Moving From Cancel Culture to Coaching Culture With Kenji Yoshino

Posted Monday at 04:30 PM2 days

With special guest Kenji Yoshino

Kenji Yoshino is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at the NYU School of Law and the Director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. He is the author of the new book Say the Right Thing. On this episode we discuss how to shift from a cancel culture to a coaching culture.

Moving from Cancel Culture to Coaching Culture

This podcast episode features Kenji Yoshino, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law and Director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Yoshino shares his journey from civil rights law to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, noting his realization that while law is effective for “brute force” changes, cultural work is essential for addressing more nuanced forms of discrimination and achieving true inclusion. He co-founded the Meltzer Center with David Glasgow six years ago, driven by a passion for building beyond the legal “floor” of civil rights.

The conversation highlights their latest book, “Say the Right Thing: How to Talk About Identity, Diversity, and Justice,” which addresses the fear many aspiring allies have of “saying the wrong thing” and getting “cancelled”. Yoshino argues for a shift from a “cancel culture” to a “coaching culture,” where mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities. He introduces their “traffic light” scale for disagreements (red, yellow, green zones), providing guidance on when and how to engage in difficult conversations about identity and DEI. The discussion also covers their 4R’s framework for crafting effective apologies: recognition, responsibility, remorse, and redress, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and a commitment to future behavioral change. Finally, Yoshino provides practical “call-in” phrases for addressing microaggressions in real-time, encouraging allies to choose authentic responses and act promptly rather than delaying. He concludes by expressing concern over current legal impediments to DEI initiatives, seeing law as a “ceiling that threatens to crush” progress, and calls for mobilization to counter these threats

Key Takeaways:

Law as a Floor, Culture as the Build: While legal frameworks provide a foundational “floor” for civil rights, sustained diversity and inclusion require cultural work to address subtle discrimination and achieve true belonging.
Shift from Cancel to Coaching Culture: To encourage allyship, it’s crucial to move away from an indiscriminately punitive “cancel culture” towards a “coaching culture” that supports learning from mistakes and offers practical tools for improvement.
Navigating Disagreements: Utilize the “traffic light” scale (red, yellow, green) to assess the appropriateness of engaging in disagreements on DEI topics. Understand that some issues are non-negotiable (“red zone”), while others are open for debate (“green zone”) or require careful consideration (“yellow zone”).
Effective Apologies: Craft genuine apologies using the 4R’s framework: recognition (fully acknowledging harm), responsibility (taking ownership without excuses), remorse (showing authentic sorrow), and redress (committing to changed future conduct).
“Call-In” Phrases for Microaggressions: Develop and practice a few authentic, short, and sharp “call-in” phrases (e.g., “Ouch,” “Yikes,” “I see things differently, could I explain my perspective?”) to address inappropriate comments in real-time and affirm the person while criticizing the conduct.
Addressing Legal Threats to DEI: Be mindful of and mobilize against increasing legal challenges and impediments to DEI initiatives, as current legal developments threaten to undermine progress.

Actionable Allyship Takeaway:

Actively practice and keep a few “call-in” phrases in your “back pocket” that feel authentic to you, to address microaggressions or inappropriate comments in real-time, fostering a coaching culture by affirming the person while clearly addressing the problematic conduct, rather than letting moments pass due to fear or hesitation.

Follow Kenji’s work at https://kenjiyoshino.com/KY/ and find Julie at https://www.nextpivotpoint.com/