek
love, we all want to feel a sense of belonging, we all experience fears, we all have different hopes and dreams. And at different times in our lives, we go through struggles, we experience losses, and we have different setbacks. And it is that universal human experience that is our common ground. That is what really, really can bring us together.
And so I'll tell you earlier this year, I lost my mom. My mom passed away and my brother and I were going through a really, really difficult time. We were both super, super close to our mom. And at that time I had a coworker who was really doing her best to be very, very empathetic to me.
even though she still had both of her parents. Well, fast forward to about a month ago, and this individual lost her mom. And it was through that shared experience that I was able to reach out to her and not only offer her my sympathy, but I was also able to empathize with her because I had a pretty good idea
Jay Boykin (09:50.782)
Of what she was feeling. Obviously I didn't know exactly what she was feeling, but I had a pretty good idea. My neighbor who lives directly across the street, just a matter of weeks ago, he lost his mom. Same situation. I was able to empathize with him and really reach out to him in a way that prior to that, because if we hadn't had that shared experience, it would have been significantly different. So
I do believe that these opportunities for these shared experiences, and it doesn't always have to be sad, it can be very positive experiences, but it gives us the opportunity to come together and it gives us the opportunity to break down these social and cultural barriers through that whole concept of empathy. So we're gonna go forward again, no matter how you're watching or listening.
Take the time to think about this shared humanity and leave me a comment. Leave me a review on this Let me know how you feel about that. But also let me know how you feel about Star Trek I know that there's gonna be people out there that are Star Wars fans my brother is a big Star Wars fan and Occasionally we get into the the debate about which one's better, but I can appreciate a good Star Wars movie as well
So I wanna focus a little bit more on our shared humanity and what that means at a deeper level. In my opinion, book of Jay, I don't believe that that means that we ignore the things that make us different and the things that make us unique. I think that we can continue to honor those things. And honestly,
By learning how to empathize with someone who is different, who's had a different upbringing, had a different worldview, perhaps even has different political views, our differences, if we're willing to listen and seek to understand, it can actually help to amplify and not erase our individual stories. It's those individual stories
Jay Boykin (12:14.582)
that we can use to help others understand where our perspectives are coming from. So I work for a company where I have the opportunity to do diversity, equity, and inclusion work. And honestly, I have learned so much in this role and through that experience. But I also have the opportunity to continue to do finance work. I have spent the majority of my career in finance and in accounting.
Earlier this year, we completed a project that took nearly two years. It was an ERP upgrade. And for those that aren't familiar, an ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. And the way that I equate that is that's like the nervous system of any company. You can't do anything in our company without touching this particular system.
And we were tasked with doing this upgrade of this system while the company is still operating. So there was a great analogy that was used while we were working on this project is that imagine you are at a grand pre -race watching this car going super fast around the track and this team is having to change out the engine while the car is still moving.
And so that's essentially what we were doing is trying to upgrade this software. Now, I will tell you that in the beginning of this project, we had some major setbacks. And initially we did not have the confidence of leadership that we were going to be able to complete this on time. And there were a couple of times that they were talking about delaying what we were working on and pushing the go live date back.
Some of the issues that we were having had to do with communications. We had individuals on the team who had concerns about different aspects of the project, but they weren't voicing those concerns during the meetings. They were talking about those things after the fact. So what we did is we met individually with people. We also got small groups together and we heard their concerns, but then we also
Jay Boykin (14:40.67)
Encourage them that you need to speak up. You need to let the broader team know these concerns You are on this team for a reason whether you've been with the company for many many years Or you've only been with the company for a very short period of time Your functional leader thought that you were bringing enough expertise to the table that they asked you to be on this team and so we need that input and so
With those 60 different people and those 60 different perspectives and backgrounds, we were able to work through those challenges and we were able to come together as a strong team. And not only did we complete the project, but we completed it exactly when we said we would. So we did it on time and which is key to a finance person, we were able to do it under budget.
So it was great. And so it's just a lesson. If you think about going back to the Star Trek topic, anytime the crew of the Enterprise, whichever show you wanted to watch, whether it was original series or next generation, if they faced a problem, they were looking for everyone to come together and they were using those diverse viewpoints, those things that could have divided them.
they were using those as strengths, not challenges. So I really want us as we go forward, as we start to think about future episodes of this podcast, I really want us to focus on the importance of this shared humanity. And we're gonna think about more ways that we can foster empathy.
and look for ways that we can break down barriers, not build more barriers. And so I want to encourage everyone who is watching or listening to this episode, I want you to think about that a little bit. Think about how you can engage in a dialogue with someone who has a different culture than you do, someone who has a different perspective and worldview than you do.
Jay Boykin (16:59.998)
Maybe even think about a random act of kindness, again, to someone that maybe wouldn't normally cross your path. And then think about opportunities that you can get out in your local community and participate in some things that are a bit outside of your comfort zone. So I really do think that it is through those opportunities, through those conversations that we can learn about
the experiences and the challenges that others face. I'll share this with you as we begin the wrap up. I was having a conversation with a coworker who is a first generation immigrant to the United States from India. And something that never crossed my mind, I never thought about some of the things that these individuals have to overcome.
when they first moved to the United States. One of the big things is a credit history. I take mine for granted. I look at my credit score and it makes me smile. But you have someone who is new to the United States, they don't have a credit history. And so now they're trying to find housing, they're trying to get transportation.
They're trying to get all of these things that many of us may take for granted and they have zero credit history. So they're dealing with the challenges of paying a higher interest rate if they're able to get any credit extended to them at all. And so it was through that dialogue, through that conversation that I was able to understand a perspective that was much different than anything that I've ever had to go through.
So again, take the time to have a conversation with someone and just listen. That's the key right there. many of us, I'm guilty of this very often. I do way too much talking and not enough listening. And so that is a skill that I want to work on here at the end of 2024 and moving into 2025 is working on my active listening. So as we think about
Jay Boykin (19:21.622)
future episodes again, thank you for joining. really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to watch or listen, but letting you know what's coming up. We want to think about different ways that we can integrate our shared humanity into different aspects of our lives. So I've got an episode coming up where we're going to talk about the evolution of masculinity. You know, how people define masculinity.
today versus 50 years ago, 100 years ago, it's way different. Those things that were considered the norm back in the 1950s, 1960s, that's way different today. So we're gonna lean in on that and talk about how that has evolved and even how it will continue to evolve. And then another episode that I've got coming up is gonna be focused on D, E, and I.
And is that even still relevant in 2024? Is DE &I still a thing that is needed in 2024? So again, my name is Jay Boykin. Check out my website, jayboykin .com. But thank you for your time. Thank you for listening and we will see you again or talk to you again soon.
