Ayo Sokale

We have heard it all before, we are facing a climate change challenge. An existential crisis.

What does it mean for modern day professionals? How do we all go about contextualising this and as a result taking suitable actions.

Ayo Sokale talks about the sustainability triad – The environment, Social and the Economy & the UNSDG’s goal role in outlining the breadth of the challenge.

The importance of Biodiversity, Single use plastic reduction.

The role of the individual, businesses, and government.
As well, as environmental and climate injustice – the undue spread of consequence on certain communities with case-studies from the UK and US.

She also discusses on our journey as people on the journey to sustainability and humanity upcoming pitfalls such using shame and force and forgetting historical context in their bid to achieve the sustainability goals.
My sustainability talks can also include the following lens:

• Sustainability and the economy (Do our current economic practice make the cut?)
• Sustainability and human psychology – growth and expansion (Natural desire to expand and grow – in natural conflict with the need to consume less etc)
• Sustainability and class (The undue impact of natural consequence & policy on lower class – UK centric)
• Sustainability and the future (Children, Malthusian Theory)
• Sustainability and mental health (Rise in Nihilism and fear for the future)
• Sustainability and technology (Case studies from the Built environment)
• Sustainability and Innovation – what is innovation (research, implement technology, learning from failure, collaboration and sharing knowledge)
• Climate change –The case for change – Adaption and Mitigation

Today in the modern world the fight has drifted to the fight for equal representation of women in tech, construction, and wider STEM.

Ayo Sokale talks about the value of this. Values such as: women in the room where the built environment and the technology that impact all our lives are designed and implemented.

She also paints another picture and discusses the careers that currently predominate and are carried out by women, and she questions the way these careers are perceived and valued. Ayo explores the very important ways these industries also positively influence the world. She uses this to challenge this new form of bias and the way it manifests in this arena.

Ayo talks about myths and folklore and the representation of feminine and masculine energies, and the way they’re being rewritten over time to paint a new picture that limits both ways of being. She also discusses the need to understand these embedded cultural ideas and the impact they have on our behaviors and expectations of people (bias).

She likes to talk about the natural diversity in the world around us, taking lessons from Gary Ferguson’s 8 Master Lessons of Nature, where the diversity in wildflowers has a critical role in the ecosystem and can be extrapolated to see its impact in our wider lives.

1) What does Diversity truly mean?

What does Diversity Utopia look like?

Commonly, we think of diversity as diverse peoples in a space. But is that truly diverse?

The evolutionary case for in-group vs. out-group mentality.

How does diversity and assimilation come together?

How does diversity work in our current hierarchical structure, which values some people as less than? – Is diversity in all levels of society possible?

This is a discursive-style talk; there are no answers. Just the posing of questions to support the audience in ultimately achieving a DIVERSE understanding.

2) Value the Difference

The world needs diversity of thought.

As a Black autistic woman in STEM, Ayo Sokale was often advised to be XYZ.

Because XYZ was valued more and viewed more favorably. That is not diversity; that is external difference and internal assimilation.

That is not inclusion; it is a form of exclusion.

The world needs to create spaces for everyone to show up authentically, knowing they will receive respect at work and that their value will be seen even if their approach and style are different. So, how do you go about that? What are the current barriers? These are some of the questions she explores in her talk.

1) What is neurodiversity?

It is estimated that 30-40% of the world is neurodiverse.

So why is the conversation just getting started? Furthermore, are we having the right conversations?

Ayo Sokale discusses famous neurodiverse people to emphasize that many neurodiverse individuals remain unknown to us. She talks about her neurodiversity and journey to sharing.

Ayo talks about what the various kinds of neurodiversity mean for the individual – strengths and potential support needs.

She advises on how we can all provide spaces and be the people who allow neurodiverse individuals to be themselves and thrive.

