Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP

Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP, is an internationally recognized speaker, multicultural diversity expert and author with more than twenty-five years experience in the public and private sectors. As an educator and keynoter, Lenora has developed a unique way of presenting sensitive topics in a high-energy, fun-filled, yet thought-provoking way. Her interactive style, and immediately applicable how to's have caused clients to invite her back again and again. She works with Fortune 500 companies as well as professional associations, non-profit organizations and government agencies. She also served as an adjunct professor for Arizona State University and is currently on the adjunct faculty of University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Lenora has presented to audiences in South Africa, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Ukraine, Mexico and Canada.

Before founding Excel Development Systems, Inc. in 1986, Lenora was the director of human resources for a division of CIGNA Corporation, where she provided strategic and operational human resources management direction, counsel and support to 4000 employees. During that time, she played a key role in managing the process of combining workforces after a major corporate merger. Prior to that, Lenora was project administrator for General Motors Corporation. Her responsibilities included designing, developing and delivering management seminars and consulting services to various corporate and dealership populations. Included among her accomplishments was the completion of the first management program for General Motors of Australia. In the 1970's Lenora was program director for the Executive Development Center of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Michigan. Her responsibilities included designing, marketing and managing various seminars that produced net profits for the University yearly.

Lenora received her MA from the University of Michigan and her BS from Hampton University. She presently serves on the board of directors of The National Speakers Association and the board of Win Win Resolutions, a non-profit organization in North Carolina that teaches k-12 students how to resolve conflict without violence. She was active within many Arizona civic organizations. She is past chairwoman of the Phoenix Women's Commission, past president of the National Speakers Association-Arizona Chapter and past board member of Arizona Women's Education and Employment.

Lenora is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for her business successes as well as her civic activities. A few include being listed in International Who's Who of Professionals, Who's Who in the West, Outstanding Young Women of America, and she has won the Outstanding Marketing Awards - Carlson Learning Company (now Inscape Publishing) eight times.

1. THE DIVERSITY ADVANTAGE - A WIZARD OF OZ PERSPECTIVE:
Using the characters of the Wizard of Oz as a metaphor will help you understand how you can use your brain, heart and courage to make a real difference in today's multi-cultural world. This fun yet thought-provoking message will inspire you to embrace the gifts you have and to value the gifts of others to increase your options for success. By realizing the power to make a difference is within each individual, and the first step is possible, you will discover ways to create and sustain a environment that supports high productivity while celebrating differences.

Lenora uses life-size stand ups of the characters and music from The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz to create a non-threatening learning environment. This highly interactive, program provides an opportunity for you to discover your own level of knowledge and understanding of people who are different.

2. PROFESSIONAL GROWTH PRESENTATIONS Capturing Today's Multicultural Market:
Are your sales representatives losing opportunities to close sales because they are pre-judging the client or customer? Are they only prospecting and selling to people who are "just like them?" If so, this program is for them. Included are customized exercises and the Sales Action Planner to help participants identify their own biases, and how those perceptions kill sales. This program is for people who know the basic steps of selling, and are looking for ways to increase sales results through effective relationship-building techniques with a diverse market.
3. From Adversaries to Allies - Gender Communication in the Workplace:
This fun presentation will help you improve your communication skills with the opposite gender. You will explore ways to say what you mean in the way the other gender will understand. This insightful session will help both men and women learn how to express themselves in a way that improves results. By practicing techniques that recognize communication differences without value judging, you will discover your own hidden communication strengths.
4. The Leadership Advantage - Building Emotional Intelligence:
In today's multicultural workplace, effective leaders use a variety of skills to increase their organizations' return on investment (ROI) of their human capital. By developing emotional intelligence (EI) competencies coupled with reducing unconscious biased behaviors, you will discover the ingredients needed to transform your vision of creating a highly productive, respectful, inclusive environment into reality. This presentation is tailored to your business objectives to enable you to develop a specific plan of action.
5. MOST POPULAR SEMINAR THE DIVERSITY ADVANTAGE - TURNING BARRIERS INTO BRIDGES:
This highly interactive, thought-provoking yet fun program provides an opportunity for participants to explore the biases of our society's "isms", such as racism, sexism, ableism, and ageism, as well as homophobia and other prejudices that impede productivity in the workplace, participants of this program will be better equipped to improve their cultural competencies to enhance performance, when they return to their organization.

This information-packed program includes the Discovering Diversity Profile®, which provides confidential individual feedback to participants, regarding their views about people who are different from themselves, enabling them to develop a specific plan of action to change behaviors.

6. Learning Objectives: As a result of attending this seminar, participants will be able to:
1. Limit the influence of stereotypes on their personal actions.
2. Use the S.T.O.P. technique to minimize multicultural mishaps.
3. Identify the four cornerstones for improving cultural competencies.
This program can be delivered a one full day of learning, or two half day modules. An abbreviated version is available for conference breakout sessions and keynotes.
7. DISCOVERING DIVERSITY PROFILE®A Critical Tool for Increasing Organizational Strength:
Limit the influence of stereotypes and create acceptance of differences with the Discovering Diversity Profile, a confidential, self-directed instrument that explores diversity issues in the following key areas:
1. Knowledge - what a person actually knows about differences and the source of that knowledge. Stereotypes and Information are measured here.
2. Understanding - individual willingness to put yourself in another's position. Awareness and Empathy are measured here.
3. Acceptance - patience and regard for different beliefs and behavior. Tolerance and Respect are measured here.
4. Behavior - how a person acts out their attitudes toward others, their flexibility and openness. Self-Awareness and Interpersonal Skills are measured here.
The profile is a critical tool in helping people move from fear and resistance to informed acceptance of diversity as a source of organizational strength. It is included within several of the seminars and may also be purchased directly for use by your company's internal HR staff.

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