She raises the alarm and speaks about the importance of caution in our neurodiversity narrative, discussing the value of neurodiversity but also emphasizing inherent worth as a counter to the purely economic narrative of the value neurodiverse people bring to business. Ayo discusses this through the lens of Alan Turing’s difficult life and incredible contributions.

She shares tips and tricks for both neurodiverse and non-neurodiverse people so that everyone can do their part in this journey toward inclusion.

1) So, you are different and a little disruptive?

Many of us feel different and a little disruptive in the spaces and places we find ourselves. In this informative talk, Ayo Sokale uses personal and researched case studies to explore the idea of being different, the genetic and evolutionary reasons we pay attention to our differences, and how this can cause dis-ease. She makes a case for and against ditching our evolutionary desire to be a part of a tribe outlining the research and illuminating the embedded cultural stories. Ultimately, she takes you on a journey to determine your values, understand your needs, and make a decision that works for you.

2) How to think?

Beep – Beep – Urgent Response Required

Beep – Beep – Political constraint identified.

Beep – Beep – Conflicting stakeholders needs Identified.

Does this sound like your daily radar? Picking up the valid constraints in the world around you yet wanting to achieve tangible, long-lasting, and useful change.

In this short and catchy talk, Ayo discusses this situation – a situation that commonly faces leaders, politicians, social change maker, thought leaders and anyone working to impact the world.

She reflects on her political career, leadership roles, and research, mapping out a talk on how to truly change the world. First, she starts with YOU—understanding the reality you perceive—then discusses the science of problem definition and the need to truly understand the positive change you want to elicit. Ayo will discuss identity and problem solving and the common issue of attachment to the identity of solving the problem, to the extent that you don’t want change.

She will discuss using the GROW model to help you identify the goal, the reality, the options, and the will to change. And finally using the Kotter 8 steps to change Model to help you make the change.

She will embed her stories to bring the topic to life and share five lessons she has learned in making positive change in the world: Anti De-humanization, the value of thinking in grey, the value of positive assumptions, understanding systems, and RADICAL self-accountability.

1) Mapping your career

Ayo Sokale takes a holistic approach to development and career, and she shares this in a highly personal talk. She shares her lesson on leveraging growth across the various facets of our lives and cross pollinating to accelerate growth. Ayo found this brought more sweetness to her life, and she shares how you can have more sweetness in yours. She talks about how you can hack your potential and take the scary actions required. But perhaps more importantly, Ayo discusses the ‘Why’—finding your why, the psychological benefits of the why, and creating your personal life framework based on it.

2) The power of telling a better story

How do you describe yourself?

You tell a story, right?

Stories are fundamental – they are how we see the world; we perceive ourselves and the way forward.

Telling a compelling story leads to a compelling life—even a hero’s life?

Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s journey model explains how each hero got on a journey leaving their current life behind to answer the call to adventure. She talks through a simplified hero’s journey and helps the audience see their life as an adventure, increasing their resilience and excitement about life.

Carl Jung says ‘I am not what happens to me, I am what I choose to become’

Ultimately, self-awareness of who you are, the emotions you feel, and the ability to utilize storytelling to weave new meaning into your experiences are what help you become your very own hero.

Ayo Sokale thinks social mobility is often the missing piece in the EDI conversation.

She thinks this is critical in the UK, where class and class issues are woven into every thread of the tapestry of British culture.

We don’t often want to acknowledge and address it, but we are witnessing the tides changing, and it couldn’t have come soon enough.

Why?

Social mobility is about the movement of individuals or groups through the various social strata in society.
We need a society that support aspirational people and allows them the opportunity to realise their potential. It’s good for business, the economy, and society.

To achieve this, it is important to understand the structural issues affecting social mobility and to undertake actions, revising policies to support people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. For policymakers, this means supporting educational attainment. For corporations, this means illuminating the pathways to careers in their organizations and making the process and criteria explicit, not exclusionary or dependent on social capital historically aligned with higher socioeconomic groups.